Ric Flair Hospitalized In Tampa After Restaurant Fall

Ric Flair was taken to a hospital after a fall outside a Tampa restaurant on Friday, October 23, hours after he told fans a blood clot had forced him to cancel a Seattle appearance.

The wrestling star, whose friendship with Offset brought him into the “Ric Flair Drip” video and onto late-night television, suffered cuts to his head and eye, according to TMZ Sports.

Sources with direct knowledge told the outlet that Flair had been at Wagamama that morning. He left his phone and drink at the bar, walked across the street and fell while outside. Emergency workers attended to him before an ambulance took him to the hospital, the report said.

Earlier Friday, Flair shared a health update with fans explaining why he couldn’t make his planned Washington State Horror Con appearance. He said doctors had restricted his travel to three or four hours because of a blood clot in his leg.

The trip to Seattle exceeded that limit. He apologized to the organizers and fans who had planned to see him there.

Flair also said he was scheduled for a procedure to strip the affected vein. He said his doctors expected the treatment would let him resume longer trips.

“I Have To Put My Health And Recovery First,” Flair wrote in the statement, which preceded the reported fall.

Flair’s reach has long extended beyond wrestling, with Offset turning his name into a rap hit. “Ric Flair Drip,” made with Metro Boomin, appeared on the pair’s 2017 joint project with 21 Savage, “Without Warning.”

Flair appeared in the song’s video and later joined Offset and Metro Boomin on “The Tonight Show” in April 2018. The performance brought Flair and Offset into a wrestling ring on the late-night set, with The Roots also involved.

Offset carried that bond into WWE the following year. Wearing a pink Ric Flair robe, he introduced Charlotte Flair on “SmackDown” in Atlanta before her match against Sasha Banks.

The elder Flair built that following over decades in the ring. WWE inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2008, then honored him again in 2012 as part of The Four Horsemen.