Ric Flair has been cleared to "take bumps again."
The Dirtiest Player in the Game relayed this potential source for plot lines during a conversation with Steve Austin on The Steve Austin Show, despite describing the fact that he's still alive as a "miracle" during that very same conversation. In fact, Flair described in detail the intense health scare he experienced after he collapsed after working hard signing what sounds like endless pairs of personalized alligator cowboy boots.
"I was in a coma for 12 days, ICU for 31 days," he said, as transcribed by Wrestling Inc. "I had kidney failure, respiratory heart failure, I was septic, and I had pneumonia all at one time, so I guess I was in so much pain they had to induce a coma because [wife Wendy Barlow] said I was just screaming. They couldn't give me enough medicine. And then, it took 12 hours to get me ready for surgery. And then, 12 days in a coma and 31 days I had to sit in intensive care. And then, I had to go to a rehab facility to learn how to walk and just starting from scratch again."
After he was released from his death bed he talked about the existential dread he experienced after learning how sick he was, and also what it was like to be sitting around thinking about his own mortality all the time.
If that sounds like a downer, it's probably because he is. But there was a silver lining in the form of doctors clearing Flair to take "bumps" again, meaning he's allowed once more to take hard falls in the ring. "The guys have cleared me to do anything. I've actually been cleared to get knocked down in the ring." Flair relayed, "I didn't know if they were going to use me in some capacity and [Austin] know[s] the clearances you have to have with the health policy, which is so adamant."
Damn. Not sure if, either way, this is a great idea for someone pushing 70. But also this is at least part of how you get songs written about you.
