Video above: WWE legend Ric Flair stops by Nexstar’s WFLA
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – WWE legend Ric Flair revealed his second skin cancer diagnosis in three years in an interview published by PEOPLE on Friday.
The 76-year-old retired professional wrestler told the outlet he is set to begin treatment next week.
In recent years, “Nature Boy” Ric Flair has battled several health challenges. In 2017, he was hospitalized for more than a month due to surgery complications from a procedure aiming to fix a bowel obstruction.
In his final ring appearance in 2022, the WWE Hall of Famer experienced a heart attack. His struggles with alcohol addiction and the related health problems were highlighted in a documentary on Peacock released that same year.
Known for his iconic “Woooooooo!” shout, Flair was a standout athlete in his youth. During his time at a boarding school in Wisconsin, he excelled in wrestling, football, and track. According to his WWE biography, Flair went on to claim two wrestling championships in 1966 and 1968 before receiving a football scholarship to attend the University of Minnesota.
Flair would ultimately drop out, however, and while working as a bouncer he met Ken Patera, an Olympic weightlifter who would go on to introduce him to American Wrestling Association Heavyweight Champion Verne Gagne.
Nature Boy’s career took off along with those of other AWA wrestlers in the early 1970s, such as The Iron Sheik, Patera, Jim Brunzell, Dusty Rhodes, Andre the Giant and Wahoo McDaniel.
