Home > Ric Flair

His birth name, depending on the particular documents examined, was Fred Phillips, Fred Demaree, or Fred Stewart. He was one of several thousand children adopted through the Tennessee Children's Home Society , an adoption agency that was revealed in 1950 to have fraudulently induced numerous mothers to give up their children for adoption. His adoptive parents, who received him when he was less than a month old, were a gynecologist (father) and a theater writer (mother) in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, Minnesota who named him Richard Morgan Fliehr.

Flair played football at the University of Minnesota while in a pre-medical academic program, but he dropped out before receiving a degree. He then worked as a bouncer before meeting Ken Patera , a former Olympic weightlifter who had established himself in professional wrestling. Patera encouraged Flair to pursue a wrestling career, and Flair soon joined the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association (AWA), working his first match for that promotion on December 10, 19721972 is a leap year starting on Saturday (click link for calendar). Events January events January 2 the Pierre Hotel Heist Six men rob the safety deposit boxes of the Pierre Hotel in New York City. Loot is at least $4 million January 5 President of the Un.

After three years with AWA, Flair joined the NWA affiliated Jim Crockett Promotions based in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. On the rise, he suffered a severe back injury in a 1975 plane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Flair recovered from the injury and won the United States Heavyweight Championship five times, then won the NWA World Heavyweight ChampionshipNational Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship is a wrestling title that was spun off from the first "World Title"; won by Frank Gotch in 1908. With many "territories" appearing across the USA, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was form for the first time by defeating Harley Race in 1981. Race won the title back in 1983. Flair regained the title at Starrcade '83 in Greensboro, North Carolina in a steel cage match. Flair would go one to win the NWA title 7 more times.

Throughout the 1980s Flair became affiliated with The Four Horsemen, who in various incarnations consisted of manager James J. Dillon, Ole and Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Sid Vicious, Lex LugerLawrence Pfohl (Lex Luger (born June 2, 1958 in Buffalo, New York) is an American professional wrestler. Pfohl was a student at Pennsylvania State University. A metal plate was inserted into Pfohl's forearm after a serious motorcycle accident he suffered and Barry Windham. Flair's main rivals for the NWA title were Dusty Rhodes and Ron Garvin, both of who defeated Flair for the NWA title, only to lose them back to him later.

After a contract dispute with WCW head Jim Herd, Flair left WCWWorld Championship Wrestling or WCW was a professional wrestling promotion that existed from 1988 to 2001. It was owned by Ted Turner, then AOL Time Warner. The formation of this group was confusing. WCW was a former member of the National Wrestling Allia (a group run by Ted TurnerRobert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American media mogul and philanthropist. He is best known for founding CNN and Turner Classic Movies, his failed marriage to Jane Fonda, and his $1 billion pledge to the United Nations (see Uni which had just abdicated from the NWA "alliance") in 19911991 like 2002, is a palindromic year. It also has the same calendar as 2002, including Easter on March 31. It is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January January 2 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first blac and had his first run in the WWFNote: After losing a court case in 2002 on the use of the initials WWF, the organization previously known as the World Wrestling Federation has rebranded itself as World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. WWF The Conservation Organization was formerly known including winning the WWF Title in a 30-man Royal RumbleThe Royal Rumble is a yearly WWE Wrestling pay-per-view event. It takes place in January of each year. The main event is the actual Royal Rumble however, other matches also take place at the event. The actual Royal Rumble is a thirty man event, which begi. Flair returned to WCW in 1993 where he stayed until the company was bought out by Vince McMahon's WWF. Flair lost the company's final match on March 26, 2001 to his longtime rival Sting. After a brief hiatus from pro wrestling Flair returned to the WWF in late 2001 as the "co-owner" of the company. Flair still wrestles in the WWE (the WWF's new name) and has joined forces with multi-time WWE Champion Triple H to form the stable Evolution. He engaged in a recent (as of 2004) feud with Bret Hart, in which both claimed to be the best wrestler of all time.

Despite his age and his less-than-chiseled physique, Ric Flair can still take on wrestlers half his age. He is "over" in the ring due mostly to his in ring antics, such as his cheating ways (earning him the distinction of being "the dirtiest player in the game"), his trademark strut and his legendary shouting of "WOO!" Even though he is long past his prime as a "main-eventer," he still serves a purpose by getting in the ring and making the younger wrestlers look good.

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!" This book is very controversial as Flair badmouths colleagues in the wrestling business, yet fails to point out or acknowledge any of his faults, such as his use of steroids in the past.