Retirement ‘fuels' song surge

The Post and Courier

Ric Flair

It's only been a couple of weeks since his retirement, but Ric Flair's fantastic farewell continues to have far-reaching effects.

'Leave the Memories Alone,' the song that was used as a tribute to the Nature Boy throughout his final weekend as an active performer, has dramatically boosted sales for the rock group Fuel.

Sales of the song reportedly increased by 1,000 percent in the first week and then by an additional 409 percent the second week since Wrestlemania.

'It's a testament to wrestling fans and their passion toward Ric Flair,' Fuel's guitarist Carl Bell told the WWE Web site. 'It's hard to see somebody retire, especially somebody who has been such a big part of wrestling as Ric Flair has been.'

'It's hard to see somebody that has been an institution in wrestling, as he has been, leave,' Bell added. 'I think ‘Leave the Memories Alone' kind of encapsulates some of those sentiments toward that. He'll never change and he is what he was. He's been a big part of wrestling and a part of their lives.'

The group reportedly is in talks with Sony Records about re-releasing the song as a single due to the resurgence in sales.

WWE's Ric Flair DVD also is scheduled to be released on July 8. His previous collections have been among the best-selling in company history.

In a related blessing in disguise, CBS yanked the ratings-challenged 'Secret Talents of the Stars' after only one awful episode due to poor numbers, sparing Flair the embarrassment of being featured in one of the potentially worst reality shows in recent memory. He had been scheduled to perform a salsa dance routine during the first week in May.

Too bad the network didn't immediately capitalize on Flair's huge following and, in particular, the recent retirement buzz.

Count Diamond Dallas Page among the group that thinks we haven't seen the last of the Nature Boy inside a ring.

'Do I honestly think you will never see Ric Flair in the ring again? Stop it! Ha! Nature Boy and Vince left everybody wanting more ... I'll believe the Nature Boy's career is really over the day the Rolling Stones stop touring.'

Former ECW mastermind Paul Heyman, in a recent blog on the UK Sun, weighed in on Flair's farewell with a slightly different take.

Enough of the tears, he says, and more of the dirtiest player in the game.

'Just next time, I'd like to see the bug-eyed, half-crazed, surely out-of-his-mind Ric Flair. The custom-made from head-to-toe personification of the phrase ‘charismatic character' who just can't help but be the center of attention.

'That's the Ric Flair I want to see. I want to celebrate his career, not mourn it. I just don't want any more boo-hoos. I'm in the mood for a WHOOO!'

Former WWE and TNA performer Andrew 'Test' Martin was arrested last Sunday morning near Tampa and accused of driving under the influence.

Martin, 33, was stopped by an off-duty police officer after she spotted a 'reckless vehicle' driving north on Interstate 275. Florida Highway Patrol officers responded to the scene and noticed Martin's eyes were glassy and bloodshot and his speech was slurred, according to the police report.

The report also notes that the officer did not smell alcohol, but that Martin failed field sobriety tests and 'was constantly falling asleep in my vehicle,' the trooper wrote.

Martin was arrested on charges of DUI and driving while his license was suspended or revoked. He was taken to a local jail after refusing to submit to a urine test.

'Considering I don't drink alcohol or do drugs, I don't know how the DUI is going to stand,' the wrestler said later.

Martin has a long history of traffic violations, including speeding, seat-belt violations and reckless driving, according to his Florida driving record.

Jim Ross recently put into action the entertainer's credo that 'the show must go.'

The Hall of Fame announcer experienced health problems during Wrestlemania week in Orlando, but gutted it out during the company's busiest weekend.

'While in Orlando I started having colon problems again and began to lose a great deal of blood,' Ross wrote last week on his blog. 'But as the old saying goes, ‘the show must go on' and as I was once told, ‘a man can be sick at work just as easily as he can be sick at home,' so I kept my issues to myself and went about the task of doing my job.'

Ross spent the following Friday in the hospital back in his hometown of Norman, Okla., where three years earlier he had 13' of his large intestines removed along with a benign tumor from his colon.

'Friday was like a day at the beach compared that ordeal in 2005, as Friday I underwent a thorough colonoscopy and had 3-4 non-cancerous, thank God, polyps removed. I dodged another bullet,' said Ross.

Ross reported Friday that he was feeling better and planned on flying to the United Kingdom this weekend for Raw.

WWE diva Torrie Wilson recently stated on her MySpace that doctors have warned her against stepping back into the ring.

Reach Mike Mooneyham at (843) 937-5517 or mooneyham@postandcourier.com. For wrestling updates during the week, call The Post and Courier Info Line at (843) 937-6000, ext. 3090.