Ric Flair: Now and Always ‘The Man’
How fitting it is that the greatest wrestler of all time ends his career on The Grandest Stage of Them All. Silence engulfed the Citrus Bowl as more than 70,000 of screaming fans seemed amazed because they had just witnessed history – the end of a legendary career.
Flair knew he lost to not only a better competitor this night, but to a man he somewhat molded. In many ways, his career was ended by a near carbon copy of himself.
Back in 1978, the original “Nature Boy,” Buddy Rogers, challenged Flair because he needed to know if his namesake was “for real.” Rogers passed the torch to Flair that night, and nearly 30 years later, the 16-time World Champion has passed it on to Michaels. The Showstopper beat “The Man” on the greatest stage in sports-entertainment. Still, Flair will always be The Man.
The legends like Naitch, HBK Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, The Rock, The Game these are my heros. They taught me to hang in there for that minute longer, will to survive, will to win, fight for that one more time and never give up. It was Flair who taught us, “To be the man, you’ve gotta beat the man”, something i’ll always live by.
The career of “The Dirtiest Player in the Game”,“Rembrandt of the Squared Circle,” 35 years of entertainment ends here. But just look at the champions he has mentored and inspired – Triple H, Michaels, Batista and Randy Orton, Me 
to name a few. And DX, Evolution, the New World Order and any other wrestling supergroup that will form in the years to come owe gratitude to Flair’s Four Horsemen. The Nature Boy’s legacy lives on.
“Space Mountain may be the oldest ride in the park, but it has the longest line.”
“a kiss-stealing, wheeling, dealing, jet-flying, limousine-riding son-of-a-gun”
Woooooo!
