Even the most stoic of professional wrestling fans had to be moved with Ric Flair‘s surprise appearance on SmackDown Live last night.
Flair, who recently underwent surgery for a life-threatening illness, made an emotional return to WWE television for the first time since being released from the hospital. The WWE legend shocked the crowd when he emerged from backstage to embrace his daughter Charlotte after her big win in the squared circle that evening.
For the sixth time in her career, Charlotte Flair won a WWE women’s championship—this time by taking down rival Natalya. With her victory, the new SmackDown women’s champion will move on to Survivor Series, during which she’ll battle Raw women’s champion Alexa Bliss in what’s sure to be an epic champion vs. champion showdown. But it was the emergence of Charlotte’s dad that stole the show and pulled at the heartstrings of all those in attendance.
During his illness, it looked like the 16-time world heavyweight champion and two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee might not survive. Fortunately, the 68-year-old legend found the strength and determination to pull through. Hopefully, he’ll continue to get stronger and we’ll see a lot more of “Nature Boy” in the years to come.
