The legendary legacy of Ric Flair sees him beloved for his great accomplishments in the squared circle, but he is a polarizing figure in and out of the ring. Flair is never shy to say whatever is on his mind and will be the first to admit he has a huge ego.
This led to interesting dynamics with many of his peers both inside of the ring and backstage. Fans still talk about the legendary feuds of Flair with Ricky Steamboat, Sting and Triple H in the ring. Even the backstage rivalries with Bret Hart and Mick Foley from the past get attention. However, the following feuds of Flair in or out of the ring often get overlooked.
10 Scott Steiner
The real-life rivalry between Ric Flair and Scott Steiner started all the way back in the early 1990s. Scott received a huge singles match against Flair that he hoped would lead to a main event run since that path worked for Sting and Lex Luger.
Unfortunately, they had a stinker that caused Steiner to hold a grudge for years. WCW allowed Steiner to cut a shoot promo running down Flair years later to show it was still on his mind. Steiner hated Flair for years and even buried him for his friendship with Triple H and Shawn Michaels in the following years.
9 Syxx
Sean Waltman worked for WCW under the name of Syxx as the sixth member of the New World Order. Ric Flair already had a feud established as the Four Horsemen went at it with various NWO members during a rare babyface run for Flair’s group.
Many fans forget that Syxx was the biggest singles rival for the start of this program with a few singles matches and huge segments to boost them. Curt Hennig betraying the Horsemen for the NWO made him a bigger rival against Flair, but Syxx held that role for many months.
8 Kevin Nash
The Outsiders working closely with Syxx as three real-life best friends led to them all interacting with Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen. One segment upset Flair and other WCW names when the NWO members did a parody of the Horsemen during Arn Anderson’s retirement.
Nash portraying Anderson and mocking him in a very personal manner made him an enemy of Flair. Heat existed in WCW, but Flair buried Nash in interviews for years. The two are on better terms now after Flair made it a mission to make the world know how little respect he had for Nash over the course of many years.
7 Spirit Squad
WWE had Ric Flair on their roster for about six years as an on-screen performer that wrestled at an older age. One of the overlooked feuds from that time featured Flair having issues with the Spirit Squad heel faction disrespecting him.
Flair and close friend Roddy Piper actually had a shocking achievement winning the World Tag Team Championship from the Spirit Squad. This played a huge role in the faction ending shortly after losing the gold. Kenny Dykstra received a singles push feuding with Flair, but it was dropped before it helped him in any way.
6 Ole Anderson
The connection between Ric Flair and Ole Anderson saw them as on-screen allies in the first Four Horsemen version, but they became backstage enemies in later years. Ole had a position of power as a booker when Flair returned to WCW after his WWE stint.
Flair lost a loser leaves town match against Mr. Perfect before coming back to WCW, and it upset Anderson. The back and forth saw Flair making it clear he’d leave if Ole was still the booker, and that set up WCW removing him from the creative side.
5 Becky Lynch
Things change so quickly in wrestling that many fans forget about the tension that existed between talents when they make peace. Ric Flair went after WWE with a lawsuit over Becky Lynch using “The Man” nickname.
Lynch used to be tight with Charlotte Flair and Ric before her friendship with Charlotte fell apart. The belief was that Ric did this to be petty, and it almost cost him his WWE relationship for good. Ric has since apologized to Becky after dropping the lawsuit and getting welcomed back into the WWE family.
4 Vince Russo
WCW saw Ric Flair having a successful feud with heel authority figure Eric Bischoff playing off their real-life drama. Vince Russo apparently wanted to copy that when he entered a feud with Ric and had David Flair at his side to make it more personal.
This was among the worst feuds of Ric’s entire career with the audience not caring about it in the slightest. Russo made it too much about himself and found ways to embarrass Ric that upset him in real life as part of why he was happy when WCW went out of business.
3 Eddie Guerrero
WWE booked Eddie Guerrero to return to the company in 2002 after his short time away when released to feud with Ric Flair. Guerrero made a surprise appearance helping Chris Benoit out when both became enemies of Flair on the Raw brand.
Eddie became the main rival of Flair in a program that was designed to make him feel important from the start of this chapter. Flair’s confidence was low around this time, and Guerrero carried him to okay matches in this weird time from the legend’s career.
2 Hulk Hogan (Behind The Scenes)
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Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan had a memorable on-screen feud, but there was a backstage rivalry between them in WCW as well. Both guys were used to having a lot of influence and butted heads a few times when working together.
However, the biggest moment of tension came from an on-screen moment of Hogan whipping David Flair with a belt. Ric and others felt that Hogan was being stiff and did it longer than planned to send a message. Flair and Hogan didn’t get along for years until working together on a Hulkamania tour of Australia.
1 Roddy Piper
WCW pushing Ric Flair in a main event role again in 1999 felt like he could have another great run in the company. Unfortunately, most storylines to come after Flair became WCW President failed to make his authority figure stint not worth it.
Roddy Piper was a friend of Flair at the start of this angle as both represented the tradition of wrestling. Flair becoming a power-hungry authority figure led to Piper feuding with him as they fell apart. The feud between Piper and Flair failed in their highest-profile program against each other.