In the 1980s, Ric Flair was the man. While the cartoony WWF had Hogan on top, Flair was the NWA champion and toured the world contesting many hour long matches earning him the nickname 'The Sixty Minute Man'. The Nature Boy made it look effortless and many fellow wrestlers and fans remain adamant that he could have carried a broom to a five star match. Flair burned the candle at both ends and his penchant for partying is legendary. Nobody did it quite like the 'Naitch and for a time he could lay claim to being quite possibly the best professional wrestler in the world. Although he may have lost a step or two, Flair was still producing the goods for WCW into the late 90s. By the early 2000s though, Flair was noticeably short on confidence and even admitted as much in his 2004 autobiography To Be The Man. It would take Flair years to regain his confidence and feel comfortable int he ring. Flair wrestled on and off for the WWE until he lost his incredibly emotional retirement match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XXIV. After the match, a crying Flair was given a standing ovation by the huge crowd as he walked back down the aisle never to wrestle again. His retirement ceremony on Raw the next night was just as emotional and it was, at that point, the best possible way a wrestler had ever publicly retired. Which is why Flair's decision to wrestle on the Hulkamania Tour the following year is even more sad and baffling. Flair, who is paying alimony to several former wives and has an expensive lifestyle, felt he needed to wrestle on the tour for monetary reasons. That and he loved the attention and believed he could still perform at a high level. Flair's run in TNA further eroded the memory of his emotional retirement and the sight of an ancient Flair rolling around the ring with his arse out was an incredibly sad one. Flair's public behaviour since has been baffling, including the disastrous WWE 2K14 panel that saw Jim Ross get fired for failing to control The Nature Boy. Flair now makes occasional appearances for WWE and manages daughter Charlotte in NXT.
