Film

Nature Boy

A brisk, affectionate ESPN-style biography of Ric Flair, tracing the strut, the robes, the sixteen world titles and the four marriages that came with living the gimmick full-time. It's talking-head heavy, generous with archive footage, and more interested in myth-making than muck-raking, though the toll shows through anyway. Good for wrestling fans and anyone curious how a persona swallows a person.

TMDb rating7.1

If you liked this

Beyond the Mat1999

The landmark insider documentary that first showed wrestling's machinery up close and unflinchingly, catching stars of Flair's era mid-collapse and mid-triumph alike.

But Uneven and episodic, and it isn't built around any one wrestler, so Flair only gets a slice.

Beyond the Mat poster

Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows1998

Bret Hart's fly-on-the-wall account of the Montreal Screwjob is the other half of the era Flair worked through, same business, same brutal politics, different casualty.

But Leans hard on 90s wrestling storyline knowledge you may not have walking in.

Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows poster

The Resurrection of Jake The Snake2015no page yet

A harrowing, humane portrait of one of Flair's contemporaries clawing back from addiction, showing the wreckage the road leaves behind.

But Much darker and sadder in tone than Nature Boy's mostly celebratory arc.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Chimes at Midnight1965no page yet

Flair's whole act is Falstaff with a robe and a strut: the aging braggart who refuses to leave the stage gracefully, mythologizing himself louder the closer decline gets.

Orson Welles playing Falstaff, the boastful, wine-soaked knight who can't stop performing himself even as the world moves on, in a shabby, beautiful black-and-white epic.

But Shakespearean dialogue and a 1965 print quality that demands patience most wrestling fans won't expect to give.

More like this (8)

Dark Side of the Ring2019

An anthology series digging into wrestling's scandals, deaths, and backstage disasters across decades, several episodes brush right up against Flair's own circle.

But Tabloid in places, and production quality swings episode to episode.

Dark Side of the Ring poster

Andre the Giant2018

A tender HBO portrait of another larger-than-life 80s wrestling icon, wrestling similar questions about body, myth, and the man underneath the character.

But Softer and more sentimental than Flair's story, with less mess to reckon with.

Andre the Giant poster

The Last Dance2020

Michael Jordan curating his own legend on camera, obsessive about greatness and control of the narrative, is exactly the energy Flair brings to every interview.

But Ten hours long and about basketball, a very different sport culture to sit through.

The Last Dance poster

Tyson2008no page yet

Mike Tyson narrating his own excess and self-destruction in raw first person makes a bruising companion to Flair's own reckoning with fame.

But Bleaker and more confrontational, with none of the nostalgia that softens Nature Boy.

When We Were Kings1996

A classic sports documentary capturing Muhammad Ali's showmanship and myth-making at full power, the template for the talking, strutting athlete-as-performer.

But Built around a single fight rather than a full-life arc, so it's narrower in scope.

When We Were Kings poster

Bigger Stronger Faster*2008no page yet

A sharp, funny look at America's steroid culture and obsession with being the biggest man in the room, useful context for the world Flair thrived in.

But More about bodybuilding and cultural critique than wrestling itself, so the link is tangential.

The Wrestler2008

Same body, same business, same slow-motion self-destruction dressed as a character, just fictionalized so you feel the wreckage Flair's documentary keeps at arm's length.

Mickey Rourke as a broken-down indie circuit wrestler, chasing one more night of the only identity that ever made sense, in a devastating fiction that plays like documentary.

But Fiction rather than fact, and grim where Nature Boy stays mostly warm and celebratory.

The Wrestler poster

Val2021

Another self-mythologizing performer narrating his own myth through decades of his own footage, and the same sad gap between the legend on camera and the man paying for it.

Val Kilmer's own decades of home footage assembled into a quiet, aching documentary about an actor who built an outsized persona and then watched it outlive his health.

But Slow, melancholic, and entirely outside wrestling; some will miss the noise and spectacle.

Val poster

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Recommended by

Beyond the Mat, Dark Side of the Ring, Andre the Giant, Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows