Ric Flair announces return to the ring during SummerSlam weekend in Nashville

Last week, reports hit that the training videos Ric Flair had been tweeting out were building toward a return to the ring for the 73 year old.

Now, timed along with a piece from ESPN about his first match since 2011, the Nature Boy’s confirmed the news. No details on who he’ll be facing yet, but he’ll wrestle July 31 in Nashville on a card called Ric Flair’s Last Match.

What this does tell us about the event is pretty interesting. SummerSlam is July 30 in Music City, so there should be lots of wrestling fans in the area. Flair’s son-in-law Conrad Thompson also announced the return of his fan convention Starrcast for that weekend in Nashville — a move that makes even more sense in light of Ric Flair’s Last Match.

In addition to seeing Naitch one last time (but probably not, especially if this show makes a lot of money), nostalgia will obviously be a big selling point. Flair’s wrestling under the Jim Crockett Promotions banner, the company that would become WCW that most fans associate with his Four Horsemen glory days. Even though it’s on a Sunday, it’s also starting at a very “Saturday Night Rasslin’” time of 6:05pm.

There’s still more questions than answers. Namely, will this be the rumored Flair & FTR vs. Rock ‘n’ Roll Express & mystery partner match? While it will almost certainly be a carefully planned match where he won’t be required to do anything but play the hits on a hot tag, should Ric be working at his age and given his recent health struggles? Does this cause the Dark Side of the Ring “Plane Ride From Hell” allegations to resurface, or has the world already moved on?

Plenty of time between now and Sun., July 31 at 6:05 pm ET to figure all that out. Get started in the comments below.