Just like that, it almost ended before it really began. On 10/5/75, Flair, Valentine, David Crockett, Bruggers, and Mr. Wrestling (Tim Woods) boarded a small Cessna 310 twin-engine plane to take them from a show in Charlotte, NC to one in Wilmington, NC just a few miles away. The left engine died, then minutes later the right did as well. The plane skidded across treetops before crashing and sliding at 70 mph into a railroad embankment. The pilot was thrown threw the windshield and remained in a coma for a month before dying. The entire backseat area of the plane came loose and crashed into Valentine, breaking his back in 3 places and paralyzing him. Bruggers also had his career ended due to leg and ankle injuries. Crockett and Mr. Wrestling were extremely lucky and escaped with minor injuries and were released from the hospital the next day. As for Flair, he also broke his back and doctors weren’t immediately sure that he would fare much better than Valentine. However, Flair quickly regained the use of his legs and began his exhaustive comeback. He won PWI’s Rookie of the Year award while on the shelf.

After just 3 months of intensive rehab, Flair was back on TV. Mid-Atlantic commentator Ed Cappral presented Flair with cards and letters from worried fans, but Flair immediately went back into heel mode, ripping them up and saying he didn’t care what the fans thought. With Valentine’s career over, the stage was set for Flair to take over as the top heel in the territory. Flair accompanied Angelo Mosca to ringside against Wahoo several times and caused Wahoo to lose. Soon after, Flair was ready to return to the ring and he defeated McDaniel by countout in his comeback match on 1/31/76. Soon after, Flair ripped up McDaniel’s headdress and temporarily blinded him, setting up the biggest feud of Flair’s career to date. It was also around this time that the "Nature Boy" would begin traveling around the country a little, allowing fans outside of the Carolinas to witness his potential. He appeared in the WWF and made his Madison Square Garden debut on 3/1/76, beating Pete Sanchez. A month later, he beat famed WWF jobber Frankie Williams on his second MSG card (the main event featured the famous match in which Stan Hansen broke Bruno Sammartino’s neck).

Back in Mid-Atlantic, Flair recaptured the territory’s Heavyweight title from McDaniel on 5/24/76. Flair and the Andersons wrestled McDaniel, Andre the Giant, and Rufus R. Jones in several 6-man matches. On 9/11/76, McDaniel won the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title back, Flair then quickly won it for the third and final time, and McDaniel regained it 6 weeks later. At around that time, Greg Valentine, Johnny’s son (although he was originally billed as Johnny’s younger brother) came to Mid-Atlantic. Flair and the younger Valentine began teaming and the chemistry they had was amazing as they instantly became recognized by many as the best team in the entire sport. They shot up through the ranks and quickly became the number one contenders for the NWA Tag titles, held by Flair’s "cousins" Gene and Ole Anderson. The Andersons didn’t want to give the youngsters a shot at their titles, setting up a heel vs. heel family feud. On Christmas night 1976, the two teams finally met in a bloody, violent battle with Flair and Valentine capturing the NWA World Tag Team straps. After the match, Flair, Valentine, and their ally Blackjack Mulligan brutalized the Andersons until McDaniel finally made the save, but Ole was stretchered out. Flair and Valentine defended the belts against McDaniel and Jones many times. While Ole was recovering, Wahoo and Gene joined forces despite hating each other and were turned back in several title matches. Ric and Greg finally dropped the titles back to the Andersons on 5/8/77 in a steel cage match with McDaniel as special referee.

Flair returned to singles action and beat Jones for the Mid-Atlantic TV title. A rookie named Ricky Steamboat entered Mid-Atlantic and, when Flair began mocking the shy, quiet youngster, no one could have expected that one of the greatest feuds in wrestling history was about to begin and wouldn’t end for more than 15 years. Steamboat finally had enough of Flair’s taunts and came out of his shell, displaying his martial arts ability and knocking Flair out cold with a chop. Steamboat upset Flair for his first title when he captured the TV strap from him. After the match, Flair and Valentine laid him out. Flair and Valentine then beat Dino Bravo and Tiger Conway, Jr. for the Mid-Atlantic Tag titles, dropping them a month later to Steamboat and Jones.

Flair took the next big step to superstardom on 7/29/77 when he upset the legendary Bobo Brazil for the NWA U.S. title, by far his biggest victory to date. As NWA U.S. champ, Flair traveled the globe and truly became an international star in ’78. He debuted in All-Japan and scored a huge victory when he pinned Giant Baba, something that virtually never happened in Japan. He also made his first appearances in World Class, Florida, St. Louis, Maple Leaf Wrestling, and most importantly, Georgia Championship Wrestling, which was shown nationally on WTBS. While in Georgia, Flair first competed in the Omni and feuded with Tony Atlas and Stan Hansen.

Back in Mid-Atlantic, Flair, Valentine, and Blackjack Mulligan had formed an alliance and were running roughshod over the area’s babyfaces. However, dissention was brewing because Mulligan, who had lost the NWA U.S. title to Brazil, felt like he deserved a chance to win the belt back. After months of stalling, Flair finally agreed to defend the title against Mulligan. However, before the match happened Steamboat beat Flair for the title. Flair and Mulligan blamed Crockett Promotions for trying to come between them (even though it was Mulligan who had been demanding the title shot all along) and vowed that a title would never cause friction between them again.

Flair and Valentine won their second NWA Tag titles from the Andersons and broke Gene’s neck in the process. They began feuding with Ole and McDaniel, who filled in for Gene. After months of cheating and attempting to injure opponents, Flair and Valentine were stripped of the NWA Tag belts for "unprofessional conduct". Flair and Valentine lost to Andre the Giant and McDaniel in the first round of the 1978 NWA Tag Team Title tournament to fill the vacancy. Flair also wanted to regain singles gold and targeted NWA U.S. champ Tim Woods. On a show that aired the day before April Fools Day, Woods tricked Flair into putting his hair on the line against Woods’ title. However, Flair beat Woods to win the belt and save his hair. Mulligan came out to congratulate his friend and reminded the champ of their promise a year earlier that they wouldn’t let the title come between them. However, Flair’s arrogance caused an argument and Mulligan wound up smacking him. In a famous angle, Flair destroyed a cowboy hat that was given to Mulligan by Waylon Jennings. Mulligan retaliated by destroying Flair’s favorite $5,000 robe. Flair put a $10,000 bounty on Mulligan’s head and John Studd attempted to collect, setting up a feud between them. Others also attacked Mulligan and, between the injuries he suffered at their hands and numerous run-ins, Mulligan never did beat Flair and left Mid-Atlantic to promote his own shows in Texas.

After a worldwide tour in which he successfully defended his NWA U.S. title against numerous stars, Ric returned to Mid-Atlantic to continue his feud with Steamboat. Flair began being accompanied to ringside by women he called his "baby dolls". One of these women, Bonnie, wound up marrying Steamboat years later and occasionally appeared on WWF and NWA TV with her husband. During one attack, Flair dragged Steamboat across the floor, giving him a hideous burn on his face. Steamboat retaliated by attacking Flair and stripping off his tailor-made suit until Flair was left flopping around in the ring in his underwear (a scene that Flair would repeat many times). Flair and Studd beat Steamboat and Jones for the Mid-Atlantic Tag titles, but dropped them back a few days later. On 12/18/78, Steamboat finally ended Flair’s 8-month NWA U.S. title reign in Toronto, the first time that belt had ever changed hands outside of the U.S. Flair regained the title on 4/1/79.

After Flair and Valentine had broken Gene Anderson’s neck more than a year earlier, Gene had become a troubleshooting referee and he was assigned to officiate the Flair-Steamboat rematch. Shockingly, he helped Flair win and reunited with his "cousin". Dusty Rhodes came to Mid-Atlantic and clashed with Flair for the first time. During one match, none-other than the original "Nature Boy", Buddy Rogers, was the special guest referee. Rogers obviously had a problem with Flair from the onset and seemed to favor Rhodes who went on to apparently win the match and the NWA U.S. title. However, the decision was later overruled when it was determined that Rogers had not been impartial. The match foreshadowed the legendary matches they would have in the future. Rogers appeared on TV and trashed Flair for being a poor imitation of him and not even knowing how to properly apply the figure-four leglock, which by now had become Flair’s finisher (he had originally used a simple running elbowdrop as a finisher). Flair came out to confront Rogers and Rogers asked Flair to demonstrate his version of the figure-four on jobber Len Denton (The Grappler). However, when Flair got Denton in the hold, Rogers began stomping him. For the first time, Flair was starting to show signs of becoming a babyface.

Jones had previously turned against Steamboat and during a match between the two, Flair ran in and tried to hit Steamboat with a chair. However, he missed and nailed Jones instead. Later that night, Jones got his revenge by hitting Flair with a chair during his match with Jimmy Snuka. Flair called out Steamboat, but instead of picking a fight with him, he asked to join forces with him against NWA Tag champs Jones and Baron von Raschke. Steamboat was wary about trusting Flair, so Flair put up $10,000 of his own money as collateral that the Mid-Atlantic office could give Steamboat if he double-crossed him. The two teams had many matches, but the Flair-Steamboat dream team never did win the titles. At the same time, the Flair-Rogers feud needed to be resolved in the ring. Rogers formed a stable called "Rogers’ Army", which consisted of Snuka, Patera, and Studd, and sent them after Flair. On 7/8/79 at Battle of the Nature Boys, Rogers came out of retirement and submitted to Flair’s figure-four in arguably the highest profile match of Flair’s career to date. Flair also beat Rogers several more times in singles and tag matches over the next few months. Shortly after, Flair attacked Rogers and badly injured his ear, leading to Rogers’ departure from Mid-Atlantic.

Mulligan returned to the Carolinas and once again formed an alliance with Flair. The duo exchanged the NWA Tag titles with Jones and von Raschke. Unfortunately, despite the short title reign, Flair was forced to vacate the NWA U.S. title as soon as he won the NWA Tag titles. Snuka won the tournament and Flair vowed to regain it. Gene Anderson turned on Flair and replaced the departed Rogers as the manager of Snuka, Patera, and Studd and sent them after Flair. On 4/19/80, after battling Snuka for 6 months, Flair finally dethroned him to win his fourth NWA U.S. title. Gene brought The Sheik to Mid-Atlantic to take Flair out. Flair wound up injuring Gene’s leg by putting him in the figure-four. Snuka and Sheik signed to face Flair and a mystery partner, who turned out to be a returning Greg Valentine, who had been competing in the WWF. What transpired was one of the great turns in wrestling history. During the match, Valentine refused to tag in as Flair got pounded and was eventually pinned by Snuka. After the match, Valentine broke Flair’s nose with Anderson’s cane. This set up a very bloody feud between the former partners. Valentine beat Flair for the NWA U.S. title on 7/26/80. "The Hammer" also enlisted Bobby Duncum’s aid and they battled Flair and Mulligan in tag matches. Flair recaptured the NWA U.S. title on 11/24/80.

Another legendary feud was about to begin as Roddy Piper came to Mid-Atlantic and formed "The Dream Team" with Valentine. Piper began ripping Flair in a series of classic promos. On 1/27/81, Piper beat Flair for the NWA U.S. title after hitting him with a foreign object. The next night, Piper came out in a tuxedo and said he had a gift for Flair. The gift was Piper’s NWA TV title and since he couldn’t hold both belts simultaneously, he offered to give it to Flair in a condescending manner. An enraged Flair and a deranged Piper got into a classic shouting match which saw Flair, in vintage "Nature Boy" style, tear his own clothes off and destroy them. Piper began to tear up his own tuxedo jacket as well, until he remembered that it was a rental and then he stopped in a hilarious moment. As the Flair-Piper feud raged, Flair became a serious threat to win the NWA World title and had several shots at champion Harley Race when he visited the area.

Piper brought Ivan Koloff in to take out Flair. Koloff quickly won the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title and Flair received several shots, but failed to recapture the belt due to the interference of Piper and the Andersons. Flair finally had enough and began carrying an aluminum bat with him, frequently beating his enemies with it. The NWA suspended him for his actions, but Flair started buying tickets to the shows and jumping out of the crowd to attack them. The NWA finally reinstated him and he and several partners teamed in unsanctioned street fights against the Andersons around the Carolinas. In July ’81, Flair took his first stab at the business end of pro wrestling when he, Crockett, and Mulligan started a promotion in Knoxville, TN. The company quickly folded since Flair and Crockett had no time to dedicate to it.

On 9/24/81, Flair traveled to Kansas City, MO to face NWA World champion Dusty Rhodes, who had defeated Race for the title 3 months earlier, with Lou Thesz as special referee. Flair finally won his first NWA World Heavyweight Title of a record 16 World titles on that night to cement his place in wrestling history. As would be the case for many years to come, Flair remained wildly popular in the Mid-Atlantic area while being a despised heel almost everywhere else. On 9/24/81, Flair defeated Ole Anderson in his first of hundreds of World title defenses. As NWA World champion, Flair defended his title all over the United States and Japan for the next 21 months. Flair helped to create numerous stars by making young local guys look good. While touring Florida, Ric bragged about his amateur credentials and dominated jobbers Raul Mata and Bill Snyder in amateur-style matches. After complaining that no one has been able to make him break a sweat yet, Flair challenged Barry Windham, who was calling the action with Gordon Solie, to take him on. Windham outshined Flair with his amateur skills and Flair attacked him. Windham fought back and pinned the NWA World champ after a lariat in the unsanctioned match. In perhaps Flair’s most noteworthy title defense, he wrestled WWF World champion Bob Backlund to a double-countout in a title vs. title match on 7/4/82 in The Omni. A month later, he traveled to World Class and successfully defended his title at Star Wars August 1982 in a 2/3 falls match against Kerry von Erich, winning the third fall by DQ in what World Class fans saw as a biased decision by Mid-Atlantic referee Alfred Neely. Days later, Flair visited Memphis and went to a 10-minute time limit draw against Jerry Lawler. Lawler demanded 5 more minutes and Flair agreed, but when Lawler started to get the upper hand, Flair took his belt and left. Flair offered to pay Jimmy Hart $10,000 if he could find someone to take Lawler out before he returned to Memphis again.

One of the strangest incidents in wrestling history took place when Flair toured the Dominican Republic. First, Flair and Piper so angered the local fans that soldiers actually chased them down the street and shot at them. Then, Flair was defending the NWA World title against local wrestler Jack Veneno and was scheduled to win. However, the fans were rabid and on the verge of rioting the entire night and security was poor. In the middle of the match, gunshots were fired in the arena and Flair, fearing for his life, pulled Veneno on top of him for the 3 count to make the fans happy before scurrying out of the ring. The NWA never officially recognized the title change and Flair left the country the next day with the belt.

Flair toured Japan, where he successfully defended his title against Jumbo Tsuruta, among others. Back in Mid-Atlantic, he defended the title against Piper, McDaniel, and Dory Funk, Jr. On 12/25/82 at Christmas Star Wars, again in Texas, Flair was involved in the start of one of the most famous feuds of all-time. He was wrestling Kerry von Erich in a rematch of their earlier encounter and, this time, to ensure a clear victor without a biased referee, the match was held in a steel cage match with regularly World Class official David Manning as the ref. World Class also allowed the fans to vote for a second referee to be named and Michael Hayes was the overwhelming choice. At the end of the match, Manning was knocked out and Flair and Hayes got into a physical confrontation. Hayes eventually laid Flair out and told Kerry to cover him. Kerry refused because, being the clean-cut All-American kid that he was portraying, he didn’t want to win the title that way. While Kerry and Hayes argued, Flair recovered and threw Kerry into Hayes, knocking Hayes out of the cage. When Kerry leaned out the door to check on Hayes, Hayes’ partner, Terry Gordy, thinking Kerry had attacked Hayes, slammed the cage door on Kerry’s head and allowing Flair to pin him. The legendary von Erichs-Freebirds feud began and would rage for years.

Ric was about to "lose" the title quite a bit, considering he never actually lost it. He traveled to WWC in Puerto Rico and apparently dropped the NWA World title to WWC Heavyweight champ Carlos Colon on 1/6/83, but the title change was never officially recognized. Flair got his revenge on Colon by beating him several weeks later to "regain" the title he never officially lost. On 2/9/83 in Florida, Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes under a mask) pinned Flair to apparently win the NWA World title. However, Rhodes had been suspended by the NWA and when NWA President Bob Geigel demanded that he unmask to prove he wasn’t Rhodes, Rhodes refused and the belt was returned to Flair. Later that month, Flair traveled to Trinidad and again "lost" the title, this time to Victor Jovica, "winning" it back several days later, but those title changes were never officially recognized.

However, Flair’s luck finally ran out and a honest-to-goodness "official" loss was soon to follow. On 6/10/83, Flair’s first NWA World title reign was ended by Harley Race in St. Louis, MO. Flair got several rematches, including matches on 2 big shows at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, winning one by DQ and losing the other the same way. However, Flair wasn’t without gold for long as he rebounded to win what some say is the greatest tournament of all-time . Race had to vacate the prestigious NWA Missouri Heavyweight title when he won the NWA World title, necessitating the star-studded tournament. On 7/15/83, Flair beat Bob Brown, George Welles, Butch Reed, and David von Erich to win the tournament and the Missouri title (Hulk Hogan battled Jerry Blackwell to a double-CO in the quarterfinals to eliminate each other).

In Mid-Atlantic, Race put a $25,000 bounty on Flair’s head. Bob Orton, Jr. was one of the babyfaces who stepped up to help Flair battle numerous heels trying to collect. In September ’83, Flair was about to beat Race for the NWA World title when Dick Slater, attempting to collect the bounty, ran in. Orton came out to apparently make the save but he turned on Flair instead and they spike piledrove him, injuring his neck. Flair announced his retirement due to the injury and Race gave Slater and Orton the $25,000 to split. However, later that night Flair came out of the crowd wearing a neckbrace and chased Orton and Slater out of the building with a baseball bat before swearing revenge on them in an awesome promo. Meanwhile, a miraculously "healed" Flair lost the NWA Missouri Heavyweight title to David von Erich in David’s biggest win ever on 9/16/83. Days later, Ric went to Puerto Rico and lost to Pedro Morales on WWC’s 10th Anniversary Show in a WWC North American title match.

Back in Mid-Atlantic, Flair found an unlikely ally in old foe Wahoo McDaniel and the two feuded with Orton and Slater. The first-ever Starrcade, considered by some to be wrestling’s first true supercard, was scheduled for 11/24/83 and was shown on closed-circuit TV throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. In the main event, Flair beat Race in a steel cage match with Gene Kiniski as special referee to win his second NWA World title. This was the first World title to ever change hands inside a steel cage.

In a rare match, Flair stepped in for Michael Hayes, who had lost a loser-leaves-town match, and teamed with Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts to lose the World Class 6-Man titles to David, Kerry, and Kevin von Erich. Flair returned to WWC to face Carlos Colon, this time in a steel cage match for Colon’s WWC Universal title. Colon won again. Days later, Flair lost by DQ to David von Erich at Christmas Star Wars. On 1/20/84, Slater had apparently beaten Flair for the NWA World title thanks to Orton’s interference, but a second referee reversed the decision. Slater then stole the belt but it was quickly retrieved. Days later, Flair made an appearance at Star Wars. He said that David von Erich didn’t deserve another shot at his title but eventually agreed that if young Mike von Erich could last 10 minutes with him in a non-title match, Flair would give David a shot the next time he was in town. Mike stunned many by going the distance and earning David his shot, but David never did get his title shot. Tragically, he died just 11 days later.

Back in Mid-Atlantic, Flair’s old rival Steamboat had retired, but Jim Crockett went on TV and offered him $10,000 if he would return to face Flair. Steamboat accepted and on 3/17/84 they had their first of many legendary World title matches against each, wrestling to a 60-minute time limit draw. On 3/21/84, Flair lost the NWA World title to Race in New Zealand, winning it back 2 days later in Singapore (these title changes were unrecognized by the NWA for many years until finally made official). In an amazing feat of stamina, Flair and Steamboat had another 3 60-minute time limit draws within 5 days in April ’84 to cement the legacy of their feud.

On 5/6/84, Flair returned to World Class. Kerry von Erich replaced his deceased brother David and defeated Flair for the NWA World title at the 1st Annual Parade of Champions. Flair won the title back weeks later in Japan. Days after that, finally got a victory over Steamboat at Night of Champions. In June, Wahoo began complaining about not receiving any title shots. Flair tried to explain that he had to travel all over the world to defend against wrestlers from dozens of territories and that he would try to give him a title shot as soon as he could fit him into his schedule. Just then, Tully Blanchard ran out and attacked Flair from behind and McDaniel just watched. Flair was furious that McDaniel didn’t try to help him. Soon after, McDaniel officially turned heel by attacking Flair and the two resumed their violent feud from years earlier.

On 6/30/84, Dusty Rhodes beat Flair by DQ in a 2/3 falls match at Lord of the Ring in Florida. However, in Mid-Atlantic, Flair actually teamed with Rhodes several times against McDaniel and Blanchard during this same time period. On 11/29/84 at Starrcade ’84, Flair beat Rhodes when special referee Joe Frasier stopped the match due to excessive bleeding by Rhodes. At Christmas Star Wars ‘84, Flair lost to Kerry von Erich by DQ.

As 1985 began, the WWF’s rapid expansion had changed the wrestling landscape and the NWA Mid-Atlantic and Georgia territories essentially merged into what would one day become WCW. However, Flair was still busy defending his title around the world. One of the territories that Flair visited was Southeastern Championship Wrestling in Alabama. A young mid-carder named Arn Anderson was given the responsibility of driving Flair from the airport to the arena whenever he visited. Flair and Arn only briefly met before when they were both in Georgia, but they had a deep connection. 3 years earlier, Flair’s "cousin" Ole, had taken Arn under his wing and had given him the Anderson name and claimed that Arn was his nephew. This meant that Flair and Arn, despite the fact that they hardly knew each other, were also related. Flair convinced Arn to leave Southeastern and come to Mid-Atlantic and Arn received his big break there.

In an attempt to halt the WWF’s rampage over the wrestling business, the NWA and AWA formed an alliance. On 2/24/85, Flair successfully defended his NWA World title against Race at NWA/AWA Star Wars. Ric fought to a double-CO against Kevin von Erich at the 2nd Annual Parade of Champions Show. A few weeks later, he went to PNW and wrestled to a 40-minute time limit draw against Billy Jack Haynes on a big multi-promotional show to celebrate Don Owen’s 60th anniversary in wrestling. Flair then traveled to Mid-South and beat Terry Taylor at Superdome Extravaganza on 6/85.

Flair’s next big challenge was awaiting him as rookie Nikita Koloff became a top contender to the NWA World title. Knowing that Flair and his former boss David Crockett were close friends, Koloff attacked Crockett. Flair, still beloved in Mid-Atlantic, returned to the area as a full-fledged babyface and vowed revenge. On 7/6/85, at the first-ever Great American Bash held in Charlotte, NC, Flair beat Koloff with Crockett as special referee. A month later, a heel Flair returned to Mid-South and beat Butch Reed at another Superdome Extravaganza 8/85. A rematch was supposed to be held, but Flair and his old foe Dick Slater joined forces to injure Reed. Flair was about to be part of another classic angle that helped launch a career. Heel Ted DiBiase was chosen as the new number one contender from the Mid-South territory. On the night of the match, DiBiase’s mentor Dick Murdoch (who was a face but had begun acting slightly heelish several weeks earlier) came to the ring and asked DiBiase to give the shot to him. When DiBiase refused, Murdoch attacked him and busted him open. Later that night, DiBiase staggered to the ring for his title match. A bloodied DiBiase fought valiantly against Flair and began to win crowd support, but was eventually thrown out of the ring and was unable to continue, thus getting counted out. After the bout, Murdoch came out again and hit a brainbuster on DiBiase on the concrete floor. DiBiase’s babyface turn was cemented as he was stretchered out of the arena and his career took off from there.

At the second NWA/AWA Star Wars on 8/16/85, Flair lost to Sgt. Slaughter by DQ. A new top contender was being groomed to take on Flair: Magnum T.A. Flair was defending his title against Sam Houston and Magnum was doing color commentary for the match. This infuriated Flair, who left the ring and walked over to the broadcast area to remind everyone that he was the star of the show and he didn’t appreciate Magnum trying to steal his thunder. Flair went on to beat Houston, then tried to break his leg by not releasing the figure-four. Magnum jumped into the ring and ran Flair off. The next week, Flair, who already had his share of enemies, decided to try to bribe Magnum with a custom-made suit in exchange for Magnum not taking the earlier incident personally. Magnum destroyed the suit and belly-to-belly suplexed Flair. An enraged Flair said that Magnum wasn’t in his league and he could beat him in less than 10 minutes. Magnum accepted the challenge and went to a 10-minute time limit draw against Flair in a match he dominated. However, there was about to be a family reunion as Flair’s "cousins", Ole and Arn Anderson, ran out and attacked Magnum after the match. Magnum defeated Flair by DQ several times thanks to the interference of the Andersons. At the AWA’s Superclash I on 9/28/85, Flair successfully defended his NWA World title against Magnum.

The very next night, Flair wrestled Koloff in a heel vs. heel steel cage match in Atlanta to settle their feud once and for all. Flair won again but after the match Nikita, his uncle Ivan Koloff, and Krusher Krushchev (Barry Darsow) attacked him. Despite his hatred for Flair, Rhodes decided to do the right thing and ran in to make the save. Flair was not appreciative and argued with Rhodes. The Andersons then ran in and helped Flair break Rhodes’ ankle as Rhodes’ friends desperately tried to enter the cage to help him. This re-ignited the Flair-Rhodes feud in a big way. Flair and the Andersons became obsessed with also injuring Rhodes’ protégé, Sam Houston and tried several times. They finally succeeded when they ran into a Houston-Tully Blanchard match and broke his arm while Blanchard helped. History was made as Flair, Blanchard, and the Andersons began collaborating, although the quartet didn’t have a group name yet.

Flair had a series of classic NWA World vs. AWA World title matches against Rick Martel with all of them ending inclusively. The most famous of these matches happened at the All-Japan 13th Anniversary Show when they fought to a double-CO at the 35-minute mark. On 11/28/85, Flair and Rhodes wrestled in the main event of Starrcade ‘85. Head referee Tommy Young took a bump during the match and that was followed by the Andersons running in and attacking Rhodes. Rhodes fought them off and went on to pin Flair when a second ref made the count and Rhodes was announced as the new NWA World champion. However, on TV a week later, Young announced that he had seen the Andersons’ interference and DQ’ed Flair because of it so the pinfall became void and the title was returned to Flair. The two wrestled again a month later at NWA/AWA Star Wars with Flair winning by DQ this time. At Superstar Extravaganza, Flair again beat Rhodes by DQ. At the first Superstars on the Superstation (the predecessor to Clash of the Champions), Flair successfully defended his title against Ronnie Garvin. He then beat Magnum at NWA/AWA Star Wars.

Soon after, the greatest supergroup in wrestling history was officially formed. In April 1986, the Four Horsemen were formed, almost by accident. Due to television time constraints, Flair, Blanchard, and the Andersons (along with J.J. Dillon, who was Blanchard’s manager), did a group interview instead of individual interviews since they were involved in the same angles and were feuding with the same wrestlers. During the promo, Arn mentioned that they were like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The name stuck and the foursome would remain together and change the face of wrestling history.

Flair once again beat Rhodes by DQ at the 1986 Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup. He then had a mini-feud with one half of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, Ricky Morton. Morton unofficially pinned Flair during an impromptu match (his partner Robert Gibson actually made the 3 count instead of a ref). Afterwards, the Horsemen stormed Morton’s locker room, breaking his nose and rubbing his bloodied face into the floor, in one of the quartet’s more famous beatdowns. Flair beat Morton at the 6/86 Superdome Extravaganza. The "Nature Boy" had a hellacious title defense schedule during the 1986 Great American Bash Tour, defeating Rhodes, Morton, Gibson, McDaniel, Magnum, Nikita Koloff, Hawk, and Animal on almost consecutive days and most of those matches were held in a steel cage. Finally, as the tour winded down, Flair’s fourth NWA World title reign was ended by Rhodes at the 7/26/86 Great American Bash in a steel cage match. However, just 2 weeks later on 8/9/86, Flair regained the title to begin his fifth reign.

In October 1986, the NWA suffered a huge and tragic loss when Magnum’s career was ended in a car accident. Flair and Blanchard were scheduled to wrestle Rhodes and Magnum 2 weeks later in a steel cage match. In one of the most celebrated babyface turns of all-time, Nikita Koloff, Magnum’s arch-rival, entered the cage with Rhodes and they beat Flair and Blanchard. Koloff renounced his evil ways and dedicated his career to Magnum. On 11/28/86 at Starrcade ‘86, Flair and Koloff battled to a double-DQ when they both knocked the ref down and continued to brawl until the locker room emptied and separated them. Because of this, a no-DQ rematch was signed for 2/7/87 Supertowns on the Superstation, but this time they fought to a double-CO.

2 months later, Flair beat Barry Windham at the 1987 Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup. Against the wishes of Ole, Lex Luger was brought in as an "associate" Horseman. Flair’s love of beautiful women got him in trouble as he began making comments about Jimmy Garvin’s valet and girlfriend Precious and suggested that she was secretly in love with him. This led to a series of matches between the two, as well as tag matches in which Flair and Luger battled Jimmy and his "brother" Ronnie Garvin (in real life, Ronnie was Jimmy’s uncle). Flair was once again busy on the 1987 Great American Bash Tour. On 7/4/87, Flair, the Andersons, Luger, and J.J. Dillon lost to Rhodes, Koloff, the Road Warriors, and Paul Ellering in the first-ever War Games. Days later, Flair beat Jimmy Garvin in a steel cage match with the stipulation that if Garvin didn’t beat Flair for the NWA World title, then Flair would get a date with Precious. When Flair attempted to have his date with her, Ronnie Garvin showed up in drag and cold-cocked Flair with one of his famous "Hands of Stone" punches.

Soon after, Ole was kicked out of the Horsemen and attacked because of his "lack of commitment" to the group, and Luger was made a full-fledged Horseman. The Horsemen continued to feud in various combinations against the Garvins, Rhodes, Windham, and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express. On 9/25/87, Flair suffered a shocking upset as he lost the NWA World title to Ronnie Garvin. This set up one of the biggest nights in NWA history as the company prepared to hold their first-ever pay-per-view, Starrcade ’87, which was on opposite the WWF’s Survivor Series on 11/26/87. In his PPV debut, Flair beat Garvin in a steel cage match to win his sixth NWA World title.

No sooner had Luger been made an official Horseman than the other members began to regret their decision. Luger was an egomaniac and wanted Flair’s NWA World title for himself. During a Bunkhouse Stampede, Luger and Dillon were the last two men left in the ring and Dillon asked Luger to eliminate himself so he could win. Instead, Luger attacked Dillon and threw him out of the ring to seal the victory for himself. The Horsemen stormed the ring and laid out Luger. The two rejected Horsemen, Luger and Ole, formed an uneasy alliance to battle the Horsemen. Luger and Ole upset Flair and Blanchard in a steel cage match. In arguably their most despicable attack ever, the Horseman assaulted Magnum, who had recovered sufficiently from his car accident to start a second career as a color commentator. Rhodes ran out to maker the save and used a baseball bat to choke out Blanchard. Rhodes’ attack was so vicious that the NWA suspended him for 2 months. Just as he had done 5 years earlier, Rhodes put on a mask and wrestled as the Midnight Rider during his suspension.

On 3/27/88, at the first Clash of the Champions, Flair helped create another star. He and a young upstart named Sting battled to a 45-minute time limit draw and Sting captured the attention of the wrestling world with his strong showing. A month later, the Horsemen would become complete again by adding a fourth member when Windham turned on Luger during a tag match against Arn and Tully. After the match, the Horsemen viciously assaulted Luger and Midnight Rider and tore Rider’s mask off, but Sting covered him up before anyone could positively identify his face. Days later, Flair lost to Koloff by DQ at the 1988 Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup.

At around this time, Flair and Rhodes, long-time rivals in the ring and behind the scenes, began to have serious real-life problems. Rhodes was the head booker and was determined to get the NWA World title off of Flair, but Flair didn’t like any of the scenarios that Rhodes came up with. On 7/10/88 at the 1988 Great American Bash, Flair beat Luger when Luger began bleeding and the Maryland State Athletic Commission stepped in and stopped the match. Rhodes had wanted Flair to drop the title to Luger, but Flair vetoed the idea and this was the best alternative that Rhodes could come up with. Even worse was the fact that Luger did a poor blade job and there was virtually no blood, making the decision to stop the match seem ridiculous. The company was in serious creative and financial trouble and the Crocketts put it up for sale. Arn and Tully jumped ship and signed with the WWF, killing the Horsemen for the time being. Flair toyed with the idea of also going to the WWF, but nothing came of it at the time and he continued to feud with Luger for the rest of the year.

Hiro Matsuda arrived on the scene and "bought" and managed what remained of the Horsemen (Flair and Windham). They added Butch Reed and Kendall Windham to the group, which was now called the Yamataki Corporation. The group was a cheap Horsemen rip-off and fizzled out very quickly. On 12/7/88 at Clash of the Champions IV, Flair and Windham beat Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane in a dream tag match.

The real-life Flair-Rhodes feud reached epic proportions when they discussed the booking of Starrcade ’88. Flair blamed the company’s failures on Rhodes’ poor booking and Rhodes accused Flair of not being able to draw anymore. Flair again refused to drop the title to Luger. Their arguments routinely became heated. An infuriated Flair threatened to quit the NWA and join Arn and Tully in the WWF. However, wrestling history was changed forever in November 1988 when Ted Turner purchased JCP and renamed it World Championship Wrestling. Turner was a big fan of Flair’s and realized that Flair made him a lot of money over the years by drawing big ratings for his TV station, TBS. Turner knew that losing Flair to the WWF could kill his chances of rebuilding the struggling company, so Rhodes was fired as booker and George Scott replaced him with Flair being given more creative control. At Starrcade on 12/26/88, Flair successfully defended the NWA World title by beating Luger.

As WCW headed into 1989, Flair helped turn the company around with the help of an old rival. Flair began having problems with Eddie Gilbert and beat him several times. Gilbert challenged Flair and Barry Windham to a tag match against him and his mystery opponent. The mystery opponent turned out to be the returning Ricky Steamboat, fresh off a highly successful stint in the WWF. Steamboat pinned Flair during the tag match and one of the most historic feuds in wrestling history began all over again. The two would go on to have what most consider to be the greatest series of matches in wrestling history. On 2/20/89 at Chi-Town Rumble, Steamboat beat Flair for the NWA World title in an absolute classic. On 4/2/89 at Clash of the Champions VI, Flair again lost to Steamboat, this time in a classic 2/3 falls match. On 5/7/89, the series finale saw Flair regaining the NWA World title by cleanly pinning Steamboat in another masterpiece. Retired legend and former NWA World champion Terry Funk was one of the judges for the match in case the bout ended in a draw. After the match, Funk entered the ring and asked Flair for a title shot. Flair respectfully declined and said there were other top contenders that needed to be considered first. Funk didn’t like the answer and attacked Flair, piledriving him onto a table. Flair was put on the shelf with a neck injury, but the incident once again turned him babyface.

At around this time, Flair became the official head booker for WCW. Gary Hart began managing Funk and added a young Japanese sensation, the Great Muta, along with Buzz Sawyer and Dragon Master (Kendo Nagasaki), to his stable which he called the J-Tex Corporation. Muta began feuding with Sting and all of a sudden Flair and Sting found themselves on the same side and they formed a tentative alliance. At the 1989 Great American Bash, Flair beat Funk. At Clash of the Champions VIII, Flair and Sting beat Muta and Dick Slater (who was subbing for an injured Funk) by DQ when Funk ran in and tried to suffocate Flair by putting a plastic bag over his head. At Halloween Havoc ‘89, Flair and Sting beat Funk and Muta in a wild Thunderdome cage match. Flair and Muta also had several great matches, most of which ended with J-Tex running in. At Clash of the Champions IX, Flair beat Funk in an I Quit match when Funk submitted to the figure-four to win the feud once and for all. After the bout, Hart was incensed that Funk would give up and began berating him. J-Tex then ran in and attacked Funk. Flair and Sting tried to help him but Luger then joined J-Tex in laying them out.

At Starrcade ‘89, a round robin tournament was held between the top 4 wrestlers in the company. Flair beat Muta, drew Luger, and lost to Sting in the tournament, but that was only good enough for third place as Sting finished first. Soon after, J-Tex again attacked Flair but this time Arn and Ole Anderson shockingly ran out to make the save. Arn and Tully had left the WWF (Blanchard wasn’t hired by WCW due to him failing a drug test). Flair and the Andersons invited Sting to join them and the Four Horsemen were reborn. However, this version of the Horsemen lasted less than 2 months. As a result of Sting winning the round robin tournament at Starrcade, he was named number 1 contender to Flair’s NWA World title. Flair asked Sting to give up his title shot now that he was a Horseman, but Sting declined. On 2/6/90 at Clash of the Champions X, Flair, Sting, and Arn Anderson were scheduled to face Muta, Sawyer, and Dragon Master in a steel cage match. However, earlier in the evening, the Horsemen came out for an interview and Sting was kicked out of the group for refusing to give up his title shot and was laid out. The Horsemen were heels once again. Ole took Sting’s place in that night’s match (which the Horsemen won), but during the match Sting ran out and tried to climb the cage to get at Flair. Unfortunately, Sting legitimately tore his ACL while trying to climb and was out of action for 5 months. Predictably, Flair took credit for causing the injury. Woman became the valet of the Horsemen.

Behind the scenes, Flair resigned as booker after about 7 months on the job and Ole took over. Luger was disgusted by what the Horsemen did to Sting and reunited with his former friend, vowing revenge for him. At Wrestle War ‘90, Luger had Flair in the Torture Rack when the Andersons attacked Sting, who was at ringside to issue moral support. A submission victory seemed imminent and it appeared that Luger would finally win the NWA World title, but Luger gave up the hold and chose to fight off the Andersons to prevent them from further injuring Sting. This caused Luger to be counted out. They had a steel cage rematch at Capital Combat and Flair lost by DQ. Dudes With Attitudes was formed, a group of babyfaces whose purpose was to combat the Horsemen’s constant outside interference. Sting led the group that also consisted of the Steiner Brothers, Paul Orndorff, Junkyard Dog, and El Gigante. Ole once again cut back his ring schedule to concentrate on booking and moved into more of a managerial role. To get the Horsemen back to four, Windham and Sid Vicious were added to the group. At Clash of the Champions XI, Flair lost to JYD by DQ in a non-title match.

A healthy Sting was finally ready to get his long-awaited NWA World title shot. The stipulations for the match were that Dudes With Attitudes would surround the ring to prevent the Horsemen from interfering and Ole would be handcuffed to El Gigante. On 7/7/90 at the 1990 Great American Bash, Sting defeated Flair for the NWA World title. Flair lost several rematches and foundered for a while as he dropped back in the rankings. However, the masked Black Scorpion appeared on the scene and began harassing the Stinger.

Meanwhile, Flair and Arn Anderson set their sights on the NWA Tag titles, leading to a heel vs. heel feud between them and Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed). The two teams fought to a double-CO at Halloween Havoc ‘90. Flair defeated Reed in a singles match at Clash of the Champions XIII. The embarrassing Black Scorpion angle came to an end at Starrcade ‘90 when Sting pinned the Scorpion and unmasked him to reveal Flair. The Scorpion was rumored to gave been the Ultimate Warrior, but Warrior remained in the WWF and Flair was inserted into the role at the last second. Nevertheless, Flair defeated Sting to win his eighth NWA World title on 1/11/91. A few weeks later, Ric successfully defended the title at Clash of the Champions XIV by battling Scott Steiner to a time-limit draw. At WrestleWar ‘91, the Horsemen (with Larry Zbyszko subbing for an injured Arn) defeated Sting, Brian Pillman, and the Steiner Brothers in War Games.

On 3/21/91, a joint WCW/NJPW PPV was held in Tokyo and in the main event IWGP Heavyweight champion Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Flair. There was a dispute between the NWA and NJPW about whether or not Fujinami had actually won the NWA World title and the title change was never officially recognized. In April ’91, WCW began recognizing their own title and Flair technically became the first WCW World champion as well as being the NWA World champ. 2 months later, Flair and Fujinami had a rematch at Superbrawl I and Flair won. At Clash of the Champions XV, Flair successfully defended his NWA World title against Bobby Eaton in a 2/3 falls match. However, everything wasn’t rosy on Space Mountain. Flair was having major disagreements with WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd. Herd was a former Pizza Hut executive and knew next-to-nothing about wrestling, but was appointed to his position by Turner Broadcasting. Herd felt that Flair (now 42) was too old to be a main eventer. Herd also wanted Flair to change his look and forced him to cut his hair and wanted him to get an earring, which Flair refused to do. Furthermore, Herd wanted to cut Flair’s salary. Just as Rhodes had wanted Flair to drop the NWA World title to Lex Luger in 1988, Herd wanted Flair lose to Luger at the ’91 Great American Bash and Flair once again refused. At a TV taping 2 weeks prior to the Bash, Herd demanded that Flair immediately drop the belt that night to Barry Windham so that Windham and Luger could wrestle with the title on the line at the Bash instead. Flair refused again, and either quit or was fired from WCW, depending on who you believe. WCW immediately stripped Flair of it’s title, and the NWA stripped him several months later. At the Great American Bash ‘91, Luger beat Windham in a steel cage match to win the vacant WCW World title.

Flair signed with the WWF and his stellar career continued. That will be told in Part II, coming soon!