[music playing]
RIC FLAIR: Well, I grew up loving it watching it as a kid.
I didn't know that I wanted to do it till I tried it,
you know.
My first match was in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
where I started under the tutelage
of Verne Gagne, a former promoter, world champion.
And the older guys didn't like the young guys coming up.
It was a fight to earn their respect.
You were really tough, or you were gone.
[knocking]
My man.
Nature Boy.
How are you, my man?
Thank you so much, man.
- Man, it's so good to see you. - Thank you.
Good to see you. Thank you.
Absolutely. Let's go over here and sit down.
All right, thanks, man. Thank you.
Come on in.
I started watching wrestling when I was
a very, very, very young kid.
My grandmother loved it.
She got me into it.
As a kid, it was everything.
But the guy that really just captured me was Ric Flair.
I watched you with the award show.
Oh, yeah.
RIC FLAIR: You had the Rolex on.
DARIUS RUCKER: [laughs] You know it.
RIC FLAIR: Yeah, man.
You know that's why I wear Rolexes, right?
Because of you.
That's why I do a lot of things, because of you.
Wow.
Darius is a great guy.
I can't say enough.
We have become more than friends.
I can't tell you how close I am with him.
DARIUS RUCKER: We met at a bar.
He's sitting at the table right next to us.
We're going back and forth with him,
and it was instant friendship.
Every time I see his phone number, I freak out.
I'm not joking.
I've known Rick for 20-something years.
And every time I see his phone number,
I can't believe Ric Flair's calling me.
When everybody asked me how this thing with my robes
became such a novelty in terms of people buying them
and their extravagant prices, a lot of this
was the fact that we got together
for the Jimmy V. fundraiser.
In Raleigh, yeah.
RIC FLAIR: The one where everybody was there.
I think it was 1999.
1999.
Yes.
Barkley, you, Michael Jordan.
Jordan was there.
DARIUS RUCKER: Hootie was really touring a lot.
We were on fire.
And Jimmy V. was a big thing to us.
So we walk in to the auction, and first thing I see
is the Ric Flair robe.
And I turned to the guys in Hootie, and I said,
I don't care what that costs me.
I'm leaving with that.
And we laughed.
And I remember, man, it started to get heated,
because it was a big number.
It put a price on the robes, and then--
Well, you know--
--it put me on the map.
I know you don't like to hear that, but here I am.
I'm the wrestler, right?
Even after all the WrestleManias and that,
to have someone of your level of fame set the bar so--
and all the excitement.
I don't know how I could have forgotten which one it is.
But I've told everybody it's the black butterfly you have.
- It's not the black butterfly. - It's not?
It's not.
It's still-- it's an amazing white robe,
but it's not the black butterfly.
Let me get it for you.
[music playing]
Oh my god.
Wow.
I love this robe so much.
RIC FLAIR: How was I under the impression
it was the black and white one?
I don't know, it's not the butterfly robe.
RIC FLAIR: Yeah.
Put this on for me, Nature.
Rick wore that to matches.
He walked down the aisle with that.
He stepped into the ring with that,
and took it off, and gently placed it to the guy
on the other side of the ring.
I mean, Rick did that with that on.
Strutting.
You-- come on with it, man.
The thing is everybody tried to do it.
No one did it like you.
[music playing]
Got to feel it.
You got to be--
Woo.
You got to be the Nature Boy.
Woo.
You know, this is the greatest wrestler of all-time,
and I'm here putting this robe on that
he wore walking down the aisle.
But I'm putting it on, and I own it.
It's mine.
I told my kids, you can sell it when I die.
But this is staying with me.
Oh, yeah.
That's the prized--
I got some great stuff.
That's the prized thing that I have,
is I have a robe that you wore to the friggin' ring.
RIC FLAIR: Thank you.
Thank you.
It means a lot.
No idea.
[music playing]
I have no idea where it is.
We're not talking about rock and roll music.
We're not talking about Hollywood, California.
We're talking about the greatest sport of them all--
professional wrestling.
And I'm the mayor.
Woo!
TRIPLE H: It's hard to put Ric's popularity into context.
If Flair was telling you a story about being in Vegas
and we just got in off a private jet--
we didn't sleep for three days.
We were at Caesar's.
And, like, he's name dropping celebrities
and all that [bleep].
He wasn't telling you a story.
It was legit.
He was just telling you what happened
from Thursday to Saturday.
RIC FLAIR: Do you know what a feeling
it is to be able to walk out here
and captivate the female audience the way I do?
I mean, the girls over here hollering.
[screaming]
Slick Ric, you know.
And he's able to captivate not only his fans but superstar
athletes, actors, musicians.
The American culture just idolizes him.
ANNOUNCER: "Monday Night Raw" is live
from the award-winning and critically-acclaimed WWE
ThunderDome at Tropicana Field!
--champion.
I am the wor--
ANNOUNCER: Ohhhh!
--with a smash hit on The Miz!
AJ FRANCIS: Bad Bunny is without a doubt one of the biggest
stars in the world today.
The man is not only the most streamed artist on Spotify
in the last year, but he just so happens
to be a huge Ric Flair fan.
So Bad Bunny would be a logical place
for us to try to get a lead on the Ric Flair butterfly robe.
Hey.
My man.
We met in Brooklyn one night, just randomly,
and we just became friends.
[singing in spanish]
RIC FLAIR: Yeah, the "Chambea" video, on top of a rooftop--
BAD BUNNY: "Chambea." "Chambea."
RIC FLAIR: --in Atlanta.
Yeah, that was phenomenal.
Yeah.
Again, my birthday--
Oh, no.
Thank you.
Then it goes platinum, right?
RIC FLAIR: Yeah, yeah.
Ric Flair's cultural impact is second to none.
Between the Bad Bunny music video, between the Offset music
video, as a 71-year-old man, he's still
cool to 20-year-old rappers.
[laughs] Yeah, he can do it better than me.
BEN BROWN: Rick is considered one
of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time.
But the heartbeat of Rick is that, like--
I know I say it over and over again, but he gets
more [bleep] popular with age--
which is crazy.
Woo!
Who else can walk that aisle, night after night--
woo-- looking as only I can look?
Music is your lady, but this is--
Something special, yes.
And wrestling's always been there.
And when we saw you, Wendy wanted you to put a robe on--
BAD BUNNY: Yeah, I remember. I remember.
RIC FLAIR: --yeah, and take a picture.
Yeah.
So that was-- as a favor to us, we wanted a picture
with you with the robe.
But now it's turned into like a--
an episodic time in my life.
We're chasing these treasures down--
ones that were stolen out of arenas.
One's at my wife.
Because one wife took five, you know.
[laughs]
And another two.
[laughs] Yeah.
OK, I got you.
I got you.
So, actually, one of the robes we're looking for
is the black butterfly robe--
OK.
RIC FLAIR: --that I wore at Royal Rumble--
BAD BUNNY: Looks great.
RIC FLAIR: --in '92.
Do you have any idea where that might be?
Not really.
Of course.
[laughs]