On November 26th 2007, Flair would make his return on Monday Night Raw. The “Nature Boy” would style and profile and claim “I will never retire!” In reality, it was the beginning of a story line that would culminate at WrestleMania with Flair actually being forced to retire. Mr. McMahon would come out during Flair’s promo and announce that the next time Flair lost he would be forced to retire. It made for one of the best retirement angles in pro wrestling history, if not the best. For months Flair competed in career threatening matches against Mr. Kennedy, Triple H, Umaga, and even Mr. McMahon himself, surviving every time as only the “Dirtiest Player in the Game” could. Then, with WrestleMania XXIV on the horizon, Flair would be announced as the headliner for that years Hall of Fame class by his friend Shawn Michaels. Flair would then challenge “Mr. WrestleMania” himself to a match at ‘Mania, knowing very well if he lost his career was over. Initially Michaels refused, saying he wouldn’t be the guy who retired Ric Flair. Luckily for the wrestling world, Michaels would eventually relent and agree to the match. What we got from that point forward was pure gold. On the last Raw before WrestleMania, both men were at their peak during an unforgettable promo where Michaels called Flair “Old Yeller,” and told him he was going to put him out of his misery at WrestleMania. Flair would lose his cool in classic “Nature Boy” fashion, and scream out “I got your Old Yeller!” before slapping Michaels, then screaming out “I said, I got your Old Yeller!” and slapping Michaels again. At WrestleMania XXIV, Ric Flair would make his final walk to a WWE ring as a wrestler. Then, both men proceeded to put on a match that can only be described as “classic.” It was perhaps the two best to ever step inside a ring, telling the beautiful story of Michaels having to reluctantly put down his idol, while Flair fought as hard as he could against Michaels and father time only to come up short. The ending couldn’t have been done any better either, with Michaels mouthing the words “I love you, I’m sorry,” before delivering Sweet Chin Music and ending the greatest wrestling career of all time.
