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Sure, he's one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and is known as the 'jet flying, limousine riding, kiss stealing, wheeling dealing Nature Boy', but he has certainly had a considerably difficult climb to where he is now.
He was a member of two of the most infamous factions in wrestling history, the Four Horsemen and Evolution, but his success didn't come without overcoming numerous obstacles. Flair has gone through more things in his lifetime than four or five of us may go through in our lives.
We might currently think of him as a WWE Legend and father of Charlotte Flair, but his life has been filled with incredible highs and extreme lows even before he fathered the Queen.
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#1 Flair's humble beginnings
Flair started life out with obstacles to climb.
After he was born, his biological parents abandoned him. He ended up in the Tennessee Children's Home Society which was basically an orphanage. The TCHS was allegedly involved in kidnapping children for adoption at the time, but Flair was eventually adopted by Dr. Richard Reid Fleihr and his wife, Kathleen Fliehr.
His biological parents didn't try to reclaim him, so the allegations may be unfounded. Only history knows. The family moved to Minnesota and a young Flair soon met and trained with Verne Gagne, a pioneer of the territorial promotions in the Great Lakes Region.
During his training with Gagne's wrestling camp, he would spar with future wrestlers Greg Gagne, Jim Brunzell, Ken Patera and the Iron Sheik. He officially made his debut for Gagne's AWA promotion in 1972.
While there for two years, Flair would wrestle Dusty Rhodes, Andre the Giant and Larry 'the Axe' Hennig (father of Mr. Perfect, grandfather of Curtis Axel). He would then transfer to what would be the promotion he would make his name in, Jim Crockett Promotions/NWA/WCW in 1974.
Everything would be great for a year, including picking up his first singles title, the NWA Mid-Atlantic TV Championship. Once the year turned to 1975, Flair would be facing another opponent outside of the ring.
#2 The infamous plane crash
In 1975, Flair faced another tragedy when a plane he was on crashed.
He was on his way to a show for NWA when the plane carrying himself and several others crashed in Wilmington, North Carolina. The pilot was killed, Johnny Valentine was paralyzed and Flair broke his back in three places at age 26.
Three others were on the plane including promoter David Crockett. Because of the damage caused by the plane crash, doctors allegedly informed Flair that he would never wrestle again.
Flair would prove them wrong, however, returning to the ring eight months later after the crash.
It can be said that Flair made lemonade out of the lemons from the crash. He was forced him to alter his wrestling style from brawling powerhouse to one who relied more on technical moves and character work.
Because of this change in style, Flair would soon create the 'Nature Boy' persona that he would become world famous for. It even propelled him into a feud with the original 'Nature Boy', Buddy Rogers, in which the latter put the younger Flair over, thus ceding the name in 1978.
He would win the United States title five times before winning the NWA/WCW World Championship for the first time in 1981 when he beat perennial rival Dusty Rhodes. This run made Flair the focal point of the promotion until his departure in 1991.
During his run as the franchise, he would go on to form the Four Horsemen in 1985 alongside Arn and Ole Anderson and later Tully Blanchard. And thus, history, and perhaps the greatest faction of all time, was created. He would also win the World Championship eight times before leaving for WWF in 1991.
#3 Allegedly hit by lightning in the late 1970s
According to Flair, he was struck by lightning at one point in the late 1970s.
He told the story to Dan Le Batard of ESPN in 2016, saying that he was almost killed after getting off a plane in Richmond, Virginia.
“I was getting off a plane in Richmond, Virginia. They didn’t have the jetways back then, back in the late 70s, and I was late for a match. I was World Champion then, I was wrestling [Ricky] Steamboat at the Richmond Coliseum. Finally… they let us all get off the plane. I got off, I was walking, and I didn’t go 10, maybe 15 feet and all of a sudden I felt this pressure boom, and man, my umbrella shot 50 feet in the air. I thought, 'What the hell?' Lightning hit the top of my umbrella, bounced off and hit the guy in the eye five feet behind me and killed him. Right there. I just stood there looking at the guy and froze, it scared me to death. People were running out the door to get the guy.”
He was slated to defend the WCW Title against one of his legendary rivals, Ricky 'the Dragon' Steamboat. Although he wasn't killed or injured in the incident, someone else in close proximity to him was.
It must have been terrifying to first have that happen and then think that it could have been you instead who died. Man, talk about feeling like a higher power (not Vince McMahon in storyline) has it out for you.
It did have an impact on Flair, but he obviously kept going. And it was a good thing he left it in his rearview because he would become one of the greatest wrestlers of all time shortly after the incident.
#4 His number of marriages
One could say that Flair's life was certainly a study in life imitating his character's art. The 'Nature Boy' persona was that of a man who dressed in the finest clothes, rode in the most expensive cars and limos and was a ladies' man.
Before that persona was really associated with Flair, he married his first wife, Leslie Goodman, in 1971. They would have two children, David and Megan, but divorced 12 years later in 1983.
He would marry his second wife, Elizabeth Harrell, in August of 1983. With Harrell, he would have children Reid and Ashley (Charlotte). The couple was together until they divorced in 2006 after 23 years together.
Later in 2006, he would marry his third wife, Tiffany VanDenmark, but the two would divorce in 2008. In 2009, he married his fourth wife, Jackie Beems but the two divorced in 2012.
He later married his fifth wife, the former 'Fifi the Maid' in WCW, in September of 2018. Who really knows why he was married and divorced so many times in his life. Maybe it was his persona taking control outside of the ring or maybe he jumped into the marriages too prematurely.
Getting married again so soon after divorcing probably didn't help things, but a psychologist might think that those were the actions of someone who didn't like to be alone.
He was either married in the same year he divorced a wife or a year later four times. Since he was adopted, perhaps he understandably had some issues with abandonment. While we will never quite know for sure, he loves his kids and they obviously love him.
David had a run in WCW in the late 1990s but was never above the midcard. Charlotte is obviously much more talented than David, having already been a women's champion seven times in the WWE.
And his son Reid was an amateur wrestler who had signed a WWE Developmental deal in 2007.
#5 The death of his son
Reid Flair was the youngest of Flair's four children. Like David and Ashley before him, Reid was also pursuing a career in pro wrestling.
Could you blame him?
His father was arguably the greatest wrestler of all time and he practically grew up in and around wrestling rings. Not to mention that his older brother also had television time as a wrestler in WCW in the late 1990s.
Although he was clearly interested in a future in pro wrestling, he had inner demons that would plague him for most of his life. He was first arrested in 2007 after being charged with assault and battery. He posted bail and avoided jail time.
His second arrest came in March of 2009 for driving while impaired. He was again released on bail but would be arrested not a month later in April. This time, however, things were much more serious.
Firstly, he crashed his car. Secondly, the police found black tar heroin in his car, an arrest that carried felony charges. Wikipedia claims he was officially charged with driving while impaired (again), possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a revoked license.
Luckily or maybe unluckily, he was released on $15,000 bail. He probably didn't learn any lessons through his arrests since he was consistently released on bail. If that wasn't enough, he allegedly overdosed twice in 2011.
Ric would go on to reveal in his 30 for 30 documentary on ESPN that Reid was released by WWE because he failed two drug tests while under contract. His troubles ultimately came to an end in on March 29, 2013, when Reid was found dead in a hotel in North Carolina.
His cause of death was initially due to another overdose. He was 25 years old. The toxicology report states that his death was caused by an overdose of heroin as well as having a mix of tranquillizers, clonazepam and alprazolam in his system.
Reid's death would be used in a Raw storyline two years later between Charlotte and Paige. It was seen as many as distasteful, but it wasn't the first or last time WWE would use someone's death in a storyline.
#6 His recent health troubles
In August of 2017, Ric Flair was rushed to an emergency room in his home state of North Carolina after experiencing pain in his abdomen.
Flair spoke with Fox5Atlanta after he was deemed healthy.
Flair and his surgeon remembered just how serious it was:
"I knew that something was going on because it really hurt," Flair says. "So, she took me and, sure enough, my intestines had ruptured."
Flair has a major bowel obstruction.
"And if that goes on long enough, it causes a cascade of problems: hypoglycemic shock, sepsis, multi-organ failure," vascular surgeon Dr. Jim Elsey says. "All of that which Mr. Flair had."
Dr. Elsey had operated on Flair before and was unsure if the Nature Boy would make it out of surgery alive.
"He was in shock," Elsey says. "He was in renal failure. He had a complete heart block. He had multiple electrolyte abnormalities."
A good amount of the damage had been done due to the drinking Flair had engaged in after the death of his son, Reid, in 2013.
"I didn't start 'day drinking' until probably right before my son died," Flair says. "And then, I really, after he passed away, it was 10 in the morning until 2 a.m. every day."
Unfortunately, sometimes the toll a disease takes over the course of time doesn't rear its ugly head until its too late. Eddie Guerrero's earlier drug use ultimately helped contribute to his untimely death in 2005.
Luckily for Flair, this time his drinking and its after-effects didn't take his life. He claims to be sober ever since and has resumed being the Nature Boy, but a more grounded version.
He'll always be a part of the WWE family and will hopefully avoid any more health scares as he suffered in 2017.
#7 Conclusion
Flair, like most pro wrestlers, led a somewhat troubled life. Sometimes to deal with the hardships in and outside the ring, wrestlers resort to drinking, drugs, alcohol, womanizing or any combination of those vices.
Flair didn't really seem to have any of those vices early on even as fate tried to take his life on more than one occasion. He became a national icon during his run with NWA/WCW in the 1980s and 1990s, so much that he won the WWF World Championship in his first Royal Rumble appearance.
His influence was so great that he took the WCW World Championship with him to WWF claiming to be the real champion. WCW tried and failed to reclaim 'the big gold belt' and it came to be one of the main titles in WWE until the titles were unified back in 2013.
Of course, they were separated once again due to the brand split, but Flair's belt was synonymous with the top dog in WWE for much of the 2000s. Just ask Triple H, who held it throughout much of the early 2000s.
Flair has certainly tested fate a few times as well but he's had almost as many highs as lows. It would be hard to find a current wrestler in the WWE who doesn't list Flair as an influence.
He's even had a influence on recent pop culture as the LA Rams' Jared Goff voices 'Ric Flair, Ric Flair' as an audible on offense for the Rams. Flair is already considered one of the greatest of all time and is a two-time WWE Hall of Famer.
Who knows how things would have played out had he not suffered serious injuries in the plane crash or if he had been struck by lightning. We might not have had the Nature Boy as we know it or the 16-time Champion or the constant 'WOOOs' from the crowd whenever a wrestler receives a chop to his/her chest.
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