David Flair

David Richard Fliehr (born March 6, 1979) better known by his ring name David Flair is an American professional wrestler ^[1] best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he held the United States and World Tag Team championships. He is the son of former wrestling world champion Ric Flair and the older half brother of current WWE diva Charlotte and the late Reid Flair.

Professional wrestling career

Early days

Growing up, Fliehr never wanted to become a wrestler; he always wanted to be a state trooper. He appeared on camera backstage with his father at Starrcade 1993 in World Championship Wrestling. In the storyline, his father was going to have to "retire" if he lost his match, so his family appeared to increase the emotion. In late 1998, David was back on WCW TV sitting front row and getting involved in some skirmishes with Eric Bischoff and the nWo.

World Championship Wrestling (1999-2001)

He eventually decided to become a wrestler and teamed with his father in his debut match at WCW/nWo Souled Out on January 17, 1999. Fliehr wrestled under his father's altered surname of "Flair". They wrestled Curt Hennig and Barry Windham and won the match. After the match, the entire nWo came out, and Hulk Hogan lashed David with his belt until David's back (and stomach where the belt whipped around and struck) was full of welts while his father was handcuffed to the ring ropes. In his autobiography, Ric Flair alleges that Hogan took liberties with his son by whipping him far more times than agreed upon and that he would never forgive Hogan for this. To his credit, David took the punishment without complaint; both in the ring and backstage.

On February 21 at SuperBrawl IX, David turned on his father and joined the nWo Wolfpac. He used a taser on his father to help Hogan win their WCW World Title match. He did not wrestle for a while but did appear in vignettes with Samantha (Torrie Wilson) while he was training at the WCW Power Plant.^[1]

Flair started to wrestle a regular schedule in May 1999. He made up with his father who then had the Four Horsemen help Flair win matches. Ric, being the on-screen WCW President, stripped WCW United States Champion Scott Steiner of his title and awarded it to Flair. On July 11, Flair defeated Dean Malenko, with the help of Ric and Arn Anderson, to keep the title in his first defense on pay-per-view.

In August, Ric had real-life problems with Eric Bischoff backstage and was removed from television. Flair was left on his own and lost his US Title to Chris Benoit on August 9. During a storyline in September, Wilson left Flair for Billy Kidman. Ric and Anderson returned to TV and tried to help David. In October, Diamond Dallas Page and his wife Kimberly started a feud with the Flairs. Kimberly kept Flair distracted while Page, in storyline, injured Ric. In response, Flair went insane after seeing his injured father. Flair injured Page in the WCW World Title Tournament that was being held on WCW Monday Nitro. He used the crowbar and only stopped when Kimberly got in between him and her husband. This led to a storyline where Flair stalked Kimberly. She got one of her husband's teammates Bam Bam Bigelow to help her, but Flair used the crowbar on him too. Vince Russo finally scheduled a match between Flair and Kimberly for WCW Mayhem on November 21. Kimberly tried to seduce Flair and then "hit him low", but he had a cup on. Page and his friend Chris Kanyon came to her rescue and laid Flair out. Anderson arrived again but got laid out by Flair, who ran off into the fans.

Flair was joined by Daffney at Starrcade in 1999. He was joined a little later by Crowbar. They formed a team called the New Hardcore Revolution and won the vacant WCW World Tag Team Titles in a tournament final on January 3, 2000 over Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner with Anderson as the special referee.^[1] They lost the titles to Big Vito and Johnny the Bull, "The Mamalukes," on January 19. Flair soon split with Crowbar and in May 2000, joined Vince Russo's New Blood. He dumped Daffney and took Miss Hancock (Stacy Keibler) as his valet. He also turned on his father again which led to a match against him at The Great American Bash. Flair lost, but the next night, he won a match against his father to retire him and shave his father's head.

Near the end of 2000, Flair and Keibler were going to have an on-air wedding as part of a new storyline. Before that could happen though, it was revealed that Stacy was pregnant and that David was not the father. This led to Flair trying to figure out who the father was with the help of Ric, whom he had made up with, and Anderson. He even had a match with Buff Bagwell to get Bagwell's DNA. This storyline ended abruptly when Miss Hancock returned to television with Shawn "The Star" Stasiak and a baby carriage in the ring. Instead of a baby, however, it was revealed that there were 8x10 pictures of Shawn in the carriage. After this angle, Flair was no longer seen in WCW as a competitor.

On the February 12, 2001 edition of Nitro, as on-screen CEO Ric Flair and the Magnificent Seven were trying to discuss things inside the ring, Kevin Nash appeared on the Turnertron and told Ric that he has his son David in his locker room. Nash told Ric that his number one priority was to become the number one contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which was held by Scott Steiner. His number two priority was getting a rematch for Dustin Rhodes against Rick Steiner, who was WCW U.S. Champion at the time. Nash felt like Ric had wronged Rhodes, and he felt Rhodes could beat Steiner in a rematch. Out of concern for his son's safety, Ric granted all of Nash's requests. Nash would get his title shot against Scott Steiner for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship later that night, and Rhodes would get his rematch against Rick Steiner. Later that night, Nash came to the ring with Ric's son David. As they started coming to the ring, Nash gave a punch to David. Ric Flair and WCW security came out as Ric begged Nash to stop assaulting his son. Nash did not listen and gave David a Jackknife Powerbomb. Ric and WCW security came to the ring to pull David out as Scott Steiner was coming down to the ring alongside Midajah.

National Wrestling Alliance (2001)

Flair toured in the independent circuit for the first part of 2001. He teamed with Don Factor to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship on March 21st. They lost them on March 23. He then teamed with Romeo Bliss to win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship on March 24th. They lost them on April 21st.

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (2001–2002)

In May 2001, the WWF picked up Flair's WCW contract and sent him to Ohio Valley Wrestling. He stayed there and feuded with Val Venis and had a brief tag team with Mark Jindrak until late 2002, when they dropped his development contract. He did make two appearances on WWF TV during 2002 as he was beaten up by The Undertaker on March 4 and wrestled the Undertaker on March 14 as part of the build-up for his father's match against Undertaker at WrestleMania X8.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002-2003)

Flair joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in December 2002. He joined Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme (S.E.X.) group. He had a brief feud with Curt Hennig and then left S.E.X. to form Next Generation with Brian Lawler and Erik Watts. Together, they feuded with Dusty Rhodes and mocked him with an old NWA World Title belt. David left TNA in early 2003.

Independent circuit (2003–present)

After TNA, David toured the independent circuit, winning the IWA Intercontinental Title from Ray Gonzalez on November 28, 2003 in Puerto Rico. He lost it back to Gonzalez two days later. David Flair quit IWA after problems with IWA promoter Victor Quinones.

David was in a dark match before an episode of WWE SmackDown in the spring of 2006, which he lost to William Regal. He also competes for the Hermie Sadler-owned UWF Live organization, based primarily in the Carolinas and Virginia.

David was on hand when his father, Ric, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 29, 2008, when he had his final match in the WWE to date against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV, and at Ric's Farewell Ceremony the following night on Raw.

On December 6, 2008, he wrestled a match with his brother, Reid, who was making his professional wrestling debut, defeating The Nasty Boys via submission in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Hulk Hogan as the special guest referee.^[2][3]

Personal life

Flair previously dated Stacy Keibler during their time together in WCW.^[1] He now has a wife named Robin and they reside in Shelby, North Carolina,^[4][5] where they manage the Seal Wire Company.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Figure four leglock^[1][6] – adopted from his father

• Signature moves
  • Back body drop^[6]
  • Headscissors^[7]
  • Hip toss^[7]
  • Knife-edge chop^[1][8]
  • Low blow^[7]
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • Double underhook^[8]
    • High-angle belly to back^[9]
    • Gutwrench^[8]
    • Super^[8][9]
    • Vertical,^[6] sometimes delayed^[10]
  • Ura-nage^[8]

• Managers
  • Daffney
  • Ric Flair^[9]
  • Fyre
  • Miss Hancock
  • Samantha / Torrie^[9]

• Nicknames
  • "The New and Improved Space Mountain"

• Entrance themes
  • "David Flair Theme" by Jimmy Hart and Howard Helm
  • "Spin Spin Spin" by Julian Emery and Rupert Lyddon

Championships and accomplishments

• AFE Championship Wrestling
  • AFE Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• International Wrestling Association
  • IWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]

• National Wrestling Alliance
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Dan Factor^[1]

• NWA Wildside
  • NWA Wildside Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Romeo Bliss^[1]
  • Tojo Yamamoto Memorial Cup (2002)

• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]
  • WCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Crowbar^[1]

References

External links

• David Flair at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography