Fairwell to Flair

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In 1949 a boy was born.  What his name was is not known.  That boy was placed for adoption.  His adoptive parents gave him the name Richard Fliehr.  A young Fliehr meet the Vachon brothers while working a part time job as a lifeguard.  It was there that he got his first taste of wrestling.  Fliehr attended boarding school.  It was here that he won two state private school wrestling championships.  The first in 1966, the second in 1968.  Fliehr received a football scholarship to the University of Minnesota.  There is where he met and played along side Greg Gagne.  Although Fliehr dropped out of school, Verne Gagne(Greg’s father)agreed to train him in 1971.  Ken Patera, Iron Sheik, and Jim Brunzell are some of the faces Fliehr trained with.  1972 would see his AWA debut and the birth of ‘Ric Flair’.  In 1974 opportunity knocked, and Flair stepped into the NWA Mid-Atlantic region.  Flair was champion in just one short year.  It seemed nothing could stop him.  When in a second Ric’s life almost ended.  It was 1975 and the plane Ric was in crashed.  Flair survived, but was told by his Doctors he would never again wrestle.  Flair had broken his back in three places.  Determine, Flair worked through the pain.  Astonishing everyone when he returned to the ring in just six months.

 From 1975 until 1985 Flair held a number of titles.  He frequently held the U.S title for his region and the NWA World Tag Team Championship.  In 1981 Dusty Rhodes held the NWA Championship .  That was until he lost it to Ric Flair.  Over that ten years Flair  faced off with wrestlers such as Ricky Steamboat, Kerry Von Erich, Barry Windham, and Harley Race.

Which brings us to 1985 and the Four Horsemen.  The original four members are Ric Flair, Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.  Managing the bunch was J.J Dillon.  The horsemen had a great run and revolving door.  In 1987 Ole was out and Lex Luger was in.  In 1988 Lex was out and Barry Windham was in.  Later that year Tully and Arn left for the WWF.  Despite Flairs efforts 1988 would also mark the first fold of the Horsemen.  In 1989 Arn returned to the company.  The Horsemen reunited.  This time they would bring in members like Sting, and Sid Vicious.  In 1991 Flair signed with the WWF.  This marks the second fold.  Flair returned in 1993 to the Bichoff run WCW.  Flairs character would be put to the test by Bichoff’s miss management.  Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Paul Roma were the new face of The Horsemen.  They quickly folded, and that would be the third fold.  In 1995 new faces of the Horsemen would appear.  Ric Flair, Are Anderson, Brian Pillman, and Chris Benoit.  The Four Horsemen would ride again.  From 1995 until 1999 Steve McMichaels, Jeff Jarrett, Curt Henning, Dean Malenko, and even referee Charles Robinson would call themselves Horsemen.  At the end of it all another fold for the Horsemen.  That said without the Horsemen we would have never seen groups such as New World Order, Evolution, or Degeneration X.

 In 2001 WWF buys out WCW.  It couldn’t have come at a better time.  Flair was a mess.  (This I attribute to Bichoff.)  Vince goes on damage control.  By 2002 Flair and Vince face off in the ring.  It was his first match since returning to WWF.  2002 until 2004 saw Flair take on classic wrestlers like The Undertaker.  Joining Evolution along side Triple H, Batista, and Randy Orton.  From 2005 to 2008 not a moment went by that we didn’t see Flair.  He faced off with Carlito at Unforgiven for the Intercontinental Championship.  Mick Foley at Summer Slam.  All while battling it out weekly with the the Spirit Squad on RAW.  He became the Tag Team Champ with Roddy Piper.  Teamed up with DX.  Was inducted in to the WWE Hall of Fame.  Flair was even given the key to Columbia, South Carolina.

Some of Flairs other achievements include being PWI’s Wrestler of the Year six times.  In 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, and in 1992.  The only thing left was to retire.  His last match was one I will never forget.  Being forced to retire by long time friend Shawn Michaels.  The tribute after the match hosted by Triple H was Ric Flairs time to cry.  That also seems to be something he does very well.  It was nice that Vince let it be all about the wrestlers.  I kept thinking that at any moment we were going to see the famous MaMahon strut.  Then just like that, no acting, no gimmicks, it was just Richard Fliehr the man.

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