Ric Flair, WWE Legend, to Undergo Surgery Following Hospitalization

WWE legend Ric Flair is set to undergo surgery at an Atlanta area hospital after he was rushed to the hospital Thursday.

Flair’s wife, Wendy Barlow, said the operation will take place Friday morning, but declined to give further details on the procedure, reports PEOPLE.

“Due to ongoing health complications, Ric was taken to the hospital and is expected to undergo a procedure tomorrow morning, after which he expects to fully recover,” Barlow’s statement read.

Early Thursday, TMZ Sports reported that Flair, 70, was rushed to the hospital after suffering a “medical emergency.” The site’s sources said the situation was “very serious.”

Another source told Pro Wrestling Sheet Flair was dealing with “some heart related issues” recently and the trip to the emergency room was linked to that. However, his son Conrad Thompson also said during a media call that Flair planned to go to the hospital before attending a roast in Las Vegas, but his condition was more serious than previously thought.

Flair has been dealing with health issues in the past. In 2017, he was hospitalized when he had a rupture in his intestine. His organs reportedly began shutting down and his doctors put him in a medically induced coma. He made a full recovery though.

“I got a really sharp pain in my stomach. I knew the pain,” Flair told WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Morton the day after his life-saving surgery in 2017. “That was very similar to the pain I had the last time (a ruptured appendix) Wendy took me to the hospital and my intestine had broken open and that’s the last thing I remember. I don’t remember anything else.”

Flair continued, “On Monday they put me in an induced coma. I stayed in that and on life support for 11 days. I don’t remember any of it. I just dreamt. I had to learn how to walk again. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t twist the top off a Gatorade bottle or open a diet coke I lost forty-three pounds.”

Flair said he stopped drinking after the scare, and it took some time for him to be able to do even simple tasks.

“That took a while… and then I couldn’t drive a car,” Flair told Morton. “I ate anything in the world, but couldn’t gain any weight because all the food I was consuming was going towards repairing internal tissue that was ruined because when I went into the hospital my kidneys failed, I had respiratory heart failure and I had pneumonia all at the same time.”

Flair was also hospitalized in March for an operation.

Flair, born Richard Morgan Fliehr, is one of the best-known professional wrestlers of all time. He made his pro debut in 1972 and has continued making appearances during WWE events. The WWE Hall of Fame was last seen at WestleMania 35 in February.

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