Ric Flair

Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American retired professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair's career spanned 50 years.

He is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Much of his career was spent in JCP and WCW, in which he won numerous titles. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the moniker "the Nature Boy". A major pay-per-view attraction throughout his career, Flair headlined the premier annual NWA/WCW event, Starrcade, on ten occasions, while also co-headlining its WWF counterpart, WrestleMania, in 1992, after winning that year's Royal Rumble. Pro Wrestling Illustrated awarded him their PWI Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the Wrestler of the Year (an award named after him and Lou Thesz) a record eight times. The first two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, first inducted with the class of 2008 for his individual career and again with the class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen, he is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

Flair is recognized by WWE as a 16-time world champion (8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, 6-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and two-time WWF Champion), although the number of his world championship reigns varies by source, ranging from 16 or 17 to 25. He has claimed to be a 21-time champion. He was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (which he also held last). As the inaugural WCW World Heavyweight Champion, he became the first person to complete the WCW Triple Crown, having already held the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship and WCW World Tag Team Championship. He then completed the WWE Triple Crown when he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, after already holding the WWF Championship and the World Tag Team Championship.

Fliehr was born on February 25, 1949, in Memphis, Tennessee. His original parents were Luther and Olive Phillips, the latter of whom was also credited with the Demaree and Stewart surnames; nevertheless, his birth name is commonly considered to be Fred Phillips, even if he is also credited on various records as Fred Demaree or Fred Stewart. He was adopted by Kathleen Kinsmiller Fliehr (1918–2003) and Richard Reid Fliehr (1918–2000). The Fliehrs decided to adopt due to Kathleen being unable to become pregnant after giving birth to a daughter who died shortly after. At the time of his adoption (arranged by the Tennessee Children's Home Society as part of Georgia Tann's infant trafficking scandal) his adoptive father was completing a residency in obstetrics and gynecology in Detroit, Michigan. His adoptive mother worked for the Star Tribune.^{[citation needed]} Shortly afterward, the family settled in Edina, Minnesota. However, they would move to Golden Valley, Minnesota where the young Fliehr lived throughout his childhood. Though not officially diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Flair stated in his 2004 memoir To Be The Man that he was in fact the "epitome of the disease" while growing up, partying and even having sex and drinking alcohol by the age of 14.

After ninth grade, he attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin for four years, where he participated in wrestling, football, and track. After high school, Fliehr briefly attended the University of Minnesota.

A successful amateur wrestler in his teens, Flair trained as a professional wrestler with Verne Gagne. He attended Gagne's first wrestling camp with Greg Gagne, "Jumpin'" Jim Brunzell, The Iron Sheik and Ken Patera at Gagne's barn outside Minneapolis in the winter of 1971. On December 10, 1972, he made his debut in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, battling George "Scrap Iron" Gadaski to a 10-minute draw while adopting the ring name Ric Flair. During his time in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Flair had matches with Dusty Rhodes, Chris Taylor, André the Giant, Larry Hennig and Wahoo McDaniel.

Flair made his first appearances in Japan in 1973 with International Wrestling Enterprise (IWE) as part of a working agreement between the IWE and AWA promoter Verne Gagne. He competed in IWE's "Big Summer Series" throughout June and July, facing opponents such as Animal Hamaguchi, Great Kusatsu, Katsuzo Matsumoto, Mighty Inoue, and Rusher Kimura.

In 1974, Flair left the AWA for Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic region in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), debuting on May 13, 1974, by defeating Abe Jacobs. Shortly after his debut, Flair won his first championship in the promotion, by teaming with Rip Hawk to defeat Bob Bruggers and Paul Jones to win the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship. After a lengthy title reign, Flair and Hawk lost the titles to Paul Jones and Tiger Conway Jr. on December 6. Brute Bernard substituted for an inactive Hawk during the title defense.