Ric Flair: My Heart Is Fine. Really. I’m Not Kidding. I’m Not Joking. I’m Telling the Truth.

As noted last week, pro wrestler Ric Flair didn’t like the reference, in an article at Grantland.com, to his case of alcoholic cardiomyopathy – a heart condition associated with lots and lots of hard drinking.

Here’s Dave Meltzer’s takeout in the new Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

For what it’s worth, Ric Flair said that he was diagnosed by a doctor friend in 2002 with alcoholic cardiomyopathy, and in his book that he wrote in 2003 (which came out in 2004), he talked about it. But after the book was published, Flair went to a cardiologist who said he had been misdiagnosed and never actually had that condition in the first place. Either way, he’s not going to sue successfully over a reporter writing something that was in his own autobiography, even if the time frame should have been mentioned in the story. Flair, who was cleared by his first doctor to go back and wrestle in early 2003, noted that WWE had tested his heart and given him a clean bill of health ever since they started doing the extensive heart testing in 2006 after the death of Eddie Guerrero.

Did Flair ever before withdraw or update the report in his autobiography that he had alcoholic cardiomyopathy? I’m not sure, but I believe the answer is no.

In that case, since Flair has made an issue out of the broadcasting by others of that fact (and perhaps whether he even had the condition in the first place), he should publicly release the reports of his cardiovascular tests as part of the WWE wellness policy.

Irv Muchnick