Ric Flair Documentary Director Rory Karpf Discusses Going Out Drinking With Flair, How Flair Is Trying to Go Sober After His Health Scare, and Flair’s Relationship With His Parents

– Speaking to Jim Ross’ for The Ross Report podcast, Rory Karpf, the director of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary The Nature Boy, discussed WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair and more. Below are some highlights (transcript via WrestlingInc.com).

Karpf on the dichotomy of Ric Flair: “Ric’s a very charming guy and you could see before he got sick he was incredibly self-destructive, but he’s kind of like a crazy uncle. That’s how I viewed him. I really like him. It’s fun to be with him. It’s hard to explain, I guess, unless you know him. And I’ve talked to other people that know him pretty well about this. It’s just something you can’t explain why that’s endearing about him. He’s sweet. He’s a sweet man. There’s also a real vulnerability there with him that when you get to know him a little bit better, it really comes through and it’s, like, surprising that in a way he’s the most confident person you meet, but also one of the least confident people. I find that very interesting, that dichotomy.”

Karpf on Ric Flair’s health scare and trying to go sober: “I did go to some bars with Ric Flair. And, actually, we went out for St. Patrick’s Day. He goes kind of hard and ends early. That’s how he is now. It’s like; he’s out of control at seven o’clock. It’s like, ‘I just got here! What are you doing? Why are you dancing on the table? Like, sit down. We’re just watching the football game.’ And he’s hard to keep up with. I think now that he [has] had the health scare and I think he mentioned to People Magazine for the first time he said he kind of has a drinking problem. He’s not drinking. He’s sober for the first time in his life, so I think that’s a pretty big accomplishment.”

Karpf on the relationship Ric Flair has with his parents: “He said that his parents only saw him wrestle three times! Three times! It’s like seeing Michael Jordan play basketball if you’re his parents. I mean, he was the best guy! He did it forever too. It’s not like he was wrestling every once in a while. I mean, he was wrestling constantly and he was the best dude, so you’d think there would have been many opportunities to go see him and think about how many big matches. And that’s what really struck me, and he said, ‘well, they didn’t get it.’ Well, who cares? I mean, he’s the best! If my kid could play chess, I may not understand it, but I’ll go see him play chess, so I found that pretty striking. Ric loves his parents and if you ask him, Ric, he’d say he kind of has two parents that are his parents and say that they are the ones that suffered having him as a son, so that’s his side of it. I did find some of the things kind of sad when it came to that.”