Fliehr was born on February 25, 1949 in Memphis, Tennessee. His birth name is widely perceived to be Fred Phillips, although on different documents, he is also credited as Fred Demaree or Stewart, while his biological parents were Luther and Olive Phillips (the latter of which was also credited under the Demaree and Stewart surnames). He was adopted, and at the time of his adoption (arranged by the Tennessee Children's Home Society), his father, a physician, was completing a residency in Detroit. Shortly afterward, the family settled in Edina, Minnesota, where the young Fliehr lived throughout his childhood and after ninth grade he attended Wayland Academy, a coeducational boarding school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, for four years (five years total in high school), during which time he participated in interscholastic wrestling, football and track.

On March 31, 2012, while still contracted to TNA, Flair became the first person to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice, the second time as part of the class of 2012 with The Four Horsemen. On December 17, 2012, Flair returned to WWE as a non-wrestling personality on the annual Slammy Awards show to present the Superstar of the Year award to John Cena, who in turn gave the award to Flair. Flair's return was interrupted by CM Punk and Paul Heyman, escalating into a confrontation that ended with him locking Heyman in the figure-four leglock. After clearing the ring, Flair was assaulted by The Shield, until Ryback and Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) helped Flair fend off the group.  Flair appeared on the main roster sporadically throughout 2013, as The Miz's mentor. He also occasionally appeared on NXT in 2013 and 2014, accompanying his daughter Charlotte to the ring.  Flair appeared on the April 28, 2014, episode of Raw, alongside the reunited Evolution (minus Flair) and The Shield; Flair showed his endorsement for The Shield, Evolution's opponents at Extreme Rules, effectively turning his back on his old teammates. On July 14, John Cena symbolically handed over his World Heavyweight Championship belt to Flair, telling him to "take it" while promoting his match at Battleground. On the post-SummerSlam Raw in August 2015, Flair interrupted Jon Stewart, who had saved Flair's 16 world title record by preventing Cena's victory the previous night, telling him that the record would be broken eventually and he would rather it would be by someone who he respects.  Flair began making more frequent appearances with Charlotte after she won the Divas Championship. In January 2016, Flair and Charlotte began displaying villainous traits, with Flair often getting involved in Charlotte's Divas Championship and later WWE Women's Championship defenses. This lasted until the May 23, 2016 episode of Raw, when Charlotte turned on him. On the November 28, 2016 episode of Raw, Flair returned to congratulate the new Raw Women's Champion Sasha Banks, who had defeated Charlotte to win the title. On the November 14, 2017 edition of SmackDown, Flair returned to congratulate his daughter, after she won the SmackDown Women's title from Natalya, incidentally in Charlotte's hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, this being his first appearance for WWE since nearly dying earlier in the year.

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