Ric Flair Claims He Was Banned From WWE WrestleMania 42 For Threatening Ludwig Kaiser

Ric Flair has claimed that he was banned from WWE WrestleMania 42 over him threatening to beat up Ludwig Kaiser following the infamous segment between Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton that went off-script on the April 4, 2025 episode of SmackDown.

Flair described Ludwig Kaiser as Tiffany Stratton's husband and a 24-year-old English gentleman before the WWE Hall of Famer confirmed it was Kaiser he was referring to. Kaiser - real name Marcel Barthel - is actually a 35-year-old German man and he is now separated from Tiffany Stratton, although they were dating as of April 2025.

Flair said on the Ariel Helwani Show:

"I didn't get invited to WrestleMania this year. I threatened to beat up Tiffany Stratton's husband last year. I wasn't allowed to go. A 24-year-old kid being threatened by a 76-year-old man and I can't go to WrestleMania. Are you kidding me? That English kid. He's gonna go as far in wrestling as a gnat. He'll be a fly on the wall in a year.

"They had that thing where Tiffany made a smart remark about Ashley's divorces, which we both know she's not smart enough to have written. Somebody gave her the script. He implied, I'm just going based on social media once again which is a lot, that he was implying that he wouldn’t bum one off Ashley. And I went okay, I need your number. I got it, which I can get anybody's number who I want any minute of any day. I called him, I said, 'Hey, when I see you, I'm gonna beat the sh*t out of you.' So he went like a little b*tch, told Hunter, and I wasn't allowed to go.

"He's gonna go really far in the business. A 76-year-old man tells a 24-year-old kid he's going to kick his ass, and where is he now? Is he even on the roster? I'm sure he is [in Mexico], I hope he stays."

Flair then revealed that he didn't actually ask to attend WrestleMania 42, but he did call the company about attending the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, as Dennis Rodman, according to Flair, wanted the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion to induct him into the hall of fame. Flair noted he didn't receive a call back from WWE.

Charlotte Flair, whose real name is Ashley Fliehr, had an infamous promo segment with Tiffany Stratton ahead of their WrestleMania 41 match that went off-script, with Flair mocking Stratton's voice, Tiffany Stratton poking fun at Charlotte being divorced three times, and Flair then trying to fire back by claiming Ludwig Kaiser was in her DMs. Ludwig Kaiser responded to the segment with a video on X/Twitter of Shawn Michaels telling Diana Smith, "Please do not flatter yourself."

There was heat on both Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair following the incident but they were able to work together at WrestleMania 41 without any further issues.

Ric Flair was in Las Vegas during WrestleMania 42 weekend, signing autographs at Wrestlecon, among other events. Flair is still signed to All Elite Wrestling, having been a part of the promotion since 2023, although he is seldom used on TV.