Ric Flair was recently surprised with a custom Rolex to replace the watch he was given following his retirement match at WWE WrestleMania 24.
Luxury watch dealer Roman Sharf presented Flair with the watch at the National Card Convention. The gift was inspired by the custom Rolex Shawn Michaels gave Flair after their WrestleMania 24 match in 2008, which Flair allegedly later misplaced.
Video of the surprise has since generated more than three million views on YouTube.
Speaking on his Dual Time podcast, Sharf explained that the idea came together after a conversation with Steven Solomon, who manages Flair’s appearances and signings.
“This wasn’t even planned,” Sharf said. “The gentleman who manages his events and signings, Steven Solomon, was here picking up a watch. He buys Rolexes from us; he’s a collector. He told me this whole story about how Ric Flair misplaced the watch and the whole to-do. When he told me the story, a lightbulb went off in my head, especially leading up to The National.”
Sharf said Solomon mentioned that it would be nice to eventually replace Flair’s missing watch, prompting him to decide there was no reason to wait.
“He said something; he wasn’t insinuating anything,” Sharf continued. “But he said, ‘It’d be nice to replace that watch in the future.’ I was like, ‘Why are we going to wait? I’m going to go, take a payday, have a custom dial made, and I’ll give it to him at The National as a surprise.’ He was like, ‘Really?’ ‘Yeah, I’ll pay for it.’ He was taken aback. I like to do nice things and I thought it was a great idea.”
Sharf admitted he wasn’t sure how Flair would react and became emotional himself after seeing what the gift meant to the WWE Hall of Famer.
“I did not know what to expect. His emotional reaction got me emotional. You can’t really see me crying in the video, but I was holding back tears. I felt like I made a legend’s day. You can see him trying to get out a ‘Wooo!’ and it was a ‘woo.’ I wanted to do it at the end, but I couldn’t do it either because I was holding back.”
Sharf also revealed that Flair’s team was mindful of the 77-year-old becoming too overwhelmed by the surprise.
“His team was concerned a little bit because he’s 77 years old and lived the life of a rockstar. He has a legit heart monitor on his wrist. They were concerned not to get too overwhelmed. Overall, I would’ve been just as happy if it wasn’t on camera. It was a great experience.”
Thank You So Much @romansharf! This Made Me Very Emotional! pic.twitter.com/3gNkguOVI5
— Ric Flair® (@RicFlairNatrBoy) July 31, 2026
