What If Reid Flair Had Lived His Dream?

Reid Flair, the youngest son of Ric Flair, was born in 1988 as Richard Reid Fliehr. Throughout his life, Reid made it evident that he wished to follow in Ric's footsteps by becoming a professional wrestler, but his time was tragically cut short. He died in 2013 at the age of 25 after years of struggling with addiction.

Like other children of wrestlers, Flair got some early experience in the ring, but his was on a more prominent stage than most. In 1998, Reid made an appearance on "WCW Nitro," wearing his wrestling singlet and medals from school competition. Acting in place of his father with support from Arn Anderson, Reid cut a short promo and used his amateur wrestling skills to take down Eric Bischoff twice. Again in the latter days of WCW, when Reid was just 12, he partnered with Ric for two tag team matches, both of which aired on TV.

Once he was an adult, Flair began seriously pursuing wrestling. Because of his father's connections, Reid was able to secure a spot in WWE's developmental system, but his personal struggles (including several arrests) led to him being let go before he was able to climb up the ladder.

Flair continued working on the independent scene after his brief time with WWE came to an abrupt end, and he eventually made his way over to All Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2013 to train further. According to Dave Meltzer, Flair was impressing backstage officials in AJPW and had earned a spot performing on the undercard. However, just days after returning to the United States from a tour in Japan, Reid died of a drug overdose.

In 2011, Flair described himself as one of the biggest wrestling fans in the world, and although he had aspirations of becoming a star, there was something he cared about even more. According to Flair, as long as he was able to make his father proud, everything else was just an added bonus.

It's impossible to say for certain what Flair would've accomplished had he not succumbed to addiction. However, if not through his own in-ring career, Reid has had a significant influence on modern professional wrestling through inspiring his sister, Ashley, also known as Charlotte Flair.

In 2019, Flair credited her brother Reid for inspiring her to pursue wrestling in the first place. She stated that it was always his dream to become a wrestler and she believed that getting into the industry herself might help inspire him to stay on the "right path." Charlotte's vision was for the two siblings to pursue their careers together, but it didn't come to pass.

Since his death, Charlotte has cited Reid as a constant source of inspiration, and she even has several tattoos in honor of her late brother. Like her father, Charlotte has a penchant for gathering world championship reigns, and if she remains on pace she will likely break the current record by the time her career ends. In addition to that, Charlotte played a key role in revolutionizing women's wrestling in WWE, and if it wasn't for Reid's influence on her, it's difficult to say what the landscape might look like today.