It was reported last Thursday morning, just hours before the WWE NXT Takeover event, that Ric Flair would be missing the show due to a personal conflict. Flair was scheduled to appear at Takeover in a segment with Kenta, introducing him as Hideo Itami.

It turns out that Flair was hospitalized at the Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Georgia. We know that Flair was in the hospital as of September 9th and the decision for him to miss Takeover may not have been made until late Wednesday evening, September 10th.

I wasn't able to confirm why Flair was hospitalized but it may have been for some sort of stomach surgery. A source close to the situation noted that Flair has been at the same hospital at least twice since September 3rd.

As of this writing, WWE is still planning on having Flair work Tuesday's SmackDown tapings in Biloxi as a special referee for Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton, likely the dark main event.