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Will Nature Boy Be Put Out To Retire?

Posted: Jan 4th 2008 By: CMBurnham

Ric Flair sits at a little table at Dean & Deluca in Phillips Place, cup of latte in front of him. He looks cool in his faded jeans and black sweater, hair blond and face tan. But he's not cool. He can't be.

Admit that the pressure you are under is enormous, Ric Flair.

"I admit it," he says.

On Nov. 26, Flair fought on a World Wrestling Entertainment card at Bobcats Arena. Before he did, the Nature Boy said into the microphone that the time would come for him to retire.

You should have heard the place. Fans whispered, exclaimed, leaned forward in their chairs, struggled and in some cases failed to hold back tears. After 341/2 years in the ring, Charlotte's own Ric Flair was going to walk away.

Then, with thousands of fans hanging not on every word but on every consonant and every vowel, Flair said: "I have to announce to you that -- I will never retire! I will only retire when I'm dead in this ring!"

And he broke into his trademark strut.

But wait. As fans roared, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon emerged with an announcement of his own. Flair would not dictate the terms of his retirement. McMahon would.

"The first match you lose, Ric, your career is over," the chairman said.

Flair had engaged in several loser-leave-town matches. But loser leave the profession?

"I've never heard of it before," Flair, the world's youngest 58-year-old, says Thursday. "Any loss -- tag team, DQ, counted out, pin -- I leave that night."

To force Flair out, McMahon has matched him against champion Randy Orton, Umaga the Human Bulldozer and the great Triple H. This is like matching the Carolina Panthers against New England, Indianapolis and Jacksonville. Flair was all but out against each. Yet, somehow he prevailed.

His next match is Jan. 14 in Mobile, Ala., against an opponent yet to be named, and those can be the worst kind.

McMahon isn't making this easy, is he?

"No, he's not," says Flair.

Think of the pressure. The first time the Nature Boy loses a fight he loses his job.

This would be like Raymond Felton being run off by the Bobcats the next time he shoots a 19-footer instead of hitting the open man.

This would be like John Fox/Marty Hurney being canned by the Panthers the next time they miss on a draft pick.

This would be like reading a substandard sports column in the Charlotte Observer and never seeing the mug shot of Tom Sorensen again.

"I'm not looking forward to it but I can see myself retired," Flair says.

No you can't. You are the man who survived the plane crash and gall bladder surgery, Ricky Steamboat and Handsome Harley Race, the crazy match in Trinidad and, oh yeah, some very late nights.

This is the Year of the Old Guy, Ric Flair. Look at Brett Favre.

Oh, and if you really can see yourself retired, what were you doing at the WWE training center in Tampa last week, not a camera upon you, quietly working on your game?

Tags: WWE, Ric Flair