Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 00:36, 15 June 2006

Ric Flair
Born	February 25 1949 Memphis, Tennessee
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Black Scorpion Ric Flair
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight	234 lb (105 kg)
Billed from	Charlotte, North Carolina
Trained by	Verne Gagne
Debut	December 10 1972

Richard Fleihr (born February 25 1949 in Memphis, Tennessee), better known by his ring name "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler currently with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its RAW brand. He has been one of the leading personalities in professional wrestling since the mid 1970s. For much of the run of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) he was considered their flagship wrestler.

Career

National Wrestling Alliance

Buddy Rogers was the first "Nature Boy", Flair idolized Rogers and took the name. After three years with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Flair joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliated Jim Crockett Promotions. On the rise as a promising young brawler, he suffered a severe back injury in a October 4, 1975 plane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina. Doctors told Flair that he would never wrestle again, but Flair would return to active wrestling the next year. The crash did force Flair to change his wrestling style, which led him to create the Nature Boy style he would use throughout his career.

Flair won the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship 4 times, then won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time by defeating Dusty Rhodes on September 17, 1981. Harley Race won the title from Flair in 1983. Flair regained the title at StarrCade 1983 in Greensboro, North Carolina in a steel cage match. Flair would go on to win the NWA title six more times. As the NWA champion, he defended his belt around the world. Flair lost the title to Race and won it back in the span of three days in New Zealand in March 1984. At the first David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions at Texas Stadium, Flair was pinned by Kerry Von Erich. Flair regained the title 18 days later in Japan. He then reigned for two years, two months, and two days, losing his title to Dusty Rhodes on July 26, 1986 at the Great American Bash. Flair regained the title two weeks later. He lost the title to Ron Garvin on September 25, 1987, and Garvin would hold the title for over two months and lost his only title defense to Flair in Chicago on November 26, 1987.

In 1991, Flair had a contract dispute with WCW president Jim Herd while still NWA/WCW champion, Flair left WCW, a group run by Ted Turner which had just separated from the NWA, in July. Flair was offered a fifty percent pay cut and would no longer have the option of booking power. Herd wanted to make Lex Luger the top star and wanted to make Ric Flair a midcard star despite the fact that he was still a huge draw. Flair disagreed, and a week before the 1991 Great American Bash, Herd fired him. According to Flair, Herd also wanted him to change his appearance (i.e. by cutting his hair and wearing a diamond earring) as well as his in-ring name in order to "change with the times".

World Wrestling Federation

Flair proceeded to show up at WWF shows with the WCW World Title belt around his waist, calling himself "the Real World Heavyweight champion." NWA sued Flair in an attempt to reclaim the belt, but the rules stated that the title belt is property of the champion, so Flair could use it as he saw fit. Before winning the WCW title, Flair had to give a $25,000 deposit to the NWA. Eventually, Flair returned the belt when the NWA paid back the deposit plus $13,000 interest.

Led by his manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and his "Executive Consultant" Mr. Perfect (Curt Hennig), Flair scored victories against the likes of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and Tito Santana, and at the 1992 Royal Rumble, he won the Rumble Match to claim the vacant WWF Championship. Flair drew number three in the Rumble match, lasted an hour in the ring, last ejecting Sid Justice.

Shortly after the Rumble, In February and March, Flair battled Rowdy Roddy Piper on two occasions in steel cage matches. Due to the Sid/Hogan rivalry, the number one contender spot was vacant, and was awarded to 'Macho Man' Randy Savage. Despite all Flair's illegal tactics, featuring Heenan and Perfect, Savage was able to win the WWF Title. However, shortly after, Flair would reclaim the title by beating Savage, but would then soon lose it to Bret Hart in Saskatoon.

World Championship Wrestling

Flair returned to WCW in February 1993, and hosted a short-lived talk show in WCW called "A Flair For the Gold" as a compromise to work around a no-compete clause in his previous WWF contract. He could appear on TV but not wrestle. Arn Anderson would sit at the bar, and Flair's maid Fifi, would be cleaning or bearing gifts. Flair would briefly hold the NWA World title once again before WCW finally left the NWA in September 1993.

Later in 1993, WCW planned to have Sid Vicious win the WCW World title at StarrCade 1993, but following Sid's firing for his part in a violent altercation with Arn Anderson, Flair was inserted into the role and defeated Big Van Vader for the title.

Flair later feuded with Hulk Hogan upon Hogan's arrival in WCW in June 1994 and lost a retirement match to Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1994. Flair took a few months off before returning as a wrestler and part-time manager in 1995. Flair would have several more title reigns in the subsequent years, beating Hulk Hogan at Uncensored 1999, and winning the title two times in 2000 and the United States Championship in 1996, defeating Konnan.

When WCW was purchased by the WWF, Flair was the leader of the heel group called the Magnificent Seven. Flair lost WCW's final match on the March 26, 2001 edition of Nitro to Sting.

World Wrestling Entertainment

After a brief hiatus from pro wrestling, Flair returned to the WWF in November 2001 as the on-camera co-owner of the company. He turned face by joining forces with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Flair reappeared on the Monday Night RAW following the end of the "WCW/ECW Invasion" that culminated in a "Winner Take All" match at Survivor Series 2001 that the WWF won. Flair's new on-screen role was that of the co-owner of the WWF, after Shane and Stephanie McMahon had sold him their stocks prior to purchasing WCW and ECW. On his RAW debut, Vince McMahon had been playing the role of the face; when Flair made his appearance at the end of the show, McMahon turned heel and Flair became the dominant face. As co-owner of the WWF, he sought to make right all the wrongs that the evil Mr. McMahon was up to. Culminating with Flair being responsible for McMahon kissing The Rock's rear end on an episode of SmackDown!, Mr. McMahon apparently snapped and refused to share the WWF with Flair anymore. He proposed to "kill the WWF" and he planned to do it with the help of the nWo. However, the nWo storyline failed to captivate audiences and Flair was soon thrust into a feud with The Undertaker, culminating in a match at WrestleMania X8. The WWF board of directors refused to sanction the match and gave full control of the WWF back to Vince McMahon. In actuality, it was a prelude to the WWF Brand Extension; which split the WWF into two separate entities, with Vince McMahon in control of all things SmackDown! and Flair in control of all things Monday Night RAW. Flair however made his second to latest heel turn by turning on Austin and siding with the N.W.O. During that time when that happened Ric Flair planned a six man tag team match. It was three then members of the N.W.O. (X Pac, Big Show, who turned on Austin and Kevin Nash) going against Flair, Austin and then babyface, Bradshaw. In the middle of the match Bradshaw was knocked out and later Flair shocked the fans by attacking Austin and giving him a figure four leg lock. He then made a hadicap match at a pay per view event. It was him and the Big Show against Austin. After that he continued the figure four leg lock while the Big Show was laughing. Later during that time McMahon challenged Flair to a match for exclusive ownership of, now re-named, WWE. This made Flair turn face for the second to latest time. Flair lost the match when Brock Lesnar charged the ring, gave Flair an F-5 and allowed McMahon to make the cover. Flair remained on RAW as an occasional wrestler and eventually turned heel by betraying Rob Van Dam and joining forces with World Heavyweight Champion Triple H, with whom he later formed the stable Evolution.

2003

During 2003, Flair had a short-lived feud with Shawn Michaels which began when Michaels took Kevin Nash's side against Triple H, his archrival. The two would go at it whenever they were accompanying their friends to the ring, and this led to a confrontation at Bad Blood 2003, which led to Flair winning thanks to Randy Orton's interference. Ric Flair would win the World Tag Team Championship with Batista later that year.

2004

In 2004, Flair lost to Shelton Benjamin at Backlash 2004, in an effort to avenge several losses by Triple H to Benjamin. He would also lost the World Tag Team Championship to Edge and Chris Benoit. Later that year, Flair lost to Randy Orton, who had been kicked out of Evolution, in a steel cage match at the first Taboo Tuesday

2005

Several months after Batista left Evolution, Flair returned to RAW on August 22, 2005. He was interviewed on "Carlito's Cabana" and turned face by attacking the host Carlito. Flair would align himself with Shawn Michaels in a feud with Carlito and Michaels's new rival Chris Masters. After Flair was brutally attacked by Carlito backstage, the two had a match at the 2005 WWE Unforgiven event for Carlito’s Intercontinental Championship, a belt Flair had never won. Ric Flair made Carlito submit to the Figure Four and won his first Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Flair grabbed a microphone and gave a short speech. He said that winning the Intercontintal title meant as much to him as his 16 world title wins and said that he wished that Triple H was there to share the moment with him. He then said that he was going to party and went to the front row to pick out several women to take with him. Throught the night a camera would show a limo that had Flair and the women inside. Before entering the limo Flair took several Viagra pills. Toward the end of the show the camera cut to a shot of Flair with his trunks slightly down with his buttocks showing. As he sipped champaign, he tried to utter a WHOOO! but could barely get it out because he had too much to drink. He then collapsed to the ground using his "Flair Flop."

The feud with Carlito culminated at WWE Homecoming where Ric Flair teamed with Triple H to take on Carlito and The Masterpiece. Flair and Triple H won the match but afterwards, Triple H attacked Flair.

At Taboo Tuesday the fans were given a choice of three matches for Triple H and Ric Flair to do battle in. The cage match was chosen and Flair clawed his way to a successful title defense.

The innevitable re-match took place at Survivor Series in a Last Man Standing match. Despite another gutsy performance, in which he took 3 consecutive Pedigrees and was still standing, from the Nature Boy, a sledgehammer shot from Triple H was enough to win.

2006

On February 20, 2006, Flair lost the Intercontinental Championship to Shelton Benjamin after being hit twice with an oxygen tank and a T-bone suplex.

On February 27, 2006, Flair defeated Carlito in a qualifying match for the "Money in the Bank" ladder match at WrestleMania 22. Carlito was the one who suggested the "Money in the Bank" contest, but was pinned by Flair after choking on an apple due to a kick to the face by the Nature Boy. Flair used the ropes and got the pin. The Money in the Bank match consisted of Flair, Rob Van Dam and Shelton Benjamin from the RAW brand along with Matt Hardy, Bobby Lashley and Finlay from the SmackDown! brand. During the match Ric Flair was (kayfabe) injured and forced to the back, however he did make a return before the end. Rob Van Dam won the match by grabbing the briefcase with the guaranteed WWE championship title shot, within the next year.

On the RAW following WrestleManis Flair was assaulted by Umaga and entered into a short program with him that ended at the WWE Backlash pay per view with Flair losing his match with Umaga.

After this program Flair took some time off, during which he got married, and wasn't seen on WWE television until the June 12, 2006 edition of RAW. Flair returned interrupting a promo about the just held ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view by Mick Foley and confronted Mick about the comments Flair made in his book and the resulting bad blood between the two. After, again, calling Mick a "glorified stuntman" Mick challenged Flair to a Two out of Three Falls Match at Vengeance.

Legacy

Despite his age and his less-than-chiseled physique, Ric Flair can still take on wrestlers half his age. Even though he is long past his prime as a "main-eventer," he is still able to get in the ring and make younger wrestlers look good. Flair became over with the crowd, often due to his in-ring antics, including cheating ways (earning him the distinction of being "the dirtiest player in the game"), his trademark strut and his shouting of "Wooo!"

In a tradition started by the vocal fans of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during a time when the WCW management was thought to be unjustly holding Flair down, anytime a wrestler delivers a hard back hand chop to the chest of his opponent, fans yell "Wooo!" in tribute to Flair, whose stiff chops often made his opponent's chest raw or even bloody. This tradition long outlived any controversy it was meant to protest and has carried over to WWE and almost all other North American promotions.

Since the late 1970s, he has worn ornate, fur lined robes of many colors with sequins, and since the mid 80s, his approach to the ring was often heralded by the playing of the "Dawn" section of Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra (famous for being used in the motion picture 2001: A Space Odyssey). The look and sound complements his cocky in-ring persona.

Late in 2003, WWE released a three-DVD retrospective of Flair's career (focusing mainly on his career prior to 1993), The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection. It became WWE's fastest-selling video package up to that time.

Flair released his autobiography, To Be the Man, in July 2004. The title is taken from one of his catchphrases, "To be the man, you gotta BEAT the man!" Flair is an icon in the Carolinas on a par with Michael Jordan and Richard Petty, and he has made the Charlotte area his home since the days of the Crockett promotion. His name has been mentioned as a possible candidate for governor of North Carolina.

WWE promotes Flair as a 16-time world champion, but many records show that he has held 25 world titles. Although a little controversy still surrounds this, Ric Flair still holds the record of the most world titles held by an individual in professional wrestling.

Controversy

In 2004, Flair engaged in an off-screen rivalry with Bret Hart, in which both claimed to be the best wrestler of all time and accused each other of performing the same routines in most of their matches. Hart responded that Flair had spent the majority of his career in the NWA/WCW which he stated "is and always has been second rate to the WWF."

Flair has had a long running feud with "The Franchise" Shane Douglas. Douglas accused Flair of sabotaging his push in the NWA/WCW after getting a solid push and a rub from both his tag team partner Ricky Steamboat and Flair. Flair, in turn, would respond 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 an broadcast of the Internet radio show WCW Live! in which he said that he would meet him anytime and anywhere if he "took the needle out of his ass". They were able to come to a working relationship during Douglas' last stint with WCW, but there is still no love lost between the two men.

Flair has also had issues with Mick Foley, whom he attacked in his autobiography, writing "I don't 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'll always be known as a glorified stuntman."

This was in response to what Foley said about Flair in his autobiography Have a Nice Day!: "Flair was every bit as bad on the booking side of things as he was great on the wrestling side of it."

In 2004, on a tour of the UK to promote the upcoming WWE Backlash pay-per-view, Flair was involved in a radio interview in which he bashed Mick Foley and his abilities. This move was widely criticised by the British wrestling press as Foley had a match with Flair's associate Randy Orton at Backlash and many felt that he should have built up the match more.

In 1998, Flair was sued by WCW for no-showing an event. Flair had been working without a contract since February of that year and had refused to sign a new one, citing differences between the document and the terms he had previously agreed to work under. Thinking that he wasn't needed for any WCW television tapings at the time, Flair did not show up at the April 9, 1998 WCW Thunder taping. He instead watched his son Reid's amateur wrestling tournament. That night, WCW's booking committee decided out of nowhere to reform the Four Horsemen, and announcers repeatedly stated that he would be on the show with a "big surprise." When Flair failed to show up, WCW management (led by Eric Bischoff) filed a $2 million lawsuit against him for damages, saying he signed a letter of intent to re-sign with WCW. He later filed a suit of his own in response, but the matter was settled out of court. Ric Flair returned to WCW television in September 1998.

On May 5, 2002, a number of WWE wrestlers and management members flew from Great Britain to the United States following the end of a European tour, which concluded with the Insurrextion pay-per-view event in the United Kingdom. World Wrestling Entertainment was hit with a sexual harassment suit by Sportjet flight attendants stemming from the alleged actions of Ric Flair, Dustin Runnels, and Scott Hall among others. The lawsuit alleged that Flair, wearing only his robe, flashed everyone and forced an attendant to touch his crotch. However, these accusations turned out to be a false Internet rumor.

In 2003, Flair decided to get revenge on Eric Bischoff for his poor treatment of him while in WCW and psysicly threated him while they were both in his office before an epsode of Raw. The altercation was broken up by backstage officals who then told Vince McMahon about the incident. McMahon was not happy with Flair's conduct and told him that it was unprofessional.

Another controversy, although not brought on by Flair, is the number of world title reigns he has held. His total number of world title reigns is often debated. His official number of titles won can either be considered as 21, 23 or 25 separate world title reigns. This depends on the legitimacy of the WCW International Heavyweight Championship and title matches for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with Jack Veneno, The Midnight Rider and Carlos Colon.

Personal information

Flair does not know his full birth name. In the opening chapter of his autobiography titled "Black Market Baby," he notes that his birth name is given on different documents as Fred Phillips, Fred Demaree, and Fred Stewart. The chapter title is a reference to the fact that the Tennessee Children's Home Society, the agency with which he was placed for adoption, was revealed in 1950 to have fraudulently induced thousands of mothers to give up their children for adoption. The future Ric Flair was adopted when he was six weeks old by a physician (father) and a theater writer (mother). At the time of his adoption, his father was completing a residency in gynecology in Detroit. Shortly afterwards, the family settled in Edina, Minnesota, where the young Richard Fliehr lived throughout his childhood. He later attended Wayland Academy, a coeducational boarding school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

The pilot of the private aircraft (a Cessna 310) involved in Flair's 1975 plane crash languished in a coma for a year before dying. It was discovered after the accident that the pilot was flying on a suspended license. Flair later sued the pilot's estate for damages and won.

Flair is sometimes seen attending the Carolina Hurricanes NHL ice hockey games at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. At home games when the Hurricanes score a goal, a short video appears on the arena's Jumbotron monitors, with Ric Flair saying: "That's a Carolina Hurricanes Goal! Wooo! Wooo Wooo!"

Flair has been active in North Carolina Republican politics, supporting Jesse Helms. He has recently expressed an interest in running for the position of Governor of North Carolina, although he previously stated in his autobiography that his sordid past would preclude any involvement in politics.

Flair has appeared in three motion pictures: The Wrestler (1974), Body Slam (1987), and Sting: Moment of Truth (2004).

Flair's son David is also a professional wrestler. Flair's younger son Reid is an accomplished high school wrestler and made several appearances on WCW television along with his sister Ashley and half-sister Megan.

Flair is not related to the Andersons, though he was billed as their cousin in the various NWA territories and WCW.

In May 2005, Flair's wife Beth filed for divorce, citing alleged steroid and alcohol abuse, in addition to incidents where he allegedly slapped, kicked, choked, and bit her. Flair has been ordered to pay Beth $20,000 a month until the divorce in finalized. The judge overseeing the divorce is considering freezing Flair's assets because he spent $92,000 for a ring for his new girlfriend. Flair contends that he and his wife lived well beyond their means and racked up substantial debt to the IRS and other creditors. Flair owed the government more than $1 million in 1997, and the IRS is now seizing more than $200,000 of his salary in 2005 to cover the owed taxes.

In December 2005, a magistrate 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 kicked the door of the motorist's sport utility vehicle. That allegedly left the motorist with bruises and a dent in his Toyota 4Runner. Flair was charged with injury to personal property and simple assault and battery, both misdemeanors. This incident has been ridiculed on WWE programming, most notably by the wrestler Edge. In May 2006, the charges were dropped after the witnesses failed to show for a scheduled court appearance.

Flair was married for the third time to his girlfriend, fitness trainer and model Tiffany VanDemark, on May 27, 2006 at Grand Cayman. The wedding was attended by WWE stars Triple H, Batista, Gregory Helms, and The Big Show.

Before departing on his honeymoon, Flair signed a reported three-year contract extension with WWE.

In Wrestling

Finishing and signature moves

• Figure four leg lock
• Backhand chop
• Chop block
• Elbow drop to the knee
• Inverted atomic drop
• Knee drop
• Shin breaker
• Stalling butterfly suplex

Signature illegal moves

• Low blow
• Thumb to the eye
• Testicular claw

Flair's "failing" moves

Flair has gained a measure of notoriety for his inability to successfully execute certain moves without being thwarted.

• His most notable "failing move" involves his repeated failed attempts to execute a move off the top turnbuckle. Whenever Flair scales the top turnbuckle, he is almost inevitably pushed off the top rope to the floor below, knocked off balance so he crotches himself on the turnbuckle, or, most commonly of all, bodily hurled from the top rope to the mat. Recently he has achieved these moves although for most of his professional career he had been unable to achieve these trademark moves.

A variation of this is the "Flair Flip," when he goes over the top rope and lands on his feet on the ring apron. He then invariably attempts to run along the apron to a turnbuckle. Almost invariably, he will either be clotheslined by his opponent before reaching the turnbuckle or will make it to the turnbuckle and climb up it, only to suffer the same "fate" (typically to be pushed off, crotched, or thrown down).

• The "Flair Flop": Flair, after attempting but failing a strenuous move or because he's "tired," will execute a face-first bump, often followed by a "begging-off" routine, followed by a low-blow or eye poke (maintaining his "dirtiest player in the game" reputation).

Nicknames

• The Nature Boy
• Slick Ric
• Space Mountain
• Naitch
• The Dirtiest Player in the Game
• The "Real" World Heavyweight Champion
• The 16 time World Heavyweight Champion
• Black Scorpion (masked)
• The 60 Minute Man

Championships and accomplishments

• World Heavyweight Championship

• Officially is a 22 time World champion NWA officially recognizes him as a 10 times NWA World Champion, WWE Officially recognizes him as a 2 time WWE champion. WCW Officially recognized him as a 8 times WCW World champion, and 2 time WCW World International Heavyweight Champion.

• National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)

• 10-Time NWA World Heavyweight Champion (Sources, including WWE, do not recognise all of these. NWA officially recognizes 10 reigns . Not recognized is a title switch with Carlos Colon.There are also stories of switches with Jack Veneno, and Victor Jovica(ways of avoiding crowd riots,as this was in the Caribbean).Also Flair dropped the title to the Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes), but the decision was overturned after Rhodes refused to unmask.
• 5-Time NWA United States Heavyweight Champion
• 2-Time NWA Mid-Atlantic/World Television Champion
• 3-Time NWA World Tag Team Champion (2-time with Greg Valentine, 1-time with Blackjack Mulligan)
• 4-Time NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champion (1-time with Rip Hawk, 1-time with Greg Valentine, 2-time with Big John Studd)
• 4-Time NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion
• 1-Time NWA Missouri Heavyweight Champion

• World Championship Wrestling

• 8-Time WCW World Heavyweight Champion (Pending on the source, up to 3 of these reigns are not recognized.)
• 2-Time WCW International World Heavyweight Champion
• 1-Time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• 2-Time WWE Champion
• 1-Time WWE Intercontinental Champion
• 2-Time WWE World Tag Team Champion (2-time with Batista)
• 1992 Royal Rumble winner
• Fourteenth Triple Crown Champion

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• He was ranked # 2 out of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.
• 1975 Rookie of the Year
• 1978 and 1987 Most Hated Wrestler
• 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1992 Wrestler of the Year
• 1983 Match of the Year against Harley Race
• 1984 Match of the Year against Kerry Von Erich
• 1986 Match of the Year against Dusty Rhodes
• 1989 Match of the Year against Ricky Steamboat
• 1987 Feud of the Year (Four Horsemen against Super Powers & Road Warriors)
• 1988 Feud of the Year (against Lex Luger)
• 1989 Feud of the Year (against Terry Funk)
• 1990 Feud of the Year (against Lex Luger)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 1996)
• Wrestler of the Year award renamed the Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award, partly in his honor
• 1980 Most Charismatic Wrestler
• 1982 Wrestler of the Year
• 1982 Most Charismatic Wrestler (tied with Dusty Rhodes)
• 1983 Wrestler of the Year
• 1983 Most Charismatic Wrestler
• 1983 Match of the Year (vs Harley Race)
• 1984 Worst Wrestler of the Year
• 1984 Most Charismatic Wrestler
• 1985 Wrestler of the Year
• 1986 Wrestler of the Year
• 1986 Most Outstanding Wrestler
• 1986 Match of the Year (vs Barry Windham)
• 1987 Most Outstanding Wrestler
• 5 Star Match: vs. Barry Windham (April 11, 1987, NWA World Wide Wrestling)
• 1988 Match of the Year (vs Sting)
• 1989 Wrestler of the Year
• 1989 Most Outstanding Wrestler
• 1989 Feud of the Year (vs Terry Funk)
• 1989 Match of the Year (vs Ricky Steamboat)
• 5 Star Match: vs. Ricky Steamboat (February 20, 1989, NWA Chi-Town Rumble)
• 5 Star Match: vs. Ricky Steamboat (April 2, 1989, NWA Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin' Cajun)
• 5 Star Match: vs. Ricky Steamboat (May 7, 1989, NWA WrestleWar '89: Music City Showdown)
• 5 Star Match: vs. Terry Funk (November 15, 1989, "I Quit" Match, NWA Clash of the Champions IX: New York Knockout)
• 1990 Wrestler of the Year
• 1990 Best Heel
• 1991 Best Interviews
• 5 Star Match: with Larry Zbyszko, Barry Windham & Sid Vicious vs. Sting, Brian Pillman, Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner (February 24, 1991, WarGames Match, WCW WrestleWar 1991)
• 1992 Wrestler of the Year
• 1992 Best Interviews
• 1993 Most Charismatic Wrestler
• 1994 Best Interviews

• Others

• The visitors at PWInsider.com voted him the greatest heel of all time in 2005.
• He is a member of the Wrestling Informer Hall of Fame (inducted in 2002).
• Flair, along with Kurt Angle and Bret Hart are the only wrestlers to hold the WWE Championship, WWE Intercontinental Championship, WCW Championship and WCW United States Championship (though he and Bret Hart are the only two to do this under two seperate companies, as Kurt's US and WCW world win came after the merger.)

Championship succession

References

• Where Flair got the "Nature Boy" name
• Ric Flair at TheSmokingGun.com
• Ric Flair career bio at Wrestleinfo.com
• A record of Flair's title victories

External links

• Official NWA World Heavyweight Title history
• Unofficial Website
• Ric Flair at IMDb
• WWE Profile
• Media Profile
• "The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection" DVD Review

• 1949 births
• Living people
• Adoptees
• American professional wrestlers
• People from Minnesota
• People from North Carolina
• Charlotteans
• Professional wrestling managers and valets
• Anderson wrestling family
• Professional wrestling executives
• The Four Horsemen
• Entertainers who played football
• Minnesota Golden Gophers football players