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| The Dirtiest Player in the Game Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Who?: Ric Flair
Promotions: AWA, NWA, WCW, WWF, TNA
Nicknames: Nature Boy, Naitch, The Dirtiest Player in the Game, The Black Scorpion, The Man, Wrestling God, Golden Stallion, The Sixty-Minute Man, Slick Ric, The Limousine-Ridin', Jet-Flyin', Kiss-Stealin, Wheelin', Dealin' Son of a Gun
Classic Affiliations: The Four Motherfucking Horsemen. Duh. Classic lineup was Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard, managed by JJ Dillon. In the WWF, he was managed/seconded by Mr. Perfect. Right now, he heads up Fortune in TNA, but let's not talk about TNA.
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 243 lbs.
From: Charlotte, NC
After the jump...Signature Maneuvers
Figure Four Leglock
Flair Flop
Top Ten Moves of Ric Flair
Classic Feuds:
The man feuded with everyone worth a damn in this business. Harley Race, Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, Sting, Lex Luger, Randy Savage, Jumbo Tsuruta, Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper, Mr. Wrestling II, Eddie Guerrero, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Terry Funk... yeah, he's been around the world and then some.
Titles Held:
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (10x)
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (8x)
WCW International Heavyweight Championship (2x)
WWF World Heavyweight Championship (2x)
NWA/WCW United States Championship (6x)
WWE Intercontinental Championship
NWA World Tag Team Championship s(3x, 2x with Greg Valentine, 1x with Blackjack Mulligan)
NWA Television Championship
WWE World Tag Team Championships (3x, 2x with Batista, 1x with Roddy Piper)
1992 WWF Royal Rumble Winner
WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2008
NWA Hall of Fame Class of 2008
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame Class of 1996
Promos:
It's Rolex Time!
A real hard nut to swallow
Nitro Montage
To be the man, you gotta beat the man
Some kinda fine
Giving Ricky Morton a training bra
Flair's Legacy: Forget Ric Flair as you see him now, a doddering old man, ruining his legacy in TNA. Especially if you're a new-school wrestling fan, that Ric Flair is not the Ric Flair that people like me and TWB superfan Barry Clark, Jr. and several others know as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, wrestler of all-time. You could say that Flair is Willie Mays of pro wrestling, a guy who was awesome in his prime, but stuck around too long. No one remembers Mays' years with the Mets, and no one should remember Flair's TNA years if the world was fair. But Mays wasn't pushed as the franchise player of those Mets teams. Flair? Yeah, not so much background activity in TNA.
That being said, in his prime, there was no one who was better at doing his thing. In the 1980s, Flair was to Southern wrestling what Hulk Hogan was to the Northeast. He was an icon, and he made his bones doing things differently than Hogan. He was the villain that you wanted to see beaten, not the conquering hero. He became a favorite of the community that was akin to what the Internet is today, fans who appreciated wrestling acumen and ability on the mic rather than character alignment. He made everyone he was in the ring with look like a million bucks, even after making them look like idiots in pre-match promos. People say Hogan was the reason why pro wrestling took off in the '80s, but without Flair as a counterweight, I don't think it takes off.
Even in the '90s, when Flair went to the WWF and then returned as a background character in WCW, he was still a super-valuable asset, even if he was misused, especially towards the end of WCW's days. Flair, even for being an old guy with manboobs hanging out, was still valuable in the WWE as a member of Evolution. He's been a great performer in four decades. I think you gotta give it up to The Man. WOOOOO!
Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!
I disagree with your assertion that Flair is ruining his legacy in TNA. I mean, TNA sucks, to be sure, but at least they let Ric Flair be Ric Flair. This has been his best year since the '90s; his last WWE run was pathetic.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best ever on the mic, but his in-ring ability and drawing power are grossly overrated. His matches were silly (Flair flop!), and when you think of the biggest draws in history, when was Flair ever the top draw for the top national company? WWF in the 80's and early 90's, WCW in the mid-late 90's, WWF/E from 98-now- when was Flair's name ever on the main event marquee? Only once, when he defected to WWF in 91, and his run as champ was a disaster. Vince couldn't get the belt on Bret and Hogan fast enough.
ReplyDeleteWhen people talk of the great Flair, they're really talking about the 80's. Yes, he was a much better worker then, and his draw was big, but Hogan was a 5 times bigger draw for the WWF. Not to mention NWA had Dusty, Magnum TA, and the Freebirds drawing just as much money as Flair. NWA had a solid team of guys who were huge in the south. WWF had Macho and Warrior for a time, but everyone knew the WWF's big attraction was Hogan. In WCW, it was Hogan/nWo. When Hogan left WWF, it was Bret, then HBK. Flair was never a national star, and only attained mainstream status due to his "legend." Everyone in the business looked up to him, and the smarks couldn't shut up about him. The announcers told us he was a "legend" and we all said, "Oh yeah, that's Flair, he's a legend." But who outside the south ever bought a ticket to because they just had to see Ric Flair? The guy definitely drew money, no doubt, but he's not even in the top 10. Hogan, Rock, Austin, Sammartino, Bret, HBK, Cena, Undertaker, Lesnar, nWo, DX, Orton, Andre, I'd put all those guys ahead of Flair in terms of drawing power. And he wouldn't even make my top 50 as far as workrate goes. But hey, I have this argument with fellow MMA fanatics all the time about who "draws" and there's no science it boils down to. Half of it is subjective, half of it is interpreting numbers.
-Billy F.
I agree with you Billy, Ric Flair wasn't the top draw just as Hogan and others was, but you gotta hand it to the man, even after many years, he still can move the crowd with his charisma, ring attire that shines bright as gems from the jewelers, and how he make midcarders look good. I've been watching him on TV since I was a kid residing in Indianapolis, IN when my dad first showed me clips of when Flair is still at NWA.
ReplyDeleteAfter all these years, some of his quotes stuck in my brain, which made me get a quote from him engraved on my wedding ring at the jewelry store (Indianapolis) which states, "Diamonds are Forever, and so is our Love".