Late last week, word came out that ESPN would be filming a 30 for 30 film on WWE Hall of Famer and wrestling legend, Ric Flair.
30 for 30 began as a celebration of the sports network's thirtieth anniversary, where name directors would help thirty documentary films on sports subjects. Since then, it has become the brand name for similar documentaries of various lengths. A film on Flair would follow other 30 for 30s productions on wrestling such as a short on Texas' Von Erichs.
On a recent edition of his WOOOOO! Nation podcast (H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcription), The Nature Boy spoke about the project, and provided more details about what we could expect. In discussing what would be covered, Flair basically said "everything" and noted that it would be more than the short film dedicated to the World Class Championship Wrestling family:
Well, it's my whole life. It [has] a little bit to do with my airplane crash, of course, and then coming back from that. And then the titles and the championships and it touches a lot on my personal life, which has been up and down. Right now, it's perfect, but I had a couple rough years there. And it talks about my son, Reid. [ESPN] wanted to talk about him, how special he was to me. And then, a lot about Ashley, Charlotte, who is now the champion in WWE, the Divas division. And about my other two children, Megan and David. So, it was very nice. And then, it talked about where I am today.
Some filming has already been done, but there are two more sessions planned - including one that will take place at WWE's Survivor Series pay-per-view (PPV) event in Atlanta, Georgia later this month:
We shot the first six hours and we'll shoot another six or seven hours, which [WOOOOO! Nation co-host, Conrad Thompson] will be a part of, at Survivor Series. And then, there will be another six hour shoot. And then, of course, all of the stuff [ESPN] will pull from the library in Stamford, Connecticut with the WWE to put together the whole film.
A big hold up on making the project happen was getting Vince McMahon and company to let ESPN use that film library footage, but the recent partnership between the two corporations probably helped make that happen:
The WWE is very, very protective of their intellectual property. [The project] is mutually beneficial for all of us, but it just took a while to get everybody on the same page and to work on it diligently for, I guess, it has been a year and a half now. And all of a sudden, it's coming to fruition.
Flair talked about being humbled by ESPN's decision to focus on his life and career, and talks about another project that would have focused on Andre the Giant (whether the decision to go with the 16-time World champ came before or after the Andre project went with Bill Simmons to HBO is unclear):
It's a great, great format and to be the first [professional] wrestler they've ever even considered doing it with, I know they were entertaining the idea of [doing an episode on] Andre the Giant, and how they arrived at me, I don't know, but I'm very proud of that fact. And, certainly, there are a lot of guys in our business that have been successful, but, at the same time, I guess they feel like I've kind of transcended pop culture and stuff like that. And all the years of entertaining myself have paid off!
No word yet on when the film will air, but the current season of 30 for 30 is running now, so look toward late 2016.
Excited?