To quote my friend Clayton King who wrote “The Wrestling Song”… but I feel I must tell you, the truth I must share, the greatest ‘rastler of all time is the ‘Nature Boy’ Rick Flair. whoooo hoooooo whoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!
My wife and I were both working last night and took a break around 10pm to watch some tv. Well, by pure chance we stumbled upon the WWE Hall of Fame induction broadcast. Neither of us watch or care about wrestling.
However, for a few years, probably between 10 and 13 years old or so, I was very much into the Rock n Roll Express, Four Horsemen, Sting, Ron Garvin, hating the Midnight Express, Nikita Koloff, and that freakish looking Lex Lugar. Then I realized it was fake and quickly lost interest.
Back to the show, The Rock was emceeing the event and made it more like a roast of everyone in the audience. Even though I hardly knew most of the folks it was very entertaining, he has exceptional delivery. So, we stayed on the channel.
Skipping to the point of this post, the highlight of the evening was the induction of the Nature Boy into the WWE HoF. I had always been an admirer of Rick, knew all the taglines: “All the ladies wanna ride Space Mountain”, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man”, “Bright lights, big cities and pretty ladies”, “Mean Gene, I’m a jet flyin, limousine riding, kiss stealing, mean son of a gun, and if you don’t like it… you better learn to love it!” I can only imagine if he would have been a preacher or politician instead of a wrestler. Hmmm, Flair for NC Governor anyone? lol
When Flair took the stage, there was a 10 minute standing ovation (Not on tv, but I’ve read other blogs of people who were there). He said it’s an honor to be inducted in Orlando, which he called “The second home of Space Mountain.” From then on out came perhaps the most heartfelt speech I’ve heard since Jimmy V at the Espy’s.
He started by saying how grateful he is to the sport/business for giving him everything he has today. He made no mention of his accomplishments, but went on to praise and thank everyone from the camera crew to Shawn Michaels (who he wrestles tonight in possibly his last career bout). “I hope fans realize I gave them the best I could give them,” he said. “Whether there were 100 of you or 10,000 of you, I hope none of you ever went home disappointed.”
This is where it got rough to watch. My wife had tears, I was even fighting them back myself. The Big Show, Edge, and several others in the crowd were bawling like babies. He thanked his wife Tiffany and called her his best friend. He said he’s tested her, but she’s tough. “No more Naitching,” Flair said. He also thanked his first two wives. The crowd thought he was joking, but he told them he’s being very serious. To his first wife he said, and I paraphrase as best I can from memory, “I was out of control, and you were right in leaving me, I thank you so much for bringing up my children who mean everything to me.”
I think the on air version went about 15 minutes, but the actual speech was over an hour! I hope I can get my hands on that video and watch the whole thing. There was no bravado, no feathers, no entourage, no pounding music, there was only Flair standing as a broken and remorseful man owning up to his past, putting his demons in a Figure Four for the last time. This is the Rick Flair I respect the most and want to remember. I’d like to think of the Nature Boy as a character he played on tv, but this guy is someone I admire.
If you catch a rerun of this or it pops up on YouTube, take time to watch it. Learn from his example, be thankful for everything you have, don’t take those who love you for granted.
