In one of the WWE’s most ludicrous career capstones, 73-year-old Ric Flair AKA The Nature Boy will be teaming up with his son-in-law Andrade, to fight off Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal in his ‘last match ever’.
For Flair, born Richard Morgan Fliehr, the match will be his 4930th time in the ring, according to Cagematch.net. The two-time Hall of Famer is easily one of the most prolific wrestlers in history, having been the WWE World Champion a stunning 16 times throughout his 50 years in the business — a record only recently-matched by fellow wrestler John Cena.
The upcoming bout, set to broadcast on the July 31, will see Flair face off Jarret, — one of his oldest rivals and a third-gen wrestler who has crossed paths with Flair in the WWF, WWE, and TNA rings. Both opponents are Hall of Fame stars and have plenty of history preceding their mega face-off.
While the older pair have been friends outside of the ring, younger talent Lethal has been helping his older opponent train, with the septuagenarian displaying insane levels of strength and technique for his age.
That said, it isn’t easy being an athlete at this age, especially considering the massive toll that wrestling can take on the human body.
Flair’s Uphill Healthcare Climb
If you’ve ever followed wrestling, you’ll know that Flair has, well, a flair for being a cocky, tough-as-nails performer who loves to showboat and will do anything to win. Despite this reputation, the near-retiree has expressed fears surrounding his health conditions, which may fail him before or during the upcoming match.
“There’s two things that can go wrong with me,” he said to reporters during a promo event in Nashville. Specifically, the veteran wrestler brought up three issues — his heart pacemaker, blood thinner medication, and an inner-ear condition.
The pacemaker was installed in 2019, following a blood clot that put Flair’s life at risk. Despite the obvious health scares involved with slamming musclebound athletes into each other, Flair brushed it off with cool abandon during the press conference, telling his audience that if the pacemaker gets unplugged, he’ll just “plug it back in.”
He also said that he won’t take his blood medication for the event, but did not address the inner-ear issue.
True to his roots, the Nature Boy went on to reiterate his confidence for the event. “Now that I know I can do it,” Flair said, “I’ll be flying around if there’s 7,000 people.”
His words echo some of the earlier sentiments he shared on his To Be The Man podcast, earlier this year.
“My life is good. I don’t need the money, but baby, I do like the glory. I’m never going to walk away from it. If I have a chance to get myself over, I’m going to do it. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life.”
(Featured Image Credits: @RicFlairNatrBoy/Twitter)
