Another Fallen Idol

It’s never easy to watch your childhood idols turn into shadows of their former selves, but it is inevitable as almost no one can remain awesome forever.

(Note: Jennifer Aniston and Bruce Willis are obvious exceptions to this rule.)

Earlier this week, I hit up the recent fall from grace that has befallen Will Smith as he’s now become his ’90s antithesis, Carlton Banks.

Today, another of my childhood heroes has broken my heart.

Ric Flair, arguably the greatest professional wrestler of all-time, has gone from being a stylin’ and profilin’, limousine ridin’, jet flying, kiss stealin’, wheelin’ dealin’, Son of a Gun…to becoming a cheesy pitchman for some third-rate energy shot company.

Here is the first of the two television spots I’ve seen so far, this one is for the illustrious Fuel in a Bottle Energy Shot:

Why the hell is he screaming at the guy?

He’s standing right there, Ric.

It’s like this whole thing was done at gunpoint and is supposed to be an SNL parody or something.

Anyway, it’s probably best to not question anything that happens in this commercial, but rather to hit y’all with the follow-up ad for the, um, body-building product (or something) that you’re just going to rush right out and buy, the Fuel in a Bottle Protein Shot:

I get that there are plenty of people who either don’t know who Ric Flair is or who don’t understand why this is such a travesty, but there was a time and a place where Ric Flair was pretty much the coolest guy in the world.

Granted, that time was roughly 1988 and the place was Charlotte, North Carolina…so there’s that, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t just one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.

Ric has fallen on some serious hard times financially, so I guess I shouldn’t be overly surprised that he’s stooped to this level, but holy hell this is just plain awful.

He’s even sporting that fake World Title that looks like he bought it at Target on his way to film these commercials.

Another rough day for my childhood idols.