'Woo!' Flair gets key to city
By ADAM BEAM - \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it href="mailto:abeam%40thestate.com">abeam@thestate.com
Link: http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/355061.html

An emotional Ric Flair accepted a key to the City of Columbia today a week before what could potentially be the last match of the wrestler's 36-year career.

The limousine ridin', jet flying, kiss stealin', wheelin' dealing son of a gun is in town for tonight's WWE Raw event at the Colonial Center.

It's the last scheduled wrestling event before Wrestlemania XXIV on Sunday, where Flair will wrestle Shawn Michaels in a Career Threatening Match. The rules are simple: If Flair loses, he must retire.

"It is emotional," Flair said after the news conference. "It's hard to explain."

After Mayor Bob Coble declared March 24 as Ric Flair Day by giving the crowd a Flarian "Woo!", Flair walked up to the podium and started crying when thanking his fans for coming to see him today.

That's when 37-year-old Joey Bouknight, with his 12-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son standing next to him holding Woo! signs, yelled out "You the man Ric," to thunderous applause.

It was too much for The Dirtiest Player in the Game.

"All the things that I have supposedly accomplished in my career, I'm very proud of," Flair said. "I am most proud of moments like this."

Flair first came to Columbia in 1974 when, every Tuesday, he would wrestle at the Township Auditorium before thousands of screaming fans. They made an impression on the wrestler who was trying to make a name for himself.

"We just knew when we walked into the Township, it was going to be loud, it was going to be packed, it was going to be wild, it was going to be very difficult to get out of the ring," Flair said.

While Flair lives in Charlotte, he has spent some time in Columbia because of his agent, Elaine Gillespie, and because of his friendship with Mike Campbell, a son of former Gov. Carroll Campbell.

Mike Campbell, who was at the news conference today, reminisced about traveling with the Nature Boy back when he was wrestling with the Four Horsemen and performing his signature Figure Four move.

"I've had all of that stuff done to me at one point or another," Campbell said.

While most of the attention today was focused on Flair's wrestling career, Coble did mention Flair's work with children and the Make a Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

For 12-year-old Maddie Bouknight - who says she either wants to be a veterinarian or a wrestler when she grows up - Flair is a role model.

"Whatever you want to be, you can go and chase it down - like he did," she said.

Afterward, Flair said the key was the best he had ever received and "the only one I've kept and will ever keep."

"Certainly after all the money I've spent down in Five Points I deserve some type of recognition," he said.

Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.

Credit: A1 Wrestling Newsletter