Ciara and 50 Cent Don the red carpet for The Wrestler

Mickey Rourke is up for best actor at tomorrow night’s Academy Awards for his remarkable comeback role in “The Wrestler.” On his big night, he’ll have the comfort of knowing that he has a real-life wrestler in his corner, CBS Evening News weekend anchor Jeff Glor reports. Of all the models for Rourke’s character, maybe the most famous is Ric Flair. With Bravado, bleach blonde hair, and 000 robes, Flair helped make professional wrestling what it is today. “I walked out the door I knew I had ’em once I was standing here,” Flair told Glor standing in one of the wrestling rings he once ruled. “Bingo. Any woman I wanted just like that. You, honey!” His 36-year career has been defined by hard blows and hard living. A 16-time heavyweight champion, Flair has been divorced three times. He has made, and lost, a fortune. But today, at 59, he’s still “the nature boy.” “Wooo! This is what I do if I’m lonely at night,” Flair said, modeling one of his robes. “I put my robe on and I walk around.” “I’m not sure I can think of anybody who has put more miles on his body, literally and figuratively,” Glor said. “There’s nobody alive,” said Flair. “I bleed like nobody else.” Those miles include alcohol use, thousands of wrestling matches and all the scars that come with them. Over the course of Flair’s career, professional wrestling has become a billion-dollar, multimedia industry. The largest company, WWE, earned 5 million in 2007. Billed as “Broadway with body slams,” WWE programming …
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