Ric Flair Net Worth

What is Ric Flair's Net Worth?

Ric Flair is a retired American professional wrestler and wrestling manager who has a net worth of $500 thousand. A professional wrestler since 1972, Ric Flair is generally considered to be one of, if not THE best professional wrestler of all time. His career spanned 40 years. He was inducted into the Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2008 and currently wrestles as part of the WWE Legends league.

Ric Flair, often proclaimed as the "Nature Boy," stands as one of the most illustrious and charismatic figures in the history of professional wrestling. With a career spanning over four decades, Flair has solidified his place as a cornerstone of the sport, with a legacy that is both flamboyant and unparalleled in its achievements.

From his beginnings in the 1970s, Flair quickly rose to prominence with his unique combination of athleticism, showmanship, and microphone skills. His bleached blonde hair, extravagant robes, and larger-than-life persona made him an instant standout. But it was his in-ring prowess, technical skill, and ability to tell a compelling story during his matches that earned him respect and admiration from both peers and fans.

Throughout his tenure, Flair has wrestled in numerous organizations, including the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/WWE). In each of these stints, he left an indelible mark. He's most famed for his record-setting 16 world championship reigns, a feat that underscores his dominance and longevity in the sport.

One cannot discuss Flair's career without mentioning the Four Horsemen, a legendary wrestling faction he led during the 1980s. This group, with its combination of talent and villainous antics, became a defining aspect of that era's wrestling landscape. Flair's feuds with other wrestling greats, like Ricky Steamboat, Sting, Dusty Rhodes, and Hulk Hogan, are considered classics and showcased his versatility as a performer.

Outside the ring, Flair's influence persisted. His catchphrases, most notably "Wooo!" have permeated pop culture, and his flamboyant style has influenced a myriad of entertainers, especially in the music industry.

Early Life

Ric was born Richard Morgan Fliehr on February 25, 1949, in Memphis, Tennessee. Flair was adopted, and it is largely believed that his birth name is Fred Phillips. Some documents refer to him as Fred Demaree or Fred Stewart. When he was adopted, his adoptive father was completing his residency in obstetrics and gynecology in Detroit, Michigan. His adoptive mother,  Kathleen, worked for the Star Tribune newspaper. Not long after he was adopted, he and his new family settled in Edina, Minnesota. Flair attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, for high school. He was on the wrestling team, as well as played football and ran track. He briefly attended the University of Minnesota, where he intended to follow in his adoptive father's footsteps and study medicine. However, he dropped out to become a professional wrestler.

Career

Flair, who also goes by the nickname "The Nature Boy," was first introduced to the wrestling business when he met the legendary Vachon brothers. Flair made his professional wrestling debut on  December 10, 1972, opposite "Scrap Iron" George Gadaski. He spent the first several months of his career with Gagne's Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club before he moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he became a regular for Jim Crockett Promotions. In 1981, Ric won his first NWA World title. He has since enjoyed an extremely prolific wrestling career. Later in his career, he worked for both World Championship Wrestling, TNA Wrestling, and Vince McMahon's WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).

Flair was a big pay-per-view attraction throughout his career. He headlined  Starrcade 10 times. He also headlined the WWF counterpart, WrestleMania, in 1992. That same year, he won the Royal Rumble. He was the PWI Wrestler of the Year eight times. He is the first WWE Hall of Fame inductee to be inducted into the Hall of Fame twice. The first time was in 2008 for his individual career and in 2012 for his part in The Four Horsemen. Flair is also in the NWA Hall of Fame, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

Flair is a 16-time world champion (8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, 6-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and two-time WWF Champion).  He was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. He became the first person to complete WCW's Triple Crown at the very first As WCW World Heavyweight Champion. He went on to win the Intercontinental Championship after already holding the WWF Championship and the World Tag Team Championship. Flair is the only man in the world of wrestling to hold all four versions of the title.

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Personal Life

On August 28, 1971, Ric Flair married Leslie Goodman. They had a daughter named Megan and a son named David. They divorced in 1983.

Flair married Elizabeth Harrell on August 27, 1983. They also had two children — a daughter named Ashley and a son named Reid. Flair and Harrell divorced in 2006.

On May 27, 2006, Flair married Tiffany VanDemark. She is a fitness competitor. In 2008, she filed for divorce. Their divorce was final in 2009.

Flair must really like being married because, on November 11, 2009, he married Jackie Beems in North Carolina. Flair filed for divorce from Jackie in 2012 and it was final in 2014.

Flair got married for the fifth time on September 12, 2018, to Wendy Barlow, aka Fifi the Maid on WCW, in Florida. The couple separated in January 2022 before reconciling in May 2022.

Flair's son David was a professional wrestler like his father. David worked for WCW from 1999 to 2001. Flair's other son Reid was a decorated high school wrestler and signed a developmental deal with WWE in 2007.

In 2004, Ric Flair became a grandfather when his daughter Megan gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Morgan Lee Ketzner.

Flair's other daughter Ashley signed with WWE under the stage name Charlotte Flair in 2012.

Flair's son Reid died of a drug overdose from the combination of heroin, Xanax, and a muscle relaxer in March 2013.

Flair has made a number of outrageous claims over the years, including the fact that he allegedly slept with 15,000 women and guzzled 15 drinks a day.

In June 2020, Flair defended his daughter Charlotte from fans who have been complaining that she's overexposed in wrestling. In an interview, he said:

"I'm so mad about that – one mark after another, 'We're tired of seeing her.' Good, watch her on TV in another event. She's a millionaire – she can do what she wants to do. And she's a millionaire because of the company; there you go."

In July 2022, Flair launched the virtual restaurant chain "Wooooo! Wings" in Nashville, Tennessee. The chain expanded to six American cities in August 2022. He also partnered with Mike Tyson to create his cannabis line called "Ric Flair Drip" under "Tyson 2.0," which launched in October 2022.

Financial Problems

Ric Flair has had a number of run-ins with the IRS dating back to the early 1990s. In 2000, the IRS hit him with a lien over $870,000 worth of unpaid taxes. The IRS started garnishing Flair's WWE earnings in 2005. He blamed the issues on his second wife, Elizabeth's, profligate spending.

According to legal filings released in 2019, Ric reportedly failed to pay his full tax amounts for his earnings between 2016 and 2018. The filing showed that he owed the Federal government $240,000 and the state of Georgia $40,000. Also, in 2019, Ric experienced a medical emergency requiring heart surgery that left him with a reported $1.8 million medical bill not covered by insurance.

In 2019, Flair went on The Steve Austin Show and talked about how he found himself $500,000 in debt due to his son's rehab bills, but Hulk Hogan stepped up to help, and the two became great friends.