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Several wrestlers past and present have spoken out on the highly popular Bret Hart/Ric Flair public war of words, shedding insight mainly on their similar claim that the other guy wasn't as good a wrestler as history made them out to be. The general consensus amongst those who have offered comments were that both were as good as their stock represents.
Dusty Rhodes told 1wrestling.com, "the greatest wrestler to lace his boots was the Nature Boy Ric Flair. Nobody in the business today and nobody in the history of the business could lace Ric Flair’s boots." In reference to Bret Hart, Rhodes said, "Having never had the privilege of actually wrestling with Bret Hart, it is hard to acknowledge his claim of being the best there ever was. Bret Hart went from Calgary to the WWF and made his name. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him."
Another "Nature Boy", Buddy Landel told 1wrestling.com, "I've wrestled them both and if my thoughts mean anything, here goes! Ric Flair is the single greatest wrestler (bar none) that has ever been in our business. You see Flair arriving, you know here comes the champ. See him in the airport, here comes the champ. In the ring you get your money's worth - if you could ever find a seat! To the few, including myself, who have had the pleasure of wrestling the world champ, it was a tough long night ahead of you and you'd better be in shape. Bret was decent but a robot in my opinion. To someone who wrestled them both there was no comparison. Ric Flair has earned the right to say what ever the hell he wants to say."
Fresh from retiring from in-ring competition, Lance Storm offered his comments on the who the better worker is on his website, StormWrestling.com: "I know I will be asked a million times whom I consider the better worker, but to be honest I don't know. I've never worked with Bret (Likely the biggest regret of my career), and I've only worked Ric one time and according to his book, it was a time when he was at his worst." He also said, "Now I know this statement goes to endorse what Bret has said but I find it hard to believe that the performance he had with me is typical Ric Flair. He has had great matches with so many people over the years. I think quite probably they are both great workers, each with their own strengths and flaws. Like many things in wrestling it is all a matter of taste. I preferred Bret's matches, but preferred Flair's promos. I think Flair was a bigger part of the wrestling industry because his career spanned a greater number of years and Bret was on top far lesser a time and really only worked for the one company. (I refuse to acknowledge Bret's WCW years because he was so absurdly wasted.)"
Source: various
Dusty Rhodes told 1wrestling.com, "the greatest wrestler to lace his boots was the Nature Boy Ric Flair. Nobody in the business today and nobody in the history of the business could lace Ric Flair’s boots." In reference to Bret Hart, Rhodes said, "Having never had the privilege of actually wrestling with Bret Hart, it is hard to acknowledge his claim of being the best there ever was. Bret Hart went from Calgary to the WWF and made his name. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him."
Another "Nature Boy", Buddy Landel told 1wrestling.com, "I've wrestled them both and if my thoughts mean anything, here goes! Ric Flair is the single greatest wrestler (bar none) that has ever been in our business. You see Flair arriving, you know here comes the champ. See him in the airport, here comes the champ. In the ring you get your money's worth - if you could ever find a seat! To the few, including myself, who have had the pleasure of wrestling the world champ, it was a tough long night ahead of you and you'd better be in shape. Bret was decent but a robot in my opinion. To someone who wrestled them both there was no comparison. Ric Flair has earned the right to say what ever the hell he wants to say."
Fresh from retiring from in-ring competition, Lance Storm offered his comments on the who the better worker is on his website, StormWrestling.com: "I know I will be asked a million times whom I consider the better worker, but to be honest I don't know. I've never worked with Bret (Likely the biggest regret of my career), and I've only worked Ric one time and according to his book, it was a time when he was at his worst." He also said, "Now I know this statement goes to endorse what Bret has said but I find it hard to believe that the performance he had with me is typical Ric Flair. He has had great matches with so many people over the years. I think quite probably they are both great workers, each with their own strengths and flaws. Like many things in wrestling it is all a matter of taste. I preferred Bret's matches, but preferred Flair's promos. I think Flair was a bigger part of the wrestling industry because his career spanned a greater number of years and Bret was on top far lesser a time and really only worked for the one company. (I refuse to acknowledge Bret's WCW years because he was so absurdly wasted.)"
Source: various