Jay Lethal on Flair

Hey guys,
I’ve finally got my computer up and running once again. I feel bad about the amount of time that has passed since my last entry so I figured I would make this one extra special. Enjoy!

To properly describe my experience with Ric Flair we first must talk about the discovery of my Ric Flair imitation. In January of 2009 I went to the UK with TNA and it was an incredible trip. (Remember I said I was horrible with dates). The fact that I was loud and rowdy every time we all got on a bus to go to the next town, proved I was excited to be there. Oh, I forgot to mention that most bus rides were 6am or 11:30pm. I remember bothering Kurt Angle every bus ride, even saving him a seat next to mine so he could hear my macho man/machismo first hand. Needless to say, Kurt was not very amused but everyone else was.

As pro wrestlers being on the road and away from our families is pretty sad so we sometimes have to make our own fun to amuse ourselves or we will go crazy. Well, on our first off day while in the UK some of the guys when out sight seeing. I however was so tired I slept the whole day. Bugging Kurt is a energy draining thing because he is very skilled at drowning people out and ignoring them. When I woke up from the best sleep session ever I realized that the sun had already come and gone. I forget who I was sharing a room with for this wrestling tour but im sure they will never forget, for a number of reasons HA!

When I finally got out of bed I headed to the hotel bar for some food and to see what everyone else was doing. Most of the wrestlers were there having a good time. So I grabbed some food and was persuaded to have a drink by someone who will remain nameless. Most people who know me personally know that I’m not a big drinker. This time I figured, I’m in the UK miles from home, I’m an adult, and I’m having fun so ill have a few. Well wouldn’t you know, a few just so happened to be my limit but unfortunately I didn’t stop at a few. I had drink after drink after drink of…. I cant even remember. I was having some of everything!

After all those drinks I then realized along with everyone else on the tour that I had a pretty good Nature Boy Ric Flair imitation. As a matter of fact its all anyone heard out of me for the rest of the trip. Which was great cause Kurt was getting tired of listening and sitting next to Machismo.

It was only fitting that I bring this Flair imitation of mine back to the states with me for all to enjoy. (by all, I mean the boys who weren’t on the tour). Much like how my Macho Man imitation started, my Ric Flair was becoming a part of me 24/7. Sometimes I would do the Ric Flair imitation slightly without even realizing it. This caught on huge backstage. As a matter of fact the biggest fan of my imitation was/is TNA’s Sr. Director of live events, a man by the name of Craig Jenkins.
Craig was a good sport about the whole thing even though I’ve insulted him the most as Machismo and Flair. I think he knows that Jay loves him but Machismo and Flair slightly hate him Ha! I could tell that the Flair imitation was either really good or really entertaining because now various members of the TNA locker room and office staff started to do their own Flair imitations when they saw me.

My friends and family would now have to listen to both of my imitations for a straight nine months. They finally got a break from me, Machismo and Flair when I went along with TNA on another over seas tour. This time I annoyed I mean entertained everyone on the bus in Germany. I had some new people to bother during this tour like Mick Foley, who I sat next to on most of the bus rides. I think I bothered Mick so much that he told me that I was going to be the new “Al Snow” in his next book. I didn’t really mind since it would help get my name out there. I thought that this could be my big break. I was a bit let down though, because when I read the book I saw that I was only mentioned FOUR times. Looks like I’d have to get famous some other way.

After Germany, anytime people would see me in the locker room they would do a Ric Flair imitation. Then suddenly, about 2 or 3 weeks after being back from Germany a tiny rumor started to spread in the locker room. This rumor “started out low, but then started to grow.” (That’s my favorite line from the Grinch, HA!) The rumor was that Ric Flair was coming to TNA. Of course right away I thought this was a joke to try and scare me. Soon everyone was asking me the same two questions every twenty minutes. “Did you hear that Ric Flair is coming to TNA?” and “ Are you going to do that imitation for him?”

Now I started getting nervous. How can I imitate Ric Flair, in front of Ric Flair? I was suddenly peed I had too much to drink in the UK almost a year ago. Even though I realize that it wasn’t the alcohol that gave me this great Flair imitation. It was the years and years of watching him, and all the videos and tape of his promos I would watch while growing up. When it was announced that he would be at the Impact Zone on January 4th I was still in shock even though I had known for a few weeks.
Every Impact taping leading up to Flairs debut was nerve wrecking. It seemed every ten minutes I was being challenged or dared to go up to Ric Flair and start doing the imitation for him. A few dared me to introduce myself to him as “the Real Worlds Champion”. This was something I quickly answered “Sure” to but in the back of my mind I knew there was no way I was going to do it. I had it all planned out. I was going to have to catch Flair when he was all alone to introduce myself to him so I wouldn’t make a fool of myself.

Well wouldn’t you know, on January 4th when Ric Flair arrived I tried to avoid him. My logic was, let everyone else meet him first, that way when I go up to him everyone else is off doing his or her own thing. At this point the fan that lived within me was screaming at me to go meet Ric Flair. So I set out to find him. I leave the locker room, turn the corner and I can see him off in the distance surrounded by people. As I get closer I notice that some of the people around Flair are looking back at me, smiling. I’m talking about that smile that says “I cant wait to see this”. At this point I’m ready to turn back because now I realized that this is what some of the guys have been waiting for. They want to see if I’ll do my imitation in front of the real thing. Well they are going to be sadly disappointed because I’m not going to imitate Flair to his face. I’m totally prepared for the backlash from my peers for chickening out. I make my way around a few people standing in my way and BAM! I’m now standing in front of Ric Flair.

I stick out my gross sweaty hand gesturing for a handshake. Before he starts to move his hand/arm I blurt out “Hello Mr. Flair, my name is Jamar and it is an honor to met you.” I then realize that not only is he not extending his arm/hand to shake mine. He is staring at me with his classic half grin and his chin pulled back to rest against his neck. My brothers and I have seen this look from him plenty of times before but a Four-Horseman-style ass whipping normally follows it. Before I could realize that this was becoming an awkward moment, Flair spoke. The words that came out of his mouth literally almost made me urine my pants. He said, “Lets Hear it!”