Ric Flair has given some alarming details about his final match.
On July 31st 2022, Flair stepped inside the squared circle as a competitor for the final time at 73 years of age. Teaming with son-in-law Andrade El Idolo, the duo defeated Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett as some of the biggest names in wrestling watched on. Although the spectacle of The Nature Boy competing one last time was enough to pack out the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, the match itself was not the most well-received.
With Flair struggling throughout the contest and appearing unconscious at points, the bout became more of a concern for Flair’s well-being than a celebration of his legendary career. Although in a previous interview, Ric Flair stated that he did fall asleep and faked a heart attack in the match, the truth is actually a lot more frightening.
Appearing on the JAXXON podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed that he did have a heart attack in the match:
“Yeah, I trained (for my last match), I got in the best shape, ever since I was 20 years old, and then I had a heart attack during the match. I had a heart attack during the match. A lot of people didn’t (know). I didn’t know myself until about six months ago because I went and got a [pacemaker].
I go to the heart doctor like every six months because I’ve got the pacemaker, right? And they put that on me when I was real sick, not because I had a problem with my heart, but because they couldn’t get over the fact that my heart rate was so low, but it was from all of those hour-long matches and all that cardio.”
Continuing, Flair detailed his experience on the night and thought that the issue was dehydration:
“The guy takes me in and if you look at your heart like a round pie, there’s a piece of my heart right here, this big, it’s black, it’s gone. The guy said, ‘You’ve had a heart attack in the last two years.’ I said, ‘I never hurt.’ He said, ‘Have you passed out in the last two years?’ And during my last match, I passed out three times, and I thought it was because I was dehydrated.
So I went in the locker room, I was with Kid Rock and Taker. I just drank two bottles of Gatorade and went back out to Kid Rock’s place all night long. But I had a heart attack. It didn’t hurt, no, none. I feel great, that’s my problem. I’m sure I’m just gonna fall off a chair one day (he laughed). They’re gonna say, there he is. Get that little son of a b*tch up out of here.”
Ric Flair Provides Update On Charlotte Flair
Charlotte Flair has been absent from WWE since late 2023 as she is recovering from a serious knee injury that occurred in a match on SmackDown. Although the former Women’s Champion was expected to be out for 9 months, Flair’s updates on social media have been very promising and seemingly indicate that an early return could be possible. During a separate interview, Ric Flair gave an update on Charlotte Flair’s road to recovery.
Recently it was revealed that WWE had planned three versions of Raw in case Ric Flair passed away during his 2017 health scare.
H/t to Post Wrestling.