Ric Flair only recently found out his birth name (Picture: Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)

Ric Flair is one of the most famous names in wrestling history – but even he didn’t known his actual name until recently.

The 73-year-old WWE Hall of Famer was adopted as a baby and given the name Richard Fliehr, which eventually became his pro wrestling moniker way back in 1972, but it wasn’t the one on his birth certificate.

In his new Peacock documentary Woooooo! Becoming Ric Flair, the Nature Boy revealed he was actual born Fred Phillips, which he didn’t know himself until three years ago.

When asked for his ‘given name at birth’, he told the cameras: ‘Fred Phillips. I just found that out three years ago.’

A voiceover revealed that his life ‘began’ in an orphanage in Tennessee, with the star explaining that his birth mother was a nurse, while his father worked as an architect.

Also in the film, he noted a man who shares the same birth mother got in touch and revealed he is the wrestling legend’s brother, but Flair wasn’t interested in meeting him aged 73, as he doesn’t want to look into the past.

‘I don’t have any curiosity,’ Flair insisted. ‘I’ve got enough to be curious about, without someone I’ve never met in my life and meet him now at 73.

‘What are we going to talk about? Ruin our life? 

‘He probably only wants to meet me because I’m what I am, whoever I am… If that makes sense.’

It’s been a wild year for the star, who paired up with Mike Tyson on a cannabis line, before coming out of wrestling retirement to team with his son-in-law Andrade El Idolo against Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal over the summer.

The match wasn’t a smooth experience for Ric, who admitted he passed out twice due to dehydration.

He said: ‘I don’t think people realise that I passed out twice. What happened was, my regimentation for training was so strict that I kept my weight on. I wanted my perfect weight to be like 220lbs going in.

‘So, the last day and a half, aside from all the work that we had planned for me to do, I didn’t hydrate cause I had it in my mind that I had to weigh 219lbs. So anyway, I went to the ring at about 217lbs. What happened during the body of the match, I just became dehydrated.’

However, in September Ric celebrated 50 years in wrestling and referenced one of his famous speeches from 2008 as he teased the possibility of another match, while he’s admitted on a number of occasions he regrets billing it as his retirement in August.

He tweeted: ‘Thank You To Everyone Who Helped Me Celebrate My 50 Years In The Business! One Thing Is For Certain… I WILL NEVER RETIRE! WOOOOO! #50YearsOfFlair (sic)’

Woooooo! Becoming Ric Flair is available to stream on Peacock for US viewers.

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The Nature Boy was adopted as a baby.