THERE IS SO MUCH RIC HAS DONE FOR THIS SPORT AND NO ONE WILL EVER MATCH HIS EFFORTS HE IS WITH OUT A DOUBT ONE OF THE GREATEST EVER IF NOT THE GREATEST ONE THING FOR SURE IN HIS OVER 35 PLUS YR. CARRER HE HAS ALWAYZ AND FOR EVER WILL BE "DA MAN"
THANKS AGAIN RIC...
The Start:
Ric Flair was born in 1949. Unfortunately, his birth name is not known due to a scandal at the Tennessee Children's Home Society in Memphis. His adopted parents named him Richard Fliehr. In 1971, he was trained by Verne Gagne and debuted in the AWA in 1972. He went to wrestle for the Mid-Atlantic (NC) territory in 1974. In 1975, he was involved in a plane crash and broke his back in three places.
The Late '70s:
Ric Flair returned to the ring a few years later. He was a frequent U.S. title holder. That belt was the number one belt of the region. In those days, the regional belt was the most important belt in the area. Occasionally, the NWA World Champ would come to town and fight someone in the region. In addition, he won the NWA World Tag Team Championship on a few occasions with both Blackjack Mulligan and Greg Valentine as his partners.
The '80s - NWA World Champion and the Four Horsemen:
In 1981, Ric Flair beat Dusty Rhodes to become the NWA World Champion. As champion, Ric traveled to all the other territories to fight their best opponents. Ric would lose the belt on several occasions, but he would regain the belt back rather quickly. During this time, he formed the Four Horsemen. As the '80s continued, most of the territories were killed off due to the WWF expansion. By the end of the decade, Ted Turner bought the most powerful member of the NWA and later renamed it WCW.
Ric Flair joins the WWE:
The first few years of the Turner led company were marred by bad decisions. The worst one involved Ric Flair leaving WCW with the title belt. The belt appeared on WWE television until legal actions forced them to stop. Ric claimed to be the real world champion and his claim was proven true when he won the WWE title. Ric left a few years later when a new man took over WCW.
The Feud With Eric Bischoff:
Eric Bischoff was the new head of WCW and his relationship with Flair was fine for a while. Things soured after a few years and Flair wound up off TV for along time and was embroiled in legal action due to seeing his son Reid fight in an Amateur Wrestling Tournament instead of appearing at a show. For several years, those in charge of WCW went out of their way to destroy the legacy of Flair.
Return to the WWF:
When the WCW was sold to the WWE, Flair wasn't the same man anymore. According to his autobiography, he had lost confidence in his abilities due to the constant problems he faced in WCW. He credits Vince McMahon and Triple H with helping him to regain his confidence.
Evolution:
Triple H has made no secret in saying that Ric Flair was his favorite wrestler. In late 2002, the stable of Evolution was formed with Triple H as the leader. The concept was that Flair was the greatest of the last generation, Triple H was the greatest wrestler at the moment and the future of wrestling was Batista & Randy Orton. Even though Evolution has broken up, there is no doubt that Ric Flair will still be a main player in WWE.
Hall of Fame and Retirement:
At the end of 2006,
Vince McMahon decreed that the next time Ric Flair lost a match that he would be forced to retire. Ric Flair lost his match at
WrestleMania XXIV to Shawn Michaels. However, the night before being forced to retire, Ric became the first active wrestler to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
The 16 World Title Wins:
NWA9/17/81 St Louis, MO - Dusty Rhodes
11/24/83 Starrcade - Harley Race in a steel cage match
5/24/84 Japan - Kerry Von Erich
9/7/86 St. Louis, MO - Dusty Rhodes
11/26/87 Starrcade - Ron Garvin in a steel cage match
5/4/89 Wrestle War - Ricky Steamboat
1/11/91 East Rutherford, NJ -
Sting7/18/93 Clash of Champions 24 - Barry Windham
WWE
1/19/92 Royal Rumble - won the Rumble to win the vacant title
9/1/92 Hershey, PA - Randy Savage
WCW
12/27/93 Starrcade - Vader
12/27/95 Starrcade - Randy Savage
2/11/96 Superbrawl - Randy Savage in a steel cage match
3/14/99 Uncensored - Hulk Hogan in a first blood match
5/15/00 Nitro - Jeff Jarrett
5/29/00 Nitro - Kevin Nash
(Sources: Pro Wrestling Illustrated Almanac, Onlineworldofwrestling.com, & To Be the Man by Ric Flair)
Ric Flair has always known who he is – “a kiss-stealing, wheeling, dealing, jet-flying, limousine-riding son-of-a-gun” – despite never knowing for certain where he came from. Born in Memphis, he was less than a month old when a loving couple from Edina, Minnesota, adopted him from the Tennessee Children’s Home Society (an agency that became mired in scandal in the fifties for stealing infants from mothers on public assistance). Also born with a fondness for “going out and being the party,” it’s no surprise that Flair would leave a promising career as an insurance salesman (his first job after dropping out of the University of Minnesota) to train as a wrestler under the hard-hitting guidance of American Wrestling Association promoter Verne Gagne.
Even before inheriting the “Nature Boy” moniker from WWE Hall of Famer Buddy Rogers, Flair made his name on wrestling hour-long marathon matches, his cocky interview style, and his knack for shouting “Woooooo!” into microphones (a talent he developed after listening to Jerry Lee Lewis sing “Great Balls of Fire” on the car radio). Yet incredibly, he almost didn’t become the most celebrated champion in sports-entertainment history. On October 4, 1975, he was among five passengers injured after an improperly fueled Cessna 310Q twin-engine plane suffered mechanical failure and crashed down in Wilmington, North Carolina. Doctors insisted that Flair, who had broken his back in three places, would never wrestle again. So he did the only thing he could do: Ignore the doctors, rehab, and become a ring legend with a “flair” for championship gold. “I wish I could say that the plane crash humbled me,” he says, “but I just started living the life of the ‘Nature Boy’ and didn’t look back. I took my insurance settlement and bought my first new Cadillac.”
Despite experiencing his share of the business’ ups (he describes running with the Four Horsemen as “more fun than people could experience in five lifetimes”) and downs (he still refuses to forgive Eric Bischoff’s treatment of him during his final years at WCW), “Slick Ric” maintains that the party he started four decades ago is far from over. (“I’m having too much fun,” he says.) While at times he has been the dirtiest player in the game, Flair has never strayed from being “The Man” who most young sports-entertainers – WWE Superstars included – idolize. Even those unfamiliar with his storied career, the “styling and profiling” in custom-tailored sequined ring robes, or his “Nature Boy” strut, know one thing when they hear “Woooooo!” shouted at a WWE live event, a craps table in a Las Vegas casino, or on the scoreboard at the RBC Center, home of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes: They’re in “Ric Flair Country.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy-LQH8N6Ug
