Ric Flair

Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American retired professional wrestler. As of November 2023, he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in a legends role for special appearances. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair's career spanned fifty years. Flair is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Much of his career was spent in JCP and WCW, in which he won numerous titles. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the moniker "the Nature Boy". A major pay-per-view attraction throughout his career, Flair headlined the premier annual NWA/WCW event, Starrcade, on 10 occasions, while also co-headlining its WWF counterpart, WrestleMania, in 1992, after winning that year's Royal Rumble. Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) awarded him their PWI Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the Wrestler of the Year (an award named after him and Lou Thesz) a record eight times. The first two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, first inducted with the Class of 2008 for his individual career and again with the Class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen, he is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. Flair is recognized by WWE as a 16-time world champion (eight-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and two-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion), although the number of his world championship reigns varies by source, ranging from 16 to 25. The most agreed upon number is 21, which Flair himself has claimed. He was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (the latter of which he was also the final holder). As the inaugural WCW World Heavyweight Champion, he became the first person to complete the WCW Triple Crown, having already held the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship and WCW World Tag Team Championship. He then completed the WWE Triple Crown when he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, after already holding the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and the original World Tag Team Championship.