Ric Flair and Roddy Piper (Charlotte and Portland) Appearing On 'Celebrity Wife Swap' June 30

When Celebrity Wife Swap airs this Sunday, it'll feature "the girlfriend and the wife of two of the biggest former stars of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) swapping lives and homes for one week," as the show describes the upcoming episode. Those legendary wrestlers are Ric "Nature Boy" Flair and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Celebrity Wife Swap is now in its second season on ABC, a spinoff that was created last year from the long-running Wife Swap series. I happened to catch the show, coincidentally, for the first time last Sunday, which featured mother-daughter duo Joan and Melissa Rivers trading lives for a week with sisters Bristol and Willow Palin. I found it to be a little entertaining. I think people are drawn to this show, like they are to many other celebrity reality TV shows, because they're interested in seeing how these popular figures live.

Credit: ABC

As for this Sunday's episode with the wrestling stars, the synopsis describes Ric Flair as living in Charlotte with his girlfriend Wendy Barlow and her four children. "Ric and Wendy live a very lavish and fast-paced lifestyle and enjoy the finer things in life, spending most evenings out on the town where Ric revels in his celebrity and the attention of fans." I can attest: if you live in Charlotte, you will almost certainly eventually run into The Nature Boy at a restaurant, bar, or event, so the show is absolutely right about Ric spending a lot of time out on the town.

Meanwhile, the Piper family live "on a large piece of land on a mountain in Portland, Oregon" and the wife and mother "Kitty is solely responsible for the running of the home, including cooking, cleaning and caring for the family's animals." With this contrast in lifestyles and the big personalities of Ric and Roddy, this episode should be quite entertaining. It airs this Sunday, June 30 at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Woooooooooooooooo!

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Ric Flair: Not Your Same Old Song and Dance

Ric Flair is one of my favorite Charlotteans to blog about. Even though he's now 60 years old and "retired" from wrestling, he's still popular with a generation of fans who weren't born yet when he was in his hey. And for those who are 80s babies like me, memories of Ric Flair represent a golden era. Now he's being immortalized in hip-hop.

There's a song titled "Ric Flair" by rapper Lil Cali and featuring Young Dro. It was actually released over the summer, but is starting to pick up a little speed. It's not the best rap song in the world, but it's sort of catchy (what isn't these days?) and Dro delivers with a witty, punchline-heavy verse as usual. And what I like about the track is that it plays it cool, and isn't overdone like B-Hamp's "Do the Ricky Bobby," which received entirely too much radio and video play a year ago.

"Ric Flair on em" is repeated in the chorus, as is the wrestler's signature "wooooooo." And there's a dance that goes along with it, but it's pretty simple--just rocking side to side in a sort of two-step with your hands out to the side.

Listen to "Ric Flair" below.

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Ric Flair Makes Losing Your Money Fun

I saw this commercial for the first time last night. But apparently the Ric Flair-endorsed "Wooooooo!" instant scratch-off tickets have been offered by the North Carolina Education Lottery for a couple of months now. A ticket costs $5 and the top prize is $100,000. Whoever came up with the idea to make Flair the lottery's new pitchman and to give him his own lotto ticket should be applauded. Flair has the kind of energy that will keep people excited about buying lottery tickets, even though most of them are throwing their money away.

I only play the lottery about once a year, when the Power Ball reaches some ridiculous amount. Other than that, I don't really keep up with it, which is probably why I'm late to the party about Flair's new involvement. Click here for more info on the Wooooooo! instant scratch-off. See a video of the commercial below.



In other Ric Flair news, he got married a couple of weeks ago in Charlotte. It's his fourth marriage. The 60-year-old wrestler is currently on the Hulkamania tour.

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The Four Horsemen to Reunite in Charlotte

I grew up a wrestling fan, but started to lose interest around the age of 13. Still, this is pretty exciting news. The Four Horsemen are reuniting in Charlotte.

Led by superstar wrestler and Charlotte's favorite hometown celebrity, Ric Flair, the Four Horsemen will reunite for the NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest Weekend, being held August 6-9 at the Hilton University Place Hotel. The original group of Flair, Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard, plus second-incarnation member Barry Windham and the group's legendary manager James J. Dillon are all scheduled to appear Friday, August 7 to sign autographs and pose for pictures with fans.


Nearly 30 wrestling legends are confirmed for the four-day event. You can get all of the details by visiting www.nwalegends.com.

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Happy Birthday Ric Flair

Ric Flair turns 60 today. And what an entertaining 60 years it has been for the Nature Boy and all of us who've watched him. I grew up watching him on TV, back when I was a wrestling fan. I lost interest around the age of 13, but wrestlers like Flair, Hulk Hogan, and Randy Savage produced many memorable Saturday afternoons after the cartoons had gone off.

Ric Flair, whose birth name is Richard Fliehr, is Charlotte's biggest celebrity. Why? Because he's lived here for decades--before it was cool to do so, before we had other professional athletes--and he's always been very accessible. I've seen him out a number of times. You can easily catch him out at a restaurant or bar, and he doesn't seem to miss a grand opening. Everyone has a Ric Flair story. One of the best I've heard involve him doing push ups in the middle of a restaurant while onlookers yelled his famous "Woooooo!"

But Flair's life hasn't always been cause for celebration. He's survived a plane crash, an infamous road rage incident that led to his arrest, he's going through his third divorce, and he had a fight last year with his daughter's boyfriend that left him with a black eye. The latter didn't stop him from making public appearances, which led to photos of the black-eyed tan man hitting the 'net. But that's what makes him so endearing. He has a larger-than-life persona that few possess. He retired from wrestling last year and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He's focusing on his many business ventures, but is still heavily involved in the sport, making appearances and challenging Chris Jericho to a fight. Here's to another 60, Ric.

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Prime Time Love

There's a new reality show that I'm a fan of: Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love. I just finished watching the fifth episode. It airs Tuesdays, 10:30 p.m. on Oxygen. (I can watch a show on Oxygen when it features a great former athlete. Man Law.) The show stars Deion and Pilar Sanders and their three children who are all seven and under (there are also periodic appearances by Deion's two older children from his first marriage). This show is another in the new trend of reality shows portraying families from the hip-hop generation, which I'm happy to see. Those include shows with Salt & Pepa, Snoop Dogg, and Rev. Run. But this is the first one that I'm aware of that stars an athlete.

Rather than elaborate on what I like about the show, I'll just say a few things: Deion is as charismatic and funny as you'd expect him to be; Pilar is hot—so hot that it's hard to believe she has three kids; their house is ridiculously big—so big that Deion rides around it on a scooter (it also seems to be because he has bad knees); the show is a little scripted, as are most reality shows, but not nearly as scripted as Snoop Dogg's Fatherhood.

Now, here's a list of Charlotte celebrities and their spouses who I think would make for good reality television:

• Steve and Angie Smith: The Carolina Panthers star has three young children and seems to have mellowed over the last couple of years. It would be interesting to see how things are around his house, especially when his team is struggling.
• Larry and Shelly Brown: The new Charlotte Bobcats head coach and his wife will be treated like royalty, at least for now, as they settle in to their new home in Charlotte.
• Anthony and Tarsha McMillan Hamilton: The soulful R&B crooner is a family man who loves his hometown. Cameras following him around would find him at places you wouldn't expect to see a celebrity of his stature. It would also be fun to see him in the studio with A-list artists and his wife, who's a singer as well.
• Ric and Tiffany VanDemark Flair: Now that the Nature Boy is "retired," he should have more time on his hands to run around places yelling wooooooo!
• Jeff and Ingrid Vandebosch Gordon: NASCAR drivers are known for having hot wives, and Jeff's model spouse takes the checkered flag.

Perhaps I should start pitching these shows to networks.

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