page_title: Ric Flair
section_title: Second return to WWE (2012–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Ric Flair / Professional wrestling career / Second return to WWE (2012–present)
caption_attribution_description: English: Charlotte posing with the WWE Divas Championship during her entrance prior her match at WrestleMania 32 in April 3, 2016.
context_page_description: Richard Morgan Fliehr, better known as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestling manager and retired professional wrestler signed to WWE on a legend’s contract.
  Ranked by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair had a career that spanned 40 years. He is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the moniker "The Nature Boy". A major pay-per-view attraction throughout his career, Flair headlined the premier annual NWA/WCW event, Starrcade, on ten occasions, while also co-headlining its WWF counterpart, WrestleMania, in 1992, after winning that year's Royal Rumble. PWI awarded him their Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the Wrestler of the Year a record eight times. The first two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, first inducted with the class of 2008 for his individual career and again with the class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen, he is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.
context_section_description: On March 31, 2012, while still contracted to TNA as a part of a deal with WWE which allowed Christian Cage to appear at Slammiversary 2012, Flair became the first person to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice, the second time as part of the class of 2012 with The Four Horsemen. On December 17, 2012, Flair returned to WWE as a non-wrestling personality on the annual Slammy Awards show to present the Superstar of the Year award to John Cena, who in turn gave the award to Flair. Flair's return was interrupted by CM Punk and Paul Heyman, escalating into a confrontation that ended with him locking Heyman in the figure-four leglock. After clearing the ring, Flair was assaulted by The Shield, until Ryback and Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) helped Flair fend off the group.
  Flair appeared on the main roster sporadically throughout 2013, as The Miz's mentor. He also occasionally appeared on NXT in 2013 and 2014, accompanying his daughter Charlotte to the ring.
  Flair appeared on the April 28, 2014 episode of Raw, alongside the reunited Evolution (minus Flair) and The Shield; Flair showed his endorsement for The Shield, Evolution's opponents at Extreme Rules, effectively turning his back on his old teammates. On July 14, John Cena symbolically handed over his World Heavyweight Championship belt to Flair, telling him to "take it" while promoting his match at Battleground. On the post-SummerSlam Raw in August 2015, Flair interrupted Jon Stewart, who had saved Flair's 16 world title record by preventing Cena's victory the previous night, telling him that the record would be broken eventually and he would rather it would be by someone who he respects.
  Flair began making more frequent appearances with Charlotte after she won the Divas Championship. In January 2016, Flair and Charlotte began displaying villainous traits, with Flair often getting involved in Charlotte's Divas Championship and later WWE Women's Championship defenses. This lasted until the May 23, 2016 episode of Raw, when Charlotte turned on him. On the November 28, 2016 episode of Raw, Flair returned to congratulate the new Raw Women's Champion Sasha Banks, who had defeated Charlotte to win the title.
  WWE celebrated Flair's 70th birthday on a special episode of Raw on February 25, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. During the closing moments, Flair did not come out to the ring. Batista then returned and mysteriously assaulted his former mentor. The actual "attack" was never seen, only Flair being dragged by Batista. However, at WrestleMania 35, Flair assisted Triple H in defeating Batista for the first time in his career, to keep his in-ring career going. Flair appeared on the July 22 Raw Reunion episode and raised a toast alongside Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and various other fellow wrestlers of his era.
  During the summer of 2020, Flair came back to WWE programming, supporting Randy Orton for a few weeks until the August 10 episode of Raw, when Orton performed a punt kick on Flair's head.
caption: Flair accompanying his daughter at WrestleMania 32
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