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It's hard to envision just how close to death Ric Flair was in 2017 ... until you see the photo of the WWE legend while he was recovering in the hospital.

Nature Boy just posted a pic taken right around the time he woke up from his medically induced coma back in August. He looks extremely frail as he tries to walk with the help of a wheelchair.

The good news ... Flair also posted a "NOW" pic -- in which he's bulked up and crushing a stationary bike!

WOOOOO!!!

Diddy says he's 100% serious about buying the Carolina Panthers, and the reason he's doing it couldn't be more important ... 'cause he says it's all to inspire and empower black America.

Puff sat down with the crew on "The Breakfast Club" when he was asked if there were any updates on his efforts to purchase the squad.

Diddy made it clear it's totally real -- he's putting an investment group together -- and told everyone why he thought it was important for the black community to have NFL ownership.

"It was never about me buying the Panthers, it was always about we. It was always about we need a team. I jumped out there to make sure that they understood that they have to consider some black ownership right now with 80%, 70% of the league being African-American. It's just time."

Diddy goes on to say he gets why some people think he won't be able to do it ... there's a lot of yellow tape -- but it's clear he doesn't think anyone can stop him.

Pope Francis went from Pontiff to Good Samaritan on a dime, after a police officer fell off her horse during a procession in Chile.

The Pope was in Iquique, Chile to urge the country to end its ongoing conflict with the Mapuche people -- the indigenous people of Chile -- when the incident occurred.

The Pope got off the Popemobile and stood by the cop until an ambulance arrived.

The Vatican says the woman "received words of consolation from the Holy Father."

She was taken away in the ambulance and her condition is unknown, although the Vatican stated she was conscious the entire time.

Sebastian Telfair -- former NBA point guard -- has been ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from his estranged wife and kids after she claims he went on a violent window-smashing rampage at their home.

Samantha Telfair filed court docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, claiming Sebastian showed up to her home in Irvine, CA on Jan. 12 and went nuclear on the doorbell when he realized she wasn't home.

32-year-old Telfair began cussing like crazy and kicking the door -- even when the couple's two young kids came out of the house and begged him to stop.

When Samantha finally got home, Sebastian approached her aggressively -- but she was able to get into the house. Instead, Samantha claims, Sebastian bashed in the front windshield of her car.

Cops were called and an emergency restraining order was issued against Sebastian.

Samantha says she's worried about Sebastian's overall mental health -- saying he's threatened to kill himself and has "become increasingly hostile, unstable and violent."

She also gave police a photo of the guns officials confiscated from Sebastian during an arrest in NY back in June.

A judge granted a temporary restraining order against Telfair. There's a hearing in the matter set for next month.

UFC fighter Uriah Hall says he suffered a "slight heart attack" and "mini-seizure" the day before his fight with Vitor Belfort at UFC Fight Night: St Louis ... and doctors told him he's lucky to be alive.

"The doctor even said that even if I had made weight I probably would have died the next day because my body just wasn’t having it," Uriah said in an Instagram Live video.

Hall says his health scares were due to an injury that hindered his weight cut ... and he's refuting Dana White's claim that he was partying in L.A. -- insisting he was taking his training 100% serious.

The day before the event, the former 'TUF' finalist fainted on his way to the scale and was transported to a local hospital.

Legendary college football coach Les Miles was just introduced to the fidget spinner ... and transformed from a 64-year-old man to a kid on Christmas Day!!

Not sure why they did it, but The Players' Tribune locked Les in a room with a spinner -- and what ensued was pure comedy.

The longtime LSU coach seemed kinda intimidated at first ... but once he starts toying with it, you can tell his mind is BLOWN.

"I guarantee people will buy this."

Scumbag convicted sexual predator Larry Nassar wrote a letter to the court begging to end the witness statements ... saying the terrible stories of sexual assault are damaging his mental health.

Don't worry ... the judge shot his pathetic ass down.

The former Team USA gymnastics doctor was convicted on 7 felony sexual assault charges -- and his victims were invited to share impact stories to the court before the sentencing phase.

So far, 50 women shared their stories about how Nassar molested them while telling the women he was performing routine medical exams.

Some women have told Nassar he broke them emotionally. Some women shared how they considered killing themselves. There are still 51 more women scheduled to speak.

But Nassar wants out ... and wrote a letter to the court begging officials to make it stop -- calling the whole thing a "media circus" that was "detrimental to his mental health."

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina fired back in open court -- telling Nassar, "This isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, there’s no truth in there, it’s delusional" -- noting he agreed to hear the witness statements as part of his plea deal.

"I didn't orchestrate this, you did," she told Nassar.

"Spending four or five days listening to them is significantly minor considering the hours of pleasure you’ve had at their expense and ruining their lives."

WWE superstar Roman Reigns is 100% denying that he bought steroids from an imprisoned PED kingpin ... claiming he has no idea who the man or his company is.

“I have never heard of Richard Rodriguez or Wellness Fitness Nutrition," Reigns said in a statement to ProWrestlingSheet.

In a recent phone interview from jail, Rodriguez fingered Reigns -- along with Mark Wahlberg and Josh Duhamel -- as celebs who purchased 'roids from him using aliases.

Roman's calling BS -- saying he learned his lesson after being flagged for a WWE wellness policy violation about 2 years ago ... adding that he's since "passed 11 tests as part of WWE’s independent drug testing program."

President Donald Trump came through on presenting "The Fakies" ... his 2017 Fake News Awards. He teased it up as "The Most Dishonest and Corrupt Media Awards of the Year" ... and here are the HUGE winners (losers?) in his words. No shocker, CNN took the most trophies.

- ABC's News' Brian Ross CHOKES and sends markets in a downward spiral in false report.

- CNN FALSELY reported that candidate Donald Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., had hacked documents from WikiLeaks.

- TIME FALSELY reported that President Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office.

- The Washington Post FALSELY reported the President's massive sold out rally in Pensacola, Florida was empty. Dishonest reporter showed picture of empty arena HOURS before crowd started pouring in.

- CNN FALSELY edited a video to make it appear President Trump defiantly overfed fish during a visit with the Japanese Prime Minister. Japanese Prime Minister actually led the way with the feed.

- CNN FALSELY reported about Anthony Scaramucci's meeting with a Russian, but retracted it due to a "significant breakdown in process."

- CNN FALSLEY REPORTED that former FBI Director James Comey would dispute President Trump's claim that he was told he was not under investigation.

- The New York Times FALSELY claimed on the front page that the Trump administration had hidden a climate report.

Mariah Carey tried to pass the buck on South American promoters, laying the blame on them for her canceled 'Sweet Sweet Fantasy' gigs ... according to a countersuit they've just filed.

The promoter, Fenix, says it arranged for Mariah to play 2 shows on her tour -- one in Argentina and one in Chile ... but she pulled out. The "why" is what sparked this legal war. Mariah's company initially sued Fenix, claiming it didn't pay her for the shows and damaged her brand.

But according to the new docs, obtained by TMZ, Fenix says it had paid Mariah nearly 75% of what she was due for the concerts -- $703,100. The promoter says that was standard ops based on previous deals with Mariah's camp.

In the suit, Fenix says it believes the real reason Mariah bailed is because she had low ticket sales at 3 shows in Brazil. Further, Fenix says Mariah defamed them when she tweeted to her nearly 17 million followers at the time ... her fans "deserve better than how some of these promoters treated them."

Dennis Rodman has checked into rehab ... again ... in the wake of a drunk driving arrest, his rep confirms.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Rodman was busted in Newport Beach, CA over the weekend -- after cops say he was swerving all over the road and blasting loud music while intoxicated.

We talked to Rodman's rep, Darren Prince -- who says The Worm has entered Turning Point Rehabilitation Center in Paterson, New Jersey to deal with his alcohol issues.

Rodman has been to rehab before -- once in 2014 ... and he was also featured on 'Celebrity Rehab' with Dr. Drew back in 2010.

Danica Patrick says she's taken out an "insurance policy" on her biological clock ... putting her eggs on ice to guarantee herself a shot at motherhood.

"A couple years ago, I did an (in vitro fertilization) treatment to freeze my eggs because I'm getting older and I drive race cars," Danica said on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.

FYI, Patrick is 35 ... and plans to retire from racing after the Indy 500 in May.

But Danica didn't wanna take any chances while her career was still full throttle ... so she made the choice to extract a couple dozen mini-Danicas during her relationship with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

She says the treatment sucked -- but was ultimately successful.

Kevin Spacey's under a new Scotland Yard investigation -- a third man filed a complaint alleging the actor sexually assaulted him.

Scotland Yard says the alleged victim went to police on December 13 claiming Spacey sexually assaulted him in 2005 in Westminster. We're told Officers from the Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are now investigating.

Cops in London are already investigating 2 similar complaints lodged against Spacey, who was artistic director at The Old Vic theater from 2004 to 2015. The theatre has received over 20 complaints against Spacey, and strongly urged people who came forward to contact police.

What happens when the king of extreme sports meets one of the Beatles?

IMPROMPTU DANCE PARTY!!!

Tony Hawk ran into Paul McCartney Tuesday night at the Hollywood bash for his daughter Stella McCartney's clothing line ... and shared the hilarious play-by-play of their encounter.

"Hi Paul, I'm Tony Hawk. You signed a skateboard for our skatepark foundation and I wanted to say thank you."

"Him: 'You're welcome, let's skate!'"

"... Then this happened. So tonight I either danced awkwardly with Paul McCartney or we did sick stationary slalom moves."

Looked like a little bit of both ... with the legends groovin' to a live Grimes set.

TMZ Sports spoke with Tony the day after the event ... and he admitted to being a little starstruck by Sir Paul and another big-time celeb.

Former WWE superstar Eva Marie says she is, and always will be, an alcoholic ... and her disease almost cost her everything before she was able to come to terms with it.

"I will be an alcoholic for the rest of my life ... and admitting that truth saved my life," Eva wrote in an essay for InStyle.

Eva says she's been sober 5 years, but hit "rock bottom" prior to coming to WWE -- serving 3 months behind bars for multiple DUIs, and struggling in her personal and professional life.

Thankfully, the "Total Divas" star was able to enter into a 12-step program to get clean ... and says she still attends AA meetings every week to avoid falling off the wagon.

Eva's killing it as a fashion designer and fitness model these days ... but says she's still in a constant battle with alcoholism -- "This fairytale life is always one drink away from shattering."

Update: Eva was a guest on "TMZ Live" Wednesday and spoke candidly about her struggle ... and why she's choosing to speak up now.

Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino is coming clean with Uncle Sam -- he's agreed to plead guilty in his tax evasion case in New Jersey.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey filed docs, obtained by TMZ, informing the judge about the "Jersey Shore" star's plea. It's unclear which charges Mike pled guilty to, and if he struck a deal ... though all signs point to a plea deal.

Mike's brother, Marc, also faced criminal charges and also agreed to plead guilty.

We broke the story ... Mike allegedly failed to pay his full tax bill on $8.9 million in earnings made between 2010 and 2012. Prosecutors had said he intentionally filed fraudulent returns to make it look like he was all good with the IRS.