I’m 48, which is way past the demographic, but I’ve been a wrestling fan since the mid-late '70s and Championship Wrestling from Florida, so this past weekend in my home town of Orlando was huge—Gordon Solie was like the voice of God, the Briscos were the kings of all faces, and our top wrestling venue was the Eddie Graham Sports Complex out near UCF. But Ric Flair… The first match I ever attended was an NWA house show with the main event a steel cage match with the Lex Luger-era Horsemen against Dusty Rhodes, the Road Warriors and Sting.

Since then I’ve seen Flair at WCW tapings at Disney and Universal (when the Hulk Hogan clique wouldn’t work them) as well as late in his WWE run. I met him, got his autograph, and shook his hand at a collectibles show where he was polite and gracious with every fan, no matter how marked out they got. I recall being at one of the Disney WCW events where the production crew was schooling the non-fans on their signals for cheering and booing the appropriate wrestler.

This was during a Flair heel run, but me and my crew cheered for The Man, throwing four fingers and genuflecting. We weren’t the only ones, either. I tried to get down to the ring apron after the show to grab a feather that had come off his robe, but a big ol’ gal beat me to it. I saw Hank Aaron take on the Big Red Machine in my life, saw Brett Favre march the Packers down the Lambeau tundra, saw Dale Earnhardt pass the field at Daytona, and saw Flair and the Horsemen. Life’s been good...

Dave Mitchell
Orlando, Fla.

***

I have always been a fan of Ric Flair. Watching him and the Four Horsemen on WTBS in the '80s was the highlight of my week, each and every week. The intensity of those interviews always made me wonder how much of those comments were "real" and how much weren't...now that I'm a "smarter" fan I realize that while Ric Flair's comments may have been scripted to a degree, I was seeing the real Ric Flair each and every time he spoke.
 
One moment sticks out the most for me personally...I was at a low point in my life in 1993, and for some reason I found the Clash of the Champions on TV that night. I watched Ric Flair and Double A come to the ring together to take on the Hollywood Blondes in an "old fashioned two out of three falls match" for the tag titles. For some reason, watching the intensity of the wrestlers involved, the electricity or the crowd and the ebb and flow of that match just relit the pilot light in me. I've always wanted to thank the wrestlers involved, because their performance in that match, for whatever reason, really lifted me up at a time when I needed it most.
 
So thank you Ric Flair for all the memories, but especially that one.

Craig Bursch
Duluth, Minn.

***

A Ric Flair memory that sticks out to me may not seem like much of one to some, but for me it showed me how serious Flair really took the business.
 
It was August of 2002 and WWE was running a house show in Pittsburgh at the Mellon Arena. It was a really ho-hum house show and there was only roughly 3,000 people if that in attendance. It was right in the middle of the brand split and the card was lacking what some would call "star power." Flair teamed with the Undertaker that night to take on Christian and Lance Storm and even though the crowd was very small and many of the wrestlers that night seemed they would rather be anywhere but in the arena that night, Flair put on a great performance and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. He did all his signature spots and seemed to want to make sure the fans that attended got there money's worth.
 
After the match he did his signature wooo's for several minutes and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
 
At the Hall of Fame ceremony, he stated he hoped anyone who ever paid to see Ric Flair got their moneys worth. On that night in Pittsburgh before a smaller than usual crowd, he stole the show like only he could.
 
Ben Hough,
Pittsburgh Pa.

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