Ric Flair has given his own account of events from his recent restaurant visit that made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Many were curious about what happened in a branch of Piesanos Stone Fired Pizza in Gainesville, Florida when Ric Flair put out a statement on social media expressing his displeasure after visiting the establishment after spending $1,500 and having an issue with a member of staff. The restaurant responded and defended their staff as they acted accordingly to respond to the situation. Although the owner had no plans to release the security camera footage of the incident involving Flair, it was caught on film.
Footage of Ric Flair was uploaded to TikTok and saw The Nature Boy arguing with staff at Piesanos and at one point referring to a member of staff as “Nicholas Dickhead.” Continuing, Flair also argued that he had been cut off from serving any more alcohol, offered a member of staff a $1,000 tip to tell the manager to “Kiss my ass” and asked one member of staff if they wanted to meet him outside. When a patron took Flair up on the offer, the Hall of Famer declined.
Ric Flair Responds
The Gainesville Sun has caught up with Ric Flair now that new information about his visit has come to light. In what Flair describes as an “honest to God story”, Flair claims that he was approached by a member of staff in the bathroom of Piesanos and stated that he does not shake hands or take photos in bathrooms.
Flair continues, claiming that the employee went into the bathroom stall and that he could see him texting while in the cubical:
“Any man that goes into a bathroom knows you can see into the stall,” Flair said. “I said, ‘Get your a– off there, I need to use the restroom.’ “
Although the employee seemed happy when he exited the bathroom according to the Hall of Famer, a female member of staff approached Flair and described him as a “peeping tom” and a “creep” following the meeting.
Flair went on to say that he would not tolerate the remarks and described them as “pretty offensive” and elaborated:
“I’ll be quite honest with you, I was pissed because I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s my word against the kitchen employee and it makes no sense,” Flair said Tuesday. “I admit to everything I said. I have no problem with it because I was mad.”
In response to the $1,000 tip that Flair offered, Flair confirmed that he did tip “$1,000 on about a $200 tab” that was for two bartenders who he believed gave great service, which was rejected by the restaurant. Piesano’s co-owner Jerry Roberts also spoke to The Gainesville Sun and revealed that the tip was still paid out but was paid out of the owners’ pocket:
“It was really a matter of principle on how our team was treated and no matter how much money someone’s willing to spend, if their not going to treat our team with respect, we just felt like that was the right thing to do,”
Ending the interview, Flair said that he is considering a lawsuit over what took place:
“I have the money to buy the restaurant,” he said. “It’ll be called Ric Flair’s Italian Bistro.”
Update: In a separate interview on Q105 [via TMZ], Ric Flair elaborated further on what happened at the restaurant:
“All I can tell you is that I had a disagreement with apparently a kitchen employee in the bathroom, which no one was around. Just me and him,” he said. “The two people that were tending bar were very nice. I gave them a $1000 tip.
It was two people I had not met prior to coming out of the bathroom and they said that I was out line. I said, ‘How would you know? You weren’t in there.’ It escalated. I was wrong for getting mad. I thought I was defending my position. I was with my wife and my step-daughter, who has a degree in criminology, she was so scared she ran out the door.”
Flair also admitted that it was wrong for him to lose his temper and he should not have gotten upset:
“I was wrong for losing my temper. When I feel like I’m put in an area where I’m uncomfortable and all of a sudden everything fell apart. I got upset. I was wrong for getting upset. I probably should have walked out the door. It caught me off guard. We were having a wonderful time. Someone in the kitchen said I did something wrong in the bathroom. There was no one there except me and him.”
H/t to Fightful
Ric Flair also denied that he was drunk as he “only had Michelob Ultras and “probably” two mixed drinks” at the venue. Closing out the interview, Flair also revealed that after everything went down he still did order food from Piesanos via Uber Eats.
AEW has not commented on the situation.