Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer is reporting the reason why Ric Flair did not appear on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts TV broadcast from the First Horizon Coliseum as advertised, was due to a recently torn rotator cuff. At the time of this writing, there are no details on how Flair sustained the injury. Meltzer added that Flair was in a “ton of pain.”
Flair did however, do a brief live appearance at the venue off-air. Meltzer also notes that AEW had to make changes, as Flair was originally booked for what was assumed to be the Ricky Steamboat/FTR segment that aired in between the women’s and men’s Blood & Guts Match. Dax Harwood mentioned Flair by name during the segment.
Flair last appeared on the taped May 17 Beach Break episode of Collision, participating in the tribute to Steve “Mongo” McMichael who passed away on April 23 at age 67 due to ALS.