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Wikipedia

Ric Flair

April 08, 2023

Richard Morgan Fliehr[6][a] (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers[7] and journalists[8] as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanning over 50 years.

Ric Flair
Flair in November 2019
Born (1949-02-25) February 25, 1949 (age 74)[1]
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.[1]
Occupations
  • Professional wrestling manager
  • professional wrestler
Years active1972–present
Spouses
  • Leslie Goodman
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1971; div. 1983)​
  • Elizabeth Harrell
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1983; div. 2006)​
  • Tiffany VanDemark
    ​
    ​
    (m. 2006; div. 2009)​
  • Jackie Beems
    ​
    ​
    (m. 2009; div. 2014)​
  • Wendy Barlow
    ​
    (m. 2018)​
Children4, including David, Ashley, and Reid
RelativesConrad Thompson (son-in-law)[2]
Andrade El Idolo (son-in-law)
Ring name(s)The Black Scorpion[1]
Ric Flair[1]
Billed height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[3]
Billed weight243 lb (110 kg)[3]
Billed fromCharlotte, North Carolina, U.S.[3]
Trained byVerne Gagne[3][4]
DebutDecember 10, 1972[1][5]

He is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Much of his career was spent in JCP and WCW, where he won numerous titles. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the moniker "the Nature Boy". A major pay-per-view attraction throughout his career, Flair headlined the premier annual NWA/WCW event, Starrcade, on ten occasions, while also co-headlining its WWF counterpart, WrestleMania, in 1992, after winning that year's Royal Rumble.[9] PWI awarded him their Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the Wrestler of the Year (an award named after him and Lou Thesz) a record eight times. The first two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, first inducted with the class of 2008 for his individual career and again with the class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen, he is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Flair is officially recognized by WWE as a 16-time world champion (8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, 6-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and two-time WWF Champion),[10] although the number of his world championship reigns varies by source, ranging from 16 to 25.[11] He has claimed to be a 21-time champion.[12] He was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (which he also held last). As the inaugural WCW World Heavyweight Champion, he became the first person to complete WCW's Triple Crown, having already held the United States Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships. He then completed WWE's version of the Triple Crown when he won the Intercontinental Championship, after already holding the WWF Championship and the World Tag Team Championship.

Early life

Fliehr was born on February 25, 1949, in Memphis, Tennessee.[6] His original parents were Luther and Olive Phillips, the latter of whom was also credited with the Demaree and Stewart surnames; nevertheless, his birth name is commonly considered to be Fred Phillips, even if he is also credited on various records as Fred Demaree or Fred Stewart.[13] He was adopted by Kathleen Kinsmiller Fliehr (1918–2003) and Richard Reid Fliehr (1918–2000). The Fliehrs decided to adopt due to Kathleen being unable to become pregnant after giving birth to a daughter who died shortly after.[14] At the time of his adoption (arranged by the Tennessee Children's Home Society as part of Georgia Tann's baby-kidnapping operation),[15] his adoptive father was completing a residency in obstetrics and gynecology in Detroit, Michigan.[16] His adoptive mother worked for the Star Tribune.[citation needed] Shortly afterward, the family settled in Edina, Minnesota, where the young Fliehr lived throughout his childhood. After ninth grade, he attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin for four years, during which time he participated in interscholastic wrestling, football, and track.[17] After high school, Fliehr briefly attended the University of Minnesota.[18]

Professional wrestling career

American Wrestling Association (1972–1974)

A successful amateur wrestler in his teens, Flair trained as a professional wrestler with Verne Gagne.[4] He attended Gagne's first wrestling camp with Greg Gagne, "Jumpin'" Jim Brunzell, The Iron Sheik and Ken Patera at Gagne's barn outside Minneapolis in the winter of 1971. On December 10, 1972, he made his debut in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, battling George "Scrap Iron" Gadaski to a 10-minute draw while adopting the ring name Ric Flair.[4][5] During his time in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Flair had matches with Dusty Rhodes, Chris Taylor, André the Giant, Larry Hennig and Wahoo McDaniel.[19][20]

International Wrestling Enterprise (1973)

Flair made his first appearances in Japan in 1973 with International Wrestling Enterprise (IWE) as part of a working agreement between the IWE and AWA promoter Verne Gagne. He competed in IWE's "Big Summer Series" throughout June and July, facing opponents such as Animal Hamaguchi, Great Kusatsu, Katsuzo Matsumoto, Mighty Inoue, and Rusher Kimura.[21]

Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling (1974–1991)

Becoming the Nature Boy (1974–1981)

 
Flair in a 1981 match against Ernie Ladd

In 1974, Flair left the AWA for Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic region in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)[19] and he soon captured his first singles title, when on February 9, 1975, he beat Paul Jones for the Mid-Atlantic TV Championship. On October 4, 1975, however, Flair's career nearly ended when he was in a serious plane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina that took the life of the pilot and paralyzed Johnny Valentine (also on board were Mr. Wrestling, Bob Bruggers, and promoter David Crockett).[22][1] Flair broke his back in three places and, at age 26, was told by doctors that he would never wrestle again.[22] Flair conducted a rigorous physical therapy schedule, however, and he returned to the ring just three months later, where he resumed his feud with Wahoo McDaniel in January 1976.[22] The crash did force Flair to alter his wrestling technique away from the power brawling style he had used early on to one more focused on grappling, which led him to adopt the "Nature Boy" gimmick he would use throughout his career. Flair won the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship when he defeated Bobo Brazil on July 29, 1977, in Richmond, Virginia.[23] During the next three years, he held five reigns as NWA United States Heavyweight Champion while feuding with Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper, Mr. Wrestling, Jimmy Snuka and Greg Valentine (with whom he also formed a championship tag team). However, Flair reached elite status when he began referring to himself as "The Nature Boy" in order to incite a 1978 feud with the original "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, who put Flair over in one encounter.[24]

NWA World Heavyweight Champion (1981–1991)

See also: The Four Horsemen

On September 17, 1981, Flair beat Dusty Rhodes for his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship.[1] In the following years, Flair established himself as the promotion's main franchise in the midst of emerging competition from Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF). An unsanctioned title loss took place on January 6, 1983, to Carlos Colón Sr. in Puerto Rico.[11] Flair recovered the championship belt in a phantom change seventeen days later not officially recognized by the NWA. Harley Race won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Flair in 1983, but Flair regained the title at Starrcade in a steel cage match.[1] Officially, Flair won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship eight more times. Flair lost the title to Race and won it back in the span of three days in New Zealand and Singapore in March 1984. At the first David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions at Texas Stadium, Flair was pinned by Kerry Von Erich, but he regained the title eighteen days later in Japan[25] and reigned for two years, two months and two days, losing the title to Dusty Rhodes on July 26, 1986, at The Great American Bash in a Steel Cage Match.[26] However, Flair regained the title at a house show on August 9, when Rhodes passed out in the Figure Four leglock.[27]

In late 1985, the tag team of Arn Anderson and Ole Anderson began aiding Flair (whom they claimed as a "cousin") in attacks against Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A. and Sam Houston. A few weeks later, the Andersons interrupted Houston's match against Tully Blanchard and the three villains combined to rough up the youngster. Shortly thereafter, Flair, Blanchard and the Andersons formalized their alliance, calling themselves The Four Horsemen, with Blanchard's manager J. J. Dillon also coming on board. Upon the group's inception, it was clear that The Four Horsemen were unlike any villainous alliance that had ever existed, as the four rule breakers immediately used their strength in numbers to decimate the NWA's top fan favorites (most famously a vicious beatdown to Rhodes with a baseball bat in a parking lot) while controlling the majority of the championship titles.[28]

By 1986, wrestling promoter Jim Crockett had consolidated the various NWA member promotions he owned into a single entity, running under the banner of the National Wrestling Alliance. Controlling much of the traditional NWA territories in the southeast and Midwestern United States, Crockett looked to expand nationally and built his promotion around Flair as champion. During this time, Flair's bookings as champion were tightly controlled by Crockett, and a custom championship belt was created for Flair. Flair lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Detroit to Ron Garvin on September 25, 1987. Garvin held the title for two months before losing to Flair on November 26, 1987, at WCW's first pay-per-view event, Starrcade, in Chicago.[29]

 
One of Flair's signature robes

In early 1988, Sting and Flair fought to a 45-minute time-limit draw at the first ever Clash of the Champions. On February 20, 1989, at Chi-Town Rumble in Chicago, Ricky Steamboat pinned Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. This prompted a series of rematches, where Steamboat was presented as a "family man" (often accompanied by his wife and young son), while Flair opposed him as an immoral, fast-living "ladies man". Following a best-of-three falls match with Steamboat that lasted just short of the 60-minute time limit (and ended with a disputed finish where Steamboat retained the title) at Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin' Cajun on April 2, Flair regained the title from Steamboat on May 7, 1989, at WrestleWar in a match that was voted 1989's "Match of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.[30] On July 23, 1989, Flair defeated Terry Funk at The Great American Bash, but the two continued to feud through the summer and eventually Flair reformed The Four Horsemen, with the surprise addition of longtime rival Sting, to combat Funk's J-Tex Corporation. This led to an "I Quit" match at Clash of the Champions IX: New York Knockout which Flair won.[31] Flair then kicked Sting out of The Four Horsemen upon his challenge for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, resulting in a revived feud between the two. On July 7, 1990, Flair dropped the title to Sting at The Great American Bash.[1] After being unmasked as The Black Scorpion at Starrcade in 1990, Flair regained the title from Sting on January 11, 1991.[32]

Subsequent to this title win, Flair was recognized by WCW as the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion, though he was still also recognized as NWA World Heavyweight Champion. On March 21, 1991, Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Flair in a match in Tokyo at the WCW/New Japan Supershow. While the NWA recognized Fujinami as their new champion, WCW did not because Fujinami had backdropped Flair over the top rope in a violation of WCW rules. On May 19, 1991, Flair defeated Fujinami at SuperBrawl I in St. Petersburg, Florida to reclaim the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.[33] In the spring of 1991, Flair had a contract dispute with WCW president Jim Herd, who wanted him to take a substantial pay cut. Flair had resigned as head booker in February 1990 and Herd wanted to reduce Flair's role in the promotion even further, despite the fact that Flair was still a top draw. According to Flair, Herd also proposed changes in his appearance and ring name (i.e. by shaving his hair, wearing a diamond earring and going by the name Spartacus) in order to "change with the times".[34] Flair disagreed with the proposals and two weeks before The Great American Bash, Herd fired him and vacated the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. While Flair had left for the WWF, he was still recognized as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion until September 8, when the title was officially vacated.[35]

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1978, 1981–1987, 2013)

While working for Jim Crockett Jr.'s Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW), Flair began working tours for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). On April 27, 1978, Flair challenged for the NWA United National Championship in a losing effort. Throughout the 1980s, Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in All Japan against the likes of Genichiro Tenryu, Riki Choshu, Jumbo Tsuruta, Harley Race, and Kerry Von Erich. On October 21, 1985, Flair wrestled Rick Martel in a double title match where he defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and challenged for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, but the match ended in a double countout. As All Japan withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in the late 1980s, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) began a working agreement with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In 1989, the working agreement led to a feud between Flair and Keiji Mutoh, who was wrestling under The Great Muta gimmick, in the United States for WCW. On March 21, 1991, Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and challenged Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a double title match on the WCW/New Japan Supershow at the Tokyo Dome. Fujinami beat Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but later lost the title at WCW's SuperBrawl I on May 19, 1991, in the United States.[36]

On January 2, 2013, All Japan announced that Flair would make his return to AJPW for the first time in five years on January 26, 2013, teaming with Keiji Mutoh to take on Tatsumi Fujinami and Seiya Sanada. This would have been his first professional wrestling match since his September 2011 loss to Sting on Impact Wrestling and his first for All Japan since March 1987.[37][38] However, on January 26, just moments before the start of the All Japan event, the promotion announced that Flair was forced to pull out of his match because of a "sudden illness",[39] later reported as a badly swollen left leg. Flair was replaced in the match by his son Reid, but also ended up getting involved in the match himself, delivering chops to Seiya Sanada.[40]

World Wrestling Federation (1991–1993)

Flair signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in August 1991 and began appearing on television with the Big Gold Belt, calling himself "The Real World's Champion".[1] His first match with the promotion saw him squash Jim Powers on an episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge that aired on September 29. Led by his "financial adviser" Bobby Heenan and his "executive consultant" Mr. Perfect, Flair repeatedly issued challenges to WWF wrestlers like "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan, wrestling a team led by Piper at Survivor Series in November 1991 and helping The Undertaker defeat Hogan for the WWF Championship that same night.[41] WCW sued Flair in an attempt to reclaim the championship belt,[42] but Flair claimed otherwise due to a loophole in NWA policy; at the time he first became champion, the NWA required all of the wrestlers that it selected to be world champion to put down a security deposit of $25,000, which, in effect, resulted in the belt being leased to any wrestler who held it. The NWA, in usual cases, would return the deposit and any interest that may have accumulated upon the conclusion of the wrestler's championship reign. They did not do this for Flair before he was terminated by WCW, and since the money was still owed to him by the NWA upon his signing with the WWF, Flair believed that the title belt had become his personal property to do with as he pleased.[43]

At the 1992 Royal Rumble, Flair won the Rumble match to claim the vacant WWF Championship. Flair entered as number three in the Rumble match and lasted 60 minutes, last eliminating Sid Justice with help from Hulk Hogan, who had been eliminated by Justice seconds earlier.[41] In February 1992, Flair faced WWF Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper in a series of inconclusive title-versus-title matches. Randy Savage then challenged Flair for the WWF Championship as part of the double main event at WrestleMania VIII. In the storyline, Flair taunted Savage by claiming that he had a prior relationship with Savage's wife, Miss Elizabeth. Savage defeated Flair for the title at WrestleMania.[41] In July 1992, as Savage prepared to defend the title against The Ultimate Warrior at SummerSlam,[41] Flair and Mr. Perfect sowed distrust between the two by suggesting that they would back one or the other during their match. They actually attacked both Savage and Warrior, resulting in the latter winning by countout, and injured Savage's knee, an injury that Flair exploited to regain the title in a match with Savage three days later on September 1 in Hershey, Pennsylvania.[44] On September 15, 1992, Flair defended the WWF Championship against Genichiro Tenryu at a Wrestle Association R event in Yokohama, Japan; the match ended in a draw.[45] Flair's second reign ended when he lost the title to Bret Hart on October 12, 1992, at a house show.[46]

Flair teamed with Razor Ramon to take on Savage and Perfect at the Survivor Series in November 1992.[41] Flair appeared in the Royal Rumble in January 1993, then lost a Loser Leaves the WWF match to Mr. Perfect on the next night's (January 25, 1993) Monday Night Raw in a match taped six days earlier.[47] Flair had a verbal agreement with Vince McMahon with the condition that if he wasn't going to be used in a main event position and had an offer to go elsewhere, he would be released from his contract. He opted to leave WWF when he was going to be moved to a mid-card position and Bill Watts offered to come back to WCW.[48] Flair then fulfilled his remaining house show commitments and took part in the WWF's "Winter Tour '93" of Europe. He made his last appearance with the WWF on February 11, 1993, before returning to WCW.[49]

Super World of Sports (1992)

In April 1992, Flair toured Japan with the Super World of Sports (SWS) promotion as part of an agreement between the WWF and SWS. In his first bout, he teamed with The Natural Disasters to defeat Ashura Hara, Genichiro Tenryu, and Takashi Ishikawa in a six-man tag team match. He went on to defeat Tenryu in a singles match, then lost to Tenryu in a two-out-of-three falls match.[50]

World Championship Wrestling (1993–2001)

WCW World Heavyweight Champion (1993–1996)

See also: The Four Horsemen

Flair triumphantly returned to WCW as a hero in February 1993. As a result of a "no-compete" clause he was initially unable to wrestle, so he hosted a short-lived talk show in WCW called A Flair for the Gold. Arn Anderson usually appeared at the bar on the show's set, and Flair's maid Fifi cleaned or bore gifts. Once he returned to action, Flair briefly held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for a tenth time after defeating Barry Windham at Beach Blast before WCW finally left the NWA in September 1993. At Fall Brawl, Flair lost the title, now rebranded the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship, to "Ravishing Rick" Rude. At Starrcade in 1993, Flair defeated Vader to win the WCW World Heavyweight title for the second time. In the spring of 1994, Flair began a tweener turn and started another feud with longtime rival Ricky Steamboat and challenged Steamboat to a match at Spring Stampede which ended in a no contest from a double pin, causing the title to be held up. Flair then defeated Steamboat in a rematch to reclaim the held-up title on an episode of WCW Saturday Night. The WWE does not count this victory as a new title win.[51] Flair then challenged Col. Robert Parker to wrestle one of his men at Slamboree, which turned out to be Barry Windham, whom Flair defeated, afterwards he quietly turned heel and took Sherri Martel as his manager.[52] He would also wrestle Lord Steven Regal in a five-match series under Marquess of Queensberry Rules, which aired on WCW Worldwide between April 30 and May 28, in which Flair won the series, with 2 wins, 1 loss, and 2 draws.[53]

In June 1994 at Clash of the Champions XXVII, Flair defeated Sting in a unification match, merging the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, and solidifying his heel turn after his alliance with Sherri was brought into the open after she helped him win the match while pretending that she had sided with Sting. After becoming the unified and undisputed WCW champion, Flair feuded with Hulk Hogan upon Hogan's arrival in WCW in June 1994, losing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to him in July at Bash at the Beach. Flair continued to feud with Hogan and finally lost to Hogan in a steel cage retirement match at Halloween Havoc. Flair took a few months off afterwards before returning to WCW television in January 1995 for an interview at Clash of the Champions XXX. After attacking Hogan at Superbrawl V, Flair also began appearing as a part-time manager for Vader, who was engaged in feud with Hogan, and developed a short-lived angle where he was "possessed," even attacking his old WWF opponent Randy Savage at the first Uncensored. He soon afterwards returned to wrestling.(explained on-air by having Flair nag Hogan for months until Hogan and Savage both petitioned WCW management to let Flair come back).[54] Upon returning to wrestling, Flair quickly revived his 1992 feud with Savage, but this time also got Savage's father Angelo Poffo involved after he put him in a figure four leglock at Slamboree 1995.

On April 29, 1995, Flair wrestled Antonio Inoki in front of 190,000 spectators in Pyongyang, North Korea at the May Day Stadium in a losing effort under a joint show between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling. The event was broadcast on August 4, 1995, on pay-per-view under the title of Collision in Korea.[55] In the fall of 1995, Flair began a short feud with Arn Anderson, which culminated in a tag match that saw Flair turning on Sting to reform the new Four Horsemen with Flair as the leader, Arn Anderson, Brian Pillman, and Chris Benoit as the members. With the new Four Horsemen, Flair won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship two more times before the nWo invasion storyline began in WCW, with the first one being in December 1995 at Starrcade, where Flair defeated Lex Luger and Sting by countout and then defeated Savage after all three Four Horsemen members ran to the ring and Arn Anderson knocked out Savage with brass knuckles, thus allowing Flair to pin Savage to win the match and the title. Afterwards Savage won the title back on Nitro after Starcade, but Flair won the next match at SuperBrawl VI to regain the championship. During the feud, Savage's manager Miss Elizabeth turned against him and became Flair's valet. Together with Woman and Debra McMichael they would escort Flair to his matches until Miss Elizabeth was taken by the nWo in the fall and eventually returned as Savage's valet when he joined the nWo in 1997. Flair lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship eventually three months later to The Giant. The feud with Savage continued with The New Four Horseman joining the Dungeon of Doom to create an Alliance to end Hulkamania. Together the factions wrestled Hogan and Savage in a triple steel cage, End of Hulkamania match; losing to the reunited Mega Powers. Afterwards, Flair went on to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship and there were also changes in the Four Horseman in 1996, as Brian Pillman left WCW and Steve "Mongo" McMichael became the fourth member.[56]

Feud with the New World Order (1996–1999)

See also: The Four Horsemen
 
Flair in 1996.

Once again as a top fan favorite, Flair played a major role in the New World Order (nWo) invasion storyline in late 1996 and throughout 1997. He and the other Horsemen often took the lead in the war against Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hollywood Hulk Hogan, whom Flair immediately challenged for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the Clash of the Champions XXXIII, but won only by disqualification. In September 1996, Flair and Anderson teamed with their bitter rivals, Sting and Lex Luger, to lose to the nWo (Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and an impostor Sting) in the WarGames match at Fall Brawl when Luger submitted to the impostor Sting's Scorpion Deathlock.[57]

In October 1996, two developments occurred that affected the Four Horsemen when Jeff Jarrett came over to WCW from the WWF, and expressed his desire to join the Horsemen as he immediately gained a fan in Ric Flair, much to the chagrin of the other Horsemen. Flair finally let Jarrett join the group in February 1997, but the others did not want him, and in July 1997 was ultimately kicked out of the group by Flair himself, who had enough of the instability Jarrett's presence caused the Horsemen. Flair also feuded with Roddy Piper, Syxx, and his old nemesis Curt Hennig in 1997, after Hennig was offered a spot in The Four Horsemen only to turn on Flair and The Four Horsemen at Fall Brawl in September 1997, in which Hennig punctuated the act by slamming the cage door onto Flair's head.[58]

In April 1998, Flair disappeared from WCW television, due to a lawsuit filed by Eric Bischoff for no-showing a live episode of Thunder on April 9, 1998, in Tallahassee, Florida. After the case was settled, Flair made a surprise return on September 14, 1998, to ceremoniously reform the Four Horsemen (along with Steve McMichael, Dean Malenko, and Chris Benoit). Flair feuded with Bischoff for several months afterward. Flair repeatedly raked Eric Bischoff's eyes during this feud. This culminated in a match at Starrcade between Bischoff and Flair in December 1998, which Bischoff won after interference from Curt Hennig, a former member of the Four Horsemen. The following night in Baltimore on Nitro, Flair returned and threatened to leave WCW, demanding a match against Bischoff for the presidency of the company. The match was made, and despite the nWo interfering on Bischoff's behalf Flair won and was granted the position of president of WCW. This resulted in a match at SuperBrawl IX between Flair and Hollywood Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which Flair lost after being betrayed by his own son David Flair.[59]

Final world championship reigns (1999–2001)

See also: The Magnificent Seven

In spite of his son's betrayal, Flair signed a rematch at Uncensored which was billed as a First Blood barbed wire steel cage Match against Hogan where Flair's presidency and Hogan's WCW World Heavyweight Championship were on the line. Despite being the first to bleed, Flair won the match by pinfall thanks to the bias of the referee Charles Robinson, who counted Hogan out.[60]

As on-air WCW President, Flair began abusing his power much like Bischoff had, favoring villains over fan favorites and even awarding the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (which was vacated by Scott Steiner due to injury) to his son David and resorting to whatever means necessary to keep him as United States Heavyweight Champion. Flair eventually formed a stable of followers which included Roddy Piper, Arn Anderson and the Jersey Triad to keep things in order. Flair's reign as president came to an end on the July 19 episode of Nitro, when he faced and lost to Sting for the position. During the course of the match, Sting had Flair in his Scorpion Death Lock, but with the referee knocked unconscious, no decision could be reached. A returning Eric Bischoff came to the ring and began ordering the timekeeper to ring the bell, which he eventually did, awarding the match and the presidency to Sting (who promptly gave it up upon receiving it).[61]

Flair won his last world titles in his career by winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice during 2000, the company's last full year of operation. When WCW was purchased by the WWF in March 2001, Flair was the leader of the villainous group called the Magnificent Seven.[62] Flair lost the final match of Nitro to Sting, recreating the second match of Nitro in 1995. Nevertheless, Flair has repeatedly stated in various interviews how happy he was when WCW finally closed down, although at the same time the fact that many people would lose their jobs saddened him.[63]

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1995, 1996)

In August 1995, while under WCW contract, Flair participated in the G1 Climax tournament in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he beat Shiro Koshinaka, drew Masahiro Chono, and lost to Keiji Mutoh. On July 17, 1996, Flair challenged Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort in NJPW.[36]

World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment (2001–2009)

WWF co-owner (2001–2002)

 
A bloody Flair at WrestleMania X8 in 2002.

After an eight-month hiatus from wrestling, Flair made a return to the WWF[64] on November 19, 2001.[65] Flair reappeared on Raw following the end of the "WCW/ECW Invasion" that culminated in a "Winner Take All" match at Survivor Series won by the WWF.[66] Flair's new on-screen role was that of the co-owner of the WWF, with the explanation that Shane and Stephanie McMahon had sold their stock in the company to a consortium (namely Flair) prior to purchasing World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling.[67] Flair's feud with Vince McMahon led them to a match at the Royal Rumble in January 2002 in a Street Fight, where Flair defeated McMahon.[66] Flair also wrestled The Undertaker at WrestleMania X8 in March 2002 where Flair lost.[68] The "co-owner" angle culminated in early 2002, when Flair controlled Raw and McMahon controlled SmackDown![69]

On the May 13 episode of Raw, Flair challenged Hollywood Hulk Hogan to a no disqualification match for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Flair would later lose the contest before moving onto a rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin. At Judgment Day, Flair teamed with Big Show and lost to Austin in a two-on-one handicap tag team match. On the June 3 episode of Raw, the feud between Flair and Austin would escalate after Austin defeated Flair in a singles contest. After Austin abruptly left the WWE in June while in a program with Flair, a match was hotshotted between Flair and McMahon for sole ownership of WWE, which Flair lost after interference from Brock Lesnar on the June 10 edition of Raw.[70]

At King of the Ring, Flair defeated Eddie Guerrero in a singles match after Guerrero and Chris Benoit would interrupt Flair's speech regarding losing his position as WWE co-owner; afterwards, Guerrero would lock Flair in his own signature figure four leg lock with help from Benoit. Flair's rivalry with Lesnar would continue into the month of July with Lesnar picking up wins over Flair in a singles match on the July 1 episode of Raw and in a tag team contest on the July 15 episode of Raw. Flair then became involved in a short-lived rivalry with Chris Jericho, leading to Flair defeating Jericho at SummerSlam. Flair was granted a World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H on the September 2 episode of Raw, which he lost. Later on that same night, Flair would team with Rob Van Dam as the duo were successful in defeating the team of Triple H and Jericho. At Unforgiven, Flair was unsuccessful in capturing the WWE Intercontinental Championship in a singles contest against Jericho.[71]

Under the WWE banner, Flair toured Japan periodically between 2002 and 2008. He successfully defended the World Tag Team Championship with Batista against The Dudley Boyz twice in February 2004. On the February 7, 2005 episode of Raw, broadcast from the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, Flair lost to Shawn Michaels in a singles match. In February 2008, Flair wrestled Mr. Kennedy in the Ariake Coliseum and William Regal in the Budokan Hall, both under the stipulation that he would retire if he lost.[72]

Evolution (2002–2005)

Main article: Evolution

In September 2002 at Unforgiven, Triple H defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Van Dam. During the match, Flair came down to the ring and grabbed the sledgehammer from Triple H and teased hitting him before hitting Van Dam, allowing Triple H to get the win, turning him heel in the process and accompanied Triple H to the ring as his manager.[73] Shortly after, Batista moved from SmackDown! to Raw and Flair also began accompanying him to the ring while continuing to second Triple H.[74] In June 2003 at Bad Blood, Flair was able to defeat Shawn Michaels after Orton struck Michaels with a chair.[75][76]

At the height of Evolution's power, the group controlled all of the male-based championships of Raw after Armageddon. Batista teamed with Flair to win the World Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) in a tag team turmoil match and Triple H regained the World Heavyweight Championship from Goldberg (in a triple threat match that also involved Kane), with the help of the other members of Evolution. In January 2004 at the Royal Rumble, Flair and Batista successfully defended the World Tag Team Championship against the Dudley Boyz in a tables match, and World Heavyweight Champion Triple H fought Shawn Michaels to no contest in a Last Man Standing match, thus retaining the championship. Flair and Batista lost the World Tag Team Championship on February 16 edition of Raw to Booker T and Rob Van Dam. At WrestleMania XX, Evolution defeated the Rock 'n' Sock Connection (The Rock and Mick Foley) in a 3-on-2 handicap match. The following week on Raw during the 2004 WWE draft lottery, Flair and Batista defeated Booker T and Rob Van Dam to win their second and final World Tag Team Championship, but they lost the titles to World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit and Edge on the April 19 episode of Raw.[77]

At SummerSlam, Orton pinned Benoit to become the new World Heavyweight Champion and the youngest World Champion in WWE history to date. On the episode of Raw the night after SummerSlam, Batista hoisted Orton on to his shoulders in what appeared to be a celebration, but following the thumbs down from Triple H, the group proceeded to attack Orton. At Unforgiven, Triple H beat Orton to regain the World Heavyweight Championship, with help from Flair, Batista, and Jonathan Coachman. Orton's feud with Evolution continued until Survivor Series where Triple H, Batista, Gene Snitsky, and Edge were defeated by Orton, Maven, Chris Jericho, and Chris Benoit in a Survivor Series match for control of Raw over the following month.[78]

In the Elimination Chamber match at New Year's Revolution, Batista, Orton and Triple H were the last three remaining in the match. Orton eliminated Batista with a RKO and Triple H pinned Orton with Batista's help to win the title. Triple H suggested that Batista not enter the Royal Rumble match, wanting the group to focus on Triple H retaining the title. At the Royal Rumble, Batista declined, entered the Rumble at number 28 and won. Triple H tried to persuade Batista to challenge the WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield of SmackDown! rather than for his World Heavyweight Championship. This involved Triple H plotting a feud between JBL and Batista, showing JBL badmouthing Batista in an interview and staging an attack on Batista with a limousine designed to look like Layfield's. The scheme was unsuccessful and at the brand contract signing ceremony on the February 21 episode of Raw, Batista chose to remain on Raw, infuriating Triple H and thus quitting the faction. Batista defeated Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21.[79] Flair and Triple H also starred in an ad for WrestleMania 21 that parodied the film Braveheart.[80]

After Vengeance, Triple H took time off and Flair turned face for the first time since 2002 before going on to win the Intercontinental Championship from Carlito at Unforgiven, and the group was dissolved. Triple H returned at the "Homecoming" episode of Raw on October 3 where he was to team with Flair in a tag team match against Carlito and Chris Masters. After winning that match, Triple H betrayed Flair and attacked him with a sledgehammer. Flair retained the Intercontinental Championship against Triple H at Taboo Tuesday in a steel cage match, which was voted as such by the fans. Flair later lost to Triple H in an acclaimed Last Man Standing non-title match at Survivor Series, which ended their feud.[81]

Final storylines and first retirement (2005–2008)

At the end of 2005, Flair had a feud with Edge that culminated in a WWE Championship Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match on Raw in early 2006, which Flair lost. On the February 20 episode of Raw, Flair lost the Intercontinental Championship to Shelton Benjamin, thus ending his reign at 155 days.[82] Flair took some time off in mid-2006 to rest and marry for the third time and he returned in June to work a program with his real-life rival Mick Foley that played off their legitimate past animosity.[83] Flair defeated Foley at Vengeance in a two out of three falls match, then at SummerSlam in an "I quit" match.[84]

 
Flair and Shawn Michaels deliver knife-edged chops to Kenny Dykstra of the Spirit Squad in 2006

Subsequently, he was involved in a rivalry with the Spirit Squad on Raw. On November 5, 2006, at Cyber Sunday, he captured the World Tag Team Championship from the Spirit Squad with Roddy Piper.[84] On the November 13 episode of Raw, Flair and Piper lost the World Tag Team Championship to Rated-RKO,[85] due to a disc problem with Piper and had to be flown immediately back to the United States as soon as Raw was off the air. On November 26, 2006, at Survivor Series, Flair was the sole survivor of a match that featured himself, Ron Simmons (replacing an injured Piper), Dusty Rhodes and Sgt. Slaughter versus the Spirit Squad.[84]

Flair then began teaming with Carlito after Flair said that Carlito had no heart.[86] Flair defeated Carlito in a match after which Carlito realized that Flair was right.[87] Flair and Carlito faced off against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch in a number one contender's match for the World Tag Team Championship but were defeated. The two teamed up on the WrestleMania 23 pre-show, and defeated the team of Chavo Guerrero and Gregory Helms. After weeks of conflict between Flair and Carlito,[88][89] the team split up when Carlito attacked Flair during a match on the April 30 episode of Raw.[90] At Judgment Day, Flair defeated Carlito with the figure four leglock.[91]

On the June 11 episode of Raw, Flair was drafted to the SmackDown! brand as part of the 2007 WWE draft.[92] He briefly feuded against Montel Vontavious Porter, unsuccessfully challenging him for the WWE United States Championship at Vengeance: Night of Champions.[93][94] Flair rejoined forces with Batista to feud with The Great Khali; the alliance was short-lived, however, as Flair was "injured" during a match with Khali on the August 3 episode of SmackDown!.[95][96]

After a three-month hiatus, Flair returned to WWE programming on the November 26 episode of Raw to announce "I will never retire".[97][98] Vince McMahon retaliated by announcing that the next match Flair lost would result in a forced retirement.[97] Later in the night, Flair defeated Orton after a distraction by Chris Jericho.[97][98] It was revealed on the 15th anniversary of Raw that the win or retire ultimatum only applied in singles matches. Flair won several "career threatening" matches against the opponents such as Triple H, Umaga, William Regal, Mr. Kennedy, and Vince McMahon himself among others.[99][100][101] On March 29, 2008, Flair was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a part of the class of 2008 by Triple H. The day after, Flair wrestled at WrestleMania XXIV in Orlando, Florida, losing to Shawn Michaels.[102] The match was lauded by fans and critics and was voted the 2008 Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Match of the Year. Flair's fight to keep his career going garnered him the 2008 PWI "Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year" award.[103]

Part-time appearances (2008–2009)

 
Flair at WrestleMania XXIV

On the March 31, 2008 episode of Raw, Flair delivered his farewell address. Afterward, Triple H brought out many current and retired superstars to thank Flair for all he had done, including Shawn Michaels, some of the Four Horsemen, Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, and Chris Jericho, followed by The Undertaker and then Vince McMahon. Along with the wrestlers, the fans gave Flair a standing ovation. This event represented a rare moment in WWE as both the heels and the faces broke character and came out to the ring together. Flair made his first post retirement appearance on the June 16, 2008 episode of Raw to confront Chris Jericho about his actions during a rivalry with Shawn Michaels. He challenged Jericho to a fight in the parking lot, rather than an official match, but Jericho was stopped by Triple H.[104]

The following year on February 9, Flair once again confronted Jericho on Raw. Jericho was attacking Hall of Fame members and Flair demanded he respect them, before punching Jericho.[105] Flair appeared a month later to distract him during a Money in the Bank Qualifying Match. Jericho then challenged Flair to come out of retirement for WrestleMania 25; instead Flair managed Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Ricky Steamboat in a three-on-one handicap match at WrestleMania in a losing effort.[106][107][108] On May 17, Flair returned during the Judgment Day pay-per-view, coming to the aid of Batista, who was being attacked by The Legacy (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase). On the June 1 episode of Raw, Flair challenged Orton in a parking lot brawl match, and after interference from the rest of The Legacy, the fight ended with Flair trapped inside a steel cage and punted by Orton.[109]

Ring of Honor and the Hulkamania Tour (2009)

 
The main event of Hulkamania tour in 2009, Flair vs. Hulk Hogan

Flair signed with Ring of Honor (ROH) and appeared at the Stylin' And Profilin' event in March 2009, clearing the ring after an ROH World Championship match ended with a run-in.[110] He soon served as the company's ambassador, in an on-screen authority role, and appeared on the television show Ring of Honor Wrestling in May to cement his role.[111] After a number one contender's match ended in a time-limit draw, and the following week a double count out, Flair announced Ring of Honor Wrestling's first ROH World Title match as a four-way contest.[112]

On November 21, 2009, Flair returned to the ring as a villain on the "Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin" tour of Australia, losing to Hulk Hogan in the main event of the first show by brass knuckles.[113] Hogan defeated Flair again on November 24 in Perth, Australia after both men bled heavily.[113] Flair also lost to Hogan on the two remaining matches on the tour.[113][114]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010–2012)

Debut and Fortune (2010)

 
Flair in TNA in 2010
Main articles: Fortune and Immortal

On the January 4, 2010 episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) Impact!, Flair made his debut appearance for the company arriving via limo and later observing the main event between A.J. Styles and longtime rival Kurt Angle.[115] It was later reported that Flair had signed a one-year deal with the company.[116] In the past, Flair had openly stated that he was loyal to the McMahons and wanted to end his career in WWE, however he had not had contact from WWE since June 2009 and decided to sign with TNA Wrestling after waiting for the call from WWE for six months.[117] On January 17 at Genesis, Flair helped Styles cheat to pin Angle and retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.[118]

In addition to Styles, Flair began informally managing Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm) and Desmond Wolfe as a loose alliance. On the March 8 episode of Impact!, Hulk Hogan and Abyss defeated Flair and Styles when Abyss pinned Styles.[119] Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Abyss and Hogan from a beatdown at the hands of Flair, Styles and Beer Money, Inc.[119] At Lockdown, Team Flair (Ric Flair, Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) was defeated by Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) in a Lethal Lockdown match.[120] On the April 26 episode of Impact!, Flair was defeated by Abyss in a match where Flair's and Hogan's WWE Hall of Fame rings were at stake, and as a result Flair lost possession of his ring to Hogan.[121] The following week, Hogan gave the ring to Jay Lethal, who returned it to Flair out of respect. This, however, was not enough for Flair, who attacked Lethal along with the members of Team Flair.[122] After Styles dropped the TNA World Heavyweight Championship to Rob Van Dam, then failed to regain it in a rematch and later was pinned by Jay Lethal, Flair adopted Kazarian as his newest protégé, seemingly replacing Styles as his number one wrestler.[123][124]

On the June 17 episode of Impact!, Flair announced that he would reform the Four Horsemen under the new name Fourtune, a group consisting of A.J. Styles, Kazarian, Robert Roode, James Storm, and Desmond Wolfe.[125] Flair made a return to the ring on July 11 at Victory Road, losing to Jay Lethal.[126] On the August 5 episode of Impact!, Flair faced Lethal in a rematch, this time contested under Street Fight rules, with the members of Fourtune banned from ringside; Flair managed to win the match after an interference from Douglas Williams. The following week, Williams and Matt Morgan were added to Fourtune.[127] In the weeks leading to Bound for Glory, Flair's stable's name was tweaked to Fortune to represent the expansion in the number of members in the group.[128] On the October 7 episode of Impact!, Flair was defeated by Mick Foley in a Last Man Standing match.[129]

Immortal and second retirement (2010–2012)

See also: Immortal
 
Flair wrestling Douglas Williams in the main event of TNA's Maximum Wooo! tour of Europe

On the following episode of Impact!, Fortune formed an alliance with Hulk Hogan's and Eric Bischoff's new stable, Immortal.[130] On the November 18 episode of Impact!, Flair returned to the ring, competing in a match where he faced Matt Morgan, who had been kicked out of Fortune the previous month; Morgan won the match after Douglas Williams turned on the rest of Fortune, when they interfered in the match.[131] On January 25, 2011, it was reported that Flair had pulled out of TNA's Maximum Wooo! tour of Europe mid–tour after monetary disputes.[132] After missing a show in Berlin, Germany, Flair returned to the tour on January 27 in Glasgow, Scotland, reportedly apologizing to the locker room prior to the show.[133][134][135] On January 29, Flair wrestled his only match of the tour, defeating Douglas Williams in London, tearing his rotator cuff in the process making it his last singles win.[136][137] During Flair's time away from TNA, Fortune turned on Immortal.[138] Flair returned at the February 14 tapings of the February 17 episode of Impact!, turning on Fortune during a match between A.J. Styles and Matt Hardy and jumping to Immortal.[139][140] On the March 10 episode of Impact!, Flair defeated Styles and Hardy in a three–way street fight, contested as more of a two–on–one handicap match.[141] On April 17 at Lockdown, Immortal, represented by Flair, Abyss, Bully Ray and Matt Hardy, was defeated by Fortune members James Storm, Kazarian and Robert Roode and Christopher Daniels, who replaced an injured A.J. Styles, in a Lethal Lockdown match, when Flair tapped out to Roode.[142] The match was used to write Flair off television, as the following week he was scheduled to undergo surgery for his torn rotator cuff; however, Flair ultimately chose not to have the surgery as it would have required six months of rehab.[143][144]

Flair returned to television in a non–wrestling role on the May 12, 2011 episode of Impact Wrestling.[145] Flair did not appear again for three months, until making his return on August 9 at the tapings of the August 18 episode of Impact Wrestling, confronting old rival Sting and challenging him to one more match. In exchange for Sting agreeing to put his career on the line, Flair promised to deliver him his match with Hogan if he was victorious.[146][147] The match, which Flair lost, took place on the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling. The match with Sting would be the last of his career to date.[148] During the match, Flair tore his left triceps on a superplex spot, sidelining him indefinitely from in-ring action.[149] At Bound for Glory, Flair appeared in Hogan's corner in his match against Sting. Flair continued to make appearances for TNA until April 2012. In April 2012, Flair tried to have his TNA contract terminated, which led to TNA filing a lawsuit against WWE for contract tampering and eventually firing Flair on May 11.[150][151] Having been inactive since his September 2011 injury, Flair announced in a December 3, 2012 interview that he would never wrestle again, owing chiefly to an on-air heart attack suffered by age peer Jerry Lawler following a Raw match three months earlier.[152]

Return to WWE (2012–2021)

On March 31, 2012, while still contracted to TNA as a part of a deal with WWE which allowed Christian Cage to appear at Slammiversary 10, Flair became the first person to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice, the second time as part of the class of 2012 with The Four Horsemen. On December 17, 2012, Flair returned to WWE as a non-wrestling personality on the annual Slammy Awards show to present the Superstar of the Year award to John Cena, who in turn gave the award to Flair. Flair's return was interrupted by CM Punk and Paul Heyman, escalating into a confrontation that ended with him locking Heyman in the figure-four leglock. After clearing the ring, Flair was assaulted by The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins), until Ryback and Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) helped Flair fend off the group.[153] Flair appeared on the main roster sporadically throughout 2013, as The Miz's mentor.[154][155] He also occasionally appeared on NXT in 2013 and 2014, accompanying his daughter Charlotte to the ring.[156]

 
Flair accompanying his daughter, Charlotte Flair to the ring at WrestleMania 32

Flair appeared on April 28, 2014, episode of Raw, alongside the reunited Evolution (minus Flair) and The Shield; Flair showed his endorsement for The Shield, Evolution's opponents at Extreme Rules, effectively turning his back on his old teammates. At Battleground, John Cena symbolically handed over his World Heavyweight Championship belt to Flair, telling him to "take it" while promoting his match.[157] On the post-SummerSlam Raw in August 2015, Flair interrupted Jon Stewart, who had saved Flair's 16 world title record by preventing Cena's victory the previous night, telling him that the record would be broken eventually and he would rather it be by someone who he respects.[158]

Flair began making more frequent appearances with Charlotte after she won the Divas Championship.[159] In January 2016, Flair and Charlotte began displaying villainous traits, with Flair often getting involved in Charlotte's Divas Championship[160][161] and later WWE Women's Championship defenses, thus turning heel for the first time since 2005 in WWE.[162][163] This lasted until the May 23 episode of Raw when Charlotte turned on him.[164] On the November 28 episode of Raw, Flair returned to congratulate the new Raw Women's Champion Sasha Banks, who had defeated Charlotte to win the title, thus turning face once again.[165] Flair made a surprise appearance during the November 14, 2017 episode of SmackDown to congratulate his daughter Charlotte Flair, who won the SmackDown Women's Championship. They shared an emotional moment on the ramp and did his iconic strut.

On the February 25, 2019 episode of Raw, WWE celebrated Flair's 70th birthday and during the closing moments, Flair was attacked by Batista. The actual "attack" was never seen, only Flair being dragged by Batista.[166] At WrestleMania 35, Flair assisted Triple H in defeating Batista, to keep his in-ring career going.[167] Flair appeared on the July 22 Raw Reunion episode and raised a toast alongside Triple H, Hulk Hogan, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and various other fellow wrestlers of his era.[168] In June 2020, Flair came back to WWE programming as a heel again, managing Randy Orton for a few weeks until the August 10 episode of Raw when Orton performed a punt kick on Flair's head.[169][170] On November 22, 2020, he made an appearance at Survivor Series during The Undertaker's retirement ceremony.[171]

On the January 4, 2021 episode of Raw, Flair started a storyline with Lacey Evans, when during a match against Women's Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair and Asuka, Evans flirted with Flair. During the following weeks, Flair managed Evans, usually distracting his daughter Charlotte, including a participation in the Women's Royal Rumble.[172] On the February 15 episode of Raw, Evans' real-life pregnancy was announced and incorporated into a storyline with Flair impregnating Lacey.[173] Evans was scheduled to face Asuka for Raw Women's Championship at Elimination Chamber but the match was cancelled due to her pregnancy and the storyline with Flair was cancelled.[174] On August 2, 2021, it was reported by Wrestling Inc. that Flair had asked for and was granted his release from WWE.[175] WWE confirmed his release the following day and considered it effective as of August 3.[176]

Late career (2021–present)

See also: Ric Flair's Last Match

On August 14, 2021, at Triplemanía XXIX, Flair made his Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) debut by accompanying Charlotte's fiancé Andrade "El Ídolo" to ringside during his match against AAA Mega Champion Kenny Omega. Flair would later get involved in the match by chopping Omega and applying the Figure Four leglock to Omega's second Konnan.

On August 29, 2021, Flair made his return to the NWA at NWA 73. It was his first NWA appearance since 2008 when he was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame. At NWA 73, Flair thanked the NWA and WWE for several memorable moments and noted the importance of having several companies in the industry.[177]

On May 16, 2022, it was announced that Flair would wrestle his final match on July 31 in Nashville, called Ric Flair's Last Match, finally retiring after nearly five decades in the ring.[178] On July 18, it was announced that Flair would team with his son-in-law Andrade El Ídolo against Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal.[179] As part of the promo setting up the match, Lethal attacked Flair over being left out of the match card. Jarrett initially tried to help Flair, but attacked him after he rebuffed him and used expletives against his family.[180] Flair and Andrade would go on to win the match.[181]

Flair later confirmed that he had passed out twice during the Last Match[182] and regretted announcing that it would be his final match.[183] A few days later, he accompanied Andrade during his match against Carlito at the 49th WWC Anniversary show held on August 6, 2022. Flair attempted to interfere before poking Primo Colón when he tried to stop him, causing Carlos Colón to attack him and forcing him to flee. Andrade would go on to lose the match.[184]

During the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of his debut in professional wrestling on September 26, 2022, Flair announced that he would never retire.[185] In January 2023 however he stated that he did not want to wrestle again aside from wanting to redo the Last Match.[186]

Legacy

 
Flair performing his signature figure-four leglock on Hulk Hogan during the Hulkamania tour

Flair was often popular with the crowd due to his in-ring antics, including rulebreaking (earning him the distinction of being "the dirtiest player in the game"), strutting and his shouting of "Wooooooo!" (Flair got the inspiration from Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire").[187] The "Wooo!" yell[b] has since become a tribute to Flair, and is often shouted by the crowd whenever a wrestler performs a knife-edge chop, one of Flair's signature moves.[3] It is also often shouted by the crowd whenever a wrestler utilizes Flair's figure-four leglock finisher.

From the late 1970s, Flair wore ornate fur-lined robes of many colors with sequins during in-ring appearances,[3] and since the early 1980s, his approach to the ring was usually heralded by the playing of the "Dawn" section of Richard Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra" (famous for being used in the 1968 motion picture 2001: A Space Odyssey and for the introduction to Elvis Presley's concerts of the 1970s). Flair also described himself as a "limousine-ridin', jet-flyin', kiss stealin', wheelin' dealin', son-of-a-gun (who kissed all the girls worldwide and made em cry)".[189]

On October 19, 1998, it was declared "Ric Flair Day" in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Mayor Sharon Belton[190] and on November 15, 2008, it was declared "Ric Flair Day" in Norfolk, Virginia.[191] On March 24, 2008, Mayor Bob Coble, of Columbia, South Carolina, declared March 24 to be Ric Flair Day in Columbia. Flair also received the key to the city.[192] He received the key to the city of Greensboro, North Carolina on December 5, 2008, to commemorate Flair's victory in a steel cage match against Harley Race at the inaugural Starrcade event.[193] April 18, 2009 was declared "Ric Flair Day" in Charleston, West Virginia and he was presented with the key to the city by the mayor.[194] Also, on June 12, 2009, Flair was presented with the key to the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina[195] and, in September, he received the key to the city in Marion County, South Carolina.[196] On July 17, 2010, Flair made a special appearance at Scotland Motors in Laurinburg, North Carolina and received the key to that city, as well.[197]

 
Flair yelling "Wooooo!"

On the February 18, 2008 episode of Raw, Shawn Michaels announced Flair as the first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2008. The induction ceremony took place on March 29, 2008, with Triple H inducting him. This made him the first person to be inducted while still an active competitor.[198] Flair was later inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia, but he did not participate in the event. On January 9, 2012, it was announced that the Four Horsemen would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, thus making Flair the first person to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame twice.[199]

On April 15, 2008, Flair was honored in Congress by a representative from North Carolina, Republican Sue Myrick, who praised his career and what he means to the state.[200] On September 29, 2008, it was announced that Flair's signature sequin covered robe that he wore at WrestleMania XXIV, in what was to be his last WWE match, would be placed in the pop culture section of the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.[201]

In 1999, a large group of professional wrestling experts, analysts and historians named Flair the greatest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of all time.[202] In 2002, Flair was named the greatest professional wrestler of all time in the book The Top 100 Wrestlers of All Time by John Molinaro, edited by Dave Meltzer and Jeff Marek.[203] in July 2016, Luke Winkie of Sports Illustrated also named Flair the greatest professional wrestler of all time.[204]

Flair's "Wooo" chant has been used throughout pop culture. Rapper Pusha T paid homage to Flair in numerous songs. For example, on the track "Sweet Serenade", he says, "Triple doubles, two hoes and check please (Wooo!), They love me on my Ric Flair shit (Wooo!), In that Phantom like I'm Blair Witch (Wooo!), Who are you to be compared with? (Wooo!)".[205] Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike also has a track named "Ric Flair".[206] American trap musicians Offset and Metro Boomin paid tribute to Flair in their hit song "Ric Flair Drip".[207] The Battle of Gettysburg Podcast, hosted by battlefield guides and wrestling fans Jim Hessler and Eric Lindblade, often cites Flair's "Wooo" chant as well as other elements of Flair's mystique.[208]

Sports Illustrated ranked Flair first on their 101 greatest wrestlers of all-time list.[209]

Reaction to later career

Some have looked unfavorably upon Flair's career from the late-1990s onward. In 1998, wrestler and former WCW colleague Stone Cold Steve Austin said that Flair had reached the "time to hang it up", having not been great for a "long time".[210] John Molinaro of Slam! Sports penned a 1999 article titled, "Ric Flair is tarnishing his legacy"; Molinaro saw Flair as a wrestler whose prestige was "in jeopardy".[211] In 2006, Pro Wrestling Illustrated writer Frank Ingiosi said that Flair had a "personal vendetta against his legend".[212] He nevertheless continued to wrestle until retiring in 2008, at age 59.

Flair would ultimately return to the ring in 2009 and signed to wrestle for TNA the following year, breaking a vow to never again lace up his boots.[213] Wrestler Axl Rotten,[214] NFL writer Adam Rank,[215] and many fans[213] felt that he sullied his legend by continuing to wrestle in TNA.[216] Asked in 2011 if Flair was tainting his prestige, former opponent Shane Douglas was harsher, stating that he had "been tarnishing his legacy since 1990".[217] Also that year, Kevin Eck of The Baltimore Sun criticized the aging Flair for being unable to separate himself from his ostentatious gimmick when not wrestling, and said: "I don't know what's sadder, Ric Flair tarnishing his legacy in the ring or embarrassing himself away from the ring".[218] Asked about Flair in 2015, wrestler The Honky Tonk Man felt that viewers would "remember only the last years of his career", which consist of "bad memories".[219]

Conversely, professional wrestling announcer Jim Ross in 2012 felt that Flair had not tarnished his legacy, observing only "passion and need to earn a living".[220] In 2016, Flair said continuing to wrestle in TNA was the "number one" regret of his career.[221]

Other media

 
Flair at a Comic Con event in 2016

Flair has made numerous appearances in television shows. In 1996, Flair, along with other WCW wrestlers, appeared in an episode of Baywatch as themselves. In 2013, Flair made an appearance in Stuff You Should Know, in the episode, "Bacteriopolis", as Dr. Roland Grayson. In 2014, Flair voiced himself in the animated series, Uncle Grandpa, in the episode, "History of Wrestling".[222] In 2011, Flair voiced himself in the animated series, The Cleveland Show, in the episode, "BFFs".[223]

Flair released his autobiography, To Be the Man, on July 6, 2004.[224] The title is taken from one of his catchphrases, "To be the man, you gotta beat the man!".[225]

In 2009, Flair voiced Commander Douglas Hill in the video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising.[226]

It was announced on July 8, 2012, that Flair was to appear at Insane Clown Posse's 13th Annual Gathering of the Juggalos weekend as a main stage host who was in charge of announcing the performers.[227] However, his appearance at the event was cut short after his hair was grazed by a water bottle thrown from the crowd before announcing Tech N9ne to enter the main stage. Flair at that point left immediately and did not announce Tech N9ne or go back out on the main stage to announce the remaining performers. Flair's final comment before he left the main stage was "Have fun".[228]

In 2015, Flair made his feature film debut, appearing in Magic Mike XXL.[229] From May 2015-April 2016, Flair was host of a podcast titled "WOOOOO! Nation". The podcast was placed on hiatus after episode 46 which was uploaded on April 1, 2016. Flair returned to podcasting on MLW Radio with a new show called The Ric Flair Show in July 2016.[230] The final episode of The Ric Flair Show was uploaded on December 16, 2016. Flair stated that the reason that he had quit the podcasting business was because he could no longer be objective when it comes to his opinion of what is happening in the WWE.[231]

In 2017, ESPN aired Nature Boy, a 30 for 30 documentary about Flair's career directed by Rory Karpf.[232][233]

On October 31, 2017, trap artists Offset and Metro Boomin released a single titled "Ric Flair Drip" from their collaborative album with 21 Savage, Without Warning, in which Flair made an appearance in the music video.[234] In December 2017, Latin trap artist Bad Bunny released a music video entitled "Chambea", in which Flair appeared.[235]

Flair signed an endorsement deal with online ticket exchange marketplace TickPick in August 2018. Under the agreement he would make guest posts on TickPick's blog, in addition to appearing in advertisements for the brand posted on its and his own social media channels.[236]

Flair started appearing in an advertising campaign for CarShield in April 2021.[237] The company paused it in September 2021 following allegations of sexual assault made by Heidi Doyle against him on an episode of Dark Side of the Ring.[238] It however resumed airing the commercials in December 2021.[239]

In November 2021, Flair brought back his podcast "WOOOOO! Nation". It was named "Wooooo Nation Uncensored" and was co-hosted by Mark Madden.[240] Madden quit in March 2022.[241] He was replaced by Flair's son-in-law Conrad Thompson and the podcast was revamped into "To Be the Man" in April 2022.[242]

Flair signed an endorsement deal with Nu Image Medical, an online telehealth and medical company, in June 2022 to promote its men's health products.[243] WWE and the streaming service Peacock partnered to release a documentary on Flair titled Woooooo! Becoming Ric Flair on December 26.[244]

Business ventures

Flair sells his official merchandise through his own website.[245]

He partnered with Scout Comics in 2021 to launch a comic book series named Code Name: Ric Flair. Following allegations of sexual assault against him made on Dark Side of the Ring, Scout Comics dropped the comic and Flair started personally selling it on his website. However later in December 2022, the company agreed to publish it through its label. The series is written by Scout Comics President James Haick III and will launch in April 2023.[246][247]

In July 2022, Flair launched a virtual restaurant chain named "Wooooo! Wings" in Nashville, Tennessee in partnership with Kitchen Data Systems ahead of Ric Flair's Last Match. The name of the chain is based after Flair's signature exclamation. The food items of the outlet are prepared by KitchPartner restaurants, owned by Kitchen Data Systems. The chain expanded to six American cities in August 2022.[248][249] Its launch and expansion was handled by Conrad Thompson.[250]

Flair also partnered with Mike Tyson and Verano Holdings Corp. to launch his own cannabis line called the "Ric Flair Drip" under Tyson's cannabis brand "Tyson 2.0".[251] The line launched in October 2022 in Arizona, Nevada and California.[252]

Personal life

Family

Flair married his first wife, Leslie Goodman, on August 28, 1971. They had two children, daughter Megan and son David, before divorcing in 1983 after twelve years of marriage. On August 27, 1983, he married his second wife, Elizabeth Harrell. Promoter Jim Crockett Jr. served as the best man for the wedding. They had two children, daughter Ashley and son Reid. Beth and their children also made periodic appearances in WCW between 1998 and 2000. Flair and Beth divorced in 2006 after nearly 23 years of marriage.[253][254] On May 27, 2006, Flair married his third wife Tiffany VanDemark, a fitness competitor.[255] In 2008, Tiffany filed for divorce from Flair, which was finalized in 2009.[256] On November 11, 2009, Flair married his fourth wife, Jacqueline "Jackie" Beems, in Charlotte, North Carolina.[257] In 2012, Flair filed for divorce from Beems, which was finalized in 2014.[citation needed] Flair married his fifth wife, Wendy Barlow (known as Fifi, his "maid" in WCW), on September 12, 2018, at a resort in Florida.[258][259] On January 31, 2022, Flair announced that he and Barlow have separated.[260] The two have since reconciled as of May 2022.

Flair's elder son David is a retired professional wrestler, who worked for WCW from 1999 to 2001, and made two televised appearances in the WWF in 2002 during the run-up to WrestleMania X8. Flair's younger son Reid, who signed a developmental contract with WWE near the end of 2007,[261] was an accomplished high school wrestler and made several appearances on WCW television along with his sister Ashley and half-sister Megan. In 2004, Flair became a grandfather at the age of 55, when his older daughter, Megan Fliehr Ketzner, gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Morgan Lee Ketzner on May 9.[262][263] On May 17, 2012, it was reported that Flair's daughter Ashley had signed with WWE[264] adopting the ring name, Charlotte (which was later changed to include the Flair surname).[265] On March 29, 2013, Reid died from drug overdose of heroin, Xanax and a muscle relaxer.[266]

Legal problems

In December 2005, a judge issued arrest warrants for Flair after a road rage incident that took place in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which Flair allegedly got out of his car, grabbed a motorist by the neck, and damaged his vehicle.[267] Flair was charged with two misdemeanors, injury to personal property and simple assault and battery. This incident was ridiculed on WWE programming, most notably by the wrestler Edge.[268]

In September 2007, Flair opened a financial business called Ric Flair Finance. In July 2008, Flair Finance filed for bankruptcy.[269] Following Flair's debut in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling his former employer, Ring of Honor, filed a lawsuit in 2010, alleging that Flair owed them over $40,000 and that he had not appeared at several events that he was contractually obligated to appear at.[270] The lawsuit was never resolved.[271]

Highspots Inc. claimed that Flair had given them the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt as collateral for the loan.[272][273] A warrant for Flair's arrest was issued in May 2011 for being held in contempt of court for violating the terms of his settlement with Highspots. If Flair had failed to comply he could have potentially faced 90 days in jail.[274][275] On June 25, Highspots released a statement over their official Facebook page stating that someone had paid Flair's debts.[276]

Politics

Flair has long supported Republican political candidates in North Carolina politics.[277] In 2000, Flair explored the possibility of running for governor of North Carolina,[277] but he never filed the papers.[278] Jesse Ventura stated that, when Flair told him that he had received 143 speeding tickets in his life, Ventura urged him not to run.[279]

In the 2008 presidential election, Flair declared his support for the Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. He said of Huckabee, "[Huckabee] is a quality person, self-made, a great family man and he has a great vision for our country. And I'm here to excite the crowd".[280]

Flair endorsed Ted Cruz during the 2016 presidential election.[281]

Flair announced in 2016 that he was running for president, with rapper Waka Flocka Flame as his running mate. However, he did not file a Statement of Candidacy (FEC Form 2).[282][283]

Medical problems

Flair has a heart condition called alcoholic cardiomyopathy.[284]

On August 14, 2017, Flair had surgery in Georgia to remove an obstructive piece of his bowel, which led to various complications, most seriously kidney failure, necessitating dialysis treatment and ongoing hospitalization.[285] He was discharged from rehabilitation and allowed to return home on September 21.[286]

Real-life feuds and backstage problems

Teddy Long

WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long claimed Flair was hostile to him in his early career in the 1980s,[287] stating "Flair walked up to me one time and asked me, he said, ‘Nigger you like working here?”.[288] Long claims Flair never apologized to him and "hasn't changed over the years".[288]

Bret Hart

Flair engaged in an off-screen rivalry with Bret Hart. In October 1993, Hart gave a radio interview in which he said Flair "sucks" and described his workplace, WCW, as "minor league".[289] In Flair's autobiography, he accused Hart of over-exploiting the death of his brother Owen and the controversy surrounding the Montreal Screwjob.[290] Flair also claimed in his autobiography that—despite Hart's popularity in Canada—he was not a formidable money-making draw in the United States, a claim which Hart dismissed as "plain ridiculous" in a column written for the Calgary Sun. Hart cited his headlining performances on consistently sold-out tours throughout his WWF career, while alleging that Flair wrestled to near-empty arenas. He also criticized Flair on what he perceived as insults to fellow wrestlers Mick Foley and Randy Savage, both personal friends of Hart.[291] Hart went on to criticize Flair in his own autobiography, mainly his in-ring talent, (mis)use of ring psychology and what Hart perceived as Flair's unsubtle blading.[292][293] However, they have since reconciled and are now friends.[294]

Shane Douglas

Flair also had a long-running feud with Shane Douglas, who would refer to him as "Dick Flair" and accuse him of sabotaging his push in the NWA/WCW after getting a solid push and a rub from his tag team partner Ricky Steamboat.[295] In turn, Flair responded that Douglas was always the guy that would blame his shortcomings on others. He called Douglas out as well as accused him of steroid abuse during a broadcast of the Internet radio show WCW Live! in which he said that he would meet him anytime and anywhere if he would "take the needle out of his ass".[296]

Mick Foley

Flair has also had problems with Mick Foley. In his 1999 autobiography Have a Nice Day!, Foley said that "Flair was every bit as bad on the booking side of things as he was great on the wrestling side of it".[297] This was in reference to how poorly Foley thought he was booked during his WCW career when Flair was on the booking committee. Flair responded in his autobiography by writing: "I do not care how many thumbtacks Mick Foley has fallen on, how many ladders he's fallen off, how many continents he's supposedly bled on, he will always be known as a glorified stuntman".[298] They had an altercation in 2004 in Huntsville, and in 2006 they worked a program where Flair took part in some of the bloodiest and most violent matches of his career, particularly at SummerSlam 2006, in an "I Quit" match which had spots involving barbed wire and thumbtacks—trademark weapons from Foley's days as Cactus Jack. However, they have since reconciled and are now friends.[299]

Hulk Hogan

In his book, Flair also touched on some real-life tension between himself and Hulk Hogan which largely stemmed from an incident that followed the conclusion of a tag team match between Flair and his son David and the team of Curt Hennig and Barry Windham at WCW's Souled Out pay-per-view on January 17, 1999, in Charleston, West Virginia.[300] However, Flair has stated that he and Hogan remained friends despite their differences.[301][302]

Bruno Sammartino

Flair and wrestler Bruno Sammartino had a real-life disagreement over what reports call "the infamous backstage snub" where Flair claims that Sammartino refused to shake his hand at a live event.[303] While Flair claims Sammartino ignored him due to comments made in his book, stating Sammartino was "a Northeast star who couldn’t draw fans outside New York",[303] Sammartino referred to Flair as a "liar" and stating: "No, I don't respect Ric Flair. I don't respect him at all".[304] They reconciled and were friends until Sammartino's passing in 2018.[305]

Becky Lynch

In September 2019, Flair threatened legal action against WWE and filed a trademark for the term "The Man", which was being used as a nickname by heavily promoted wrestler Becky Lynch. The threats of legal action caused a rift between Flair and his daughter Charlotte, who was Lynch's onscreen nemesis at the time.[306] Lynch responded to the actions by asserting that she still liked and respected Flair.[307] Flair transferred the rights to "The Man" nickname and gimmick to WWE in May 2020. The terms of the transfer were undisclosed.[308] Flair began feuding with Lynch in 2021, accusing her of using the term without his explicit permission, but their dispute was resolved when he apologized to her in January 2023.[309]

"Plane Ride from Hell"

Flair was part of the infamous 2002 "Plane Ride from Hell". Flair was accused of wearing his signature wrestling robe while naked and forcing a female flight attendant, Heidi Doyle, to touch his penis; she would later sue the WWE.[310] The case was settled out of court; however, Flair did not face any punishment from WWE. Numerous people who were on the flight at the time, including Tommy Dreamer and Jim Ross, spoke about the incident on an episode dedicated to it on the Canadian documentary series Dark Side of the Ring in 2021.[311] Flair released a statement after the episode aired denying the allegations.[312] Flair was also removed from the WWE's intro signature afterwards.[313]

Championships and accomplishments

 
Flair was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008 for his singles career
 
Flair was also inducted in 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen

Notes

  1. ^ According to Flair's autobiography To Be the Man, his birth name was listed on different documents as Fred Phillips, Fred Demaree, and Fred Stewart. Given that his biological father's surname was Phillips, it is suspected that Fred Phillips is his actual birth name, but Flair has never followed up on the fact. On March 18, 1949, he was legally adopted by the Fliehr family and was renamed Richard Morgan Fliehr.
  2. ^ "Wooo!" is officially spelled with four o's according to his autobiography, but can extend to any number of o's.[188]
  3. ^ Flair did win the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship six times and the six reigns were recognized even after World Championship Wrestling (WCW) took control over the championship and renamed it the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in 1991. After WCW's purchase by WWE, the lineage of the championships were kept in the WWE United States Championship. WWE.com has published contradictory information on Flair's reigns – recognizing five reigns in one article, but describing him as a six-time champion in another article.

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April 08, 2023
flair, richard, morgan, fliehr, born, february, 1949, known, professionally, american, professional, wrestler, regarded, multiple, peers, journalists, greatest, professional, wrestler, time, flair, career, spanning, over, years, flair, november, 2019born, 1949. Richard Morgan Fliehr 6 a born February 25 1949 known professionally as Ric Flair is an American professional wrestler Regarded by multiple peers 7 and journalists 8 as the greatest professional wrestler of all time Flair has had a career spanning over 50 years Ric FlairFlair in November 2019Born 1949 02 25 February 25 1949 age 74 1 Memphis Tennessee U S 1 OccupationsProfessional wrestling managerprofessional wrestlerYears active1972 presentSpousesLeslie Goodman m 1971 div 1983 wbr Elizabeth Harrell m 1983 div 2006 wbr Tiffany VanDemark m 2006 div 2009 wbr Jackie Beems m 2009 div 2014 wbr Wendy Barlow m 2018 wbr Children4 including David Ashley and ReidRelativesConrad Thompson son in law 2 Andrade El Idolo son in law Professional wrestling careerRing name s The Black Scorpion 1 Ric Flair 1 Billed height6 ft 1 in 185 cm 3 Billed weight243 lb 110 kg 3 Billed fromCharlotte North Carolina U S 3 Trained byVerne Gagne 3 4 DebutDecember 10 1972 1 5 He is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions JCP World Championship Wrestling WCW the World Wrestling Federation WWF later WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling TNA Much of his career was spent in JCP and WCW where he won numerous titles Since the mid 1970s he has used the moniker the Nature Boy A major pay per view attraction throughout his career Flair headlined the premier annual NWA WCW event Starrcade on ten occasions while also co headlining its WWF counterpart WrestleMania in 1992 after winning that year s Royal Rumble 9 PWI awarded him their Wrestler of the Year award a record six times while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the Wrestler of the Year an award named after him and Lou Thesz a record eight times The first two time WWE Hall of Fame inductee first inducted with the class of 2008 for his individual career and again with the class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen he is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Flair is officially recognized by WWE as a 16 time world champion 8 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion 6 time WCW World Heavyweight Champion and two time WWF Champion 10 although the number of his world championship reigns varies by source ranging from 16 to 25 11 He has claimed to be a 21 time champion 12 He was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship which he also held last As the inaugural WCW World Heavyweight Champion he became the first person to complete WCW s Triple Crown having already held the United States Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships He then completed WWE s version of the Triple Crown when he won the Intercontinental Championship after already holding the WWF Championship and the World Tag Team Championship Contents 1 Early life 2 Professional wrestling career 2 1 American Wrestling Association 1972 1974 2 2 International Wrestling Enterprise 1973 2 3 Jim Crockett Promotions World Championship Wrestling 1974 1991 2 3 1 Becoming the Nature Boy 1974 1981 2 3 2 NWA World Heavyweight Champion 1981 1991 2 4 All Japan Pro Wrestling 1978 1981 1987 2013 2 5 World Wrestling Federation 1991 1993 2 6 Super World of Sports 1992 2 7 World Championship Wrestling 1993 2001 2 7 1 WCW World Heavyweight Champion 1993 1996 2 7 2 Feud with the New World Order 1996 1999 2 7 3 Final world championship reigns 1999 2001 2 8 New Japan Pro Wrestling 1995 1996 2 9 World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment 2001 2009 2 9 1 WWF co owner 2001 2002 2 9 2 Evolution 2002 2005 2 9 3 Final storylines and first retirement 2005 2008 2 9 4 Part time appearances 2008 2009 2 10 Ring of Honor and the Hulkamania Tour 2009 2 11 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling 2010 2012 2 11 1 Debut and Fortune 2010 2 11 2 Immortal and second retirement 2010 2012 2 12 Return to WWE 2012 2021 2 13 Late career 2021 present 3 Legacy 3 1 Reaction to later career 4 Other media 5 Business ventures 6 Personal life 6 1 Family 6 2 Legal problems 6 3 Politics 6 4 Medical problems 7 Real life feuds and backstage problems 7 1 Teddy Long 7 2 Bret Hart 7 3 Shane Douglas 7 4 Mick Foley 7 5 Hulk Hogan 7 6 Bruno Sammartino 7 7 Becky Lynch 7 8 Plane Ride from Hell 8 Championships and accomplishments 9 Notes 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External linksEarly lifeFliehr was born on February 25 1949 in Memphis Tennessee 6 His original parents were Luther and Olive Phillips the latter of whom was also credited with the Demaree and Stewart surnames nevertheless his birth name is commonly considered to be Fred Phillips even if he is also credited on various records as Fred Demaree or Fred Stewart 13 He was adopted by Kathleen Kinsmiller Fliehr 1918 2003 and Richard Reid Fliehr 1918 2000 The Fliehrs decided to adopt due to Kathleen being unable to become pregnant after giving birth to a daughter who died shortly after 14 At the time of his adoption arranged by the Tennessee Children s Home Society as part of Georgia Tann s baby kidnapping operation 15 his adoptive father was completing a residency in obstetrics and gynecology in Detroit Michigan 16 His adoptive mother worked for the Star Tribune citation needed Shortly afterward the family settled in Edina Minnesota where the young Fliehr lived throughout his childhood After ninth grade he attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam Wisconsin for four years during which time he participated in interscholastic wrestling football and track 17 After high school Fliehr briefly attended the University of Minnesota 18 Professional wrestling careerAmerican Wrestling Association 1972 1974 A successful amateur wrestler in his teens Flair trained as a professional wrestler with Verne Gagne 4 He attended Gagne s first wrestling camp with Greg Gagne Jumpin Jim Brunzell The Iron Sheik and Ken Patera at Gagne s barn outside Minneapolis in the winter of 1971 On December 10 1972 he made his debut in Rice Lake Wisconsin battling George Scrap Iron Gadaski to a 10 minute draw while adopting the ring name Ric Flair 4 5 During his time in the American Wrestling Association AWA Flair had matches with Dusty Rhodes Chris Taylor Andre the Giant Larry Hennig and Wahoo McDaniel 19 20 International Wrestling Enterprise 1973 Flair made his first appearances in Japan in 1973 with International Wrestling Enterprise IWE as part of a working agreement between the IWE and AWA promoter Verne Gagne He competed in IWE s Big Summer Series throughout June and July facing opponents such as Animal Hamaguchi Great Kusatsu Katsuzo Matsumoto Mighty Inoue and Rusher Kimura 21 Jim Crockett Promotions World Championship Wrestling 1974 1991 Becoming the Nature Boy 1974 1981 Flair in a 1981 match against Ernie Ladd In 1974 Flair left the AWA for Jim Crockett s Mid Atlantic region in the National Wrestling Alliance NWA 19 and he soon captured his first singles title when on February 9 1975 he beat Paul Jones for the Mid Atlantic TV Championship On October 4 1975 however Flair s career nearly ended when he was in a serious plane crash in Wilmington North Carolina that took the life of the pilot and paralyzed Johnny Valentine also on board were Mr Wrestling Bob Bruggers and promoter David Crockett 22 1 Flair broke his back in three places and at age 26 was told by doctors that he would never wrestle again 22 Flair conducted a rigorous physical therapy schedule however and he returned to the ring just three months later where he resumed his feud with Wahoo McDaniel in January 1976 22 The crash did force Flair to alter his wrestling technique away from the power brawling style he had used early on to one more focused on grappling which led him to adopt the Nature Boy gimmick he would use throughout his career Flair won the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship when he defeated Bobo Brazil on July 29 1977 in Richmond Virginia 23 During the next three years he held five reigns as NWA United States Heavyweight Champion while feuding with Ricky Steamboat Roddy Piper Mr Wrestling Jimmy Snuka and Greg Valentine with whom he also formed a championship tag team However Flair reached elite status when he began referring to himself as The Nature Boy in order to incite a 1978 feud with the original Nature Boy Buddy Rogers who put Flair over in one encounter 24 NWA World Heavyweight Champion 1981 1991 See also The Four Horsemen On September 17 1981 Flair beat Dusty Rhodes for his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship 1 In the following years Flair established himself as the promotion s main franchise in the midst of emerging competition from Vince McMahon s World Wrestling Federation WWF An unsanctioned title loss took place on January 6 1983 to Carlos Colon Sr in Puerto Rico 11 Flair recovered the championship belt in a phantom change seventeen days later not officially recognized by the NWA Harley Race won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Flair in 1983 but Flair regained the title at Starrcade in a steel cage match 1 Officially Flair won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship eight more times Flair lost the title to Race and won it back in the span of three days in New Zealand and Singapore in March 1984 At the first David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions at Texas Stadium Flair was pinned by Kerry Von Erich but he regained the title eighteen days later in Japan 25 and reigned for two years two months and two days losing the title to Dusty Rhodes on July 26 1986 at The Great American Bash in a Steel Cage Match 26 However Flair regained the title at a house show on August 9 when Rhodes passed out in the Figure Four leglock 27 In late 1985 the tag team of Arn Anderson and Ole Anderson began aiding Flair whom they claimed as a cousin in attacks against Dusty Rhodes Magnum T A and Sam Houston A few weeks later the Andersons interrupted Houston s match against Tully Blanchard and the three villains combined to rough up the youngster Shortly thereafter Flair Blanchard and the Andersons formalized their alliance calling themselves The Four Horsemen with Blanchard s manager J J Dillon also coming on board Upon the group s inception it was clear that The Four Horsemen were unlike any villainous alliance that had ever existed as the four rule breakers immediately used their strength in numbers to decimate the NWA s top fan favorites most famously a vicious beatdown to Rhodes with a baseball bat in a parking lot while controlling the majority of the championship titles 28 By 1986 wrestling promoter Jim Crockett had consolidated the various NWA member promotions he owned into a single entity running under the banner of the National Wrestling Alliance Controlling much of the traditional NWA territories in the southeast and Midwestern United States Crockett looked to expand nationally and built his promotion around Flair as champion During this time Flair s bookings as champion were tightly controlled by Crockett and a custom championship belt was created for Flair Flair lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Detroit to Ron Garvin on September 25 1987 Garvin held the title for two months before losing to Flair on November 26 1987 at WCW s first pay per view event Starrcade in Chicago 29 One of Flair s signature robesIn early 1988 Sting and Flair fought to a 45 minute time limit draw at the first ever Clash of the Champions On February 20 1989 at Chi Town Rumble in Chicago Ricky Steamboat pinned Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship This prompted a series of rematches where Steamboat was presented as a family man often accompanied by his wife and young son while Flair opposed him as an immoral fast living ladies man Following a best of three falls match with Steamboat that lasted just short of the 60 minute time limit and ended with a disputed finish where Steamboat retained the title at Clash of the Champions VI Ragin Cajun on April 2 Flair regained the title from Steamboat on May 7 1989 at WrestleWar in a match that was voted 1989 s Match of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated 30 On July 23 1989 Flair defeated Terry Funk at The Great American Bash but the two continued to feud through the summer and eventually Flair reformed The Four Horsemen with the surprise addition of longtime rival Sting to combat Funk s J Tex Corporation This led to an I Quit match at Clash of the Champions IX New York Knockout which Flair won 31 Flair then kicked Sting out of The Four Horsemen upon his challenge for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship resulting in a revived feud between the two On July 7 1990 Flair dropped the title to Sting at The Great American Bash 1 After being unmasked as The Black Scorpion at Starrcade in 1990 Flair regained the title from Sting on January 11 1991 32 Subsequent to this title win Flair was recognized by WCW as the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion though he was still also recognized as NWA World Heavyweight Champion On March 21 1991 Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Flair in a match in Tokyo at the WCW New Japan Supershow While the NWA recognized Fujinami as their new champion WCW did not because Fujinami had backdropped Flair over the top rope in a violation of WCW rules On May 19 1991 Flair defeated Fujinami at SuperBrawl I in St Petersburg Florida to reclaim the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship 33 In the spring of 1991 Flair had a contract dispute with WCW president Jim Herd who wanted him to take a substantial pay cut Flair had resigned as head booker in February 1990 and Herd wanted to reduce Flair s role in the promotion even further despite the fact that Flair was still a top draw According to Flair Herd also proposed changes in his appearance and ring name i e by shaving his hair wearing a diamond earring and going by the name Spartacus in order to change with the times 34 Flair disagreed with the proposals and two weeks before The Great American Bash Herd fired him and vacated the WCW World Heavyweight Championship While Flair had left for the WWF he was still recognized as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion until September 8 when the title was officially vacated 35 All Japan Pro Wrestling 1978 1981 1987 2013 While working for Jim Crockett Jr s Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling MACW Flair began working tours for All Japan Pro Wrestling AJPW On April 27 1978 Flair challenged for the NWA United National Championship in a losing effort Throughout the 1980s Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in All Japan against the likes of Genichiro Tenryu Riki Choshu Jumbo Tsuruta Harley Race and Kerry Von Erich On October 21 1985 Flair wrestled Rick Martel in a double title match where he defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and challenged for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship but the match ended in a double countout As All Japan withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance NWA in the late 1980s World Championship Wrestling WCW began a working agreement with New Japan Pro Wrestling NJPW In 1989 the working agreement led to a feud between Flair and Keiji Mutoh who was wrestling under The Great Muta gimmick in the United States for WCW On March 21 1991 Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and challenged Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a double title match on the WCW New Japan Supershow at the Tokyo Dome Fujinami beat Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship but later lost the title at WCW s SuperBrawl I on May 19 1991 in the United States 36 On January 2 2013 All Japan announced that Flair would make his return to AJPW for the first time in five years on January 26 2013 teaming with Keiji Mutoh to take on Tatsumi Fujinami and Seiya Sanada This would have been his first professional wrestling match since his September 2011 loss to Sting on Impact Wrestling and his first for All Japan since March 1987 37 38 However on January 26 just moments before the start of the All Japan event the promotion announced that Flair was forced to pull out of his match because of a sudden illness 39 later reported as a badly swollen left leg Flair was replaced in the match by his son Reid but also ended up getting involved in the match himself delivering chops to Seiya Sanada 40 World Wrestling Federation 1991 1993 Flair signed with the World Wrestling Federation WWF in August 1991 and began appearing on television with the Big Gold Belt calling himself The Real World s Champion 1 His first match with the promotion saw him squash Jim Powers on an episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge that aired on September 29 Led by his financial adviser Bobby Heenan and his executive consultant Mr Perfect Flair repeatedly issued challenges to WWF wrestlers like Rowdy Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan wrestling a team led by Piper at Survivor Series in November 1991 and helping The Undertaker defeat Hogan for the WWF Championship that same night 41 WCW sued Flair in an attempt to reclaim the championship belt 42 but Flair claimed otherwise due to a loophole in NWA policy at the time he first became champion the NWA required all of the wrestlers that it selected to be world champion to put down a security deposit of 25 000 which in effect resulted in the belt being leased to any wrestler who held it The NWA in usual cases would return the deposit and any interest that may have accumulated upon the conclusion of the wrestler s championship reign They did not do this for Flair before he was terminated by WCW and since the money was still owed to him by the NWA upon his signing with the WWF Flair believed that the title belt had become his personal property to do with as he pleased 43 At the 1992 Royal Rumble Flair won the Rumble match to claim the vacant WWF Championship Flair entered as number three in the Rumble match and lasted 60 minutes last eliminating Sid Justice with help from Hulk Hogan who had been eliminated by Justice seconds earlier 41 In February 1992 Flair faced WWF Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper in a series of inconclusive title versus title matches Randy Savage then challenged Flair for the WWF Championship as part of the double main event at WrestleMania VIII In the storyline Flair taunted Savage by claiming that he had a prior relationship with Savage s wife Miss Elizabeth Savage defeated Flair for the title at WrestleMania 41 In July 1992 as Savage prepared to defend the title against The Ultimate Warrior at SummerSlam 41 Flair and Mr Perfect sowed distrust between the two by suggesting that they would back one or the other during their match They actually attacked both Savage and Warrior resulting in the latter winning by countout and injured Savage s knee an injury that Flair exploited to regain the title in a match with Savage three days later on September 1 in Hershey Pennsylvania 44 On September 15 1992 Flair defended the WWF Championship against Genichiro Tenryu at a Wrestle Association R event in Yokohama Japan the match ended in a draw 45 Flair s second reign ended when he lost the title to Bret Hart on October 12 1992 at a house show 46 Flair teamed with Razor Ramon to take on Savage and Perfect at the Survivor Series in November 1992 41 Flair appeared in the Royal Rumble in January 1993 then lost a Loser Leaves the WWF match to Mr Perfect on the next night s January 25 1993 Monday Night Raw in a match taped six days earlier 47 Flair had a verbal agreement with Vince McMahon with the condition that if he wasn t going to be used in a main event position and had an offer to go elsewhere he would be released from his contract He opted to leave WWF when he was going to be moved to a mid card position and Bill Watts offered to come back to WCW 48 Flair then fulfilled his remaining house show commitments and took part in the WWF s Winter Tour 93 of Europe He made his last appearance with the WWF on February 11 1993 before returning to WCW 49 Super World of Sports 1992 In April 1992 Flair toured Japan with the Super World of Sports SWS promotion as part of an agreement between the WWF and SWS In his first bout he teamed with The Natural Disasters to defeat Ashura Hara Genichiro Tenryu and Takashi Ishikawa in a six man tag team match He went on to defeat Tenryu in a singles match then lost to Tenryu in a two out of three falls match 50 World Championship Wrestling 1993 2001 WCW World Heavyweight Champion 1993 1996 See also The Four Horsemen Flair triumphantly returned to WCW as a hero in February 1993 As a result of a no compete clause he was initially unable to wrestle so he hosted a short lived talk show in WCW called A Flair for the Gold Arn Anderson usually appeared at the bar on the show s set and Flair s maid Fifi cleaned or bore gifts Once he returned to action Flair briefly held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for a tenth time after defeating Barry Windham at Beach Blast before WCW finally left the NWA in September 1993 At Fall Brawl Flair lost the title now rebranded the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship to Ravishing Rick Rude At Starrcade in 1993 Flair defeated Vader to win the WCW World Heavyweight title for the second time In the spring of 1994 Flair began a tweener turn and started another feud with longtime rival Ricky Steamboat and challenged Steamboat to a match at Spring Stampede which ended in a no contest from a double pin causing the title to be held up Flair then defeated Steamboat in a rematch to reclaim the held up title on an episode of WCW Saturday Night The WWE does not count this victory as a new title win 51 Flair then challenged Col Robert Parker to wrestle one of his men at Slamboree which turned out to be Barry Windham whom Flair defeated afterwards he quietly turned heel and took Sherri Martel as his manager 52 He would also wrestle Lord Steven Regal in a five match series under Marquess of Queensberry Rules which aired on WCW Worldwide between April 30 and May 28 in which Flair won the series with 2 wins 1 loss and 2 draws 53 In June 1994 at Clash of the Champions XXVII Flair defeated Sting in a unification match merging the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and solidifying his heel turn after his alliance with Sherri was brought into the open after she helped him win the match while pretending that she had sided with Sting After becoming the unified and undisputed WCW champion Flair feuded with Hulk Hogan upon Hogan s arrival in WCW in June 1994 losing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to him in July at Bash at the Beach Flair continued to feud with Hogan and finally lost to Hogan in a steel cage retirement match at Halloween Havoc Flair took a few months off afterwards before returning to WCW television in January 1995 for an interview at Clash of the Champions XXX After attacking Hogan at Superbrawl V Flair also began appearing as a part time manager for Vader who was engaged in feud with Hogan and developed a short lived angle where he was possessed even attacking his old WWF opponent Randy Savage at the first Uncensored He soon afterwards returned to wrestling explained on air by having Flair nag Hogan for months until Hogan and Savage both petitioned WCW management to let Flair come back 54 Upon returning to wrestling Flair quickly revived his 1992 feud with Savage but this time also got Savage s father Angelo Poffo involved after he put him in a figure four leglock at Slamboree 1995 On April 29 1995 Flair wrestled Antonio Inoki in front of 190 000 spectators in Pyongyang North Korea at the May Day Stadium in a losing effort under a joint show between New Japan Pro Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling The event was broadcast on August 4 1995 on pay per view under the title of Collision in Korea 55 In the fall of 1995 Flair began a short feud with Arn Anderson which culminated in a tag match that saw Flair turning on Sting to reform the new Four Horsemen with Flair as the leader Arn Anderson Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit as the members With the new Four Horsemen Flair won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship two more times before the nWo invasion storyline began in WCW with the first one being in December 1995 at Starrcade where Flair defeated Lex Luger and Sting by countout and then defeated Savage after all three Four Horsemen members ran to the ring and Arn Anderson knocked out Savage with brass knuckles thus allowing Flair to pin Savage to win the match and the title Afterwards Savage won the title back on Nitro after Starcade but Flair won the next match at SuperBrawl VI to regain the championship During the feud Savage s manager Miss Elizabeth turned against him and became Flair s valet Together with Woman and Debra McMichael they would escort Flair to his matches until Miss Elizabeth was taken by the nWo in the fall and eventually returned as Savage s valet when he joined the nWo in 1997 Flair lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship eventually three months later to The Giant The feud with Savage continued with The New Four Horseman joining the Dungeon of Doom to create an Alliance to end Hulkamania Together the factions wrestled Hogan and Savage in a triple steel cage End of Hulkamania match losing to the reunited Mega Powers Afterwards Flair went on to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship and there were also changes in the Four Horseman in 1996 as Brian Pillman left WCW and Steve Mongo McMichael became the fourth member 56 Feud with the New World Order 1996 1999 See also The Four Horsemen Flair in 1996 Once again as a top fan favorite Flair played a major role in the New World Order nWo invasion storyline in late 1996 and throughout 1997 He and the other Horsemen often took the lead in the war against Scott Hall Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hulk Hogan whom Flair immediately challenged for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the Clash of the Champions XXXIII but won only by disqualification In September 1996 Flair and Anderson teamed with their bitter rivals Sting and Lex Luger to lose to the nWo Hogan Kevin Nash Scott Hall and an impostor Sting in the WarGames match at Fall Brawl when Luger submitted to the impostor Sting s Scorpion Deathlock 57 In October 1996 two developments occurred that affected the Four Horsemen when Jeff Jarrett came over to WCW from the WWF and expressed his desire to join the Horsemen as he immediately gained a fan in Ric Flair much to the chagrin of the other Horsemen Flair finally let Jarrett join the group in February 1997 but the others did not want him and in July 1997 was ultimately kicked out of the group by Flair himself who had enough of the instability Jarrett s presence caused the Horsemen Flair also feuded with Roddy Piper Syxx and his old nemesis Curt Hennig in 1997 after Hennig was offered a spot in The Four Horsemen only to turn on Flair and The Four Horsemen at Fall Brawl in September 1997 in which Hennig punctuated the act by slamming the cage door onto Flair s head 58 In April 1998 Flair disappeared from WCW television due to a lawsuit filed by Eric Bischoff for no showing a live episode of Thunder on April 9 1998 in Tallahassee Florida After the case was settled Flair made a surprise return on September 14 1998 to ceremoniously reform the Four Horsemen along with Steve McMichael Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit Flair feuded with Bischoff for several months afterward Flair repeatedly raked Eric Bischoff s eyes during this feud This culminated in a match at Starrcade between Bischoff and Flair in December 1998 which Bischoff won after interference from Curt Hennig a former member of the Four Horsemen The following night in Baltimore on Nitro Flair returned and threatened to leave WCW demanding a match against Bischoff for the presidency of the company The match was made and despite the nWo interfering on Bischoff s behalf Flair won and was granted the position of president of WCW This resulted in a match at SuperBrawl IX between Flair and Hollywood Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Flair lost after being betrayed by his own son David Flair 59 Final world championship reigns 1999 2001 See also The Magnificent Seven In spite of his son s betrayal Flair signed a rematch at Uncensored which was billed as a First Blood barbed wire steel cage Match against Hogan where Flair s presidency and Hogan s WCW World Heavyweight Championship were on the line Despite being the first to bleed Flair won the match by pinfall thanks to the bias of the referee Charles Robinson who counted Hogan out 60 As on air WCW President Flair began abusing his power much like Bischoff had favoring villains over fan favorites and even awarding the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship which was vacated by Scott Steiner due to injury to his son David and resorting to whatever means necessary to keep him as United States Heavyweight Champion Flair eventually formed a stable of followers which included Roddy Piper Arn Anderson and the Jersey Triad to keep things in order Flair s reign as president came to an end on the July 19 episode of Nitro when he faced and lost to Sting for the position During the course of the match Sting had Flair in his Scorpion Death Lock but with the referee knocked unconscious no decision could be reached A returning Eric Bischoff came to the ring and began ordering the timekeeper to ring the bell which he eventually did awarding the match and the presidency to Sting who promptly gave it up upon receiving it 61 Flair won his last world titles in his career by winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice during 2000 the company s last full year of operation When WCW was purchased by the WWF in March 2001 Flair was the leader of the villainous group called the Magnificent Seven 62 Flair lost the final match of Nitro to Sting recreating the second match of Nitro in 1995 Nevertheless Flair has repeatedly stated in various interviews how happy he was when WCW finally closed down although at the same time the fact that many people would lose their jobs saddened him 63 New Japan Pro Wrestling 1995 1996 In August 1995 while under WCW contract Flair participated in the G1 Climax tournament in New Japan Pro Wrestling NJPW where he beat Shiro Koshinaka drew Masahiro Chono and lost to Keiji Mutoh On July 17 1996 Flair challenged Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort in NJPW 36 World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment 2001 2009 WWF co owner 2001 2002 A bloody Flair at WrestleMania X8 in 2002 After an eight month hiatus from wrestling Flair made a return to the WWF 64 on November 19 2001 65 Flair reappeared on Raw following the end of the WCW ECW Invasion that culminated in a Winner Take All match at Survivor Series won by the WWF 66 Flair s new on screen role was that of the co owner of the WWF with the explanation that Shane and Stephanie McMahon had sold their stock in the company to a consortium namely Flair prior to purchasing World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling 67 Flair s feud with Vince McMahon led them to a match at the Royal Rumble in January 2002 in a Street Fight where Flair defeated McMahon 66 Flair also wrestled The Undertaker at WrestleMania X8 in March 2002 where Flair lost 68 The co owner angle culminated in early 2002 when Flair controlled Raw and McMahon controlled SmackDown 69 On the May 13 episode of Raw Flair challenged Hollywood Hulk Hogan to a no disqualification match for the Undisputed WWE Championship Flair would later lose the contest before moving onto a rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin At Judgment Day Flair teamed with Big Show and lost to Austin in a two on one handicap tag team match On the June 3 episode of Raw the feud between Flair and Austin would escalate after Austin defeated Flair in a singles contest After Austin abruptly left the WWE in June while in a program with Flair a match was hotshotted between Flair and McMahon for sole ownership of WWE which Flair lost after interference from Brock Lesnar on the June 10 edition of Raw 70 At King of the Ring Flair defeated Eddie Guerrero in a singles match after Guerrero and Chris Benoit would interrupt Flair s speech regarding losing his position as WWE co owner afterwards Guerrero would lock Flair in his own signature figure four leg lock with help from Benoit Flair s rivalry with Lesnar would continue into the month of July with Lesnar picking up wins over Flair in a singles match on the July 1 episode of Raw and in a tag team contest on the July 15 episode of Raw Flair then became involved in a short lived rivalry with Chris Jericho leading to Flair defeating Jericho at SummerSlam Flair was granted a World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H on the September 2 episode of Raw which he lost Later on that same night Flair would team with Rob Van Dam as the duo were successful in defeating the team of Triple H and Jericho At Unforgiven Flair was unsuccessful in capturing the WWE Intercontinental Championship in a singles contest against Jericho 71 Under the WWE banner Flair toured Japan periodically between 2002 and 2008 He successfully defended the World Tag Team Championship with Batista against The Dudley Boyz twice in February 2004 On the February 7 2005 episode of Raw broadcast from the Saitama Super Arena in Japan Flair lost to Shawn Michaels in a singles match In February 2008 Flair wrestled Mr Kennedy in the Ariake Coliseum and William Regal in the Budokan Hall both under the stipulation that he would retire if he lost 72 Evolution 2002 2005 Main article Evolution In September 2002 at Unforgiven Triple H defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Van Dam During the match Flair came down to the ring and grabbed the sledgehammer from Triple H and teased hitting him before hitting Van Dam allowing Triple H to get the win turning him heel in the process and accompanied Triple H to the ring as his manager 73 Shortly after Batista moved from SmackDown to Raw and Flair also began accompanying him to the ring while continuing to second Triple H 74 In June 2003 at Bad Blood Flair was able to defeat Shawn Michaels after Orton struck Michaels with a chair 75 76 At the height of Evolution s power the group controlled all of the male based championships of Raw after Armageddon Batista teamed with Flair to win the World Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz Bubba Ray Dudley and D Von Dudley in a tag team turmoil match and Triple H regained the World Heavyweight Championship from Goldberg in a triple threat match that also involved Kane with the help of the other members of Evolution In January 2004 at the Royal Rumble Flair and Batista successfully defended the World Tag Team Championship against the Dudley Boyz in a tables match and World Heavyweight Champion Triple H fought Shawn Michaels to no contest in a Last Man Standing match thus retaining the championship Flair and Batista lost the World Tag Team Championship on February 16 edition of Raw to Booker T and Rob Van Dam At WrestleMania XX Evolution defeated the Rock n Sock Connection The Rock and Mick Foley in a 3 on 2 handicap match The following week on Raw during the 2004 WWE draft lottery Flair and Batista defeated Booker T and Rob Van Dam to win their second and final World Tag Team Championship but they lost the titles to World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit and Edge on the April 19 episode of Raw 77 At SummerSlam Orton pinned Benoit to become the new World Heavyweight Champion and the youngest World Champion in WWE history to date On the episode of Raw the night after SummerSlam Batista hoisted Orton on to his shoulders in what appeared to be a celebration but following the thumbs down from Triple H the group proceeded to attack Orton At Unforgiven Triple H beat Orton to regain the World Heavyweight Championship with help from Flair Batista and Jonathan Coachman Orton s feud with Evolution continued until Survivor Series where Triple H Batista Gene Snitsky and Edge were defeated by Orton Maven Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit in a Survivor Series match for control of Raw over the following month 78 In the Elimination Chamber match at New Year s Revolution Batista Orton and Triple H were the last three remaining in the match Orton eliminated Batista with a RKO and Triple H pinned Orton with Batista s help to win the title Triple H suggested that Batista not enter the Royal Rumble match wanting the group to focus on Triple H retaining the title At the Royal Rumble Batista declined entered the Rumble at number 28 and won Triple H tried to persuade Batista to challenge the WWE Champion John Bradshaw Layfield of SmackDown rather than for his World Heavyweight Championship This involved Triple H plotting a feud between JBL and Batista showing JBL badmouthing Batista in an interview and staging an attack on Batista with a limousine designed to look like Layfield s The scheme was unsuccessful and at the brand contract signing ceremony on the February 21 episode of Raw Batista chose to remain on Raw infuriating Triple H and thus quitting the faction Batista defeated Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21 79 Flair and Triple H also starred in an ad for WrestleMania 21 that parodied the film Braveheart 80 After Vengeance Triple H took time off and Flair turned face for the first time since 2002 before going on to win the Intercontinental Championship from Carlito at Unforgiven and the group was dissolved Triple H returned at the Homecoming episode of Raw on October 3 where he was to team with Flair in a tag team match against Carlito and Chris Masters After winning that match Triple H betrayed Flair and attacked him with a sledgehammer Flair retained the Intercontinental Championship against Triple H at Taboo Tuesday in a steel cage match which was voted as such by the fans Flair later lost to Triple H in an acclaimed Last Man Standing non title match at Survivor Series which ended their feud 81 Final storylines and first retirement 2005 2008 At the end of 2005 Flair had a feud with Edge that culminated in a WWE Championship Tables Ladders and Chairs match on Raw in early 2006 which Flair lost On the February 20 episode of Raw Flair lost the Intercontinental Championship to Shelton Benjamin thus ending his reign at 155 days 82 Flair took some time off in mid 2006 to rest and marry for the third time and he returned in June to work a program with his real life rival Mick Foley that played off their legitimate past animosity 83 Flair defeated Foley at Vengeance in a two out of three falls match then at SummerSlam in an I quit match 84 Flair and Shawn Michaels deliver knife edged chops to Kenny Dykstra of the Spirit Squad in 2006 Subsequently he was involved in a rivalry with the Spirit Squad on Raw On November 5 2006 at Cyber Sunday he captured the World Tag Team Championship from the Spirit Squad with Roddy Piper 84 On the November 13 episode of Raw Flair and Piper lost the World Tag Team Championship to Rated RKO 85 due to a disc problem with Piper and had to be flown immediately back to the United States as soon as Raw was off the air On November 26 2006 at Survivor Series Flair was the sole survivor of a match that featured himself Ron Simmons replacing an injured Piper Dusty Rhodes and Sgt Slaughter versus the Spirit Squad 84 Flair then began teaming with Carlito after Flair said that Carlito had no heart 86 Flair defeated Carlito in a match after which Carlito realized that Flair was right 87 Flair and Carlito faced off against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch in a number one contender s match for the World Tag Team Championship but were defeated The two teamed up on the WrestleMania 23 pre show and defeated the team of Chavo Guerrero and Gregory Helms After weeks of conflict between Flair and Carlito 88 89 the team split up when Carlito attacked Flair during a match on the April 30 episode of Raw 90 At Judgment Day Flair defeated Carlito with the figure four leglock 91 On the June 11 episode of Raw Flair was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2007 WWE draft 92 He briefly feuded against Montel Vontavious Porter unsuccessfully challenging him for the WWE United States Championship at Vengeance Night of Champions 93 94 Flair rejoined forces with Batista to feud with The Great Khali the alliance was short lived however as Flair was injured during a match with Khali on the August 3 episode of SmackDown 95 96 After a three month hiatus Flair returned to WWE programming on the November 26 episode of Raw to announce I will never retire 97 98 Vince McMahon retaliated by announcing that the next match Flair lost would result in a forced retirement 97 Later in the night Flair defeated Orton after a distraction by Chris Jericho 97 98 It was revealed on the 15th anniversary of Raw that the win or retire ultimatum only applied in singles matches Flair won several career threatening matches against the opponents such as Triple H Umaga William Regal Mr Kennedy and Vince McMahon himself among others 99 100 101 On March 29 2008 Flair was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a part of the class of 2008 by Triple H The day after Flair wrestled at WrestleMania XXIV in Orlando Florida losing to Shawn Michaels 102 The match was lauded by fans and critics and was voted the 2008 Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI Match of the Year Flair s fight to keep his career going garnered him the 2008 PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year award 103 Part time appearances 2008 2009 Flair at WrestleMania XXIV On the March 31 2008 episode of Raw Flair delivered his farewell address Afterward Triple H brought out many current and retired superstars to thank Flair for all he had done including Shawn Michaels some of the Four Horsemen Ricky Steamboat Harley Race and Chris Jericho followed by The Undertaker and then Vince McMahon Along with the wrestlers the fans gave Flair a standing ovation This event represented a rare moment in WWE as both the heels and the faces broke character and came out to the ring together Flair made his first post retirement appearance on the June 16 2008 episode of Raw to confront Chris Jericho about his actions during a rivalry with Shawn Michaels He challenged Jericho to a fight in the parking lot rather than an official match but Jericho was stopped by Triple H 104 The following year on February 9 Flair once again confronted Jericho on Raw Jericho was attacking Hall of Fame members and Flair demanded he respect them before punching Jericho 105 Flair appeared a month later to distract him during a Money in the Bank Qualifying Match Jericho then challenged Flair to come out of retirement for WrestleMania 25 instead Flair managed Roddy Piper Jimmy Snuka and Ricky Steamboat in a three on one handicap match at WrestleMania in a losing effort 106 107 108 On May 17 Flair returned during the Judgment Day pay per view coming to the aid of Batista who was being attacked by The Legacy Randy Orton Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase On the June 1 episode of Raw Flair challenged Orton in a parking lot brawl match and after interference from the rest of The Legacy the fight ended with Flair trapped inside a steel cage and punted by Orton 109 Ring of Honor and the Hulkamania Tour 2009 The main event of Hulkamania tour in 2009 Flair vs Hulk Hogan Flair signed with Ring of Honor ROH and appeared at the Stylin And Profilin event in March 2009 clearing the ring after an ROH World Championship match ended with a run in 110 He soon served as the company s ambassador in an on screen authority role and appeared on the television show Ring of Honor Wrestling in May to cement his role 111 After a number one contender s match ended in a time limit draw and the following week a double count out Flair announced Ring of Honor Wrestling s first ROH World Title match as a four way contest 112 On November 21 2009 Flair returned to the ring as a villain on the Hulkamania Let The Battle Begin tour of Australia losing to Hulk Hogan in the main event of the first show by brass knuckles 113 Hogan defeated Flair again on November 24 in Perth Australia after both men bled heavily 113 Flair also lost to Hogan on the two remaining matches on the tour 113 114 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling 2010 2012 Debut and Fortune 2010 Flair in TNA in 2010 Main articles Fortune and Immortal On the January 4 2010 episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling s TNA Impact Flair made his debut appearance for the company arriving via limo and later observing the main event between A J Styles and longtime rival Kurt Angle 115 It was later reported that Flair had signed a one year deal with the company 116 In the past Flair had openly stated that he was loyal to the McMahons and wanted to end his career in WWE however he had not had contact from WWE since June 2009 and decided to sign with TNA Wrestling after waiting for the call from WWE for six months 117 On January 17 at Genesis Flair helped Styles cheat to pin Angle and retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship 118 In addition to Styles Flair began informally managing Beer Money Inc Robert Roode and James Storm and Desmond Wolfe as a loose alliance On the March 8 episode of Impact Hulk Hogan and Abyss defeated Flair and Styles when Abyss pinned Styles 119 Afterwards the returning Jeff Hardy saved Abyss and Hogan from a beatdown at the hands of Flair Styles and Beer Money Inc 119 At Lockdown Team Flair Ric Flair Sting Desmond Wolfe Robert Roode and James Storm was defeated by Team Hogan Hulk Hogan Abyss Jeff Jarrett Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam in a Lethal Lockdown match 120 On the April 26 episode of Impact Flair was defeated by Abyss in a match where Flair s and Hogan s WWE Hall of Fame rings were at stake and as a result Flair lost possession of his ring to Hogan 121 The following week Hogan gave the ring to Jay Lethal who returned it to Flair out of respect This however was not enough for Flair who attacked Lethal along with the members of Team Flair 122 After Styles dropped the TNA World Heavyweight Championship to Rob Van Dam then failed to regain it in a rematch and later was pinned by Jay Lethal Flair adopted Kazarian as his newest protege seemingly replacing Styles as his number one wrestler 123 124 On the June 17 episode of Impact Flair announced that he would reform the Four Horsemen under the new name Fourtune a group consisting of A J Styles Kazarian Robert Roode James Storm and Desmond Wolfe 125 Flair made a return to the ring on July 11 at Victory Road losing to Jay Lethal 126 On the August 5 episode of Impact Flair faced Lethal in a rematch this time contested under Street Fight rules with the members of Fourtune banned from ringside Flair managed to win the match after an interference from Douglas Williams The following week Williams and Matt Morgan were added to Fourtune 127 In the weeks leading to Bound for Glory Flair s stable s name was tweaked to Fortune to represent the expansion in the number of members in the group 128 On the October 7 episode of Impact Flair was defeated by Mick Foley in a Last Man Standing match 129 Immortal and second retirement 2010 2012 See also Immortal Flair wrestling Douglas Williams in the main event of TNA s Maximum Wooo tour of Europe On the following episode of Impact Fortune formed an alliance with Hulk Hogan s and Eric Bischoff s new stable Immortal 130 On the November 18 episode of Impact Flair returned to the ring competing in a match where he faced Matt Morgan who had been kicked out of Fortune the previous month Morgan won the match after Douglas Williams turned on the rest of Fortune when they interfered in the match 131 On January 25 2011 it was reported that Flair had pulled out of TNA s Maximum Wooo tour of Europe mid tour after monetary disputes 132 After missing a show in Berlin Germany Flair returned to the tour on January 27 in Glasgow Scotland reportedly apologizing to the locker room prior to the show 133 134 135 On January 29 Flair wrestled his only match of the tour defeating Douglas Williams in London tearing his rotator cuff in the process making it his last singles win 136 137 During Flair s time away from TNA Fortune turned on Immortal 138 Flair returned at the February 14 tapings of the February 17 episode of Impact turning on Fortune during a match between A J Styles and Matt Hardy and jumping to Immortal 139 140 On the March 10 episode of Impact Flair defeated Styles and Hardy in a three way street fight contested as more of a two on one handicap match 141 On April 17 at Lockdown Immortal represented by Flair Abyss Bully Ray and Matt Hardy was defeated by Fortune members James Storm Kazarian and Robert Roode and Christopher Daniels who replaced an injured A J Styles in a Lethal Lockdown match when Flair tapped out to Roode 142 The match was used to write Flair off television as the following week he was scheduled to undergo surgery for his torn rotator cuff however Flair ultimately chose not to have the surgery as it would have required six months of rehab 143 144 Flair returned to television in a non wrestling role on the May 12 2011 episode of Impact Wrestling 145 Flair did not appear again for three months until making his return on August 9 at the tapings of the August 18 episode of Impact Wrestling confronting old rival Sting and challenging him to one more match In exchange for Sting agreeing to put his career on the line Flair promised to deliver him his match with Hogan if he was victorious 146 147 The match which Flair lost took place on the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling The match with Sting would be the last of his career to date 148 During the match Flair tore his left triceps on a superplex spot sidelining him indefinitely from in ring action 149 At Bound for Glory Flair appeared in Hogan s corner in his match against Sting Flair continued to make appearances for TNA until April 2012 In April 2012 Flair tried to have his TNA contract terminated which led to TNA filing a lawsuit against WWE for contract tampering and eventually firing Flair on May 11 150 151 Having been inactive since his September 2011 injury Flair announced in a December 3 2012 interview that he would never wrestle again owing chiefly to an on air heart attack suffered by age peer Jerry Lawler following a Raw match three months earlier 152 Return to WWE 2012 2021 On March 31 2012 while still contracted to TNA as a part of a deal with WWE which allowed Christian Cage to appear at Slammiversary 10 Flair became the first person to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice the second time as part of the class of 2012 with The Four Horsemen On December 17 2012 Flair returned to WWE as a non wrestling personality on the annual Slammy Awards show to present the Superstar of the Year award to John Cena who in turn gave the award to Flair Flair s return was interrupted by CM Punk and Paul Heyman escalating into a confrontation that ended with him locking Heyman in the figure four leglock After clearing the ring Flair was assaulted by The Shield Dean Ambrose Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins until Ryback and Team Hell No Kane and Daniel Bryan helped Flair fend off the group 153 Flair appeared on the main roster sporadically throughout 2013 as The Miz s mentor 154 155 He also occasionally appeared on NXT in 2013 and 2014 accompanying his daughter Charlotte to the ring 156 Flair accompanying his daughter Charlotte Flair to the ring at WrestleMania 32 Flair appeared on April 28 2014 episode of Raw alongside the reunited Evolution minus Flair and The Shield Flair showed his endorsement for The Shield Evolution s opponents at Extreme Rules effectively turning his back on his old teammates At Battleground John Cena symbolically handed over his World Heavyweight Championship belt to Flair telling him to take it while promoting his match 157 On the post SummerSlam Raw in August 2015 Flair interrupted Jon Stewart who had saved Flair s 16 world title record by preventing Cena s victory the previous night telling him that the record would be broken eventually and he would rather it be by someone who he respects 158 Flair began making more frequent appearances with Charlotte after she won the Divas Championship 159 In January 2016 Flair and Charlotte began displaying villainous traits with Flair often getting involved in Charlotte s Divas Championship 160 161 and later WWE Women s Championship defenses thus turning heel for the first time since 2005 in WWE 162 163 This lasted until the May 23 episode of Raw when Charlotte turned on him 164 On the November 28 episode of Raw Flair returned to congratulate the new Raw Women s Champion Sasha Banks who had defeated Charlotte to win the title thus turning face once again 165 Flair made a surprise appearance during the November 14 2017 episode of SmackDown to congratulate his daughter Charlotte Flair who won the SmackDown Women s Championship They shared an emotional moment on the ramp and did his iconic strut On the February 25 2019 episode of Raw WWE celebrated Flair s 70th birthday and during the closing moments Flair was attacked by Batista The actual attack was never seen only Flair being dragged by Batista 166 At WrestleMania 35 Flair assisted Triple H in defeating Batista to keep his in ring career going 167 Flair appeared on the July 22 Raw Reunion episode and raised a toast alongside Triple H Hulk Hogan Stone Cold Steve Austin and various other fellow wrestlers of his era 168 In June 2020 Flair came back to WWE programming as a heel again managing Randy Orton for a few weeks until the August 10 episode of Raw when Orton performed a punt kick on Flair s head 169 170 On November 22 2020 he made an appearance at Survivor Series during The Undertaker s retirement ceremony 171 On the January 4 2021 episode of Raw Flair started a storyline with Lacey Evans when during a match against Women s Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair and Asuka Evans flirted with Flair During the following weeks Flair managed Evans usually distracting his daughter Charlotte including a participation in the Women s Royal Rumble 172 On the February 15 episode of Raw Evans real life pregnancy was announced and incorporated into a storyline with Flair impregnating Lacey 173 Evans was scheduled to face Asuka for Raw Women s Championship at Elimination Chamber but the match was cancelled due to her pregnancy and the storyline with Flair was cancelled 174 On August 2 2021 it was reported by Wrestling Inc that Flair had asked for and was granted his release from WWE 175 WWE confirmed his release the following day and considered it effective as of August 3 176 Late career 2021 present See also Ric Flair s Last Match On August 14 2021 at Triplemania XXIX Flair made his Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide AAA debut by accompanying Charlotte s fiance Andrade El Idolo to ringside during his match against AAA Mega Champion Kenny Omega Flair would later get involved in the match by chopping Omega and applying the Figure Four leglock to Omega s second Konnan On August 29 2021 Flair made his return to the NWA at NWA 73 It was his first NWA appearance since 2008 when he was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame At NWA 73 Flair thanked the NWA and WWE for several memorable moments and noted the importance of having several companies in the industry 177 On May 16 2022 it was announced that Flair would wrestle his final match on July 31 in Nashville called Ric Flair s Last Match finally retiring after nearly five decades in the ring 178 On July 18 it was announced that Flair would team with his son in law Andrade El Idolo against Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal 179 As part of the promo setting up the match Lethal attacked Flair over being left out of the match card Jarrett initially tried to help Flair but attacked him after he rebuffed him and used expletives against his family 180 Flair and Andrade would go on to win the match 181 Flair later confirmed that he had passed out twice during the Last Match 182 and regretted announcing that it would be his final match 183 A few days later he accompanied Andrade during his match against Carlito at the 49th WWC Anniversary show held on August 6 2022 Flair attempted to interfere before poking Primo Colon when he tried to stop him causing Carlos Colon to attack him and forcing him to flee Andrade would go on to lose the match 184 During the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of his debut in professional wrestling on September 26 2022 Flair announced that he would never retire 185 In January 2023 however he stated that he did not want to wrestle again aside from wanting to redo the Last Match 186 Legacy Flair performing his signature figure four leglock on Hulk Hogan during the Hulkamania tour Flair was often popular with the crowd due to his in ring antics including rulebreaking earning him the distinction of being the dirtiest player in the game strutting and his shouting of Wooooooo Flair got the inspiration from Jerry Lee Lewis Great Balls of Fire 187 The Wooo yell b has since become a tribute to Flair and is often shouted by the crowd whenever a wrestler performs a knife edge chop one of Flair s signature moves 3 It is also often shouted by the crowd whenever a wrestler utilizes Flair s figure four leglock finisher From the late 1970s Flair wore ornate fur lined robes of many colors with sequins during in ring appearances 3 and since the early 1980s his approach to the ring was usually heralded by the playing of the Dawn section of Richard Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra famous for being used in the 1968 motion picture 2001 A Space Odyssey and for the introduction to Elvis Presley s concerts of the 1970s Flair also described himself as a limousine ridin jet flyin kiss stealin wheelin dealin son of a gun who kissed all the girls worldwide and made em cry 189 On October 19 1998 it was declared Ric Flair Day in Minneapolis Minnesota by Mayor Sharon Belton 190 and on November 15 2008 it was declared Ric Flair Day in Norfolk Virginia 191 On March 24 2008 Mayor Bob Coble of Columbia South Carolina declared March 24 to be Ric Flair Day in Columbia Flair also received the key to the city 192 He received the key to the city of Greensboro North Carolina on December 5 2008 to commemorate Flair s victory in a steel cage match against Harley Race at the inaugural Starrcade event 193 April 18 2009 was declared Ric Flair Day in Charleston West Virginia and he was presented with the key to the city by the mayor 194 Also on June 12 2009 Flair was presented with the key to the city of Myrtle Beach South Carolina 195 and in September he received the key to the city in Marion County South Carolina 196 On July 17 2010 Flair made a special appearance at Scotland Motors in Laurinburg North Carolina and received the key to that city as well 197 Flair yelling Wooooo On the February 18 2008 episode of Raw Shawn Michaels announced Flair as the first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2008 The induction ceremony took place on March 29 2008 with Triple H inducting him This made him the first person to be inducted while still an active competitor 198 Flair was later inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in Atlanta Georgia but he did not participate in the event On January 9 2012 it was announced that the Four Horsemen would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame thus making Flair the first person to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame twice 199 On April 15 2008 Flair was honored in Congress by a representative from North Carolina Republican Sue Myrick who praised his career and what he means to the state 200 On September 29 2008 it was announced that Flair s signature sequin covered robe that he wore at WrestleMania XXIV in what was to be his last WWE match would be placed in the pop culture section of the National Museum of American History in Washington D C 201 In 1999 a large group of professional wrestling experts analysts and historians named Flair the greatest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of all time 202 In 2002 Flair was named the greatest professional wrestler of all time in the book The Top 100 Wrestlers of All Time by John Molinaro edited by Dave Meltzer and Jeff Marek 203 in July 2016 Luke Winkie of Sports Illustrated also named Flair the greatest professional wrestler of all time 204 Flair s Wooo chant has been used throughout pop culture Rapper Pusha T paid homage to Flair in numerous songs For example on the track Sweet Serenade he says Triple doubles two hoes and check please Wooo They love me on my Ric Flair shit Wooo In that Phantom like I m Blair Witch Wooo Who are you to be compared with Wooo 205 Atlanta based rapper Killer Mike also has a track named Ric Flair 206 American trap musicians Offset and Metro Boomin paid tribute to Flair in their hit song Ric Flair Drip 207 The Battle of Gettysburg Podcast hosted by battlefield guides and wrestling fans Jim Hessler and Eric Lindblade often cites Flair s Wooo chant as well as other elements of Flair s mystique 208 Sports Illustrated ranked Flair first on their 101 greatest wrestlers of all time list 209 Reaction to later career Some have looked unfavorably upon Flair s career from the late 1990s onward In 1998 wrestler and former WCW colleague Stone Cold Steve Austin said that Flair had reached the time to hang it up having not been great for a long time 210 John Molinaro of Slam Sports penned a 1999 article titled Ric Flair is tarnishing his legacy Molinaro saw Flair as a wrestler whose prestige was in jeopardy 211 In 2006 Pro Wrestling Illustrated writer Frank Ingiosi said that Flair had a personal vendetta against his legend 212 He nevertheless continued to wrestle until retiring in 2008 at age 59 Flair would ultimately return to the ring in 2009 and signed to wrestle for TNA the following year breaking a vow to never again lace up his boots 213 Wrestler Axl Rotten 214 NFL writer Adam Rank 215 and many fans 213 felt that he sullied his legend by continuing to wrestle in TNA 216 Asked in 2011 if Flair was tainting his prestige former opponent Shane Douglas was harsher stating that he had been tarnishing his legacy since 1990 217 Also that year Kevin Eck of The Baltimore Sun criticized the aging Flair for being unable to separate himself from his ostentatious gimmick when not wrestling and said I don t know what s sadder Ric Flair tarnishing his legacy in the ring or embarrassing himself away from the ring 218 Asked about Flair in 2015 wrestler The Honky Tonk Man felt that viewers would remember only the last years of his career which consist of bad memories 219 Conversely professional wrestling announcer Jim Ross in 2012 felt that Flair had not tarnished his legacy observing only passion and need to earn a living 220 In 2016 Flair said continuing to wrestle in TNA was the number one regret of his career 221 Other media Flair at a Comic Con event in 2016 Flair has made numerous appearances in television shows In 1996 Flair along with other WCW wrestlers appeared in an episode of Baywatch as themselves In 2013 Flair made an appearance in Stuff You Should Know in the episode Bacteriopolis as Dr Roland Grayson In 2014 Flair voiced himself in the animated series Uncle Grandpa in the episode History of Wrestling 222 In 2011 Flair voiced himself in the animated series The Cleveland Show in the episode BFFs 223 Flair released his autobiography To Be the Man on July 6 2004 224 The title is taken from one of his catchphrases To be the man you gotta beat the man 225 In 2009 Flair voiced Commander Douglas Hill in the video game Command amp Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising 226 It was announced on July 8 2012 that Flair was to appear at Insane Clown Posse s 13th Annual Gathering of the Juggalos weekend as a main stage host who was in charge of announcing the performers 227 However his appearance at the event was cut short after his hair was grazed by a water bottle thrown from the crowd before announcing Tech N9ne to enter the main stage Flair at that point left immediately and did not announce Tech N9ne or go back out on the main stage to announce the remaining performers Flair s final comment before he left the main stage was Have fun 228 In 2015 Flair made his feature film debut appearing in Magic Mike XXL 229 From May 2015 April 2016 Flair was host of a podcast titled WOOOOO Nation The podcast was placed on hiatus after episode 46 which was uploaded on April 1 2016 Flair returned to podcasting on MLW Radio with a new show called The Ric Flair Show in July 2016 230 The final episode of The Ric Flair Show was uploaded on December 16 2016 Flair stated that the reason that he had quit the podcasting business was because he could no longer be objective when it comes to his opinion of what is happening in the WWE 231 In 2017 ESPN aired Nature Boy a 30 for 30 documentary about Flair s career directed by Rory Karpf 232 233 On October 31 2017 trap artists Offset and Metro Boomin released a single titled Ric Flair Drip from their collaborative album with 21 Savage Without Warning in which Flair made an appearance in the music video 234 In December 2017 Latin trap artist Bad Bunny released a music video entitled Chambea in which Flair appeared 235 Flair signed an endorsement deal with online ticket exchange marketplace TickPick in August 2018 Under the agreement he would make guest posts on TickPick s blog in addition to appearing in advertisements for the brand posted on its and his own social media channels 236 Flair started appearing in an advertising campaign for CarShield in April 2021 237 The company paused it in September 2021 following allegations of sexual assault made by Heidi Doyle against him on an episode of Dark Side of the Ring 238 It however resumed airing the commercials in December 2021 239 In November 2021 Flair brought back his podcast WOOOOO Nation It was named Wooooo Nation Uncensored and was co hosted by Mark Madden 240 Madden quit in March 2022 241 He was replaced by Flair s son in law Conrad Thompson and the podcast was revamped into To Be the Man in April 2022 242 Flair signed an endorsement deal with Nu Image Medical an online telehealth and medical company in June 2022 to promote its men s health products 243 WWE and the streaming service Peacock partnered to release a documentary on Flair titled Woooooo Becoming Ric Flair on December 26 244 Business venturesFlair sells his official merchandise through his own website 245 He partnered with Scout Comics in 2021 to launch a comic book series named Code Name Ric Flair Following allegations of sexual assault against him made on Dark Side of the Ring Scout Comics dropped the comic and Flair started personally selling it on his website However later in December 2022 the company agreed to publish it through its label The series is written by Scout Comics President James Haick III and will launch in April 2023 246 247 In July 2022 Flair launched a virtual restaurant chain named Wooooo Wings in Nashville Tennessee in partnership with Kitchen Data Systems ahead of Ric Flair s Last Match The name of the chain is based after Flair s signature exclamation The food items of the outlet are prepared by KitchPartner restaurants owned by Kitchen Data Systems The chain expanded to six American cities in August 2022 248 249 Its launch and expansion was handled by Conrad Thompson 250 Flair also partnered with Mike Tyson and Verano Holdings Corp to launch his own cannabis line called the Ric Flair Drip under Tyson s cannabis brand Tyson 2 0 251 The line launched in October 2022 in Arizona Nevada and California 252 Personal lifeFamily Flair married his first wife Leslie Goodman on August 28 1971 They had two children daughter Megan and son David before divorcing in 1983 after twelve years of marriage On August 27 1983 he married his second wife Elizabeth Harrell Promoter Jim Crockett Jr served as the best man for the wedding They had two children daughter Ashley and son Reid Beth and their children also made periodic appearances in WCW between 1998 and 2000 Flair and Beth divorced in 2006 after nearly 23 years of marriage 253 254 On May 27 2006 Flair married his third wife Tiffany VanDemark a fitness competitor 255 In 2008 Tiffany filed for divorce from Flair which was finalized in 2009 256 On November 11 2009 Flair married his fourth wife Jacqueline Jackie Beems in Charlotte North Carolina 257 In 2012 Flair filed for divorce from Beems which was finalized in 2014 citation needed Flair married his fifth wife Wendy Barlow known as Fifi his maid in WCW on September 12 2018 at a resort in Florida 258 259 On January 31 2022 Flair announced that he and Barlow have separated 260 The two have since reconciled as of May 2022 Flair s elder son David is a retired professional wrestler who worked for WCW from 1999 to 2001 and made two televised appearances in the WWF in 2002 during the run up to WrestleMania X8 Flair s younger son Reid who signed a developmental contract with WWE near the end of 2007 261 was an accomplished high school wrestler and made several appearances on WCW television along with his sister Ashley and half sister Megan In 2004 Flair became a grandfather at the age of 55 when his older daughter Megan Fliehr Ketzner gave birth to her first child a daughter named Morgan Lee Ketzner on May 9 262 263 On May 17 2012 it was reported that Flair s daughter Ashley had signed with WWE 264 adopting the ring name Charlotte which was later changed to include the Flair surname 265 On March 29 2013 Reid died from drug overdose of heroin Xanax and a muscle relaxer 266 Legal problems In December 2005 a judge issued arrest warrants for Flair after a road rage incident that took place in Charlotte North Carolina in which Flair allegedly got out of his car grabbed a motorist by the neck and damaged his vehicle 267 Flair was charged with two misdemeanors injury to personal property and simple assault and battery This incident was ridiculed on WWE programming most notably by the wrestler Edge 268 In September 2007 Flair opened a financial business called Ric Flair Finance In July 2008 Flair Finance filed for bankruptcy 269 Following Flair s debut in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling his former employer Ring of Honor filed a lawsuit in 2010 alleging that Flair owed them over 40 000 and that he had not appeared at several events that he was contractually obligated to appear at 270 The lawsuit was never resolved 271 Highspots Inc claimed that Flair had given them the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt as collateral for the loan 272 273 A warrant for Flair s arrest was issued in May 2011 for being held in contempt of court for violating the terms of his settlement with Highspots If Flair had failed to comply he could have potentially faced 90 days in jail 274 275 On June 25 Highspots released a statement over their official Facebook page stating that someone had paid Flair s debts 276 Politics Flair has long supported Republican political candidates in North Carolina politics 277 In 2000 Flair explored the possibility of running for governor of North Carolina 277 but he never filed the papers 278 Jesse Ventura stated that when Flair told him that he had received 143 speeding tickets in his life Ventura urged him not to run 279 In the 2008 presidential election Flair declared his support for the Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee He said of Huckabee Huckabee is a quality person self made a great family man and he has a great vision for our country And I m here to excite the crowd 280 Flair endorsed Ted Cruz during the 2016 presidential election 281 Flair announced in 2016 that he was running for president with rapper Waka Flocka Flame as his running mate However he did not file a Statement of Candidacy FEC Form 2 282 283 Medical problems Flair has a heart condition called alcoholic cardiomyopathy 284 On August 14 2017 Flair had surgery in Georgia to remove an obstructive piece of his bowel which led to various complications most seriously kidney failure necessitating dialysis treatment and ongoing hospitalization 285 He was discharged from rehabilitation and allowed to return home on September 21 286 Real life feuds and backstage problemsTeddy Long WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long claimed Flair was hostile to him in his early career in the 1980s 287 stating Flair walked up to me one time and asked me he said Nigger you like working here 288 Long claims Flair never apologized to him and hasn t changed over the years 288 Bret Hart Flair engaged in an off screen rivalry with Bret Hart In October 1993 Hart gave a radio interview in which he said Flair sucks and described his workplace WCW as minor league 289 In Flair s autobiography he accused Hart of over exploiting the death of his brother Owen and the controversy surrounding the Montreal Screwjob 290 Flair also claimed in his autobiography that despite Hart s popularity in Canada he was not a formidable money making draw in the United States a claim which Hart dismissed as plain ridiculous in a column written for the Calgary Sun Hart cited his headlining performances on consistently sold out tours throughout his WWF career while alleging that Flair wrestled to near empty arenas He also criticized Flair on what he perceived as insults to fellow wrestlers Mick Foley and Randy Savage both personal friends of Hart 291 Hart went on to criticize Flair in his own autobiography mainly his in ring talent mis use of ring psychology and what Hart perceived as Flair s unsubtle blading 292 293 However they have since reconciled and are now friends 294 Shane Douglas Flair also had a long running feud with Shane Douglas who would refer to him as Dick Flair and accuse him of sabotaging his push in the NWA WCW after getting a solid push and a rub from his tag team partner Ricky Steamboat 295 In turn Flair responded that Douglas was always the guy that would blame his shortcomings on others He called Douglas out as well as accused him of steroid abuse during a broadcast of the Internet radio show WCW Live in which he said that he would meet him anytime and anywhere if he would take the needle out of his ass 296 Mick Foley Flair has also had problems with Mick Foley In his 1999 autobiography Have a Nice Day Foley said that Flair was every bit as bad on the booking side of things as he was great on the wrestling side of it 297 This was in reference to how poorly Foley thought he was booked during his WCW career when Flair was on the booking committee Flair responded in his autobiography by writing I do not care how many thumbtacks Mick Foley has fallen on how many ladders he s fallen off how many continents he s supposedly bled on he will always be known as a glorified stuntman 298 They had an altercation in 2004 in Huntsville and in 2006 they worked a program where Flair took part in some of the bloodiest and most violent matches of his career particularly at SummerSlam 2006 in an I Quit match which had spots involving barbed wire and thumbtacks trademark weapons from Foley s days as Cactus Jack However they have since reconciled and are now friends 299 Hulk Hogan In his book Flair also touched on some real life tension between himself and Hulk Hogan which largely stemmed from an incident that followed the conclusion of a tag team match between Flair and his son David and the team of Curt Hennig and Barry Windham at WCW s Souled Out pay per view on January 17 1999 in Charleston West Virginia 300 However Flair has stated that he and Hogan remained friends despite their differences 301 302 Bruno Sammartino Flair and wrestler Bruno Sammartino had a real life disagreement over what reports call the infamous backstage snub where Flair claims that Sammartino refused to shake his hand at a live event 303 While Flair claims Sammartino ignored him due to comments made in his book stating Sammartino was a Northeast star who couldn t draw fans outside New York 303 Sammartino referred to Flair as a liar and stating No I don t respect Ric Flair I don t respect him at all 304 They reconciled and were friends until Sammartino s passing in 2018 305 Becky Lynch In September 2019 Flair threatened legal action against WWE and filed a trademark for the term The Man which was being used as a nickname by heavily promoted wrestler Becky Lynch The threats of legal action caused a rift between Flair and his daughter Charlotte who was Lynch s onscreen nemesis at the time 306 Lynch responded to the actions by asserting that she still liked and respected Flair 307 Flair transferred the rights to The Man nickname and gimmick to WWE in May 2020 The terms of the transfer were undisclosed 308 Flair began feuding with Lynch in 2021 accusing her of using the term without his explicit permission but their dispute was resolved when he apologized to her in January 2023 309 Plane Ride from Hell Flair was part of the infamous 2002 Plane Ride from Hell Flair was accused of wearing his signature wrestling robe while naked and forcing a female flight attendant Heidi Doyle to touch his penis she would later sue the WWE 310 The case was settled out of court however Flair did not face any punishment from WWE Numerous people who were on the flight at the time including Tommy Dreamer and Jim Ross spoke about the incident on an episode dedicated to it on the Canadian documentary series Dark Side of the Ring in 2021 311 Flair released a statement after the episode aired denying the allegations 312 Flair was also removed from the WWE s intro signature afterwards 313 Championships and accomplishments Flair was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008 for his singles career Flair was also inducted in 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen The Baltimore Sun Match of the Year 2008 vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV 314 International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2021 315 George Tragos Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2013 316 Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions World Championship Wrestling WCW World Heavyweight Championship 7 times 317 WCW International World Heavyweight Championship 2 times NWA Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Championship 3 times 318 NWA Mid Atlantic NWA Television Championship 2 times 319 NWA Mid Atlantic WCW United States Heavyweight Championship 6 times c 320 321 NWA Mid Atlantic Tag Team Championship 3 times with Rip Hawk 1 Greg Valentine 1 and Big John Studd 1 322 NWA World Tag Team Championship Mid Atlantic version 3 times with Greg Valentine 2 and Blackjack Mulligan 1 323 First WCW Triple Crown Champion National Wrestling Alliance NWA World Heavyweight Championship 10 times 324 NWA Hall of Fame class of 2008 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Feud of the Year 1987 The Four Horsemen vs The Super Powers and The Road Warriors 325 Feud of the Year 1988 1990 vs Lex Luger 325 Feud of the Year 1989 vs Terry Funk 325 Inspirational Wrestler of the Year 2008 325 Match of the Year 1983 vs Harley Race June 10 325 Match of the Year 1984 vs Kerry Von Erich at Parade of Champions 1 325 Match of the Year 1986 vs Dusty Rhodes at The Great American Bash in a steel cage match 325 Match of the Year 1989 vs Ricky Steamboat at WrestleWar 325 Match of the Year 2008 vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV 325 Match of the Decade 2000 2009 vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV Most Hated Wrestler of the Year 1978 1987 325 Rookie of the Year 1975 325 Stanley Weston Award 2008 325 Wrestler of the Year 1981 1984 1986 1989 1992 325 PWI Wrestler of the Decade 1980 s 326 Ranked No 3 of the top 500 wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991 1992 and 1994 327 328 329 Ranked No 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003 330 Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Class of 2006 1 St Louis Wrestling Club NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship 1 time 331 St Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2007 World Wrestling Federation Entertainment WWE World Tag Team Championship 3 times with Batista 2 and Roddy Piper 1 332 WWE Intercontinental Championship 1 time 332 WWF World Heavyweight Championship 2 times 332 Royal Rumble 1992 332 Thirteenth Triple Crown Champion Slammy Award for Match of the Year 2008 vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV WWE Hall of Fame 2 times Class of 2008 individually Class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen WWE Bronze Statue 2017 333 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Best Heel 1990 Best Interviews 1991 1992 1994 Hardest Worker 1982 1984 1988 Feud of the Year 1989 vs Terry Funk Match of the Year 1983 vs Harley Race in a steel cage match at Starrcade Match of the Year 1986 vs Barry Windham at Battle of the Belts II on February 14 Match of the Year 1988 vs Sting at Clash of the Champions I Match of the Year 1989 vs Ricky Steamboat at Clash of the Champions VI Ragin Cajun Most Charismatic 1980 1982 1984 1993 Most Outstanding 1986 1987 1989 Readers Favorite Wrestler 1984 1993 1996 Worst Feud of the Year 1990 vs The Junkyard Dog Worst Worked Match of the Year 1996 with Arn Anderson Meng The Barbarian Lex Luger Kevin Sullivan Z Gangsta and The Ultimate Solution vs Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in a Towers of Doom match at Uncensored Wrestler of the Year 1982 1986 1989 1990 1992 Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic 1994 Retirement angle Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame Class of 1996 Notes According to Flair s autobiography To Be the Man his birth name was listed on different documents as Fred Phillips Fred Demaree and Fred Stewart Given that his biological father s surname was Phillips it is suspected that Fred Phillips is his actual birth name but Flair has never followed up on the fact On March 18 1949 he was legally adopted by the Fliehr family and was renamed Richard Morgan Fliehr Wooo is officially spelled with four o s according to his autobiography but can extend to any number of o s 188 Flair did win the Mid Atlantic version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship six times and the six reigns were recognized even after World Championship Wrestling WCW took control over the championship and renamed it the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in 1991 After WCW s purchase by WWE the lineage of the championships were kept in the WWE United States Championship WWE com has published contradictory information on Flair s reigns recognizing five reigns in one article but describing him as a six time champion in another article References a b c d e f g h i j k Westcott Brian Ric Flair Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Archived from the original on September 23 2017 Retrieved August 14 2017 Price Mark January 17 2018 Ric Flair announces his daughter s engagement to a guy wrestling fans know well charlotteobserver com The Charlotte Observer Retrieved January 28 2020 a b c d e f Ric Flair profile World Wrestling Entertainment Retrieved March 23 2016 a b c Milner John and Richard Kamchen Ric Flair SLAM Wrestling Retrieved November 13 2007 a b Woodward Buck December 10 2010 This day in history PWInsider Retrieved February 23 2016 a b Power Slam This Month in History February SW Publishing January 1999 p 28 55 The preceding material is supported by the following references Stone Cold Steve Austin names Ric Flair as the greatest wrestler of all time ComicBook com November 27 2018 Retrieved January 4 2019 Steve Austin Ric Flair is the greatest professional wrestler that ever lived Ric Flair 2010 Ric Flair To Be the Man Simon amp Schuster p 7 ISBN 978 1 4391 2174 0 Triple H Let me state this categorically Ric Flair is the greatest wrestler of all time Mike Mooneyham July 3 2005 Angle Flair greatest ever MikeMooneyham com Retrieved January 4 2019 Kurt Angle overall the greatest ever is Ric Flair Andrew Thompson February 13 2018 Ric Flair amp Hulk Hogan give their top 3 wrestlers of all time Fightful com Retrieved January 4 2019 Hulk Hogan I pick Ric Flair first because he s the greatest wrestler of all time Shawn Michaels Stone Cold Podcast December 13 2015 8 minutes in WWE Network Steve Austin Would you agree with me that he Flair was the greatest of all time Michaels Yeah I m always gonna say Ric Mike Mooneyham November 7 2017 Flair Hart war of the worlds MikeMooneyham com Retrieved January 4 2019 Buddy Landel Ric Flair is the single greatest wrestler bar none that has ever been in our business Dusty Rhodes The greatest wrestler to lace his boots was the Nature Boy Ric Flair One More Round The Undertaker Steve Austin s Broken Skull Sessions November 22 2020 20 amp 24 minutes in WWE Network Steve Austin I think you and I are on the same page with Ric Flair being the greatest of all time The Undertaker Absolutely I m like Wait a minute You re Ric Flair right You re the greatest to ever do this The preceding material is supported by the following references George Napolitano 2011 Hot Shots and High Spots George Napolitano s Amazing Pictorial History of Wrestling s Greatest Stars ECW Press p 74 ISBN 978 1 77090 064 6 Ric Flair is undoubtedly the greatest wrestler that I have ever seen Mike Mooneyham November 7 2017 Flair Hart war of the worlds MikeMooneyham com Retrieved January 4 2019 Hart sincerely believes he was the best wrestler in the business Unfortunately for the Canadian legend though that label more aptly describes Ric Flair Luke Winkie July 26 2016 A definitive ranking of the top 101 wrestlers of all time Sports Illustrated Retrieved January 4 2019 WrestleMania VIII main event WWE Retrieved January 23 2014 Ric Flair s title history WWE com Archived from the original on January 12 2016 Retrieved January 12 2016 a b Buck Woodward April 2 2008 Ric Flair The 16 time 18 time 21 time Exactly how many times has he been World Champion PWInsider com Retrieved April 6 2014 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Ric Flair Return Hulkamania Let The Battle Begin YouTube November 1 2009 Event occurs at 31 seconds Retrieved February 4 2010 Fact be known it s 21 times 16 I ll take credit for Flair Ric June 2004 Chapter One Black Market Baby In Madden Mark Greenberg Keith Elliot eds Ric Flair To Be The Man Hardcover 352pp ed Simon amp Schuster Adult Publishing Group p 8 ISBN 978 0 7434 5691 3 Archived from the original on October 8 2012 Retrieved July 2 2017 Depending on which documents you read my birth name was Fred Phillips Fred Demaree or Fred Stewart and I was born in Memphis on February 25 1949 My biological mother s name was Olive Phillips Demaree or Stewart My biological father is listed as Luther Phillips Flair Ric Greenberg Keith Elliot 2004 Ric Flair To Be the Man illustrated ed p 4 ISBN 9780743456913 Maxey Ron June 11 2018 Georgia Tann victims recount tales of lives lost in infamous adoption scandal Memphis Commercial Appeal Gannett Company Retrieved April 1 2021 Flair Ric June 2004 Chapter One Black Market Baby In Madden Mark Greenberg Keith Elliot eds Ric Flair To Be The Man Hardcover 352pp ed Simon amp Schuster Adult Publishing Group p 8 ISBN 978 0 7434 5691 3 Archived from the original on October 8 2012 Retrieved July 2 2017 My father s salary was a bit of an issue He was only making 3 000 a year but my mother explained he was only doing his residency in Detroit and that any child they adopted would live a relatively privileged life and most likely go to college Flair Ric June 2004 Chapter One Black Market Baby In Madden Mark Greenberg Keith Elliot eds Ric Flair To Be The Man Hardcover 352pp ed Simon amp Schuster Adult Publishing Group pp 11 12 ISBN 978 0 7434 5691 3 Archived from the original on October 8 2012 Retrieved January 15 2010 After the ninth grade I left Minnesota to go to Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam Wisconsin I lettered in three sports I played middle linebacker and fullback on the football team threw the shot put and wrestled When Nature Boy calls A baseball player hangs with his hero StarTribune com a b Ric Flair Acclerator3359 com Retrieved March 6 2008 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine paywindahdusty June 21 2009 Ric Flair vs Chris Taylor AWA 1974 via YouTube Kreikenbohm Philip Ric Flair Career International Wrestling Enterprise Cagematch net Retrieved January 8 2021 a b c Molinaro John December 28 2000 The plane crash that changed wrestling SLAM Wrestling Retrieved November 13 2007 ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY JULY 29 RIC FLAIR VS BOBO BRAZIL NICK BOCKWINKEL VS MIL MASCARAS Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online July 29 2015 Retrieved September 25 2020 Nissen Edan November 5 2018 5 Wrestling gimmicks that were inspired by somebody else Sportskeeda Retrieved September 24 2020 Van Winkle Adam May 7 2019 Remembering Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich 35 Years On The Wrestling Movement Retrieved September 25 2020 Dusty Rhodes vs Ric Flair The Great American Bash 1986 Steel Cage Match Atletifo Sports May 12 2021 Retrieved June 7 2021 Tweddell Ross July 31 2018 How Ric Flair Won His 16 Recognised World Titles Cultaholic Retrieved September 24 2020 Beaston Erik Full Career Retrospective and Greatest Moments for the Four Horsemen Bleacher Report Retrieved September 24 2020 Jim Ross On Why Ronnie Garvin Beat Ric Flair For the NWA Title in 1987 411Mania Retrieved September 24 2020 Linder Zach The three best matches ever Flair and Steamboat on their famous trilogy WWE com Retrieved September 27 2020 Ojst Javier June 30 2020 Ric Flair and Terry Funk Their Unforgettable Feud from 1989 Pro Wrestling Stories Retrieved September 27 2020 Clements Matt CvC Sting Vs Flair Is The Best Rivalry In Pro Wrestling Bleacher Report Retrieved September 24 2020 Breaston Erik Full Career Retrospective and Greatest Moments for Tatsumi Fujinami Bleacher Report Retrieved September 25 2020 Baines Tim June 27 2004 Flair rips Mick Foley Ottawa Sun Retrieved May 14 2007 Hoy Browne Richard June 6 2014 Historic Moments in Wrestling part 7 Ric Flair leaves WCW for the WWF Independent U K Retrieved September 24 2020 a b View from the Rising Sun by Masanori Horie Ric Flair To Be The Man You ve Got To Beat The Man Geocities com 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Josh June 18 2010 TNA Impact Results 6 17 10 WrestleView Archived from the original on June 20 2010 Retrieved June 18 2010 Keller Wade July 11 2010 TNA Victory Road results 7 11 Keller s ongoing virtual time coveage of live PPV event Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved July 11 2010 Caldwell James August 12 2010 Caldwell s TNA Impact report 8 12 Ongoing virtual time coverage of Spike TV Whole F n Show updated Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved August 13 2010 Lethal Lockdown Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Archived from the original on January 5 2016 Retrieved October 13 2010 Caldwell James October 7 2010 Caldwell s TNA Impact report 10 7 Ongoing virtual time coverage of live Spike TV show Foley vs Flair battle royal Bound for Glory hype Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved October 7 2010 Wilkenfeld Daniel October 14 2010 Wilkenfeld s TNA Impact report 10 14 Complete virtual time coverage of Spike TV s live broadcast Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved October 15 2010 Wilkenfeld Daniel November 18 2010 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European tour WrestleView Retrieved February 1 2011 Caldwell James February 3 2011 Caldwell s TNA Impact report 2 3 Ongoing virtual time coverage of Impact on Spike TV they reveal TNA World Title match Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved February 15 2011 Martin Adam February 15 2011 Spoilers TNA Impact tapings for February 17 WrestleView Archived from the original on February 19 2011 Retrieved February 15 2011 Caldwell James February 17 2011 Caldwell s TNA Impact report 2 17 Complete virtual time coverage of Impact on Spike TV Against All Odds fall out Flair s TV return TNA World Title match Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved February 18 2011 Bishop Matt March 11 2011 Impact Sting teams with RVD to face Hardy Anderson Slam Sports Canadian Online Explorer Retrieved March 11 2011 Caldwell James April 17 2011 Caldwell s TNA Lockdown PPV results 4 17 Ongoing virtual time coverage of live all cage match PPV Sting vs Anderson vs RVD Angle vs Jarrett Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved April 17 2011 Caldwell James April 22 2011 TNA News Ric Flair has surgery to repair torn rotator cuff background on original injury Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved April 23 2011 Gerweck Steve May 7 2011 News and notes on Ric Flair including Roddy Piper WrestleView Retrieved May 12 2011 Caldwell James May 12 2011 Caldwell s TNA Impact report 5 12 Ongoing virtual time coverage of big reveals final PPV hype battle royal main event Pro Wrestling Torch Tedesco Mike August 9 2011 Spoilers Impact Wrestling for August 18 WrestleView Archived from the original on August 25 2011 Retrieved August 12 2011 Bishop Matt August 18 2011 Impact Flair finally returns to show Slam Sports Canadian Online Explorer Retrieved August 19 2011 Caldwell James September 15 2011 Caldwell s TNA Impact Wrestling report Flair vs Sting 9 15 Blog on this week s TV main event Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved September 16 2011 Caldwell James September 22 2011 TNA News Ric Flair scheduled for surgery next week after injury worsens Flair addresses current health Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved October 4 2011 Caldwell James May 25 2012 TNA WWE News Details on TNA suing WWE amp former TNA employee Flair central figure in allegations what s next in court Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved June 4 2012 Martin Adam June 18 2012 Court documents confirm Ric Flair firing by TNA WrestleView Archived from the original on August 23 2012 Retrieved June 19 2012 Ric Flair s Exclusive Interview WrestleNewz December 3 2012 Archived from the original on July 7 2018 Retrieved February 23 2016 I want to be in the ring but it will never happen again PWTorch com CALDWELL S WWE RAW RESULTS 12 17 Complete virtual time coverage of live Raw The strangest show of the year concludes with the debut of a new monster heel Ric Flair returns Pwtorch com Retrieved December 20 2019 Benino Antonio January 14 2013 Antonio Cesaro crashed Miz TV with Ric Flair WWE com Retrieved January 15 2013 PWTorch com CALDWELL S WWE RAW RESULTS 3 4 Complete virtual time coverage of live Old School Raw Taker returns Rock Cena in ring confrontation WM29 hype more Pwtorch com Retrieved December 20 2019 James Justin July 18 2013 James WWE NXT Report 7 17 Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved March 4 2015 Caldwell James RAW NEWS World Title Retired WCW Theme Ambrose more Shows WWE Retrieved December 20 2019 Trionfo Richard September 21 2015 LIVE ONGOING WWE RAW REPORT THERE IS A FOURTH HOUSE IN THE DIVAS REVOLUTION AND IT IS FULL OF JEALOUSY PWInsider Retrieved September 21 2015 Johnson Mike January 7 2015 WWE SMACKDOWN SPOILERS FOR TONIGHT PWInsider Retrieved January 7 2015 Caldwell James January 24 2016 1 24 Royal Rumble PPV Results CALDWELL S Complete Live Report Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved January 25 2016 Richard Trionfo April 3 2016 COMPLETE RAW REPORT MARCH 18 2016 amp THOUGHTS PWInsider Retrieved April 3 2016 James Caldwell May 22 2016 5 22 WWE Extreme Rules PPV Results CALDWELL S Complete Live Report Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved May 23 2016 Richard Trionfo May 23 2016 WWE RAW REPORT FIVE OF SEVEN SPOTS IN MITB DETERMINED MAIN EVENT FOR MITB ANNOUNCED A RETURN AND MORE PWInsider Retrieved May 25 2016 Keller Wade November 28 2016 KELLER S WWE RAW REPORT 11 28 Live coverage Charlotte defends against Sasha Banks New Day defends against Anderson amp Gallows Pro Wrestling Torch Retrieved November 28 2016 Join Monday Night Raw for Ric Flair s 70th birthday celebration on Feb 25 WWE February 4 2019 Retrieved February 4 2019 Lambert Jeremy Triple H Preserves Career Defeats Batista With Help From Ric Flair At WrestleMania 35 Fightful Retrieved September 21 2020 Zucker Joseph Video Stone Cold Crushes Beer Hulk Hogan Ric Flair Appear on WWE Raw Reunion Bleacher Report Retrieved September 21 2020 Satin Ryan August 11 2020 Randy Orton Ends Association with Ric Flair Via Punt Kick in the Dark Pro Wrestling Sheet Insider Wrestling News and Reports Retrieved August 16 2020 Sharma Aryan August 11 2020 WWE Universe Goes Wild After the Insane Randy Orton Ric Flair Segment EssentiallySports Retrieved August 16 2020 Reichlin Michael November 22 2020 The Rock The McMahons HBK Ric Flair amp More Pay Tribute to The Undertaker SEScoops Retrieved November 23 2020 WWE Royal Rumble Women s entrant order and eliminations WON F4W January 31 2021 Retrieved February 23 2021 Thomas Jeremy February 15 2021 Lacey Evans Announces She s Pregnant On Raw Legit Pregnancy Being Worked into Storyline 411MANIA Retrieved February 16 2021 WWE Raw Los Flair inician el fin de su historia Asuka pierde un diente Solowrestling in Spanish February 23 2021 Retrieved February 23 2021 Giri Raj August 2 2021 Exclusive Ric Flair No Longer With WWE Wrestling Inc Retrieved August 2 2021 Ric Flair released WWE August 3 2021 Retrieved August 3 2021 Rueter Sean August 30 2021 Ric Flair thanks Vince McMahon amp Triple H plans to get a drink with Tony Khan Retrieved August 31 2021 Raimondi Marc May 16 2022 Legendary WWE wrestler Ric The Nature Boy Flair to step in ring one final time in July according to sources ESPN Retrieved May 16 2022 Mrosko Geno July 18 2022 Ric Flair s last match He ll team with Andrade against Jay Lethal Jeff Jarrett Retrieved July 18 2022 Sean Rueter July 18 2022 The set up for Ric Flair s Last Match is bonkers Retrieved July 27 2022 Marc Raimondi August 1 2022 Ric Flair 73 handles pressure authors classic performance in winning his final wrestling match ESPN Retrieved August 5 2022 Tim Daniels August 10 2022 Priest Denies Edge Rumor Ric Flair Talks Last Match Danielson on Perfect WWE Exit Bleacher Report Retrieved August 11 2022 Connor Casey August 11 2022 Ric Flair Regrets Declaring His Retirement Match His Last Match Comicbook com ViacomCBS Retrieved August 11 2022 Connor Casey August 7 2022 Ric Flair Brawls With Carlos Colon in Puerto Rico One Week After His Last Match Comicbook com ViacomCBS Retrieved August 11 2022 Aidan Gibbons September 27 2022 Ric Flair Vows To Never Retire Cultaholic Retrieved September 30 2022 Jeremy Thomas January 19 2023 Ric Flair Clarifies That He Doesn t Want Another Match 411Mania Retrieved January 22 2023 Ric Flair Reveals The Origin Of His Infamous Woo Catchphrase Providr com December 13 2016 Archived from the original on July 15 2018 Retrieved May 29 2017 Flair Ric June 2004 Madden Mark Greenberg Keith Elliot eds Ric Flair To Be The Man Hardcover 352pp ed Simon amp Schuster Adult Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 7434 5691 3 Archived from the original on October 8 2012 Retrieved July 2 2017 The Woooo started out short and clipped It would later grow louder and longer The 10 best quotes of Nature Boy Ric Flair s career The Atlanta Journal Constitution Retrieved September 21 2020 Wade Bill WCW Monday Nitro 10 19 98 notifylist com Retrieved July 18 2010 Ric Flair at VCW Pt 2 youtube com Archived from the original on June 27 2014 Retrieved July 18 2010 Santaella Tony March 24 2008 Key to City WLTX Archived from the original on February 9 2013 Retrieved March 24 2008 Coons Christine December 6 2008 Flair given key to the city in Greensboro SLAM Sports Retrieved December 7 2008 Browning Michael Logan Banner Flair Good memories in W Va Logan Banner Archived from the original on September 27 2011 Retrieved October 7 2009 City of Myrtle Beach File Photos of the Week Myrtle Beach Local Government Page 2009 Archived from the original on July 25 2009 Retrieved September 27 2009 McFadden Naeem Flair Makes Moving Speech at Gala SCNow Archived from the original on March 12 2012 Retrieved October 8 2009 Lentz John The Laurinburg Exchange Ric Flair Takes Part in Dealership Grand Opening The Laurinburg Exchange Archived from the original on July 13 2011 Retrieved July 18 2010 Adkins Greg February 18 2008 Hall Monitor World Wrestling Entertainment Retrieved March 16 2008 Flair will be in Miami WWE March 27 2012 Retrieved March 18 2012 Gaston Gazette April 16 2008 Ric Flair Honored in Congress World Wrestling Entertainment Retrieved October 10 2009 Mooneyham Mike September 28 2008 A new kind of female company for Flair The Post and Courier Retrieved September 13 2009 1 dead link Molinaro John 2003 The Top 100 Wrestlers of All Time ISBN 1 55366 305 5 Winkie Luke July 26 2016 Ranking the top 101 wrestlers of all time Sports Illustrated Retrieved August 1 2016 Pusha T Ft Chris Brown Sweet Serenade Retrieved December 20 2019 via genius com Blistein Jon April 21 2015 Watch Killer Mike Take Over Los Angeles in Ric Flair Video RollingStone Retrieved August 14 2017 Ric Flair Drip Retrieved November 20 2017 Robert E Lee vs George Pickett S2 E7 from The Battle of Gettysburg Podcast Stitcher com Retrieved April 17 2020 Winkie Luke A definitive ranking of the 101 greatest wrestlers Sports Illustrated Retrieved June 5 2021 The Bottom Line The TSN Off The Record Stone Cold Interview Slam Sports May 6 1998 Retrieved January 23 2016 Molinaro John July 5 1999 Wrestling Editorial Ric Flair is tarnishing his legacy Slam Sports Retrieved January 23 2016 Ingiosi Frank PWI update archives July 2006 Respect Thine Elders Pro Wrestling Illustrated Archived from the original on September 24 2015 Retrieved July 24 2014 a b Ric Flair Claims He Will Never Wrestle Again Fighting Spirit Magazine December 17 2012 Retrieved January 23 2016 Wrestling several matches on television and Pay Per View Flair broke his promise there was a feeling that Flair had tarnished his legacy Axl Rotten Busted Open August 22 2011 Sirius XM How terrible is it that Ric Flair one of the greatest wrestlers of all time had to come and tarnish his name and his reputation the way he has in TNA When he left the WWE with that sendoff which was a king s sendoff which is what he deserved to come back and do what he has done has turned my stomach Rank Adam January 5 2014 Gridiron Breakdown Steve Smith vs Ric Flair NFL Retrieved February 14 2016 STEAMBOAT VS SAVAGE AEW IN MSG EUROPE PRICETAG FOR FINAL COUNTDOWN NJPW STRONG AND MORE Pwinsider com Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Interview with Shane Douglas WNSvideo March 22 2011 Retrieved January 23 2016 Eck Kevin January 26 2011 Latest incident another embarrassment for Ric Flair The Baltimore Sun Retrieved January 23 2016 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Honky Tonk Man on Ric Flair The Hannibal TV February 3 2015 Retrieved March 30 2016 Ross Jim April 23 2012 Q amp A JR s BarBQ Archived from the original on March 2 2016 Retrieved February 14 2016 Matheson Danielle August 3 2016 Ric Flair Says He Totally Regrets Wrestling For TNA Surprising Literally No One Uproxx Retrieved August 5 2016 Real Life Uncle Grandpa Ric Flair Guest Starred on Cartoon Network s Uncle Grandpa Uproxx September 12 2014 Retrieved September 21 2020 Ric Flair to Appear on The Cleveland Show 411Mania Retrieved September 21 2020 Ric Flair author CNN Retrieved March 16 2008 dead link The 10 best quotes of Nature Boy Ric Flair s career AJC com August 14 2017 Retrieved on August 14 2017 Vassallo Colin Ric Flair In New Command amp Conquer Red Alert 3 Game Bleacher Report Retrieved September 21 2020 Johnson Mike July 8 2012 Ric Flair Returning To Wrestling PWInsider Retrieved July 9 2012 Johnson Mike August 14 2012 Ric Flair Incident at Gathering of the Juggalos Pwinsider com Retrieved August 14 2012 Paglino Nick October 31 2014 Why Orton Has Been Pulled from WWE Overseas Tour Ric Flair Films Scene for Big Movie Sequel WWE Horror Posters Wrestlezone com Retrieved July 4 2015 MLW Radio Network Mlwradio com Archived from the original on October 14 2016 Retrieved February 6 2022 Bennett Jeremy April 10 2017 WWE News Reason why Ric Flair is no longer hosting a podcast Sportskeeda Retrieved September 21 2020 Karpf Rory Rory Karpf Filmmaker Deitsch Richard Media Circus ESPN set to air 30 for 30 on Flair si com Retrieved May 26 2016 VIDEO Offset amp Metro Boomin Ric Flair Drip Rap Up Retrieved March 1 2018 Suzette Fernandez January 24 2018 Bad Bunny amp WWE s Ric Flair Reunite at Raw 25 See Photos Billboard Retrieved October 10 2022 Larry Csonka August 2 2018 Ric Flair Gets New Endorsement Deal With TickPick 411mania Retrieved October 10 2022 Jeffrey Harris April 10 2021 Ric Flair Featured in Series of Car Shield Commercials 411mania Retrieved October 5 2022 Jeremy Thomas September 17 2021 Ad Campaign Starring Ric Flair Paused Over Dark Side of the Ring Allegations 411mania Retrieved October 5 2022 Subhojeet Mukherjee December 29 2021 Fans shocked after CarShield starts airing Ric Flair commercial again Ringside News Retrieved October 5 2022 Marc Middleton November 11 2021 Ric Flair Launching Uncensored podcast On New Network Mark Madden On Upsetting Marks Wrestling Inc Retrieved October 6 2022 Sai Mohan March 28 2022 Ric Flair Podcast Host Quits Amid Raging Twitter Beef Wrestling Inc Retrieved October 6 2022 Eric Mutter April 3 2022 Conrad Thompson Reveals Vision For Revamped Ric Flair Podcast Wrestling Inc Retrieved October 6 2022 Samantha Rossing June 6 2022 Ric Flair Former WWE Wrestling Champion Partners with Nu Image Medical Newsfile Corp Retrieved October 6 2022 The It List Pro wrestling icon Ric Flair reveals all in new doc TLC explores most recent developments surrounding Hillsong Church ring in 2023 with Miley Cyrus and all the best in pop culture the week of Dec 26 2022 Yahoo December 27 2022 Retrieved January 22 2023 Jude Terror December 6 2017 Wrestling Legend Ric Flair Will Call You on the Phone if You Give Him 100 Right Now Bleeding Cool Retrieved October 6 2022 Rich Johnston June 12 2022 The Ric Flair Comic That Was From Scout Comics But Now May Not Be Bleeding Cool Retrieved October 6 2022 Brendan M Allen December 15 2022 Scout Comics Announces Codename Ric Flair For Spring 2023 Comicon com Retrieved January 5 2023 Ric Flair opening Wooooo Wings virtual restaurants in Alabama AL com August 2 2022 Retrieved October 5 2022 R Dallon Adams August 3 2022 Ric Flair s Wooooo Wings now available in SA Here s what s on the menu Shelton Herald Retrieved October 5 2022 Wrestling legend Flair brings virtual wings restaurant to Rocket City Huntsville Business Journal August 9 2022 Retrieved October 5 2022 Nina Zdinjak August 18 2022 Tyson 2 0 Teams Up With Verano On Ric Flair Drip Cannabis Line Launch Benzinga Retrieved October 5 2022 Edward Celaya October 13 2022 Wooo Ric Flair talks wrestling business and cannabis on latest podcast Arizona Daily Star Retrieved October 16 2022 Bucher Chris August 16 2017 Elizabeth Harrell Flair Ric s Ex Wife 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know Heavy com Retrieved April 14 2022 Voight john November 20 2021 Elizabeth Flair Facts About Ric Flair s Second Wife Celebrity Gossip Retrieved April 14 2022 Ric Flair Wedding Pics A tribute to Nature Boy Ric Flair Retrieved September 15 2007 Ric Flair Breaks Up With Third Wife Tiffany PWMania com Archived from the original on February 25 2012 Retrieved January 6 2012 Jacqueline Fliehr Jackie Beems Ric Flair s Wife Photos Right Entertainment December 4 2012 Archived from the original on December 4 2014 Retrieved May 30 2014 Daily Update Balor teases draft G 1 Climax begins WWE signees Wrestling Observer Newsletter July 17 2016 Retrieved July 19 2016 Satin Ryan September 12 2018 Ric Flairs Ties The Knot For Fifth Time Pro Wrestling Sheet Retrieved September 12 2018 Davis Paul January 31 2022 Ric Flair and Wendy Barlow are getting a divorce Wrestling News Retrieved January 31 2022 WWE has signed Reid Fliehr of Charlotte N C 19 the youngest son of Ric Flair to a developmental contract He debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling in January Greensborosports com December 31 2011 Archived from the original on December 1 2008 Retrieved January 6 2012 DVD Shows That Wrestler s Career Was Not Without Flair Sun Sentinel March 5 2004 Retrieved June 19 2019 Not only is Flair s daughter Megan set to give birth to her first child on May 9 two of his other children are excelling in high school athletics Ashley Fliehr is one of the top volleyball players in North Carolina while Reid Fliehr posted a 34 10 amateur wrestling record as a freshman Baines Tim April 2 2005 Going toe to toe with Ric Flair Ottawa Sun Retrieved September 15 2007 Alvarez Bryan May 18 2012 Friday update More on three hour Raw move more on live Impacts Brooke Hogan huge weekend schedule of shows Ashley Flair signs NXT tapings tons more Wrestling Observer Newsletter Retrieved May 18 2012 Trionfo Richard July 18 2013 WWE NXT report number one contender match tag title match second generation wrestler debuts women s tournament finals next week PWInsider Retrieved July 18 2013 Reid Flair cause of death revealed as drug overdose prowrestling net Retrieved June 14 2013 Wrestler Ric Flair Accused of Road Rage WSOC Charlotte November 28 2005 Archived from the original on September 21 2009 RAW December 5 2005 Results Online World of Wrestling Retrieved April 30 2007 Ring Posts Ric Flair s departure from WWE Baltimore Sun Martin Adam January 31 2010 ROH files lawsuit against Ric Flair Wrestleview Retrieved June 26 2011 Johnson Mike September 5 2014 Former ROH owner rips Ric Flair PWInsider com Retrieved January 27 2016 Johnson Mike August 3 2010 HIGHSPOTS COM FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST RIC FLAIR FLAIR S VERSION OF EVENTS DIFFERS GREATLY FROM THEIRS PWInsider Retrieved June 2 2011 Bixenspan David July 3 2010 Highspots sues Ric Flair over lack of repayment of loans Cageside Seats Retrieved June 2 2011 Caldwell James May 26 2011 Flair News Warrant issued for Ric Flair s arrest Thursday related to failure to comply with legal settlement ProWrestlingTorch Retrieved June 2 2011 Ryan Shane May 27 2011 Ric Flair held in contempt over loans CharlotteObserver Retrieved June 2 2011 Adam Martin June 26 2011 Highspots reveals Ric Flair pays up owed money Wrestleview Retrieved June 26 2011 a b Flair aims to be N C governor SLAM Wrestling February 8 2000 Retrieved March 11 2008 Flair doesn t file to be N C governor yet SLAM Wrestling February 8 2000 Retrieved March 11 2008 permanent dead link Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Jesse Ventura Future President of the United States Title Match Wrestling Retrieved June 5 2020 Huckabee tailgates and welcomes wrestler support Politicalticker blogs cnn com November 25 2007 Retrieved January 6 2012 FSU Paul PaulFSU August 9 2015 nwalker6399 RealBPhil I m not against Trump I want Ted Cruz though I am against the wussy establishment candidates like Jeb Tweet Retrieved August 9 2016 via Twitter 2016 Presidential Form 2 Filers April 8 2015 Archived from the original on April 8 2015 Rafferty Scott October 19 2016 Watch Ric Flair and Waka Flocka Flame Jump Into Presidential Race Rolling Stone Flair Ric 2004 Mark Madden ed To Be the Man 1st ed Stamford Connecticut WWE Books ISBN 978 0743456913 Barrasso Justin August 17 2017 Ric Flair Had Part of His Bowel Removed During Latest Health Scare SI com Impact Star Rips Promoter For Alleged Sexism Ric Flair Returns Home Mia Yim Added To MLW One Shot WrestlingInc com WrestlingInc com Retrieved September 22 2017 Teddy Long opens up about his problems with Ric Flair Superfights en superluchas com October 21 2018 a b Oliver Sean interviewer Long Teddy interviewee November 2014 YouShoot Teddy Long Kayfabe Commentaries Oliver Sean director 2014 Timeline History of WCW 93 Told by Vader DVD Kayfabe Commentaries 1993 October Bret Hart buries Ric Flair and WCW Bret Hart was on Toronto all sports radio station The FAN and buried WCW and Ric Flair during an interview saying WCW is minor league and Flair sucks Mike Mooneyham July 4 2004 Flair Pulls No Punches in Book Archived from the original on September 27 2007 Retrieved May 14 2007 Bret Hart on Flair Online World of Wrestling Hart Bret 2007 Hitman My real life in the cartoon world of wrestling Ebury Press p 303 pp ISBN 9780091932862 Hart Bret 2007 Hitman My real life in the cartoon world of wrestling Ebury Press p 286 pp ISBN 9780091932862 Flair Ric Bret Hart WOOOOO Nation with Ric Flair Episode 3 Bret The Hitman Hart CBS Local Media May 19 2015 John F Molinaro April 23 2000 The Franchise on Flair amp Russo SLAM Wrestling Archived from the original on February 15 2005 Retrieved May 14 2007 Roid Abuser Ric Flair s PKB on Shane Douglas sporttoday org Foley Mick Have A Nice Day A Tale of Blood and Sweat socks p 2 Flair Ric 2004 Ric Flair to Be the Man Pocket Books p 211 ISBN 0 7434 9181 5 Flair Ric Mick Foley WOOOOO Nation with Ric Flair Episode 5 Hardcore Mick Foley and Ric Flair one on one CBS Local Media June 2 2015 Ric Flair reflects on Hulk Hogan s mistreatment Online World of Wrestling February 5 2015 Retrieved September 21 2020 Flair Ric Hulk Hogan WOOOOO Nation with Ric Flair EP 23 Hulk Hogan CBS Local Media October 6 2015 Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night at Madison Square Garden February 27 2015 on YouTube a b BRUNO SAMMARTINO SHOOTS HARD ON RIC FLAIR AND EXPLAINS WHY HE HAS NO RESPECT FOR HIM AT ALL pwinsider com Retrieved December 29 2012 Guttman James 2008 World Wrestling Insanity Presents Shoot First Ask Questions Later ECW Press ISBN 978 1550228366 Bruno Sammartino SammartinoBruno Twitter April 8 2013 Retrieved July 26 2015 I had a nice friendly breakfast with Rick Flair heading home soon Daniels Tim Ric Flair Threatening Legal Action vs WWE for Becky Lynch s The Man Gimmick Bleacher Report Retrieved September 25 2020 Mendhe Abhilash September 10 2019 WWE News Becky Lynch reveals what she thinks of Ric Flair Sportskeeda Retrieved September 25 2020 Sripad May 30 2020 Ric Flair vs WWE for The Man trademark comes to an end Sportskeeda Retrieved September 25 2020 Phelan Chris February 9 2023 Real Life Bad Blood Between Becky Lynch amp Ric Flair Thankfully Over Says Seth Rollins USA Insider USA Network Retrieved February 10 2023 Mack Justin L Ric Flair s long list of legal troubles The Indianapolis Star The Wrestler in Real Life Grantland September 6 2011 Retrieved September 17 2021 Casey Connor September 20 2021 Ric Flair Releases Statement on Dark Side of the Ring Accusations Comicbook Retrieved September 14 2022 Casey Connor September 22 2021 WWE Has Removed Any Sign of Ric Flair From Their TV Programs Comicbook Retrieved September 14 2022 Eck Kevin January 2 2009 2008 Awards The Baltimore Sun Retrieved September 25 2020 Induction Class 2021 Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame IPWHF Retrieved December 14 2020 Flair Watts Taylor to enter Tragos Thesz Hall of Fame WrestleView October 17 2012 Archived from the original on October 21 2012 Retrieved October 17 2012 WCW World Heavyweight Title history At wrestling titles com NWA Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Title history At wrestling titles com NWA Mid Atlantic Television Title history Archived April 12 2008 at the Wayback Machine At wrestling titles com NWA WCW United States Heavyweight Title history At wrestling titles com Benigno Anthony Ric Flair and David Flair United States Championship WWE Archived from the original on June 22 2015 Retrieved July 16 2015 The Dirtiest Player in the Game also had six stints with the United States Title which is enough to build a legacy on in and of itself NWA Mid Atlantic Tag Team Title history At wrestling titles com NWA World Tag Team Title Mid Atlantic WCW history At wrestling titles com NWA World Heavyweight Title Wrestling titles com a b c d e f g h i j k l m PWI Awards Pro Wrestling Illustrated Kappa Publishing Group Archived from the original on January 21 2016 Retrieved August 14, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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