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To Be The Man, You?ve Got To Meet The Man: The Joneses Meet ?The Nature Boy? Ric Flair

Posted: Dec 14th 2015 By: Tim Jones

I almost drove to West Virginia in order to meet ?The Nature Boy? Ric Flair around the time of my birthday this year. Yes, he of the AWA, NWA, JCP, WCW, WWF, WWE, TNA, etc... He was making a short appearance, a meet ?n greet, where you could get an autograph, a photo, & a handshake for a specified amount of money. Now, being a grown man & wanting to meet someone in such a manner might seem strange to some... it?s even a little strange to me... I don?t go all ?fanboy? for many people. Ric is a bit different for me though. I didn?t make that trip to West Virginia... but today, my entire little family got to meet him much closer to home.

Growing up in Wheatfield, IN, early on my family didn?t have much. Mom stayed at home, dad worked a $12 an hour job in construction, & while eating hot dogs & beans 3 or 4 nights a week, we RARELY left home. So, my time was spent playing baseball in the frontyard, basketball in the driveway, Tonkas in my sandbox, or trying to squeeze entertainment out of the 8 or so channels we got on our over the air antenna from nearby Chicago & South Bend. This, of course, is where Ric Flair showed up in my childhood around the age of 6.

Fishing around on local stations on the weekends was usually rewarded with finding some Family Classics on channel 9, lots of news, maybe some cartoons on 32, Wide World of Sports on ABC, etc... but Channel 60 (now WPWR Channel 50) out of Chicago started bringing the goods in 1982!!! They began broadcasting WCCW out of Dallas, TX in syndication every weekend... now I could watch the Von Erichs, the Freebirds, & the NWA?s touring heavyweight champion Ric Flair! The Von Erichs were superheroes through my 6 year-old eyes... but that dirty playing white haired champion that showed up a few times a year to battle one of the brothers, only to always escape with the belt by the skin of his teeth was RIVETING. He was the bad guy, but he took the entire show to a whole other level. He brought the best out of the Von Erichs, & everyone else on the card for that matter. He talked in ways I?d never heard anyone talk... he bled via the iron claw in EVERY match, but never quit, & never lost. He was The Nature Boy...

This was can?t miss TV for me... & my parents thought it was ridiculous. WCCW wrestling was on in the evening at suppertime, & my parents thought it was ridiculous (at first), so I had to take my dinner & eat alone at my little wooden kids table by our back bedroom TV in order to watch. Fine, just gimme? my dinner & let me watch WCCW! My own kids still use that table these days. Funny how furniture can have history. Anyhow, by the third week, my dad had gone from ?wrestling is stupid? to being completely hooked himself. My father wasn?t really interested in kids, even though he had 3... but WCCW wrestling brought us together. We rarely missed an episode of WCCW for the next few years. And I can fondly remember Dad going on & on about how he?d have finished Ric Flair for the belt before the time limit expired... or how he?d have kept from being thrown over the top rope when Ric made his excape via DQ... I don?t have a lot of fond memories with my father, but Ric Flair & WCCW provided a good percentage of them.

So, when I saw that The Nature Boy was going to be in my neck of the woods on December the 12th, I jumped at the chance to buy tickets. I woke up nervous today... not nervous about a job, or money, or anything that an adult should be nervous about, but rather, I was nervous about meeting ?The Nature Boy? Ric Flair! What should I say? How should I stand? Should I smile in the photo? Seriously, this was all running through my mind. Brittany & I packed up the kids, grabbed the NWA Championship belt for him to sign, & away we went. The drive was 45 minutes, but it flew by... I couldn?t stop thinking about how this was going to go... I was like Ralphie in ?A Christmas Story? with that silly bb gun. We arrived... the parking lot is packed... it?s a good thing I bought VIP tickets.
We walk in, we?re ushered through & given our VIP tickets, & told to head back to where the photo-ops were being done... we walk in, & holy smokes, it?s the Nature Boy. I actually kept thinking that he wouldn?t be there for some unknown reason. Now it?s our turn, he calls Everett ?champ? puts his arm around him & shakes my hand. He looks at Brittany with Zoey & says, ?get in here darlin?!? We take our photo... I thank him & as a 39 year-old man am actually starstruck & have a hard time getting the words out for probably the 1st time in my life. We then re-enter the line & wait to have Ric sign our belt. I explain to Everett that he should remember this day... that we very rarely get to meet someone whom is the best EVER at what they do, but that on this day, we are. We?re back at the front of the line... Ric is signing our belt... I?m in awe, but to my own suprise, I actually get out what I want to say, ?Thank you for the best memories of my father & I that I have. Watching you do battle with the Von Erichs was one of the few things we every really did together... just thank you.? He then acknowledged that... asked if I was from Dallas... & I kind of blacked out after that, because he was personally speaking to me. I know after he was done signing my belt I thanked him at least once (maybe 3 times), shook his hand, & then we left.

Fifteen minutes later, I was still kinda? shaking. You can think that?s lame all you want... but it was a great feeling. Once we hit our adult years, get jobs, have kids, lose loved ones, etc... we become cynical & numb to so much of the world that we live in. On this day, I had an experience... an experience that I got to share with my family... that was genuine, exciting, unforgettable, remarkable, real, & NEW. There was nothing cynical here... there was no numbness... there was no negativity. There was just me, my wife, & my two children... & if they looked into my eyes, they probably saw my wide 6 year-old eyes staring back at them... at least I sure hope they did, because that?s exactly what I felt like again being in the same room with my hero from so long ago. Thank you ?Naitch.?