On Sunday night at Wrestlemania, it marked the end of an illustrious career that will never be matched in terms of worldwide popularity and accomplishments.
If you are a wrestling fan, you know that I am talking about the one and only 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair.
Now it was the worst kept secret as everyone knew Flair was going to retire judging by all his interviews building up to Wrestlemania.
Yet despite all that, people still watched and I was one of them. I like most knew it would be an emotional affair as it was the curtain call on a career that spanned 35 years.
The match itself was a classic match, and I know that word 'classic' gets tossed around, but this was in every sense of the word.
It wasn't a typical match in which two wrestlers faced each other and tried to get the win, this one told a story. This of course is the mark of an great match when it comes to pro wrestling.
Yet despite 99.9% of all wrestling fans thinking and ultimately knowing it would be Flair's swan song, we still got behind him like he could pull it off. When he had Shawn Michaels locked in the figure four in the middle of the ring, we collectively thought, 'Could he actually win this thing?'
Because that's what Ric Flair could do better than any other pro wrestler. He could make you think no matter how much the deck was stacked against him and there was no way he could be victorious, he seemingly always came away a winner.
So here we were all watching this match with certainty he would retire, yet when he had Michaels in this figure-four we second guessed our predictions of a Flair loss.
Classic Flair...
When Michaels mouthed the words "I'm sorry...I love you" and dropped sweet chin music on Flair for the final time, it was almost a surreal moment. It was the end of the 'Nature Boy', it was the end of the limousine ridin', jet flyin', kiss-stealing, wheeling-dealing, son of a gun, it was the end of an era...
Seeing Flair in the middle of the ring, the flash bulbs going off, and the tears flowing from his eyes everyone knew this was a truly historic, yet very sad moment.
As for myself, I felt a small lump in my throat but managed to fight back any actual tears. Yet for some fans they simply couldn't, and I don't blame them because Ric Flair, despite his character of the guy who lived high society, was and still is the most genuine and emotional wrestler we have ever seen.
That is why I think so many fans were emotionally vested in this match. When Ric Flair was ringing off entertaining and hilarious promos we were happy, when Ric Flair cheated his way to a win back when he was 'the dirtiest player in the game' we hated him, and when Ric Flair cried so did we. As a pro wrestler that's what you have to do be successful, and Flair did it better than anyone else.
Very few people are able to transcend their respective industry, whether it be entertainment, business, medicine, or any other industry that exists today.
Yet I think it's safe to say that without a shadow of a doubt, Flair transcended pro wrestling.
If you don't believe me check out the response he got here
Thanks for the memories Ric, you truly are in a class of your own.
