Reid Flair

Reid Flair

Reid Flair in 2009
Birth name Richard Reid Fliehr
Born (1988-02-26)February 26, 1988[1]
Charlotte, North Carolina[1]
Died March 29, 2013(2013-03-29) (aged 25)
Charlotte, North Carolina[2]
Cause of death Overdose of heroin, clonazepam and alprazolam
Family Ric Flair (father)
Charlotte (sister)
David Flair (brother)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Reid Flair[3]
Billed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[3]
Billed weight 215 lb (98 kg)[3]
Billed from Charlotte, North Carolina
Trained by Ric Flair[1]
Harley Race[3]
George South[4]
Terry Taylor[1]
Debut 1998 [1]

Richard Reid Fliehr[5] (February 26, 1988 – March 29, 2013)[1] was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Reid Flair. He was the youngest son of retired professional wrestler Ric Flair, younger half-brother of wrestler David Flair, and younger brother of Ashley Fliehr, now wrestling as Charlotte.

Amateur wrestling career

Fliehr attended Providence High School in Charlotte, North Carolina and Blair Academy in New Jersey, and was an accomplished amateur wrestler achieving numerous awards.[6] During a tournament, Fliehr attacked another competitor after he taunted Fliehr by mocking his father.[7] In April 1998, Fliehr won the AAU National Wrestling Tournament.[8]

Professional wrestling career

World Championship Wrestling (1998–2000)

Fliehr wrestled two matches in the now defunct World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In the first, on October 4, 1998, he was ten years old when he defeated Eric Bischoff and on June 12, 2000, he teamed with his father Ric in a loss to David Flair and Vince Russo in a tag team match.[1][9][10]

Independent circuit and All Japan Pro Wrestling (2008–2013)

Flair in a tag team match with Greg Valentine.

Fliehr made an appearance on March 29, 2008 during the WWE Hall of Fame. The next night, he made his first WrestleMania appearance with his family representing Ric Flair in the Hall of Fame. He also sat at ringside during the WrestleMania XXIV event.[3] He appeared on Raw the following night with his family to honor his father's career.[11]

Throughout 2008, Fliehr was trained by Harley Race.[3] Fliehr made his debut on December 6, 2008, under the name "Reid Flair", teaming with his elder brother David to defeat The Nasty Boys in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Hulk Hogan as the special guest referee.[3][12] He wrestled for many independent promotions such as Big Time Wrestling and Northeast Wrestling.

On April 11, 2009, Flair, his brother David, and Brad Anderson beat Jeff Lewis, C.W. Anderson and Masked Superstar at an NWA Charlotte show. The match ended controversially with a double pin, when Flair pinned Lewis while CW Anderson pinned Brad Anderson. At the end of the match, Flair was awarded the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heritage Championship belt.[13] At NWA Charlotte's next show on May 25, however, Lewis was announced as the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heritage Champion, with no explanation given.[14] On May 2, he and David took on Buff Bagwell and Rikki Nelson and would lose. After the match the former champion Jeff Lewis was announced as the current champion, with no explanation given.[14] In June 2010, Reid teamed up with George South Jr. to take part in The Anderson Brothers Classic 4 Tournament where they defeated Caleb Konley and Cedric Alexander in the semi finals and Charlie Dreamer and Jake Manning in the final. In August he made his debut for Lucha Libre USA. In the same month next year he participated in NWA Future Legends Tournament and lost to John Skyler in the semi-final. In late 2012 it was reported that Flair had started training with All Japan Pro Wrestling.[15] Flair made his in-ring debut for All Japan on January 26, 2013, when he replaced his sick father in a tag team match, where he and Keiji Mutoh were defeated by Seiya Sanada and Tatsumi Fujinami, with Sanada pinning him for the win.[16] During February, Flair worked All Japan's Excite Series tour, wrestling undercard tag team matches.[17][18][19] On March 15, Flair wrestled his first singles match in All Japan, submitting Yasufumi Nakanoue with the figure-four leglock.[20] Flair returned to the United States following All Japan's March 17 event,[2] which was 12 days before his death.

Personal life

Fliehr was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to professional wrestler Ric Flair and Elizabeth Fliehr. He was the youngest of four siblings; he had a half-sister Megan, a half-brother David, and a sister Ashley; the latter two are both professional wrestlers. Reid Fliehr attended and graduated from Providence High School (North Carolina) in 2007.

Fliehr was arrested on June 23, 2007, for assault and battery, and was released after posting bail.[5] On March 4, 2009, Fliehr was arrested for driving while impaired in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and was released after posting $1000 in bail.[21][22] Fliehr was arrested again on April 26, 2009. After crashing his car, police found black tar heroin inside it, and he faced felony charges.[23] He was also charged with driving while impaired, driving with a revoked license, and possession of drug paraphernalia, and was released after posting $15,000 in bail.[24][25] He later overdosed twice in 2011.[6]

Death

On March 29, 2013, Reid Fliehr was found dead in bed at a Residence Inn in the SouthPark hotel room in Charlotte, North Carolina.[2][26][27] In June 2013, Fliehr's autopsy revealed he had died from an accidental overdose of heroin and the prescription drugs clonazepam and alprazolam.[6][28][29]

RAW Controversy

In November 2015, just 6 days before WWE's Survivor Series PPV, Reid's sister Divas Champion Charlotte signed a contract to face Paige at the PPV that month. Charlotte proclaimed she was doing this for Reid as a tribute to him. Paige then mocked her by saying that "your brother didn't have much fight in him did he?" Reviewers and critics bashed this due to the fact the feud between them wasn't interesting enough or heartfelt enough to contain this. WWE didn't ask permission from the Flairs to bring up Reid's death and hadn't given prior warning to Reid's parents. WWE quickly dropped this angle and have not referenced it since.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

Footnotes

1 At the conclusion of a match on April 11, 2009, Flair was handed the championship.[13] At the following show, the former champion Jeff Lewis was announced as the current champion, with no explanation given.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Reid Flair". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Caldwell, James (March 29, 2013). "Flair News: Updated – Reid Flair reportedly dies at age 24". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Andrews, Kenai (December 5, 2008). "Reid Flair about to strut into the spotlight; Charlotte supershow has big names, young and old". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  4. ↑ "PRESS ROOM – WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER". GeorgeSouth.com (originally Wrestling Observer Newsletter). August 25, 2008. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  5. 1 2 "Arrest and Charges Summary". Office of the Sheriff – Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 Perlmutt, David (June 14, 2013). "Autopsy: Ric Flair’s son Reid died from toxic mix of heroin, prescription drugs". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on June 14, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  7. ↑ "To Be the Man, You Have to Beat the Man's . . . Son". BadJocks.com. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  8. ↑ "Ric Flair Profile". Accelerator. Retrieved May 3, 2008. in April '98, Flair's son, Reid, qualified for the AAU National Wrestling Tournament (he went on to win).
  9. ↑ "1998 Nitro Results". Online World of Wrestling. October 4, 1998. Retrieved February 5, 2008. Reid Flair b Eric Bischoff
  10. ↑ "2000 Nitro Results". Online World of Wrestling. June 12, 2000. Retrieved February 5, 2008. David Flair and Vince Russo b Ric Flair and Reid Flair.
  11. ↑ Kapur, Bob (April 1, 2008). "Orlando fans as emotional as Flair". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Full Reid Flair debut show results with Nature Boy and Hulkster doing spots in the match". WrestlingObserver/Figure Four Online. December 8, 2008. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  13. 1 2 "Final Destination". Georgia Wrestling History. April 11, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  14. 1 2 3 Goodman, Larry (May 23, 2009). "May 23, 2009". Georgia Wrestling History. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  15. ↑ Caldwell, James (January 2, 2013). "Flair News: It's official – Ric Flair wrestling again". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  16. ↑ 2013　新春シャイニング・シリーズ. All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2013.
  17. ↑ "2013 エキサイト・シリーズ". All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  18. ↑ "2013 エキサイト・シリーズ". All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  19. ↑ "2013 エキサイト・シリーズ". All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Hold Out Tour 2013". All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved March 17, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Arrest and Charges Summary Page – Fliehr, Richard Reid". Office of the Sheriff, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. March 4, 2009. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  22. ↑ Aldren, Mike; Rothstein, Simon (March 19, 2008). "Ric Flair's son on driving rap". The Sun. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
  23. ↑ "Investigators Warn Of New Type Of Heroin In Charlotte". WSOCTV.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2009. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
  24. ↑ "Wrestler Ric Flair's Son Arrested By CMPD". WSOCTV.com. April 27, 2009. Archived from the original on April 28, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  25. ↑ "Arrest and Charges Summary Page – Fliehr, Richard Reid". Office of the Sheriff, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. April 26, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  26. ↑ "Wrestling legend Ric Flair's son found dead in hotel room", from WMBF News
  27. ↑ "Ric Flair son Reid dead". TMZ. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Ric Flair's Son Died From Heroin Overdose... Autopsy Shows". TMZ. June 14, 2013. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
  29. ↑ Caldwell, James (June 14, 2013). "Flair News: Reid Flair's cause of death - heroin overdose". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
  30. ↑ Jonathan Jones, David Perlmutt and Gary L. Wright. "Wrestling with a Legacy: Life, death of Reid Flair". Hack-Man.com. Retrieved July 19, 2015.

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