Richard Morgan Fliehr, known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanning over 50 years in 6 decades.
Flair in 2019
Flair (right) and Paul Jones during a match in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1979
One of Flair's signature robes
Flair in 1996
Professional wrestling is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama, under the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Although it entails elements of sports wrestling and martial arts, including genuine displays of athleticism and physicality before a live audience, professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship. The staged nature of matches is an open secret, with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions; this is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction.
Triple H setting up the Pedigree on John Cena in October 2005.
Spectators gather in Pyongyang, North Korea for Antonio Inoki's Pro Wrestling Friendship Games. A traditional wrestling ring can be seen in the lower left corner
A WWE Money in the Bank ladder match in 2009
Tommy Seigler applies a hold to Nick Kozak while a referee looks on