After last night's raw, an in-ring tribute to "The Nature Boy" Ric
Flair was held. Here's the recap written by Jeremy Maes, a
PWTorch.com correspondent.

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Once the camera stopped rolling, Shawn Michaels music played and he
came out to the top of the ramp, by this time Nash was in the ring
and Michaels told him to help him up. Then the locker room emptied
behind Shawn on the ramp and they all walked to the ring. Everyone
was out of character. I mean Lance Storm came out to the ring as
well as Christian, Booker, Chris Nowinski, just about everyone else.
Austin had a case of beer with him and passed out beers to whoever
wanted one in the ring.

They began to raise Flair on Jamal's and Dreamer's shoulders when
out of the blue, Stephanie McMahon's music played and she walked out
in a white button down shirt and blue jeans. She made her way to
ringside and then Shane McMahon's music played. The crowd went wild.
He did the usual jumping back and forth and made his way to the ring
playing to the crowd. As soon as both of them were in the ring, you
know who had to come out next.

"No Chance" hits and McMahon come strutting down to ringside to a
mix of cheers and boos. He got in the ring and everyone backed away
leaving Vince and Flair in a stare down. McMahon then hugged Flair,
who was genuinely crying by now. So were some of the other
wrestlers. We started chanting "Speech, Speech." But Flair was a
little too choked up at that time. He grasped the microphone and
when he went to speak, someone else's music started. The entire ring
looked pissed off as Triple H made his way to the ring and everyone
made a nice circle around Flair and Triple H. Flair stuck out his
hand but Triple H would not take it. We booed, but then Triple H
hugged Flair. It was a genuine moment. Triple H grabbed a beer that
Austin made him take. Seeing Austin's face handing Triple H that
beer was worth the price of admission alone! Triple H took the World
Heavyweight Championship belt from his waist and put it on "The
Nature Boys" shoulder. Flair shook his head trying to say "no" but
Hunter insisted. Finally Flair held up the title belt to a raucous
ovation.

The wrestlers opened their beers and toasted Flair as Bubba Ray and
Jamal or Dreamer raised "The Nature Boy," on their shoulders. This
of course received a huge reaction and chants of "Flair, Flair." I
must admit as touching as the scene had been I was clueless as to
why this was happening. Sure Flair has a history in Greenville but
this was still shocking. I just kept yelling to anyone around, "Tell
me he's not retiring!"

All of the wrestlers cleared the ring except for Triple H. He said
he has nothing but respect for Ric and that it was a privilege to
work with him tonight and every night. "But no one is here to listen
to me," Triple H said. "Talk to them." Triple H handed the stick to
Ric "The Man" Flair, and left the ring. We all started cheering and
another "Flair, Flair," chants broke out.

Ric stood alone in the ring as we were all on our chairs waiting to
hear from him. The audio for some reason was not very good at this
crucial juncture so I had a hard time making out what he was saying
but I will do my best here. He was also fighting back what seemed to
be genuine tears so he was breaking up here and there.

"Greenville, we have had a lot of memories here. Tonight I felt like
I did back when I wrestled here when I was 24 years old. I want to
thank you all. I try to do my best here in the ring and I think I
still have some good stuff let in me. I may have been good in my day
but those guys in the back are much better than I am. They work just
as hard and deserve their success. Thank you, thank you for making
this night special."

With that, I was fighting back a tear, disguised by sweat luckily. I
looked back on the ramp and Michaels, Hurricane, Ivory, Rico, Jamal
and I believe Triple H were still up at the top of the ramp watching
and waiting for Ric to come back to the back. Hurricane and Ivory
were wiping away tears as Ric approached. Ivory hugged Ric as did
Jamal and HBK. Hurricane hugged Flair but when he went to pull away,
Flair held on and you could see him saying something in to his right
ear. They had the camera on them but I could not make out what was
said. Hurricane looked very humbled, smiled and walked thru the
curtain. Surprisingly, Rico was the last man to great Flair. He had
a big smile on his face as he hugged Ric and they had a brief
exchange. Flair finally started smiling when they hooked up.

Ric then took his final bow. Blowing a two handed kiss to the crowd
and mouthing a big "Thank You," to the crowd.



Credit: Pro Wrestling Torch