On This Day: Ric Flair's Last Match Closes 50-year Career

Flair had already reneged on 2008’s perfect swansong; the “I’m sorry, I love you” melodramatic classic with Shawn Michaels. But speaking to me for SPORTbible in 2019, Flair confided that he felt his exit was more of a WWE decision than a personal one.

"Actually I think they decided it was time for me to go! It wasn't me volunteering to leave. I'd been there a long time and I was 59 years old. It was mutually agreed upon but I think that they figured while I was still healthy and everything, it was just a good idea to retire."

It didn’t stick. The following year, the Figure Four-wielding icon toured Australia on something called the “Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin Tour”. Flair lost to Hulk Hogan every night in nostalgic retreads of their 1990s battles.

After that, Flair pitched up in TNA. Initially, it looked like he was there to serve as a non-wrestling personality. Flair managed a Four Horsemen-inspired group called “Fortune”, a storyline which bizarrely saw AJ Styles wearing Flair’s old robes and staging a rather confusing “Nature Boy” tribute act.

As Fortune joined the wider, Hogan-led Immortal faction, Flair did lace up the boots for a few in-ring matches. None have stayed long in the memory. After the perfect Michaels denouement, there was little interest in seeing him mix it up with Abyss, Matt Morgan and the similarly retirement-phobic Mick Foley.

At least Flair’s final TNA outing felt like a worthy career-ender. His 2011 war on iMPACT! with Sting was a full circle moment. Flair was the man who made Sting in 1988, lost the title to him in 1990 and closed out the WCWMonday Nitro era with his perennial foe in 2001. The match wasn’t their best, but it was hard-hitting and tinged with a poignancy befitting the final chapter of their four-decade feud.

For 11 years, that appeared to be that. Flair would sporadically make WWE appearances, playing a key role in Triple H and Batista’s 2019 feud while cropping up in his daughter Charlotte’s storylines.

Outside the ring, health troubles appeared to nix any future wrestling plans for the WWE Hall of Famer. Ric was hospitalised and reportedly had a 15% chance of survival. A weeks-long ICU stay had fans the world over dreading the day when wrestling’s most ostentatious icon departs.

But that day is yet to come and Flair credits his survival as the reason he returned to the ring one last time. That and “ego and glory. And family.” as he told ESPN. A perfect summation of the man, inside and outside of the ring.

Working out with old TNA buddy Jay Lethal re-lit the fire in the former Four Horsemen leader. Podcast host and son-in-law Conrad Thompson stepped in to stage an event worthy of the name “Ric Flair’s Last Match”.

On July 31 2022, 6,800 fans packed into the Flair stronghold of the Nashville Municipal Auditorium for the second-highest grossing indie wrestling show of all-time. The building had hosted previous “Naitch” triumphs, like his classic Wrestle War 89 win over Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and his 1995 WCW title win over “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

The event featured wrestlers from a galaxy of promotions. Only Ric Flair could bring together stars from WWE, AEW, AAA, NJPW and the NWA. The latter’s presence was felt heavily, with the presentation credited to Jim Crockett Promotions, the National Wrestling Alliance territory where Flair’s finest bouts took place. Thompson bought the name, splitting the trademark with Jim’s son, David Crockett.

The event featured some of today’s best bone-benders, including Jacob Fatu, Rey Fenix and Konosuke Takeshita. But it was the throwbacks to Flair’s pomp that hit the hardest. 

Brock Anderson and Brian Pillman Jr teamed as the Four Horsemen, with faction enforcer, and Brock’s father, Arn Anderson in tow. Their opponents were one of the finest duos of the 1980s NWA; the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express. Ricky Morton tagged with his son Kerry Morton, with R’n’R partner Robert Gibson on the outside to keep Arn in check.

The bevy of guests and attendees kept the nostalgic feelings coming. Undertaker, Mick Foley and Bret Hart were in the crowd. Tony Schiavone handled the interviews, having toted the mic for Flair back in the NWA and WCW days. With a retro set based on the peak of Turner station wrestling, the event succeeded in honouring Flair and his glory days.

The main event pitted Flair and Andrade against Lethal and Jarrett. The match was no rival to the Michaels goodbye. It was never going to be. But it had an unmistakable emotional resonance. A finality. At 73, this surely was Flair’s final match. 

It nearly was, for catastrophic reasons. Flair was told by doctors after the match he had suffered a heart attack during the bout. “Naitch” has worn a pacemaker since his hospital stay and the match is an uncomfortable watch at times, knowing that.

Flair could, and should, have done less. A few chops, a few shouts of “Woo!” and the Figure Four Leglock and the fans would have gone home happy. But that just isn’t Ric Flair. So of course, the 73-year-old bled. He brawled. He poured everything out of his aging, failing body to give the crowd the “Nature Boy”.

It nearly cost him big. But that’s Ric Flair. Since surviving a plane crash in 1973 that killed the pilot and paralysed Johnny Valentine and ended the career of Bob Bruggers, Flair has lived like he’s on borrowed time. He has wrestled like a man with nothing left to fear. So he took his lumps, he laid on the canvas helpless as plasma poured out of his head. Then he slapped one last Figure Four on Jarrett while the ref counted the shoulders of “Double J” down.

Thankfully, Flair is still around four years after the match in question. I sincerely hope the 16-time champ knows that he is deeply appreciated for what he gave in the ring. Not just in 2022, but dating all the way back to his debut 50 years before. 

This business would look very different without “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Without the Four Horsemen opening the door for the NWO and DX. Without his technical marvels with Steamboat inspiring the generation of wrestlers who would kickstart Ring of Honor. 

Without the violent blood feud with Terry Funk that laid the path for ECW. Without the boost he gave young stablemates Randy Orton and Batista. There is no John Cena “Never Seen 17” without Flair’s unprecedented 16 titles (or more if you count untelevised title changes).

Every time you hear a chop being greeted by a “Woo!”. Every time you see an arrogant heel champion in a sequined robe or a wrestler declare they are “the best thing going today”. Each time you see a Figure Four locked in or a wrestler press-slammed from the top rope after an ill-advised sortie. Think of Ric Flair. Thank Ric Flair. Because Space Mountain is still the most iconic ride in the park. Woo.