Ric Flair “Fell Asleep” During Controversial Match

Ric Flair has opened up about taking an inadvertent nap during an important match.

Ric Flair is one of the most illustrious wrestlers of all time with WWE recognising him as a sixteen-time world champion. The wrestler that defined the NWA in the eighties, Flair was the backbone of WCW after a quick stop in WWE that saw him become a two-time WWE Champion.

When WCW closed for good, he reinvigorated himself again in WWE with a run best remembered for his association with Triple H and Evolution. His in-ring WWE career came to an end at WrestleMania 24, but 15 years later The Nature Boy wasn’t done.

On July 31st, 2022, Ric Flair competed in his final ever match at the age of 73. Flair teamed with his son-in-law Andrade El Idolo to defeat Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal in a bout that some thought should never have happened due to Flair’s age and medical history.

Did Ric Flair fall asleep during his final match?

Speaking on the This Past Weekend podcast, Ric Flair has opened up about his experience of the match and how he didn’t know what was happening at one point after falling asleep:

“I got out there and I felt great and all that and then I realized the anxiety and I made the mistake of saying to one of the guys, ‘I don’t feel good.’ Of course now they think I’m having a heart attack or… I got light-headed. I actually fell asleep on the apron. I’m standing. [Really?] Oh, yeah. And the guy had to go, ‘Ric! Ric!’ And I woke up and I got back in and then I did something else and I’m laying there and at the end, Manny [Andrade El Idolo], my son-in-law, is going, ‘you have to wake up, sir. You have to wake up, sir.

“He was handing me the brass knucks to hit [Jeff] Jarrett with, right? So, he put the brass knucks in my hand, ‘you have to wake up, sir. You have to wake up, sir.’ Boom. But I whacked myself way too early. And then because everybody was panicking, to end it right, I faked like I was having a heart attack just going, ‘ughh.’ Just because I wanted everybody, ‘slow down motherf*ckers, we can do this. I mean I can make it. Just listen to me.’”

Ric Flair has previously discussed passing out during the match multiple times and put his condition at the time purely down to being dehydrated.

h/t PWMania