Richard Flier is a professional wrestler nicknamed “Rick Flair”, also known as “The Nature Boy” (Russian Child of Nature). Rick is considered one of the greatest fighters of all time with a professional career dating back 41 years and is notable for his lengthy contracts with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the World Freestyle Wrestling Championship (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (now known like WWE). He is officially recognized 16 times by WWE, TNA and PWI as the World Heavyweight Champion (seven times in the NWA, seven times in the WCW and two times in the WWF). Although, the exact number of all victories of Richard is difficult to name. In 1992, he became the first and only person to win the WWF at Royal Rumble (Rus. Royal Battle).
His hairstyles and manners are based on the styles of Buddy Rogers. By the way, Flair also followed Rogers' career, becoming the second person to win both WWF and NWA heavyweight title. He is also the first owner of the WCW Triple Crown Champion belt. And in 2005, he became the WWE Triple Crown champion, becoming the third fighter to win both WCW and WWE (after Bret Hart and Chris Benoit). Together with officially recognized final results (WWE, TNA and PWI) and a record six United States championships, Rick won a total of 30 different major NWA, WCW and WWE events, as well as numerous regional titles.
Rick Flare Biography
Richard Flair was born on February 25, 1949. In the first chapter of his autobiography, “Being a Man,” he claims that at birth he was given different names in different documents, such as Fred Phillips, Fred Demary, and Fred Stewart. For most of his childhood, Rick lived with his family in Edin, Minnesota. After 9th grade, he attended Wayland Academy, a Beaver Dam boarding school in Wisconsin. For four years he participated in interscholastic wrestling competitions. As a teenager, Flair worked every summer as a lifeguard in a local pool in Minnesota, where he first got acquainted with the wrestling business, meeting the legendary Wahon brothers. Rick won the state wrestling championships twice (in 1966 and 1968) among private schools and was accepted to study at the University of Minnesota, where he played with Greg Gane, the son of Verne Gagne. Fleur dropped out of college before getting a diploma, and then worked as a bouncer in a nearby club, where he met Olympic weightlifter Ken Pater, who was a student at Verne Gagnier Sports School. Pater introduced Flare himself to Verne Gagnet himself, who agreed to take Rick to his sports school.
The beginning of a wrestler's career
Under the tutelage of Josh Clemme and Billy Robinson, Rick began participating in his first AWA fights. Flair quickly advanced in the career of an American wrestler and in December 1972 he made his debut in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, fighting George “Iron Beetle” Gadaska to a 10-minute draw. Rick attracted the attention of the public with his charismatic personality. Throughout his career at AWA, he fought with Dusty Rhodes, Andre Gigan, Larry Hennig, and Walk MacDaniel.
Flair leaves AWA and moves to NWA.
In 1974, leaving AWA, Rick Flair joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). On February 8, 1975, he defeated NWA world champion Paul Jones, gaining the first title of his career. It is worth noting that on October 4, 1975, Rick's sports career almost ended. On this day, he was in a serious plane crash in which a pilot died, and Johnny Valentine was paralyzed. Also aboard were “Mr. Wrestling I »Tim Woods, Bob Brugger and promoter David Crockett. Fleur’s back was broken in three places, and doctors said that he would never be able to continue his wrestling career.
However, Rick strictly adhered to the schedule of physical therapy, and returned to the ring after only six months. On July 29, 1977, he won the U.S. NWA Super Heavyweight Championship when he defeated Bobo Brazil and over the next three years won five more titles, battling Rick Steamboat, Roddy Piper, Mr. Wrestling II, Jimmy Snooka and Greg Valentan.
Flair's top career
On September 17, 1981, Richard Morgan Flier climbed to the top of his career when he defeated Dusty Rhodes in his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In the following years, Rick attracted all the attention. With his outlandish wit and fascinating interviews, Flair presented himself to the public as a “world champion”, while wearing elegant jewelry and expensive designer costumes, he constantly taunted his opponents.
In 1982, he nearly lost the NWA world title, losing the fight to American wrestler Jack Venen (but this change was not recognized by the NWA). In 1983, Harley Reis defeated Rick in battle and took the title away, but Flair later restored it. After that, they met in many battles in early 1984. Rick Flair won the NWA champion belt, officially, eight more times. As an NWA champion, he defended his belt around the world. In March 1984, in New Zealand, he again lost his title, losing the fight to Reis, but was able to return it after three days. Also, Flair lost his belt in a fight with Kerry von Erich and returned it after 18 days in Japan.
He was then champion for two years, losing his title to Dusty Rhodes on July 26, 1986 in The Great American Bash. Rhodes was the ubiquitous enemy in Rick's career after Flair broke his ankle in Rhodes on September 29, 1985. Two weeks later, he returned the title. Throughout his career, Rick Flair defended his belt by opposing opponents such as Harley Reis, Rick Stembot, Rodie Piper, Keri Won Erich, Jay Youngblood, Sting, Roni Garwin, Magnum TA and Rhodes.
Subsequent titles and awards of Richard Flare
By 1986, wrestling promoter Jim Crockett had combined the various NWA units he owned into a single entity under the control of the famed “National Wrestling Alliance”. Controlling most of the traditional NWA territories in the southeastern and midwestern United States, Crockett sought to expand nationally and built his propaganda to portray Flair as a champion.
In 1987, Rick Flair and Barry Wyndham conducted a series of fights of the NWA World Championship. Flair defeated Wyndham at the Croquet Cup tournament. And on September 25, 1987, he lost the NWA World Championship, losing the battle to Ron Garwin. Garwin held the title for two months before Rick returned it on November 26, 1987. In early 1988, rising star Sting (Steven James Borden) challenged Flare to fight in “Clash of the Champions”. Rick accepted him and fought with Sting until the end of the 45-minute time limit. In 1990, Flair was recognized as the first WCW world heavyweight champion, while remaining the NWA world champion.
Rick signed a contract with WWF (World Wrestling Federation) in August 1991. He performed at the WWF show with the Big Golden Belt, calling himself the "World Heavyweight Champion." Under the leadership of his manager Kurt Hennig, Flair has repeatedly become a problem for WWF wrestlers such as Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan, Rick fought with the Piper team in the Survivor series in 1991 and helped Undertaker defeat Hogan in the WWF Championship.
Return to WCW
In February 1993, Rick Flair returned to WCW and became the face of the championship. And in June 1994, he defeated Sting in a unification match. In 2000, he won the WCW World Cup twice. This was the last year of the championship. Then WCW was bought by WWF in March 2001, Flair was the leader of the villainous group called The Magnificent Seven. Nevertheless, he repeatedly stated in various interviews how happy he was when WCW finally closed, although the fact that many people lost their jobs saddened him. After a break in wrestling, Rick Flair’s sports career continued when he returned to WWF in November 2001, becoming a co-owner and face of the company.
Various rivalries and retirement
At the end of 2005, Flair ran into Edge (Adam Joseph Copland) at the TLC as part of the RAW World Weightlifting Championships in early 2006. Then, in mid-2006, Rick left wrestling for a while to rest and get married for the third time. On March 29, 2008, he was the first active fighter to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Return to WWE
On March 31, 2012, "Child of Nature Rick Flair" was the first person to be twice admitted to the WWE Hall of Fame. On December 17, 2012, Rick returned to WWE at the annual Slammy Awards to present the Superstar of the Year award to John Cena, who in turn presented the award to Fleur.
Heritage
Rick was often popular with the crowd because of his weekend rituals, jerking and shouting "Woooooo!" (He was inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis's Big Balls of Fire.) Having received a significant number of titles and awards, Rick Flair became much less likely to participate in battles in the last ten years of his career. This is mainly due to age and many years of competition, which caused damage to his health. But, to this day, he remained a significant character in wrestling. Beginning in the late 1970s, Rick stepped out into the ring, putting on expensively decorated fur clothes of different colors with sparkles.
Among his many crowning tricks, Rick Flair most often used: “Knife Edge Chop”, “Knee Drop”, “Piledriver”, “Low Blow”.
Over the years, Flair personally coached Stan Lane, Scott McGee, and David Flair, his son, to make them professional wrestlers.
Rick Flare's personal life
Rick Flare's son, David followed in his father's footsteps and became a wrestler. His youngest son, also signed a contract with WWE at the end of 2007, was a successful fighter and performed several times on WCW television along with his sisters Ashley and Megan. In 2004, Rick had a granddaughter when his eldest daughter Megan Flair-Ketzner gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Morgan Lee Ketznerna, at that time Flair was 55 years old.
On May 27, 2006, he married his third wife, Tiffany VanDemark. On August 7, 2008, Tiffany announced that she filed for divorce. On November 11, 2009, Flair married a fourth time to Jackie Bems in Charlotte, North Carolina.
On September 5, 2008, Rick's youngest daughter, Ashley, was arrested for assaulting a policeman.
Problems with law
In December 2005, a judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Flair after an incident in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which Rick got out of his car, grabbed another driver by the neck and hit the door of his car, in the end he was charged with damage to other people's property .
After debuting in “Total Nonstop Action Wrestling,” his former employer, Ring of Honor, filed a lawsuit in 2010, claiming that Flair did not appear at several events that he was required to attend by contract.
In August 2010, Highspots Inc filed a lawsuit against Rick, claiming that he did not pay the $ 35,000 they lent to him. Highspots also claimed that he provided them with an “NWA” belt as collateral. In May 2011, a warrant was issued to arrest Flair for contempt of court. On June 25, Highspots released a statement on their official Facebook page saying that someone had paid Rick's debts.
Political activity
Flair has long supported Republican political candidates in North Carolina elections. In 2000, he declared his desire to run for election as governor of North Carolina, but did not submit documents for participation.
In the 2008 presidential election, Rick Fleir supported Republican candidate Mike Huckabee.