Jim Ross Calls Ric Flair's Life an 'Act of God'

Ric Flair celebrated his 70th birthday back on Feb. 25, and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross reflected [...]

By Connor Casey

Ric Flair celebrated his 70th birthday back on Feb. 25, and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross reflected on "The Nature Boy's" legendary career in a new interview with ESPN's Marty Smith this week.

Smith at one point jokingly asked Ross how Flair is still alive, given his fast-living lifestyle that spans the past few decades. Ross said he had no clue.

"Me neither, it's just an act of God really," Ross said. "I'm telling the truth. I don't have the background of a minister or anything, but it's got to be divine intervention. Air plane crashes, intensive care, illness, he ain't supposed to be here. He was never supposed to get out of the water there in, I guess the (North Carolina) area where all those guys got killed and he broke his back in the airplane crash."

On October 4, 1975, Flair was in a plane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina that killed the pilot and paralysed fellow wrestler Johnny Valentine. His back was broken in three places in the crash, but he miraculously was able to return to the ring just eight months later for Jim Crockett Promotions.

"He lives every day for the day," Ross said. "In the old days Ric was making great money. He made 10 grand a week, which in the 70s was pretty good change. He'd make 10 grand in a week, he'd spend. That was Nature Boy's math, just live a little bit faster than your motor should travel. And he was always on-edge."

Back in August 2017 Flair had to be hospitalized to have obstructive piece of his bowel removed, resulting in kidney failure that kept him in the hospital for more than a month. As a result Flair has admitted he no longer drinks beyond the occasional glass of wine.

Flair appeared on Monday Night Raw last week for his 70th birthday celebration, which featured former wrestling legends Sting, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and Shawn Michaels all making an appearance. However Flair never got the chance to celebrate, as the camera cut backstage to reveal that Batista had returned and jumped Flair inside his dressing room. Batista dragged an unconscious Flair out into the backstage hallway, looked right into the camera and called out Triple H.

WWE is promoting that Triple H will give a response to "The Animal's" attack on this week's Raw.

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