It was in Dark Side of the Ring’s episode eight of their third season that the Vice documentarians set to showcasing a moment in professional wrestling history that has gone down in infamy.
What was once a story about buffoonery and a “boys will be boys” way of looking at it, the story that has been spoken about for years, took a serious turn as the episode played out, with serious allegations being put forth by eye-witnesses, and the outcome has been a suspension for one of the wrestlers involved and a potential cancellation of a commercial deal for another.
And as this story plays out in the media, who knows what else can come of this.
Three of the wrestlers in question are of course Ric Flair, who had allegations of a misconduct of a sexual nature, as well as Scott Hall.
Tommy Dreamer, who didn’t do anything on the plane, is in trouble because of comments he made in interviews on the show.
The “plane ride from hell” is now an infamous story about an ill-fated WWE flight from Europe back to the States after what was a very successful series of shows in Europe…during a time when WWE was at its hottest. Many accounts not written about here (it would take ten pages to detail all of them) are discussed in the episode.
Many eye-witness accounts were featured though, which included Tommy Dreamer, of course, Rob Van Dam, and even former WWE referee, Mike Chioda, and especially Jim Ross, who looked pained to tell the story, but put forth an honest account of what went down, he even shouldering a lot of the blame (which in my opinion was unfounded), but he felt he should have kept the boys in line that much better.
Regardless, the ill-fated flight got started with way too much alcohol, way too much testosterone and way too many prescription pills. Now talk about a cocktail from hell. Fights broke out and good behavior was thrown out the door.
One account and probably the account that was most damaging of all, was of a flight attendant (Heidi Doyle) who had been onboard. She, a mother to a newborn baby at the time, stated that in Europe, while the wrestlers wrestled and did their thing, she partied with them at various clubs, drinking and the such. Many of the wrestlers and Chioda also hinted at the possibility that many of the wrestlers slept with the flight attendants on that tour (no one named names), as the episode progressed, but on the way home, she stated that on this particular flight in question…the flight back to the States… she felt that what had started as a good time, went sour quickly.
She has stated that both Ric Flair and Scott Hall assaulted her in a sexual manner.
The only one to corroborate her story to a T was Rob Van Dam. Dreamer defended Ric Flair specifically.
Back in 2004, a settlement was agreed upon, according to tvline.com, and a settlement that the flight attendant signed and collected upon, as she herself states.
A brief bit on Heidi Doyle, the flight attendant in question: she is an alleged jewel thief and although many are coming to her defense, which is understandable, many others on social media are wondering if this isn’t a play at possibly getting another financial settlement.
To be clear, though, whether if she is a criminal or not, no one should be treated the way she alleges to have been treated, and if this was the way she was treated, then Flair is most certainly to blame.
Tommy Dreamer was suspended for defending Flair…Tommy’s argument, Flair would never have done that…putting on the robe and parading naked underneath, yes, flashing, yes, but forcing the attendant to touch it….no, is what Dreamer believes and he was on the plane.
Why he and Rob Van Dam see it differently is a mystery right now, as they were both on the plane. many are commending RVD for his statements, as he saw it.
Dreamer said:
“…Ric Flair is not going to try to impose by force any sexual stuff onto anybody. He’s just flaunting, stylin and profilin and [doing the] Ric Flair stuff where everybody’s going to laugh about it, but obviously somebody took offense to it…if that’s how she felt, maybe she should have not taken a payout and went to the fullest extent of the law to then truly put this heinous person in jail…I feel this is trying to portray someone as a sexual predator, and it it’s not. It’s a joke; it’s a gag and today, 1,000 percent inappropriate…I’ve hung out with Ric Flair. I’ve never seen him try to force his will against anybody…”
VIA tvline.com
He was suspended indefinitely for these comments by Impact Wrestling.
Rob Van Dam said in his interview on the episode, that “you should never meet your heroes,” and that is sometimes true, but if these allegations are untrue, they can be very damaging indeed.
Ric Flair’s endorsement deal with Car Shield may be in question (the commercials have actually been put on pause, according to wrestletalk.com) and his planned possible run with AEW might now be in question as well.
CM Punk meets crying fan
But someone that can certainly attest to saying that you should most definitely meet your heroes is the man that was made famous when AEW cameras spotted him crying at CM Punk’s return to professional wrestling a few weeks back.
He caught the eye of many, Punk included, and at the time Punk also said that he understood him, he being a serious sports fan himself.
Well, AEW managed to track this man down and arranged to have him meet CM Punk at All Out…
NEXT: Schiavone Comments on Punk and Darby—Matt Hardy hopes to Reunite with Jeff in AEW
Heroes are fine; perhaps you just need to find the right ones, and always beware of charlatans that try to wreck the legacies of those that have achieved greatness for their own personal gain.
