Ric Flair on What His Last Match Needs to Truly Be His Career Finale

Ric Flair’s original retirement match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV is regarded as a WrestleMania classic and was considered at the time to be a fitting end to “The Nature Boy’s” legendary career. Unfortunately, due to financial troubles, Flair was back in the ring just one year later working a handful of matches against Hulk Hogan on an Australia tour. He then signed with TNA (now Impact Wrestling) in 2010 and would go on to wrestle 12 more times, the last of which was a televised match against Sting in September 2011. And while the Flair vs. Sting rivalry was so legendary that it was picked as the final televised bout in WCW history, few even remember that this last match happened. 

The 16-time world champion announced earlier this year that he’s going to get back in the ring for one last match at 73 years old. Dubbed Ric Flair’s Last Match, the event is scheduled to take place inside the Nashville Municipal Auditorium on July 31 and will coincide with the Starrcast V fan convention and the one-night revival of Jim Crockett Promotions. Flair’s opponent hasn’t been confirmed for the show as of yet, but he already knows what he’s looking for from the match in order to consider it a fitting finale. 

“It has to be really good, it has to be better than anything I did after Shawn Michaels,” Flair told ComicBook in a recent interview. “It’s not about the money. It’s all about re-establishing the fact I have my self-confidence. It’s never been higher. Back then, at that time, I was still having self-confidence issues and I was paying out (for his divorces) more to three people and had to go to work. Now I don’t have to do anything. 

“But it gave me a goal,” he continued. “I’ve been working out. Kelly (Brewster) and I worked together, as partners in this (his upcoming comic book series) but she also trains with me and it’s a lot of hard work. We drive 45 miles up to John Cena’s place in the morning for an hour and a half. And then we go down to Saint Peak to training like there’s no tomorrow for two hours and it’s a lot more fun for me if I have someone to compete against.”

Flair finished by saying, “I love wrestling. I’ll never get it out of my system. I just want to have a better match and go out on a higher note than I did last time.”