157 Facts About Ric Flair

Ric Flair is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Ric Flair is officially recognized by WWE as a 16-time world champion, although the number of his world championship reigns varies by source, ranging from 16 to 25.

Ric Flair was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship.

Ric Flair 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.

Ric Flair was adopted by Kathleen Kinsmiller Fliehr and Richard Reid Fliehr.

Ric Flair 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.

Ric Flair made his first appearances in Japan in 1973 with International Wrestling Enterprise as part of a working agreement between the IWE and AWA promoter Verne Gagne.

In 1974, Ric Flair left the AWA for Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic region in the National Wrestling Alliance, debuting on May 13,1974, by defeating Abe Jacobs.

Shortly after his debut, Ric Flair won his first championship in the promotion, by teaming with Rip Hawk to defeat Bob Bruggers and Paul Jones to win the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship.

Ric Flair broke his back in three places and, at age 26, was told by doctors that he would never wrestle again.

Ric Flair conducted a rigorous physical therapy schedule and he returned to the ring just three months later, where he resumed his feud with Wahoo McDaniel over the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship in January 1976.

The crash did force Ric 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.

Ric Flair would defend the United States Heavyweight Championship against numerous challengers, including Steamboat, whom he wrestled in several matches, such as title versus title match for Ric Flair's title and Steamboat's Mid-Atlantic Television Championship.

On January 27,1981, Ric Flair lost the title to Roddy Piper in a title versus title match, where Ric Flair's United States Heavyweight Championship and Piper's Television Championship were on the line.

On September 17,1981, Ric Flair beat Dusty Rhodes for his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Ric Flair recovered the championship belt in a phantom change seventeen days later not officially recognized by the NWA.

Ric 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 1st 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 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.

Ric Flair lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Detroit to Ron Garvin on September 25,1987.

In early 1988, Sting and Ric Flair fought to a 45-minute time-limit draw at the first ever Clash of the Champions.

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.

Ric 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.

Subsequent to this title win, Ric Flair was recognized by WCW as the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion, though he was still recognized as NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

On May 19,1991, Ric Flair defeated Fujinami at SuperBrawl I in St Petersburg, Florida to reclaim the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

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.

Ric Flair signed with the World Wrestling Federation in August 1991.

At the 1992 Royal Rumble, Ric Flair won the namesake match to claim the vacant WWF Championship.

Ric 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.

In February 1992, Ric Flair faced the Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper in a series of inconclusive title-versus-title matches.

On September 15,1992, Ric Flair defended the WWF Championship against Genichiro Tenryu at a Wrestle Association R event in Yokohama, Japan; the match ended in a draw.

Ric Flair teamed with Razor Ramon to take on Savage and Perfect at the Survivor Series in November 1992.

Ric Flair appeared in the Royal Rumble in January 1993, then lost a Loser Leaves the WWF match to Mr Perfect on the January 25 episode of Monday Night Raw.

Ric 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.

Ric Flair 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.

Ric Flair then fulfilled his remaining house show commitments and took part in the WWF's "Winter Tour '93" of Europe.

Ric Flair made his last appearance with the WWF on February 11,1993, before returning to WCW.

Ric Flair went on to defeat Tenryu in a singles match, then lost to Tenryu in a two-out-of-three falls match.

Ric Flair triumphantly returned to WCW as a hero in February 1993.

Once he returned to action, Ric 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, Ric Flair defeated Vader to win the WCW World Heavyweight title for the second time.

Ric Flair then defeated Steamboat in a rematch to reclaim the held-up title on an episode of WCW Saturday Night.

Robert Parker to wrestle one of his men at Slamboree, which turned out to be Barry Windham, whom Ric Flair defeated, afterwards he quietly turned heel and took Sherri Martel as his manager.

In June 1994 at Clash of the Champions XXVII, Ric 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.

Ric Flair continued to feud with Hogan and finally lost to Hogan in a steel cage retirement match at Halloween Havoc.

Ric Flair lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship eventually three months later to The Giant.

Once again as a top fan favorite, Ric Flair played a major role in the New World Order invasion storyline in late 1996 and throughout 1997.

Ric 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 Ric Flair himself, who had enough of the instability Jarrett's presence caused the Horsemen.

The match was made, and despite the nWo interfering on Bischoff's behalf Ric Flair won and was granted the position of president of WCW.

In spite of his son's betrayal, Ric Flair signed a rematch at Uncensored which was billed as a First Blood barbed wire steel cage Match against Hogan where Ric Flair's presidency and Hogan's WCW World Heavyweight Championship were on the line.

Ric Flair eventually formed a stable of followers which included Roddy Piper, Arn Anderson and the Jersey Triad to keep things in order.

Ric 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, Ric Flair was the leader of the villainous group called the Magnificent Seven.

Ric Flair lost the final match of Nitro to Sting, recreating the second match of Nitro in 1995.

Nevertheless, Ric 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.

On July 17,1996, Ric Flair challenged Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort in NJPW.

Ric Flair wrestled The Undertaker at WrestleMania X8 in March 2002 where Ric Flair lost.

At Judgment Day, Ric Flair teamed with Big Show and lost to Austin in a two-on-one handicap tag team match.

Flair then became involved in a short-lived rivalry with Chris Jericho, leading to Flair defeating Jericho at SummerSlam.

At Unforgiven, Flair was unsuccessful in capturing the WWE Intercontinental Championship in a singles contest against Jericho.

Under the WWE banner, Ric Flair toured Japan periodically between 2002 and 2008.

Ric Flair successfully defended the World Tag Team Championship with Batista against The Dudley Boyz twice in February 2004.

In February 2008, Ric 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.

Ric Flair retained the Intercontinental Championship against Triple H at Taboo Tuesday in a steel cage match, which was voted as such by the fans.

Ric Flair later lost to Triple H in an acclaimed Last Man Standing non-title match at Survivor Series, which ended their feud.

Ric 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.

Ric Flair defeated Foley at Vengeance in a two out of three falls match, then at SummerSlam in an "I quit" match.

On November 26,2006, at Survivor Series, Ric Flair was the sole survivor of a match that featured himself, Ron Simmons, Dusty Rhodes and Sgt.

Ric Flair then began teaming with Carlito after Ric Flair said that Carlito had no heart.

Ric Flair defeated Carlito in a match after which Carlito realized that Ric Flair was right.

At Judgment Day, Ric Flair defeated Carlito with the figure four leglock.

Ric Flair briefly feuded against Montel Vontavious Porter, unsuccessfully challenging him for the WWE United States Championship at Vengeance: Night of Champions.

Vince McMahon retaliated by announcing that the next match Ric Flair lost would result in a forced retirement.

Later in the night, Flair defeated Orton after a distraction by Chris Jericho.

Ric Flair won several "career threatening" matches against the opponents such as Triple H, Umaga, William Regal, Mr Kennedy, and Vince McMahon himself among others.

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.

Ric Flair's fight to keep his career going garnered him the 2008 PWI "Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year" award.

Jericho was attacking Hall of Fame members and Flair demanded he respect them, before punching Jericho.

Ric 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.

Ric Flair signed with Ring of Honor 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.

On November 21,2009, Ric 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.

Ric Flair lost to Hogan on the two remaining matches on the tour.

Styles, in a Lethal Lockdown match, when Ric Flair tapped out to Roode.

In exchange for Sting agreeing to put his career on the line, Ric Flair promised to deliver him his match with Hogan if he was victorious.

At Bound for Glory, Ric Flair appeared in Hogan's corner in his match against Sting.

Ric Flair continued to make appearances for TNA until April 2012.

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, Ric 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, Ric 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 Ric Flair.

Ric 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.

Ric Flair appeared on the main roster sporadically throughout 2013, as The Miz's mentor.

Ric Flair occasionally appeared on NXT in 2013 and 2014, accompanying his daughter Charlotte to the ring.

Ric Flair appeared on April 28,2014, episode of Raw, alongside the reunited Evolution and The Shield; Ric 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 Ric Flair, telling him to "take it" while promoting his match.

Ric Flair began making more frequent appearances with Charlotte after she won the Divas Championship.

Ric Flair made a surprise appearance during the November 14,2017 episode of SmackDown to congratulate his daughter Charlotte Ric Flair, who won the SmackDown Women's Championship.

The actual "attack" was never seen, only Ric Flair being dragged by Batista.

At WrestleMania 35, Ric Flair assisted Triple H in defeating Batista, to keep his in-ring career going.

In June 2020, Ric 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 Ric Flair's head.

At NWA 73, Ric Flair thanked the NWA and WWE for several memorable moments and noted the importance of having several companies in the industry.

Jarrett initially tried to help Ric Flair, but attacked him after he rebuffed him and used expletives against his family.

Ric Flair later confirmed that he had passed out twice during the Last Match and regretted announcing that it would be his final match.

Ric 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.

Ric Flair 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.

Also, on June 12,2009, Ric Flair was presented with the key to the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and, in September, he received the key to the city in Marion County, South Carolina.

On July 17,2010, Ric Flair made a special appearance at Scotland Motors in Laurinburg, North Carolina and received the key to that city, as well.

Ric Flair was later inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia, but he did not participate in the event.

In 2002, Ric 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.

In 1998, wrestler and former WCW colleague Stone Cold Steve Austin said that Ric Flair had reached the "time to hang it up", having not been great for a "long time".

In 2006, Pro Wrestling Illustrated writer Frank Ingiosi said that Ric Flair had a "personal vendetta against his legend".

Ric Flair nevertheless continued to wrestle until retiring in 2008, at age 59.

Conversely, professional wrestling announcer Jim Ross in 2012 felt that Ric Flair had not tarnished his legacy, observing only "passion and need to earn a living".

In 2016, Ric Flair said continuing to wrestle in TNA was the "number one" regret of his career.

In 2013, Ric Flair made an appearance in Stuff You Should Know, in the episode, "Bacteriopolis", as Dr Roland Grayson.

In 2014, Ric Flair voiced himself in the animated series, Uncle Grandpa, in the episode, "History of Wrestling".

In 2011, Ric Flair voiced himself in the animated series, The Cleveland Show, in the episode, "BFFs".

Ric Flair released his autobiography, To Be the Man, on July 6,2004.

In 2015, Ric Flair made his feature film debut, appearing in Magic Mike XXL.

Flair returned to podcasting on MLW Radio with a new show called The Ric Flair Show in July 2016.

The final episode of The Ric Flair Show was uploaded on December 16,2016.

Ric 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.

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

Ric Flair signed an endorsement deal with online ticket exchange marketplace TickPick in August 2018.

Ric Flair started appearing in an advertising campaign for CarShield in April 2021.

Ric Flair was replaced by Flair's son-in-law Conrad Thompson and the podcast was revamped into "To Be the Man" in April 2022.

Ric 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.

Ric Flair partnered with Scout Comics in 2021 to launch a comic book series named Code Name: Ric Flair.

Ric Flair married his first wife, Leslie Goodman, on August 28,1971.

On May 27,2006, Ric Flair married his third wife Tiffany VanDemark, a fitness competitor.

In 2008, Tiffany filed for divorce from Ric Flair, which was finalized in 2009.

On November 11,2009, Ric Flair married his fourth wife, Jacqueline "Jackie" Beems, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In 2012, Ric Flair filed for divorce from Beems, which was finalized in 2014.

Ric Flair married his fifth wife, Wendy Barlow, on September 12,2018, at a resort in Florida.

On January 31,2022, Ric Flair announced that he and Barlow have separated.

Ric 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.

Ric Flair's younger son Reid, who signed a developmental contract with WWE near the end of 2007, was an accomplished high school wrestler and made several appearances on WCW television along with his sister Ashley and half-sister Megan.

In 2004, Ric 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.

Ric Flair was charged with two misdemeanors, injury to personal property and simple assault and battery.

Highspots Inc claimed that Ric Flair had given them the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt as collateral for the loan.

Ric Flair has long supported Republican political candidates in North Carolina politics.

In 2000, Ric Flair explored the possibility of running for governor of North Carolina, but he never filed the papers.

Jesse Ventura stated that, when Ric Flair told him that he had received 143 speeding tickets in his life, Ventura urged him not to run.

Ric Flair announced in 2016 that he was running for president, with rapper Waka Flocka Flame as his running mate.

Long claims Ric Flair never apologized to him and "hasn't changed over the years".

In October 1993, Hart gave a radio interview in which he said Ric Flair "sucks" and described his workplace, WCW, as "minor league".

Hart cited his headlining performances on consistently sold-out tours throughout his WWF career, while alleging that Ric Flair wrestled to near-empty arenas.

Ric Flair criticized Flair on what he perceived as insults to fellow wrestlers Mick Foley and Randy Savage, both personal friends of Hart.

In turn, Ric Flair responded that Douglas was always the guy that would blame his shortcomings on others.

Ric 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".

However, Ric Flair has stated that he and Hogan remained friends despite their differences.

In September 2019, Ric 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.

Ric Flair transferred the rights to "The Man" nickname and gimmick to WWE in May 2020.

Ric 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.

Ric Flair was part of the infamous 2002 "Plane Ride from Hell".

Ric 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.

Ric Flair released a statement after the episode aired denying the allegations.