Reid Flair died of an accidental heroin overdose

Three months ago, Reid Flair was pronounced dead in his hotel room by police, shortly after he was found unresponsive by his father Ric, who immediately called for help. The belief at the time was that he probably died from a drug overdose, given that it was known within wrestling that he had almost died from a heroin overdose before in 2011 and had been to rehab to attempt to overcome the addiction. However, toxicology reports had to be done to confirm or deny whether this was the case.

As Dave Meltzer reported in this week's subscriber only Wrestling Observer Newsletter, everyone fears were unfortunately found to be true, as Reid did indeed die of an accidental heroin overdose:

"In what sadly, was not a surprise, the death of Reid Fliehr, at 25, on 3/29 was attributed to an accidental overdose of heroin, perhaps the combination of the heroin and two other prescription medications he was taking at the time.... Mecklenberg County Medical Examiner Thomas Owens said Fliehr had, besides heroin, traces of clonazepam (a muscle relaxant) and alparzolam (Xanax, an Anti-anxiety medication) in his system besides the heroin at the time of his death.... However, Reid, who had been clean for some time according [to] his family (there were no reports of any problems with Fliehr during his two months in Japan and he was well liked by everyone there and improving in the ring), apparently did stuff in the adjacent hotel room since police said there were signs of drug activity in Reid Fliehr’s room."

It's a real tragedy, as his father Ric did everything he could to try and help his son Reid beat his drug addiction, including spending six figures on his rehabilitation needs and getting him his job with All Japan Pro Wrestling, but ultimately he was unsuccessful and had the horror of being the person who found his dead body. I imagine that memory will be something that Ric never fully overcomes and given his lack of major public appearances since Reid's passing that suggests he's still grieving. We wish the Flair family the best as they come to terms with this news.