Legend of ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair takes real turn tonight on ESPN

He styled. He profiled. He wrestled around the world and made millions “Woooooooooo!”

The limousine riding and jet flying is a bit less chaotic these days, but the boisterous story of “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair — or, really, the real-life story of Richard Fliehr — will get the spotlight tonight at 10 p.m. on ESPN.

It’s a 30 For 30 documentary that’s been in the works for months — long before his recent health scare nearly ended his life at age 68. It’s a piece that promises to explore the man, the myth, the legend — and where that’s led him to today. (And to be the man, you still have to beat the man … he’s not done yet.)

Real autograph, fake card: A Ric Flair story too good to be ‘woooooooooo’

There’s an old saying that if something too good to be true, then it probably is — and this collector recently got a reminder of just that.

With the recent health scare of pro wrestling legend “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, I decided it was past time to track down a copy of his 2005 Topps Heritage WWE autograph card — a card that was never released in packs but had reportedly surfaced years ago.

It’s not that I needed a Flair autograph — I have it a few times and actually met him at a past show — I wanted this card because I’ve always had an affinity for Topps‘ earliest years of WWE cards. This was Topps’ first release in its current run, but Flair didn’t make the cut as part of a crop of signers that includes Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, The Iron Sheik, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Trish Stratus, Stacy Keibler and so many more notables from the past.

I found one on eBay and examined the autograph in the auction photo closely even though it was certified by JSA. I checked other cards for sale from the seller to see if there were autographs that looked questionable — everything looked fine to me and the card was affordably priced ($50) compared to another seller who wanted nearly $900 for a PSA-authenticated and slabbed copy (and I’m not a fan of its autograph). This JSA one was complete with sticker and a certificate noting that it was a witnessed autograph, not just an authenticated one.

But, I never even thought about whether the card itself was legit — I figured somebody somewhere had gotten their hands on the original cards Flair was supposed to sign but didn’t — however I knew instantly upon arrival that the card was legit as one of Flair’s face-first flops to the mat.