Ric Flair

Learning the trade

Ric Flair grew up in Minnesota and trained in Verne Gagne's famously tough camp, debuting in 1972. He moved to Jim Crockett Promotions in the Carolinas, and in 1975 he survived a small plane crash that broke his back. Doctors told him he might never wrestle again. He was back in the ring within months and changed his style, relying less on power and more on pacing, selling and stamina.

The touring world champion

Flair won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Dusty Rhodes in 1981, and for most of the decade he was the travelling champion of the NWA territories. The job meant flying from town to town to defend the title against each region's top local star, often in matches that went 45 or 60 minutes. His plan was to make every challenger look like a real threat, so the local hero would still draw crowds after Flair left town.

His feuds with Ricky Steamboat in 1989 are still held up by many fans as the finest trilogy of matches in the sport. In 1986 he formed the Four Horsemen with Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard, a stable of villains in tailored suits that became the template for almost every wrestling faction that followed.

Style that sold the show

Flair's character was a limousine-riding, jet-flying playboy in sequinned robes, and his promos were full of energy and boasts. In the ring he was the cheating villain who begged off, took huge flips into the turnbuckle and flopped face first after a big hit, which became known as the Flair flop. His trademark scream of Wooo is still heard at sporting events all over the American South.

Later career

He wrestled for WCW and WWF in the 1990s and 2000s, became WWE's first two-time Hall of Famer, and was part of Evolution with Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista. His emotional WrestleMania XXIV loss to Shawn Michaels in 2008 was billed as his retirement match, though he wrestled again later, including a final match in Nashville in July 2022 at the age of 73. His daughter Charlotte Flair became one of WWE's most decorated women.

Flair's matches are a masterclass in pacing. Watch how he spends the early minutes making his opponent look strong, how he cheats only when the referee is distracted and how he times the figure-four leglock so the crowd believes the match is over. Younger wrestlers still use his patterns, including the flop, the begging on his knees and the climb to the top rope that ends with him thrown off. Many of his best matches are available on WWE's official streaming archive.

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