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Vanity Flair: Stylish Wrestling Kingpin To Put Career On Line At WrestleMania

Posted: Mar 27th 2008 By: CMBurnham

When 16-time World Heavyweight wrestling champ Ric Flair steps into the ring at Wrestlemania XXIV on Sunday, he?ll be going up against the man he?s mentored for years and he?ll be putting his career at stake. At least that?s how the storyline goes: If Shawn Michaels pulls out a win over Flair, Flair must retire.

Flair ? real name Richard Fliehr ? has been a bright light in pro wrestling since he first took a lesson from Verne Gagne in 1972. The long blond hair (ideal for when Flair splits his forehead open during battle and ?puts on a crimson mask?), the wonderfully gaudy full-length robes, the brazen attitude, the technical skill, the grasp of in-ring psychology ? all of this has earned Flair the respect and admiration coworkers, and the cheers of crowds over the years. He broke his back during a plane crash in 1975, but he rebounded and has been going strong ever since. He borrowed his nickname ?Nature Boy? from the great wrestler ?Nature Boy? Buddy Rogers.

Recently named as an inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame, Flair took some time last week to share some thoughts about the business that?s made him an international superstar.

When did you first seriously think about becoming a pro wrestler?

In 1972. That was the year I started. I always liked it as a kid. I wasn?t over the top, but I did enjoy it. I met and was living with Ken Patera, who was an Olympic weightlifter. Ken had moved to Minneapolis with the arrangement that (wrestler and trainer) Verne Gagne would sponsor him for the ?72 Olympic games in Munich.

So that?s how you hooked up with Verne and started training?

Yes. When Verne talked to me about wrestling he said, ?I don?t accept quitters into this school. So if you start, you?re gonna finish.? I said that was no problem. But it was so hard, I quit twice. The first time I quit, he came over to my house and threw me out in my front yard and beat the crap out of me. I don?t mean he punched me, he just threw me around. He said, ?I told you that you weren?t going to quit and I?m telling you again now.? So I went about two more weeks, and it was so hard I quit again. I just didn?t go. He didn?t come to my house, he just called me and said, ?You be here in the next hour.? So I went back out there, and the rest is history (laughs).

What was so difficult for you?

I never envisioned the conditioning aspect of pro wrestling. I had no idea. The first day we got there, we were running two miles at his farm, doing 500 free squats, 200 pushups ? I about died the first day.

You?ve said in the past that Rick Steamboat was the greatest wrestler you ever competed against. Does that still stand?

That still stands. But the problem with that statement now is that there?s nobody better in the business than Shawn Michaels, who I?m wrestling at Wrestlemania.

What?s your opinion of the way Vince McMahon has run his wrestling company?

Not only is he a genius, I?ve never seen anybody that will tackle anything at any level, and never flinch.

You?re popular and respected in the business, and have reaped plenty of rewards. Has there been a downside?

No. I wish I?d stood up for myself a couple time in the ?90s, which I didn?t do. But other than that, the only problems I?ve had in this business were self-inflicted. Confidence problems.

Are you in any pain?

Not at all. I feel great.

So many wrestlers talk about nagging aches and pains every day.

Here?s what I say to some of them. What are you hurting from? What did you do yesterday that?s making you hurt today? We?ve got some 24-year-old kids that are talking about being hurt. But there?s no sympathy, man. You can?t approach a sport and be whining at 24 years of age. If you are, then you?re in the wrong business.

Tags: Ric Flair, Verne Gagne, WWE, Ken Patera