World Wrestling Entertainment legends "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat are headed to Bethlehem, but not to compete inside the squared circle.
Flair and Steamboat will appear 8 p.m. July 23 at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center as part of the interactive WWE Legends Experience, officials announced Tuesday in a news release. The two icons will participate in an audience question-and-answer session, swap road stories and discuss their respective careers inside the ring.
Tickets cost $35-$55. Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Friday, May 27, through ticketmaster.com, sandseventcenter.com, by calling 800-745-3000 and at the box office, 77 Sands Blvd.
Regarded as one of the greatest (and most charismatic) grapplers in the history of professional wrestling, Flair's 40-year career in the business has included stints with the WWE, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008 and then again, as a member of the wrestling stable The Four Horsemen, in 2012.
Flair has twice held the WWE Championship, as well as the Intercontinental Championship and the World Tag Team Championship. Flair is a nine-time NWA heavyweight champ.
Flair currently manages his daughter, Charlotte, who is the WWE Women's Champion.
Steamboat competed for both WWE and WCW. He won the WWE Intercontinental title in 1987, defeating "Macho Man" Randy Savage at Wrestlemania III in what is considered one of the greatest matches of all-time. During his tenure in WCW, Steamboat was a four-time United States Heavyweight Champion and a four-time World Television Champion.
In 1989, Flair and Steamboat faced off in a series of matches, which culminated in Steamboat losing the NWA (WCW) World Heavyweight Championship to Flair during the inaugural WrestleWar pay-per-view special. (A month earlier, in April 1989, Steamboat retained the title during his bout with Flair at Clash of the Champions.)