The website MilitaryTimes.com is carrying an article explaining how the late President George H.W. Bush was secretly a big wrestling fan.

At an event following the funeral services for “41” in Texas, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie described how Bush’s secretary once called him while he was a young staffer at the Foreign Relations Committee telling him that that President wanted to see if Ric Flair was available when they were going to Charlotte in a few days.

Wilkie described what the secretary told him as, “We don’t talk about this very much, but the President and Mrs. Bush watch Mr. Flair every Saturday night. They’re going to Charlotte, and they’d like to know if Mr. Flair could accompany them on Air Force One.”

Wilkie said that he called the NWA’s office and asked for Flair and his request was immediately accepted.

“So, there he was, at Andrews Air Force Base, platinum hair, three-piece suit, gold watch, and the first hug Ric gets is from Barbara Bush when she gets out of the limousine,” Wilkie continued. “We fly down to Charlotte, we get in the reception line (at the airport), and Barry Goldwater is there, too. Goldwater gets up and asks the president, ‘Where is Barbara?’ And the president tells him, ‘Barry, after 48 years of marriage, I just lost her to someone called Nature Boy!’”

Flair wrote a tweet on December 2 offering prayers to the Bush family, adding, “I’ve known the Bush family since 1992. I cannot explain how honored I was to ride on the Spirit Of America and spend time alone with the President.”