You are invited to send in some of your favorite Ric Flair memories. Whether you saw him at a house show, met him in person, or watched his career on television, you are welcome to contribute by sending your comments to dotnetjason@gmail.com. Please write, "Flair Memories" in the subject line and do your best to limit your comments to a few paragraphs at the most.

The scene: Target Center in Minneapolis, mid-late 1994. I’m a 20 year old metal head with long hair, a trench coat, and in all likelihood a Metallica shirt.
 
I went to a WCW house show with some friends. Flair had “retired” after losing the WCW Title to Hulk Hogan. After the show, we were making our way out of the stands when I saw a door and a hallway that looked unattended. I insisted to my friends that we explore (getting backstage had always been a dream of ours). They were too nervous. I told them I’d meet them at the car and went on alone. The door at the end of the hallway opened up to the garage.

I was ridiculously out of place, but moved on. I passed Nick Bockwinkel and coolly mentioned to him “Good show!” I was lying. I saw Jean Paul Levesque get into a car with Sherri Martel. 

Further ahead I saw the wrestlers hanging out in the actual backstage area and stopped. There was no way I was going in. I saw a few guys and then was amazed when I saw Arn Anderson.

Even back in the day I had great respect for him, but then I saw Ric approach Arn and they talked. I freaked out inside my head, but kept a cool exterior. I thought to myself, “He’s supposed to be retired! He shouldn’t even be here!” Flair then began heading in my direction. I met him on his way to me with an outstretched hand.
 
“Mr. Flair, I would just like to say that you’re the greatest of all time and I can’t wait to see you get back into the ring.”
 
“Thank you, thank you very much,” he replied. “…who were you with?”
 
There was no point in trying to lie.
 
“Uh, nobody really. I just found this door and here I am!”
 
Ric nodded. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave the backstage area.”
 
“I understand," I said as I shook his hand again. “Can’t wait to see you back in the ring,” I repeated.
 
“Thank you very much,” he repeated to me.
 
I then turned around and yelled to nobody in particular as I walked back with my arms straight up in the air, “I just got kicked out of backstage by Ric Flair!”
 
It was pretty fantastic. I snuck backstage a few other times, but this was the first and most memorable.
 
Kevin Kittridge
Santa Monica, Calif.

***

Where do you start?

He was the very first wrestler I took notice of when I started watching wrestling in '87. It was Saturday night on TBS when they showed Ronnie Garvin beat Flair for the NWA world title. His whole aura just captivated me when i was a teen. He is the reason i was a heel fan. Watching the Horsemen kick everyones ass was worlds better than Hulk Hogan. Their was a natural and believable characteristic to him, which little did i realize at the time was because their was no gimmick. Ric Flair is truly Ric Flair.
 
I have seen him live a few times when he came to the Target Center in Minneapolis. Two of those times were WCW Nitro. The third is my favorite.
 
Smackdown/ECW came a couple of summers ago. It was when Flair took on Big Show for the ECW Title, due to RVD's suspension. It was awesome. A typical Flair bloodbath, but it was Flair at his best. I think everyone in the arena thought their was going to be a title change that night. Their wasn't, but it didn't matter. Flair was bumping, bleeding and selling.
 
I don't know if their ever be a more genuine wrestler out there. He is the gold standard how to treat the business. He probably should have stood up for himself more often, but I think everything turned out alright for him. I will miss not having that comfort of him being on TV.
 
Thanks Ric.
 
Josh Marino
Eau Claire, Wisc.

***

I have so many great memories of Ric Flair's career, I'm 33 years old so my first exposure to him was in his NWA days. The battles he had with Dusty Rhodes in the mid '80s is what turned me into a wrestling fan, I hated his guts for the things he did to Dusty, and Ricky Steamboat. 

Of course as I grew older I realized what a true art form pro wrestling is, and that Ric Flair was the greatest of them all.  But my favorite memory comes from a few years ago while sitting ringside during a house show here in Green Bay. Nothing about the night stuck into my head more than just watching how genuinely happy Ric was.

He kept looking out over the crowd with the biggest smile on his face, like he was in heaven, and couldn't imagine being anywhere else at that moment but entertaining us fans in that ring. That was the first time I had ever had the honor of watching him perform live.

The farewell ceremony on Monday night had me choked up much like Brett Favre's retirement press conference did just a few weeks ago. I just wish the mainstream media would have given "The Nature Boy" half the attention ol' No. 4 got. It's tough watching two people you admire so much leave their careers behind. 

Thank you for the years of entertainment Ric!

Kevin
Green Bay, Wisc.

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