A Sad Story About the Fall of a Wrestling Icon

Ric Flair is one of my favourite professional wrestlers of all time. And among many wrestling fans ad journalists, he is considered the greatest wrestler of all time. In his prime, he could wrestle for 60 minutes and pull a fantastic match out of anyone. He also was the king of the wrestling promo and could get you excited about almost any match he was having, no matter the opponent. He was typically the heel in his wrestling career, and thus he loved doing interviews that would rile up the crowd and put sympathy on his opponent. Of course, he became such an icon in wrestling that it started getting really hard to keep him a bad guy. By the mid 90s. he would get huge ovations even if he was supposed to be the villain.

Unfortunately, Ric Flair is one of those guys that has wrestled way past his prime. He is still wrestling today even though he should have retired almost 10 years ago. Since he was such a massive star, I don't think these past ten years of sub par wrestling will tarnish his legacy, but it isn't improving it either. But sadly, a large reason Flair is still wrestling is because despite years and years of making millions of dollars, he is in financial ruins. This struggle may tarnish how many view the man.

Shane Ryan over at Bill Simmons' fantastic site Grantland (if you like sports or pop culture or just great writing, you really need to make this site a regular stop) has written a very sad article on the recent struggles of 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair. It is the tragic tale of the massive fall of a wrestling icon, and a look at the price of fame and fortune. It's an insightful and interesting read, even if it is tough and depressing (especially as a huge Flair fan).