He has been one of the leading personalities in professional wrestling since the mid 1970s. For much of the run of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) he was considered their flagship wrestler. The Naitch is considered by many to be the finest wrestler of all time. While he may not have had the influence on the business that Hulk Hogan had, Flair inspired many of todays top professional wrestlers such as Kurt Angle and Triple H.

Ric Flair trained under Verne Gagne in Minnesota and spent his first three years with Gagne's American Wrestling Association Afterwards, he joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliated Jim Crockett Promotions. On the rise as a promising young brawler, he suffered a severe back injury in a October 4, 1975 plane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina. Doctors told Flair that he would never wrestle again, but Flair would return to active wrestling the next year. The crash did force Flair to change his wrestling style, which led him to create the Nature Boy style he would use throughout his career.

Flair won the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship 4 times, then won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time by defeating Dusty Rhodes on September 17, 1981. Harley Race won the title from Flair in 1983. Flair regained the title at StarrCade 1983 in Greensboro, North Carolina in a steel cage match. Flair would go on to win the NWA title six more times. As the NWA champion, he defended his belt around the world. Flair lost the title to Race and won it back in the span of three days in New Zealand in March 1984. At the first David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions at Texas Stadium, Flair was pinned by Kerry Von Erich. Flair regained the title 18 days later in Japan. He then reigned for two years, two months, and two days, losing his title to Dusty Rhodes on July 26, 1986 at the Great American Bash. Flair regained the title two weeks later. He lost the title in Detroit to Ron Garvin on September 25, 1987. Garvin would hold the title for over two months before losing his only title defense to Flair on November 26, 1987 at Starrcade in Chicago.

In 1991, Flair had a contract dispute with WCW president Jim Herd, who wanted him to take a 50% pay cut and relinquish his booking control. While still NWA/WCW champion, Flair left WCW, a group run by Ted Turner which had just separated from the NWA, in July. Herd wanted to make Lex Luger the top star and wanted to make Ric Flair a midcard star despite the fact that he was still a huge draw. Flair disagreed, and a week before the 1991 Great American Bash, Herd fired him. According to Flair, Herd also wanted him to change his appearance (i.e. by cutting his hair and wearing a diamond earring) as well as his in-ring name in order to "change with the times," a move that Kevin Sullivan equated with "changing Babe Ruth's number" as an example of unnecessarily altering a legend.