A toast over a can of shrooms. Not your standard Friday get-together in the gym, but it should be, and could be soon.
“They’re functional mushrooms; perfectly legal,” I’m assured as I cosy up next to brazenly alcoholic WWE legend Ric Flair for an afternoon energy boost.
Aptly named “Wooooo” and fronted by “the Nature Boy” himself, the sparkling mushroom elixir is formulated from adaptogenic mushrooms that help the body fight off harmful chemicals and biological effects that create stress at cellular level. With grocery stores stocking their shelves high and wide and no minimum age limit, randy Ric promises to move and shake the energy drinks market in a fashion only he could style.
Wooooo Energy is being plugged as the healthier, longer lasting and even more tasty alternative to your standard pre-workout. The “Nature Boy” ain’t shy of a party, and energy is his best friend.
“Red Bull is just good for two or three hours,” he claims. “But Wooooo is BOOM. That stuff will last you all day.I drank one at seven o'clock the other night and at five AM I was looking at the ceiling.”
Famed for his penchant for parties, Ric admits there is someone he can’t compete with.
“I had asthma as a kid, which I didn't really grow out of until I was like 25 or 26 so I just didn't smoke period,” he says. “But I mean, I've smoked cigarettes, I've done everything, and I've smoked marijuana. I'm smoking it now. I must be careful not to get too crazy though, because I haven't smoked enough lately to keep up with Mike (Tyson). When I go out with Mike, sometimes I forget where I am. I can’t keep up with Snoop Dog either.”
Staying true to the tipple, Ric responds with utter discontent to the notion perhaps booze isn’t the body's best friend.
“Who says alcohol has been proven to be bad for you?” he asks me. “If you listen to the FDA, everything is bad for you. I don’t put confidence in anything that my blood work doesn’t indicate. I drink every day. A lot. I drink Mic ULTRA, or if I've been on my boat and I’m sweating, I drink vodka, cranberries, soda, and a squeeze of a lime, plus a bottle of water. My blood work just came back. The doctor looked at me and said, "It's a miracle." He said, "The only thing I'd recommend is you drink more water if you're going to keep drinking that much alcohol." You can pour Wooooo onto vodka. Any flavor works. After three vodkas, it doesn’t make a difference. But honestly, dump that into vodka and there’s five hours of energy right there. That’s the real deal. It goes well with tequila too.”
When the lights eventually go out, Ric makes money while he sleeps.
“I'm making more money than ever in my life,” he says. “The Wooooo drinks are just getting going and I’ve got all my weed stuff going on too, alongside Mike Tyson, Future and Hulk Hogan. I didn't realize how much cannabis is loved, and people were dying to get it until we got into business.
“The stigma surrounding weed is pretty insignificant now. It’s enhanced my quality of life massively. I had some really major anxiety issues in '89. Somebody handed me a Xanax. I started out just taking one, two milligram bar a day, which is not a lot. But it's addictive. It is really addictive. So, when I first got ahold of the cannabis and the edibles, period, I would section myself off.
“I have gone back periodically, when I’m really stressed out, to taking a Xanax. But when I'm calm, like I am today, and I have my life in order, I can strictly sleep with edibles and booze and have no anxiety and no need for Xanax.”
“I've almost been dead a couple of times, so I kind of lived for the day for a long time. Now I want to live longer. But I don't give a shit if something happens. That make sense? When you've been as sick as I've been a couple of times, you either walk around like I did every day worrying about dying, or you say, “screw it.” It took me a long time to get to that point.”
I’ve made up my mind. I’m a huge Ric Flair fan. At 74-years-old, he’s obsessive, addictive and absolutely fucking hilarious.
The Loaded verdict? Diamonds are forever, and so is Ric Flair!
