2-time WWE Hall of Famer and professional wrestling icon Ric Flair will make his movie acting debut in an R-rated wrestling comedy. To wrestling fans, Flair of course needs no introduction. He’s an (at least) 16-time world champion within the scripted sport, and one of its few performers to likely be well-known to even those who’ve never actually watched a wrestling event, such as The Rock, Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Flair is truly a pop culture legend, and will seemingly be one long after he’s no longer around to yell his trademark Woooooo!.
One might wonder how someone can go into a Hall of Fame twice, but the way Flair managed it is fairly simple. Prior to his WrestleMania retirement match against Shawn Michaels in 2008, Flair was inducted individually into the WWE Hall of Fame, and would likely have been inducted much sooner had he not chosen to keep wrestling for as long as he did. Flair’s accomplishments proceed him to the point that any kind of pro wrestling Hall of Fame arguably needs him in it to be legitimate more than he needs to be in that Hall of Fame. Flair was inducted for a second time in 2012, as part of the legendary Four Horsemen stable. He remains the only two-time inductee so far.
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Despite a serious health scare last year, the now 69-year-old Flair shows no signs of slowing down. According to The Wrap, Flair is set to make his feature film acting debut in an R-rated wrestling comedy sporting the odd title of Uncle Steamroller & Champion Rabbit. Continuing in the long tradition of wrestlers acting in films about wrestling, Uncle Steamroller concerns “a dejected Iraq war veteran who struggles to regain his pro heavyweight wrestling championship while being managed by a failed motivational speaker.” Flair will play the boss of the wrestling company said veteran works for, called the World Wrestling Union.
Considering the amount of acting work that other wrestling legends like Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper racked up, one might be a bit surprised to learn that Ric Flair has never done any of his own. Surprising or not, it is indeed true, as Flair’s only movie and TV appearances to date came playing himself, or at least playing his stylin’ and profilin’ “Nature Boy” wrestling character. This will be Flair’s first time ever flexing his acting muscles, and one wonders how good he’ll prove to be at the job. If he does well, it’s easy to imagine Flair acting in further films.
As for when Flair will make his next appearance within WWE, that’s anybody’s guess. Since his in-ring retirement, Flair’s onscreen career has been pretty sporadic, outside of a short stint in Impact Wrestling from 2010-2012, and a brief tenure as manager to daughter Charlotte Flair in WWE. With this year’s WrestleMania right around the corner though, it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see “Naitch” resurface and participate somehow in wrestling’s greatest annual spectacle.
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Source: The Wrap
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