Thank Charlotte for not seeing this move during Ric Flair’s Last Match

We’re just days away from Ric Flair’s Last Match, which is a full wrestling show that culminate in titular main event, where the 73 year old Nature Boy will team with Andrade El Ídolo to take on Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal.

Promotion for the July 31 event has been equal parts hype and promises that it’s actually safe for Flair to work a match with a pacemaker & five years removed from nearly dying due to a host of other health issues. Marc Raimondi’s article for ESPN on the preparation for this weekend in Nashville is roughly 75% of the latter. It includes quotes from Ric’s training partner Lethal, his strength & conditioning coach Rob MacIntyre, and promoter & son-in-law Conrad Thompson.

His daughter Charlotte has also been around as her old man gets ready for the match, and she seems to understand why her dad is driven to wrestle again while also being concerned. She seems to be a motivating factor for the two-time WWE Hall of Famer, who told Raimondi he’s getting in the ring this Sunday for “Ego and glory. And family.”

Charlotte was there as Naitch doubled the reps on his “blow up drill”, a wrestling-specific cardio routine she knows from the WWE Performance Center.

“He was pushing so hard for me. I didn’t know whether to cry or be happy.

“That was very much a ‘Rocky’ moment, seeing my dad like that, pushing so hard. To do what he was doing and to know the wind that it takes and the conditioning and him going at it, I was just like blown away. It was mind over matter.”

That doesn’t mean she’s giving Ric the green light to do everything. Lethal says he’s had a hard time talking Naitch out of spots, and that we’re going to see Flair “attempt and deliver on a Level 10 match. Whatever he can bring, he will bring.” But Charlotte’s been able to put her foot down. When her father wanted to do a dive from the top rope to the floor, she told him:

“A lot of our men and women in all companies miss those all the time. I was like, ‘No, not needed, not necessary. Wasn’t necessary in your prime, isn’t necessary now. So, no.’”

Hopefully he listens.

Check out Raimondi’s entire ESPN piece here.