We’re just days away from Ric Flair’s final match, a full wrestling show culminating in the title main event where the 73-year-old Nature Boy will face Andrade El Ídolo against Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal.
Advertisement for the July 31st event was equal parts hype and promises that it’s actually safe for Flair to lead a match with a pacemaker and five years away from nearly dying from a host of other health issues . Marc Raimondi’s article for ESPN on preparing for this weekend in Nashville is about 75% of it. It includes quotes from Ric’s training partner Lethal, his strength and conditioning coach Rob MacIntyre, and promoter and son-in-law Conrad Thompson.
His daughter Charlotte was also there when her old man got ready for the match and she seems to understand why her father is being driven back to wrestling while she’s worried too. She appears to be a motivating factor for the two-time WWE Hall of Famer, who told Raimondi that he’s getting in the ring for “Ego and Glory” this Sunday. And family.”
Charlotte was there when Naitch doubled the reps on his “blow up drill,” a wrestling-specific cardio routine she learned from the WWE Performance Center.
“He pushed so hard for me. I didn’t know whether to cry or be happy.
“It was really a ‘Rocky’ moment to see my dad pushing so hard. To do what he did and knowing the wind it takes, the conditioning and how he goes about it, I was just blown away. It was mind over matter.”
That doesn’t mean she gives Ric the green light to do everything. Lethal says he had a hard time talking Naitch out of it and that we’ll see Flair “try and deliver a level 10 match. What he can bring, he will bring.” But Charlotte was able to assert herself. When her father was about to jump from the top rope to the ground, she said to him:
“Many of our men and women in all companies miss these constantly. I thought, ‘No, not necessary, not necessary. Wasn’t necessary in your prime, isn’t necessary now. So no.'”
I hope he’s listening.
Check out Raimondi’s entire ESPN article here.