20 Intriguing Facts About 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair

'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair is one of the most legendary names in professional wrestling, largely due to his unforgettable persona—a lavish peacock strutting with confidence, followed by dramatic defeats marked with real blood, sweat, and tears. He was a master of versatility, effortlessly switching from a heroic babyface to a villainous heel. His combination of athletic prowess and theatrical flair—highlighted by his signature robes—has set an unmatched standard in the wrestling world.

Here are 20 unforgettable facts about the two-time WWE Hall of Famer.

1. Ric Flair was kidnapped and sold as an infant.

For 21 years, Georgia Tann, the director of the Tennessee Children's Home Society, along with a network of accomplices—judges, social workers, and others—kidnapped approximately 5000 children, selling them for profit while pretending to be a legitimate adoption agency. Ric Flair was one of these children. In 1949, he was adopted by Dick Fliehr, a Minnesota obstetrician, and his wife, author Kay. Flair's original birth name could have been Fred Phillips, Fred Demaree, Fred Stewart, or something entirely different, as the Tennessee Children's Home Society was shrouded in deception.

In his memoir To Be The Man, Flair recalled, "Believe it or not, I never bothered looking at my adoption papers until I started researching this book. The documents were sitting in a safe in my house, and I didn't even know my birth name. I was never curious. I'm still not. I'm an only child, and as far as I'm concerned, my parents have always been my mom and dad."

2. He initially aspired to become a dentist.

Ironically, Flair felt like he had let down his adoptive parents, who were passionate about theater, while he himself was drawn to sports. Perhaps this disappointment (which seems odd given his future flamboyant career) or a desire to follow his father's medical path led him to briefly consider dentistry before ultimately embracing a career defined by extravagant robes and crowd-pleasing performances.

3. He almost quit wrestling after just two days.

When Ric Flair decided to pursue wrestling, he went to train under the legendary Verne Gagne, the owner of the American Wrestling Association in Minnesota. After just two grueling days of doing 500 squats, 200 push-ups, and 200 sit-ups at Gagne’s camp, Flair was physically and mentally drained. He called his friend Greg (Verne's son) to announce he was quitting. Before long, Verne showed up at Flair's house, scolding the future 'Nature Boy' for not pushing through. Flair quickly returned to the camp.

4. One of Flair's early matches took place in a broken ring.

Flair and Greg Gagne quickly formed a bond outside of the ring, which led to them facing off early in their careers. One of their most unforgettable matches occurred in a high school gymnasium in Peoria, Illinois, where things quickly spiraled off course.

"I bodyslammed Ric, and the ring caved in right in the middle," Gagne recalled in an interview. "When it happened, I tried to pin him, but the ref counted one, two, and Ric kicked out. We ended up wrestling to a 20-minute draw, with the ring completely busted. When we came backstage, all the other guys in the locker room were amazed and said, 'Guys, that was unbelievable.' It was only our second match."

5. Ric Flair wasn't the first to be called 'Nature Boy.'

The nickname 'Nature Boy' doesn’t quite align with Flair’s larger-than-life persona of 'stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss stealing, wheelin' n' dealin' son of a gun.' In fact, it might sound more like he’s a nature enthusiast, possibly living off the land and recycling. However, the name was actually borrowed from Buddy Rogers, a wrestling legend who captivated massive crowds from the 1940s to the 1970s. Rogers was known for his platinum blonde hair, his cocky attitude, and his signature Figure Four Leglock. Flair adopted all these traits and eventually faced Rogers in the late '70s.

There was even another 'Nature Boy'—Buddy Landel—whom Flair battled in the '80s and '90s to determine who would keep the title. (Spoiler alert: Flair emerged victorious.)

6. He survived a plane crash.

In the early days of his wrestling career, Flair was a stocky brawler with a buzzcut, a far cry from the iconic figure he would later become. That all changed in October 1975, when Flair was involved in a plane crash that claimed the life of the pilot, paralyzed another wrestler, and left Flair with a broken back in three places. Despite being told he’d never wrestle again, the 26-year-old Flair made a remarkable recovery, shed the extra weight, and used his time away from the ring to refine a more flamboyant version of his character.

7. He also claims to have survived a lightning strike.

Flair recounted another near-death experience in the late '70s, when he claimed he was nearly struck by lightning (unfortunately, the person behind him wasn’t so fortunate). He shared the chilling story during an appearance on Dan Le Batard's ESPN Radio show in 2016.

"I was stepping off a plane in Richmond, Virginia. Back in the late '70s, they didn’t have jetways, and I was running late for a match. I was World Champion at the time, preparing to wrestle [Ricky] Steamboat at the Richmond Coliseum," Flair explained. "Finally, they let us off the plane. I started walking, only 10 or 15 feet when I suddenly felt this pressure, and my umbrella shot straight up about 50 feet in the air. I thought, 'What the hell?' Lightning struck the top of my umbrella, bounced off, and hit the guy standing five feet behind me in the eye, killing him on the spot. I just stood there frozen, scared to death. People started running to help the guy."

8. His signature "Woo!" came from Jerry Lee Lewis.

One of the most iconic catchphrases in wrestling, Flair's "Woo!" is famous for enraging opponents. He borrowed the chant from rockabilly legend Jerry Lee Lewis’s song "Great Balls of Fire," incorporating it both during matches and while cutting promos.

9. Flair wrestled Sting on both the inaugural and final episodes of WCW Nitro.

TNT's weekly WCW Nitro debuted on September 4, 1995, with Hulk Hogan facing off against Big Bubba Rogers and Ric Flair battling Sting. The show went head-to-head with WWF's Monday Night Raw, eventually overtaking the competition in the ratings thanks to its chaotic, unpredictable style and a grittier approach to the wrestling world.

However, WCW's dominance was short-lived, and the company was eventually acquired by WWE. As a nod to dedicated wrestling fans, the final episode of Nitro aired on March 26, 2001, featuring a showdown between Flair and Sting in the main event.

10. Ric Flair passed one of his championship belts to Triple H.

In a generous gesture of friendship, Flair passed on his iconic "Big Gold Belt"—the same one often seen around his waist during his time with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and WCW—to Triple H, a multiple-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Flair had originally won the prestigious title in the 1980s, and when WCW folded, a version of the belt was revived in WWE. Vince McMahon, the company's owner, kept the original, but allowed Flair to retain it. In return, Flair presented it to Triple H, symbolizing his "phenomenal" reign as the Heavyweight champ.

11. Those elaborate robes could set you back as much as $10,000.

More than just his trademark "Woo!" and his unmistakably not-real blonde hair, Flair's opulent robes are a hallmark of his style. In fact, he invested enormous sums of money in these feather-and-diamond-encrusted garments. During his peak years in the '80s and '90s, many of his standout robes were crafted by the late Olivia Walker, with some costing up to $10,000. In 2017, an autographed robe Flair had worn sold for a staggering $27,000 at auction.

12. He once borrowed $800,000 from Vince McMahon.

In a twist of high financial stakes, Flair relied on his boss, Vince McMahon, for substantial financial assistance throughout a series of divorces and other personal troubles, ultimately accumulating a debt of $800,000. Even later during his appearance at WrestleMania XXIV, Flair paid back part of his debt by taking the paycheck from the event—what he described as the "[biggest] paycheck I ever got in my life"—and giving it straight back to McMahon to help cover the debt.

13. He became the first two-time WWE Hall of Famer.

Flair was first inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008 for his exceptional solo career that spanned decades. Four years later, in 2012, he was inducted once again, this time as a member of the legendary Four Horsemen stable, which also included Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, and Barry Windham. There’s even speculation that Flair could become the first-ever three-time inductee, thanks to his work with the Evolution stable led by Triple H in the early 2000s.

14. His longest title reign lasted more than two years.

Flair’s dominance as a champion was evident when he held the National Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Championship for an impressive 793 days after defeating Kerry Von Erich on May 24, 1984. Though he lost it to Dusty Rhodes on July 26, 1986, Flair quickly reclaimed it just two weeks later in a match in Missouri. Afterward, he held onto the title for another 412 days, which means he could have held the NWA championship for over three consecutive years had it not been for Rhodes’s brief tenure with the belt.

15. He found himself named in a lawsuit following a notorious WWE plane ride.

While one infamous airplane ride marked a turning point early in his career, another drastically changed Flair’s public image in his later years. In May 2002, Flair and several other wrestlers were on a seven-hour flight that would become infamous as the "Plane Ride From Hell." Among the usual drunken antics, two flight attendants accused the wrestlers of sexual harassment. One of the attendants alleged that Flair exposed himself to her while wearing only his robe and cornered her in the back of the plane, touching her hand to his genitals.

According to Newsweek, Flair was subsequently named in a lawsuit filed by the flight attendants, but WWE ultimately settled the matter out of court. In 2021, the incident was revisited in Vice’s pro wrestling documentary series *Dark Side of the Ring*. As a result of the heightened attention following the documentary’s airing, Flair’s endorsement deals were paused, and WWE began to remove references to him from its programming. Flair denied the allegations.

16. Flair had his final match with Shawn Michaels at *WrestleMania XXIV* in 2008.

At *WrestleMania XXIV*, Flair handed over his paycheck to Vince McMahon as part of his retirement match. This marked the culmination of a long-running storyline in 2008 where Flair risked his career against numerous opponents, ultimately falling to Shawn Michaels in what was named *Pro Wrestling Illustrated*'s Match of the Year. With retirement on the line, Michaels expressed his remorse, saying, "I love you. I'm sorry," before delivering a final superkick that ended Flair’s in-ring career—for the moment, at least.

17. Flair didn’t stay retired for long and was soon back in the ring to face off with Hulk Hogan.

Wrestling has a long history of stars unretiring after second thoughts, and just one year after Ric Flair’s heartfelt *WrestleMania* farewell, the "Nature Boy" was back in the ring to battle the iconic Hulk Hogan. The two legends faced off in a four-match series that was part of the *Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin* tour, which took place in various Australian cities in November 2009. Hogan and Flair were the featured match at each event, and the contests often ended with Flair being left bloodied after each brutal encounter.

18. Flair had yet another farewell match in 2011.

After the tour ended, Flair kept wrestling, eventually joining Total Nonstop Action (TNA) in 2010. Over the course of the following year and a half, he faced off against wrestlers like Mick Foley and Kurt Angle, but it was his one-on-one match with Sting on September 12, 2011, that was believed to be his final bout.

19. His daughter, Charlotte, is a WWE superstar today.

The Flair family’s legacy in wrestling continues to thrive. While Ric’s son, David, had a short stint in WCW and his other son, Reid, wrestled on the independent circuit and in Japan before tragically passing away in 2013, his daughter, Ashley, is now one of WWE’s brightest stars. Known as Charlotte Flair, she has become a 12-time Women’s Champion, won the 2020 Royal Rumble, and made history as part of the first-ever women’s match to headline a *WrestleMania*.

20. His (most likely) final match took place in July 2022.

Flair "officially" retired after his 2011 bout with Sting, citing a mix of factors including his injuries and the traumatic experience of watching fellow veteran Jerry "The King" Lawler suffer a heart attack live during an episode of *Monday Night Raw*. In the years following, Flair faced a series of serious health issues, culminating in 2017 when he had to get a pacemaker. But in June 2022, at 73 years old, Flair shocked fans by announcing he would come out of retirement for one final match on July 31, 2022, at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

While his opponent remains unannounced, Flair expressed in an interview that he intends for this retirement match to surpass all his previous performances. "[It] has to be better than anything I did after [Shawn] Michaels," Flair mentioned during the conversation.