Ric flair

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Ric flair United StatesUnited States
Flair at WrestleMania 32 Axxess.

Flair at WrestleMania 32 Axxess .
Data
Ring name Black Scorpion
Ric Flair
Additions to names The Dirtiest Player in the Game
The Nature Boy
The Original Party Anima
Slick Ric
Wrestling God
height 185 cm
Fighting weight 110 kg
birth February 25, 1949
Memphis , Tennessee
Announced from Charlotte, North Carolina
Trained by Verne Gagne , Billy Robinson
debut December 10, 1972
retirement 3rd December 2012

Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949 in Memphis , Tennessee ), better known by his stage name Ric Flair , is an American wrestler . Fliehr had his heyday in the 1980s with the National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling , where he also worked as a booker from 1989–1990 and 1994 . In the course of his 40-plus year career, Fliehr has worked on almost every major US doctorate.

Fliehr is one of the most respected wrestlers. He is officially a 16-time World Heavyweight Champion ( officially recognized by the WWE and NWA ) and is a member of both the WWE Hall of Fame and the NWA Hall of Fame .

Private life

According to his autobiography, Richard Morgan Fliehr's real civil surname is incomprehensible because he was given up for adoption after birth. However, Fliehr states that he was most likely born as Fred Phillips, son of Ollive and Luther Phillips. The adoption agency was later convicted of having fraudulently obtained approval for adoption from mothers and hushed this up by manipulating files. The baby, named Richard Morgan Fliehr by his adoptive parents, was born on February 25, 1949 in Memphis, Tennessee. He spent his childhood and adolescence after moving with his adoptive parents in the small town of Edina , Minnesota . His athletic abilities were evident very early on. In high school he played basketball and was high school amateur champion rings . He also played football at the University of Minnesota during his college years . Richard Fliehr left university without a degree and briefly worked as a bouncer at a nightclub, where he met Ken Patera , a former weightlifting Olympian who was preparing for his second career as a wrestler. Through Patera's mediation, Fliehr got to his first trainer.

He was married for the third time since 2006, but that third marriage also ended in divorce. On November 11, 2009 Fliehr married his now fourth wife; in the fall of 2012, the divorce was also in progress.

He has four children from his previous marriages. His sons David and Reid and his daughter Ashley Fliehr are or were also wrestlers. David has already partially withdrawn from the wrestling business. Reid died on March 29, 2013 at the age of 25. Ashley currently appears in the WWE under her ring name Charlotte Flair .

Fliehr has appeared regularly as a supporter of the American Republicans in the past and in 2000 considered running his own candidacy for governor of the US state of North Carolina, which however came to nothing.

Wrestling career

American Wrestling Association (1972–1974)

Fliehr was trained by Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson and made his debut on December 10, 1972 under the ring name Ric Flair , which he has retained since then, in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) against "Scrap Iron" Gadinski. The match ended in a draw. Fliehr joined the AWA for three years and then moved to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the umbrella organization for numerous regional wrestling leagues.

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

During this time Fliehr took over the "Nature Boy" gimmick from Buddy Rogers and began to use an adaptation of Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss as invasion music. Ric Flair established himself as a tag team - and individual wrestler. On June 3, 1975, he won his first wrestling title, the " NWA Television Title ", by defeating Paul Jones, but had to give it back to Jones in a rematch a week later. On September 20, 1975 Fliehr received his second title, the "NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title", when he defeated his opponent Wahoo McDaniel .

On October 4, 1975 Fliehr was seriously injured in the back in a plane crash, so that the end of his career was predicted. However, after hospitalization and intensive physiotherapy, he was able to continue his career. On March 24, 1976, Fliehr, in Charlotte , North Carolina , was the second time "NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion" by winning a match against Wahoo McDaniel, as in the first title win. The title changed several times in 1976 between Flair and McDaniel. The aim of this intense feud was to make Ric Flair the new star of the NWA. He and his new tag team partner Greg Valentine became "NWA Tag Team Champions" by defeating Gene and Ole Anderson on Christmas Day 1976 .

In the NWA Fliehr won the NWA United States Heavyweight Title five times, until he finally received the NWA World Heavyweight Title from Dusty Rhodes for the first time in 1981 . Flair received this title eight times. In 1984 he joined forces with Arn Anderson , Tully Blanchard and Ole Anderson to form " The Four Horsemen ". In the following years the Horsemen dominated the main storylines of the NWA and at times held all the league titles.

After the promoter Jim Crockett had brought several local wrestling promotions in the Southeast and Midwest of the United States under his control from 1986 and formed the Promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Fliehr continued as "Ric Flair" for them. Fliehr was the top star of WCW and also had a great influence behind the scenes.

World Wrestling Federation (1991-1993)

Until 1991, Fliehr was the absolute top star at WCW. When there were disagreements with the officials of the league, who wanted to curtail his influence, change his gimmick and above all cut his salary, Fliehr left the promotion and signed a contract with their main competition, the World Wrestling Federation . Since Fliehr was the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion at the time and took their title belt with them (Fliehr, like all title holders, had deposited a deposit for the belt, but did not get it back), his new employer let him at the side of his "technical advisor" Mr. .Perfect with the belt of the competition promotion as "Real World Champion". The legal dispute between Fliehr and his former employer over the surrender of the belt did not end until a year later, after Fliehr had received back the deposit and interest. At the PPV Royal Rumble 1992 Flair received the " WWF World Heavyweight Title " due to a victory in the name-giving Battle Royal . He lost this at WrestleMania VIII against Randy Savage , but won it a second time in the summer before finally leaving the WWF in 1993 for World Championship Wrestling. According to the storyline , he had to leave the WWF due to a loss in a " Loser leaves WWF " match against Mr. Perfect.

Return to World Championship Wrestling (1993-2001)

Flair in 1996.

In World Championship Wrestling , Flair, who continued to use his usual gimmick, immediately became a star of the promotion again. At the major Starrcade event in 1993 , he received the WCW World Heavyweight Title again, this time from Leon White, who competed as "Vader" . The promotion then led him into a feud with wrestling icon Hulk Hogan , who took over the title from Flair in 1994 and later gave the 45-year-old wrestler a break by winning a career-threatening match.

After a not too long time, Fliehr returned and a feud ensued against “Macho Man” Randy Savage, who had meanwhile taken over the title from Hogan. In the course of this feud, the title changed several times. Fliehr continued to play essential roles in the main storylines of the promotion. With his "Four Horsemen" He formed the core of the opponents of loud storyline taking over the promotion aspiring Stables " nWo ". In early 1998, Fliehr was suspended from his doctorate due to an unauthorized absence from a television event. On his return address he dropped out of the role of Ric Flair and accused WCW President Eric Bischoff of disregarding the fans' wishes. It is unclear whether it was a so-called “shoot” , which was supposed to be covered up due to Fliehr's star status, or a faked “worked shoot”. The return was followed by a storyline in which Fliehr fought against Bischoff for the presidency of the WCW, won it by winning a steel cage match against Hulk Hogan and thus was assigned the office of WCW president for life.

WCW was bankrupt in March 2001 and was bought by the then World Wrestling Federation. The last match of the promotion was played by the long-time top stars of the promotion Ric Flair and Sting . WCW President Fliehr, playing the role of a so-called " heel " at the time , lost the match.

Return to the World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (2001-2008)

Flair at WrestleMania X8 .

After an absence from wrestling, the 50-year-old Fliehr appeared in November 2001 in his traditional role as "Ric Flair" for his new employer as the alleged partial owner of the World Wrestling Federation, which was renamed "World Wrestling Entertainment". The partial owner storyline turned into a feud between actual owner Vince McMahon and Fliehr, in the course of which WWE entered into the two partial promotions SmackDown! and RAW , each of which controlled one. The feud was eventually resolved with a McMahon victory.

Fliehr has received several titles at WWE over the years, initially that of World Tag Team Champion , which he won twice with Batista , with whom he was also associated in the "Evolution" stable .

On September 18, 2005 Fliehr was at the major event Unforgiven after a win against Carlito the oldest WWE Intercontinental Champion to date , which he was allowed to stay until February 20, 2006, only to lose the title to Shelton Benjamin .

Fliehr then took another month-long break to recover and marry for the third time before returning to the program. Out of a dispute with " Hardcore Wrestling " legend Mick Foley , about whom Fliehr had expressed disparagingly in his autobiography "To Be the Man", published in July 2004 under his ring name, World Wrestling Entertainment developed a feud between Foley and Fliehr, which fell apart extended over several months. In fact, the two wrestlers had settled the argument before the storyline began.

After completing this storyline, Fliehr and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper won the tag team title a third time, which they both had to surrender after a short time because Roddy Piper was unable to contest wrestling matches due to cancer. In June 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment cast him from the cast of the television show RAW into that of the show SmackDown! switch . Fliehr remained inactive for a long time, which was attributed to the late effects of an inner ear injury from 1992; According to information on his employer's website, he was also inactive because of unspecified family problems. On November 26, 2007 he made his return to RAW.

Flair played his last WWE match at Wrestlemania XXIV .

In May 2007 Fliehr announced that he wanted to end his career after the major event WrestleMania XXIV, which was scheduled for March 30, 2008. The tension as to whether Fliehr would actually give up his wrestling career was built up by a series of career-threatening matches that he played from January 2008 and in which he threatened to end his career immediately in the event of a defeat. Fliehr was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the day before Wrestlemania XXIV . His introductory speech was given by fellow wrestler Paul Levesque , better known as "Triple H".

At WrestleMania XXIV, Ric Flair lost to Shawn Michaels and ended his career for the time being. The robe Fliehr wore when he invaded was later included in the Smithsonian American Art Museum 's pop culture exhibit . The RAW issue on the day after Wrestlemania was dedicated to Fliehr, in which the entire WWE as well as the Four Horsemen , Harley Race and the fans participated.

From June 2008, Fliehr appeared again irregularly on RAW. There he supported, among other things, his friend Batista in a feud against the then WWE Champion Randy Orton and his "The Legacy" called following.

Independent Leagues (2009)

In 2009 it was announced that Fliehr had been signed for several appearances by the smaller promotion Ring of Honor . On March 13, 2009, Fliehr made his debut in the role of the newly created RoH ambassador, but did not appear for the organization afterwards. In November 2009, Fliehr was part of the Australian tour "Hulkamania - Let The Battle Begin" organized by Hulk Hogan and played four matches against Hogan, all of which he had to lose. Lacey Von Erich accompanied him to the ring as a " valet ".

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010-2012)

Flair at Impact in 2010.

On January 4, 2010 Fliehr appeared for the first time for the then second largest US promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), with which he had previously signed a permanent contract. The then 61-year-old celebrated his return to the ring on March 8 with a match against Hulk Hogan and Abyss , after which he feuded against Mick Foley, among others .

After participating in a Europe tour named after him in January 2011, Fliehr took a break from April 2011 due to injury. He returned in front of the TV cameras on August 9, 2011 at Impact Wrestling in a segment with Sting , which led to a match between the former WCW stars on September 15. In May 2012, Fliehr left the doctorate due to various problems.

Second return to WWE (since 2012)

On January 9, 2012, RAW announced that Fliehr, a former member of the Four Horsemen, would be the first person to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame for the second time. This happened on March 31, 2012, followed by an appearance at WrestleMania XXVIII, although he was still under TNA contract at the time.

On December 17, 2012, he appeared in the WWE for the first time in a long time on Monday Night Raw. Fliehr acted as Charlotte's manager after winning the WWE Divas Championship on September 20, 2015. This lasted until May 23, 2016 when Charlotte turned away from Fliehr.

Outside of wrestling

Fliehr had guest appearances on several television series, including Baywatch , and the films The Wrestler (1974) and Sting: Moment of Truth (2004), usually as his wrestling character "Ric Flair". For the expansion to the real-time strategy game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 , released in March 2009, he took on the role of allied Commander Hill. Fliehr can also be seen in the music video Ric Flair Drip by 21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin.

Wrestling successes

Flair when inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.
The Four Horsemen on induction into the Hall of Fame in 2012.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Foley, Mick . Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p. 160)
  2. ↑ List of doctorates in which Fliehr was employed . In: Broken Neck.com . Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  3. ↑ Will J Baker: Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair: Who Was Better for the Wrestling Business? . In: Bleacher Report . June 1, 2011. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  4. ↑ Ric Flair: To Be The Man
  5. ↑ Ric Flair Breaks Up With Third Wife Tiffany . PWMania.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 6, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pwmania.com
  6. ↑ Flair aims to be NC governor . SLAM! Wrestling. February 8, 2000. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
  7. ↑ Flair doesn't file to be NC governor - yet . SLAM! Wrestling. February 8, 2000. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
  8. ↑ Power Wrestling , 11/2009, p. 12

Web links

Commons : Ric Flair  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Flair, Ric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fliehr, Richard Morgan (maiden name); Nature Boy (pseudonym); Black Scorpion (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Memphis , Tennessee , United States