Andrade has revealed that he initially believed Ric Flair was simply selling for the crowd when the Nature Boy began struggling during what would become his final match, only to later learn that Flair was actually suffering a heart attack in the ring.
Flair competed in the last match of his career on July 31, 2022, teaming with Andrade El Idolo against Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett. During the bout, Flair passed out, and at the time he believed he was simply dehydrated. It was only afterward revealed that Flair had suffered a heart attack during the match itself.
Speaking with Chris Jericho on the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Andrade reflected on the moment, explaining that he was scared something serious could happen to Flair, who was his father-in-law at the time, but that when Flair began visibly struggling, his first instinct was to think the veteran was simply putting on a performance for the audience rather than experiencing a genuine medical emergency.
The admission underscores just how convincing Flair’s in-ring instincts remained even in his seventies, and how difficult it was for those around him to immediately distinguish real distress from the kind of theatrical selling that defined his decades-long career. Flair, one of the most decorated performers in professional wrestling history, had announced the match as a culmination of his in-ring career, and the gravity of what actually unfolded only became clear once the heart attack was confirmed afterward.
Andrade’s comments offer a rare firsthand account from someone standing in the ring at the moment the medical emergency occurred, adding new detail to a night that was already significant as the final match of Ric Flair’s wrestling career. The match itself, teaming Andrade with Flair against Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett, has since taken on added weight given what the participants and audience did not immediately realize was happening in real time.
