Wrestling Legends of the 1980s: The Fascinating Stories Behind the Superstars (4 of 6)

Lou Albano and Cyndi Lauper

Amazingly, one of the things that helped launch wrestling into the mainstream was a completely random encounter. Retired wrestler “Captain” Lou Albano, who had been settling into his new role as manager to the heels, happened to meet budding pop star Cyndi Lauper on a flight. She invited him to appear in her “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” video, while she made an appearance at Wrestlemania, an event that drew huge ratings and essentially made the sport what it is today.

The “Nature Boy” Ric Flair

Ric Flair was destined to live a one-of-a-kind existence, that’s for sure. Born in 1949, he was placed in the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, an unlicensed adoption agency that was later exposed for child trafficking. Young children would be kidnapped and sold to wealthy families, abused, and in some cases murdered. Fortunately, Flair turned out okay. The most celebrated living wrestler today has said that while he’ll never know the truth of his origins, he embraced his adoptive parents as his real family.