"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair is a popular choice for greatest professional wrestler ever, but it's far too late for him to come back to in-ring competition. Making his professional debut in 1972, Flair famously suffered a broken back in a plane crash early in his career, yet still managed to continue wrestling for several more decades. Not only that, Flair occupies a class of performer that's very exclusive in the industry, with both fans and his colleagues often holding him up as the greatest of all time.
On his path of greatness, Flair managed to rack up a whopping 16 recognized world championship reigns, although Flair is actually a 21-time world champion if reigns WWE's history ignores are still counted. That's a record that may never be broken, and indeed most likely would rather it not be. While many wrestling stars are either excellent on the mic and average or below in the ring, or great in the ring but lacking mic skills, Flair excelled at both in a way few have before or since.
For most of his career, Flair occupied a top spot in the NWA/WCW, briefly stopping over in WWE in the early 1990s long enough to win two world titles and have an excellent feud with "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Flair lost a retirement match to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24, then got an amazing send-off on Raw the next night, with peers past and present - including wrestlers like The Undertaker paying tribute. Sadly, Flair was unable to resist getting back in the ring a few times later outside of WWE. Now, reports suggest Ric Flair is coming out of retirement once again. This is a questionable idea for many reasons, not least of which is that Flair is currently 73-years-old.
Ric Flair's Health Has Seen Better Days
On paper, Ric Flair's advanced age may not be enough to truly disqualify him from wrestling a match or two. Other people have wrestled in their 70s, and Jerry "The King" Lawler still wrestles on the indie scene despite being 72. Even Vince McMahon just had a match - of sorts - at WrestleMania 38, despite being 76 - although he didn't really take bumps. That said, just because someone can do something doesn't mean they should. In Flair's case, his sheer age isn't all that's in play.
It's well known that Flair "lives the gimmick" on and off screen, and has for most of his life. Flair doesn't leave his character in the arena, maintaining his partying persona in his regular life. This has led Flair to develop alcoholic cardiomyopathy, a condition that severely damages the heart. Additionally, Flair's hard drinking led to a health scare in 2017 in which he had to have surgery to remove part of his bowel, and was hospitalized for more than a month. While there, a pacemaker was installed in Flair's chest to help keep his heartbeat steady. By his own account, Flair came very close to death during this ordeal, with daughter Charlotte Flair taking time away from WWE to be with him. Given this happened five years ago, it's doubtful Flair's overall health is much better today, meaning the risk of wrestling is even higher.
Ric Flair's Return Demands A Big Stage (But Won't Get One)
Despite his tumultuous personal life, complete with a staggering number of failed marriages and scandalous incidents, Ric Flair remains a certified legend of wrestling. Putting aside the concerns about Flair's health, if one of the greatest of all time is coming out of retirement, any matches he has deserve to be presented on a big stage and on a platform available to every possible fan that might want to watch them. In decades past, there's no question WWE, WCW, or whichever major companies existed at the time would've jumped at the chance to feature Flair in the ring. In 2022 though, that's almost entirely unlikely to happen.
With Flair's health being what it is, WWE or AEW would be potentially inviting both expensive lawsuits and terrible public relations if they were to allow him to wrestle a full match. For perspective, Flair's long-time friend Triple H recently announced his retirement at 52-years-old after heart issues that necessitated he have a pacemaker installed. If WWE doesn't think it's safe for Triple H to wrestle at 52 - and with less long term health risks - due to his heart, there's absolutely no way they'd agree to let Flair wrestle in their ring. AEW will likely feel exactly the same way, as will other large companies like Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Ric Flair Wrestling Again Risks Further Damaging His Legacy
Ric Flair's legacy in wrestling is already a complicated one without his return to wrestling. While some of that is due to his out of ring behavior - such as the infamous "Plane Ride From Hell" - a big part is due to his violation of the retirement stipulation after losing to Shawn Michaels. While wrestling retirements are famously prone to not sticking, Flair was already 59 at that point in 2008, his body was beginning to break down due to years of high-intensity wrestling night after night, and as mentioned, his send-off was legendary and unique. A wrestler couldn't ask for a better entry to retirement, with Flair likely having a non-wrestling job of some kind with WWE for the rest of his life if he had stayed out of trouble.
Instead, he was back in the ring by 2009, wrestling on a Hulk Hogan-starring tour of Australia. He then jumped to Impact Wrestling (formerly known as TNA) in 2010, wrestling twelve matches total for the company, his last to date against old rival Sting in September 2011. Needless to say, the matches Flair had during this run were far from up to his usual standards. After over a decade away from the physical rigors of matches - and with the ramifications of the physical cost of his years of wrestling making themselves clear - wrestling poses a real risk for Rick Flair without the consolation of the matches themselves being phenomenal. For both Ric Flair's physical sake and the sake of his legacy, it may be wise for his retirement from the ring to remain in place.