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Ric Flair has a history of retiring throughout his career. He retired as early as 1983, and most recently after “Ric Flair’s Last Match.” Like all previous instances, fans are left to wonder whether this retirement will stick.
It’s common for wrestlers to retire, come back, and do it again. However, Flair is known to do it more than most. On this list, we’ll be looking at five of his retirements over the years that we found memorable. If you have more to add to the list, sound off in the comments section.
#5. Leading into Starrcade 83
Ric Flair was the NWA Champion in 1981. However, he lost his title to Harley Race on June 10th 1983. NWA used this title change to set up a rematch to lead into the very first Starrcade. A closed circuit proto-pay-per-view event that predated WrestleMania 1 by over a year.
Harley Race announced a $25,000 bounty in order to put Flair out of wrestling. Dick Slater and Bob Orton Jr. would later put Ric through a piledriver. The storyline from here was that Flair suffered a neck injury and announced his retirement.
It was short-lived, however, as he returned to challenge Race for the NWA Championship at Starrcade. Flair won the match and the title and proclaimed this the greatest day of his life. He would use similar words at Royal Rumble 1992.
#4. Retirement after Halloween Havoc 94
Hulk Hogan joined WCW in 1994 propelling the company into a new era. Flair was the WCW Champion at the time, so Hogan challenged him for the title at Bash at the Beach 1994 and won the match.
The rematch took place in a cage at Halloween Havoc 1994. It was a career vs. career match. The defeated man would retire from wrestling and the winner would be WCW World Champion. After a series of interferences from Sheri, Jimmy Hart, and a masked man who was later identified as Brother Bruti (formally known as Brutus Beefcake), Flair lost and retired from wrestling again.
The fans just wouldn’t have it however, and by the spring of 1995 he was already wrestling again.
#3. WWE Retirement Match with Shawn Michaels
Ric Flair returned to WWE in late 2001 and revived his career despite his age. Once again, he won the love of fans. Flair had dramatic matches and angles over a period of six years. When WrestleMania 24 was around the corner, Vince McMahon announced that if he loses another match, he must retire. The angle would only apply to singles matches.
Flair had won several career threatening matches against opponents such as Umaga, Triple H, and even Vince McMahon. However, his opponent at WrestleMania 24 was Shawn Michaels, a man whom Ric often said on RAW, was arguably one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
They met at WrestleMania 24 for what some might consider the greatest Ric Flair match after the turn of the century. The final moments of the match are forever in the memory of wrestling fans. Shawn said, “I’m sorry. I love you,” as he delivered what could now be one of his most famous superkicks, and ended Flair’s career.
#2. Retirement from TNA
The Nature Boy just couldn’t stay away from wrestling. He tried, he went several years without a match. Shawn Michaels would even reveal several that Flair called him and asked for his approval to wrestle again. He then went to TNA Impact Wrestling.
The match wasn’t promoted as a retirement match, but it ended up becoming his last match in 11 years. On TNA Impact, he wrestled Sting for the last time in their respective careers. Flair & Sting had an epic feud that went all the way back to 1988, so it could be considered fitting that this could have been potentially Ric’s last match.
During the match, he suffered a tricep tear and was officially on the injured list. In December 2012, Flair he announced he would never wrestle again in an interview. He cited Jerry Lawler’s heart attack on Monday Night RAW that happened earlier that year, as one of the reasons. Most fans would have likely believed that this would be the last time he’d ever wrestle, however that wasn’t to be the case.
#1. Ric Flair’s Last Match
So, Ric Flair came out of retirement to announce his retirement. There were many stories about different opponents, including Ricky Steamboat. However, it ended up being a tag team match with Andrade against Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal.
Flair came out with the original Big Gold Championship Belt, a title whose image has been used to represent world titles in NWA, WCW, and WWE. The match was a bit uncomfortable to watch.
Ric was surrounded by his friends as many stars such as the Undertaker, Mick Foley, DDP, and Bret Hart were there at ringside to support him. Flair won his last match with a pin resulting from a figure four. This was was his last match ever and he went out on top. A nice feel-good moment to cap off a prolific career.
