Ric Flair has been box office for a long time, but he thinks cannabis could be his most lucrative business venture yet.
As The Post detailed in April, Flair entered into Tyson 2.0, the bourgeoning legal weed empire presided over by his longtime friend and fellow icon Mike Tyson. Flair’s line, “Ric Flair Drip”, is going live in several states in October; one of the reasons he is so confident it will be a major success is Chad Bronstein, the brand’s co-founder, president & chairman.
Bronstein and Flair were “boat neighbors” in Tampa. Bronstein approached him, and they quickly struck up a business relationship.
“So many people come to me with business ideas. They never come to fruition,” Flair told The Post. “This is probably the biggest [business venture] that’s come together for me in my life. I’m making a lot of money [already from other work], and I’m gonna make more from this than I’ve ever made.”
Products include flower, pre-rolls, vape cartridges, blunts and edibles (called WOOOOO Chews), offered in sativa, indica or hybrid. Everything is packaged with graphic designs inspired by Flair’s image or 16-time pro wrestling champion legacy.
They are partnering with Verano, a large cannabis conglomerate with a $1.9 billion market cap (total value) as of market close on Tuesday, to bring the products to market. They will first launch in October in Arizona, Nevada, and Illinois, before expanding to Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia later in 2022. (They also will be available in California and Missouri shortly, separately from the Verano partnership.)
“Ric’s a marketing genius,” Bronstein said of the 73-year-old Flair. “As with Mike Tyson, when Ric goes to market, people show up, and they want to know more. They both connect with consumers and want their fans to be happy.
“Ric’s lived a certain lifestyle and he’s seen it all, from bad use of drugs, to what cannabis and psychedelics can do for people who have suffered.”
Flair credits edible cannabis gummies with helping to ween him of Ambien and Xanax, the latter of which he had used for more than 30 years as a sleep aid.
“Ambien and Xanax are the only two drugs I’ve ever taken — only to sleep, to relax,” Flair said. “You can get hooked on both of those. Cannabis has relieved me of both of those. I’ve been taking Xanax since 1989. Now it’s nonexistent because of these products. I had to ween myself off. It took me about eight weeks to get off it. I’d highly recommend that to anybody. People eat Xanax like candy.”
As is his custom, Flair is hustling a busy schedule in the coming weeks. This weekend in Houston, he’s doing a photo and autograph signing with his daughter, WWE superstar Charlotte Flair, and it’s the first time they’ve ever done a photo op together. Then he has an appearance in New York with CarShield. He has a two-hour sitdown with Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson. Labor Day weekend, he’ll be appearing at an ALS benefit for his friend, former Chicago Bear and Four Horseman Steve “Mongo” McMichael. There’s a cancer fundraiser to attend in Tampa on Sep. 17. Flair also has a couple more filming sessions for what he says is a “huge WWE documentary” coming up.
Beyond that, he will be touring to promote the cannabis launch in October and November. He will also be commemorating the 50th anniversary of his pro wrestling career, which kicked off on Sept. 24, 1972. Flair recently wrestled his final match, in Nashville, promoted by his son-in-law, podcast and mortgage magnate Conrad Thompson.
While he will be hard-charging at least through the end of the year, he also described aspirations to slow it down.
“If everything Chad Bronstein has told me comes even remotely close to being true, I will be a hard camper to find,” Flair said.
“It will cost twice as much for my autograph. It will cost three times as much for my picture. I will have a boat bigger than this 85-foot yacht sitting outside my apartment right now. I will be sent off the coast of whichever country where I want to be. The boat will have a small boat that can go 90 miles an hour tied up to it to play around with. And I will be surrounded by attractive women.”