10 Wrestling Fates Worse Than Death

3. Ric Flair Is Forced To Retire

There’s little difference between Ric Flair the wrestler and Richard Fliehr the man. They’re entangled; they were for 40 years in the ring and outside of it. Ric Flair in real life really was the stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' and dealin' son of a gun!

Ric LOVED pro wrestling. Unlike The Rock with acting, Chris Jericho with music and Kane with politics, the only thing Ric ever aspired to do was wrestle and be ‘The Man’. So when Vince McMahon decided in late 2007 Ric was getting too old (he was near 60) to still be actively wrestling, he gave Ric the ‘next match you lose you retire’ storyline. When Ric said with heart and feeling "I will never retire!” on the 26 November episode of Raw, you truly got the sense he never wanted to hang up his boots.

Ric eventually lost to good friend Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV. His entire career ended with Ric in tears as Shawn laid him out with the Sweet Chin Music. You have to believe it was a fate worse than death for Ric Flair, never being able to wrestle again on The Grandest Stage of Them All.