When I was a kid and still to this day, I tended to prefer the bad guys or "heels" in professional wrestling. Ric Flair is likely my favorite wrestler of all time and to this day I feel as though especially his performance on creating a character and having perfect microphone skills are basically unmatched by anyone else before or after him.
This is a big part of the reason why I find his continued financial problems and the fact that he is prostituting himself out for anything and everything that can make him some money, just seem so tragic.
Most wrestlers hang up their trunks a long time before Ric has and it is just shocking to me that just a few weeks ago Flair actually wrestled his "last match" at the age of 73. I didn't see the match and it was on a really minor circuit, but I would be willing to bet that it was not the most acrobatic of performances. While I am sure a lot of people turned up to see it I feel as though not just this, but for many years before now, that Flair has been seriously tarnishing his reputation as a legend of the sport.
The thing is, the guy doesn't have any other choice. Despite being one of the most recognized personalities of the sport EVER, this guy is broke. There is a really good chance that despite his exposure, if you own a house in a suburb somewhere in the United States, you might have more wealth than Ric does.
Like a lot of the famous old timers of WWE and NWA, Ric's lifestyle outpaced the amount of money that he was actually making. Even though he was a massive draw at house shows and pay-per-views through a career that spanned 50 years, he wasn't really making that much money to begin with and his made up character of the "jet-flyin' limousine-ridin' WOOOO, son of a gun" was an expensive farce to keep up with that normally resulted in him spending far more money than he was making.
Although a lot of this is kept under wraps, it is estimated that Flair owes nearly $300 thousand in taxes as well as nearly $2 million for a yet unpaid heart surgery bill back in 2019.
Ric has been very active in merchandising and this has made him a fair bit of money but once again, he is so far behind on what he owes, that he will likely be continuing to milk his fame for all it is worth until the day that he passes on.
His social media feeds are kind of sad because he seems to be willing to sell his name and likeness to anyone that will pay for it. At one point I remember that he was selling Father's Day phone calls for $100 a pop. I paid for this to have my own father called by "Nature Boy" and sadly, my father at the time had no idea who he was talking to on the phone for 1 minute before hanging up.
These days Ric is getting involved in all sorts of things for compensation that I can't really find. Most recently he has his own marijuana brand called Ric Flair Drip.
Ric has never been a weed icon, but here he is promoting this brand that I know nothing about. He does seem an unlikely face for the brand but I hope he can get some money out of this.
It seems unbelievable to me that a man that once commanded an annual salary of $700 thousand is so broke that he has to resort to anyone and anything in order to make ends meet and the casual and fun way that he handles any public appearances is likely all a front and the reality of it all is probably that there is a very depressed and unhappy man turning up to these things in borrowed clothes and Rolex watches.
At one point Ric had to resort to selling personal memorabilia including his iconic robes in order to pay his bills and although it is only an estimate, certain publications claim that one of the most famous wrestlers of all time actually has a negative net worth.
This is just so tragic to me but then again, he's certainly not the only one. For every "The Rock" and "John Cena" success story out there, there are 100's stories of destitution and depression amongst once world-famous wrestlers who were simply left behind by the industry that they helped build. I kind of expected this of minor stars or people that were a flash in the pan as far as success is concerned but I personally can't believe that this has happened to one of the biggest names that the sport has ever known.
I hope that these latest endorsements can make him some money because it is so sad to me that an icon like this can end up so destitute in his older years. I hope that the younger generation of wrestlers out there can learn from this an avoid making the same mistakes.