Awesome / Ric Flair

Sixteen world titles, matches of all kinds all around the world, some of the best promos in the history of the business; truly the Nature Boy has done it all.

• Ric Flair held a World Heavyweight Title (either NWA, WCW, WWE or "WCW International") during some part of EVERY YEAR from 1981 into 1996. Hulk Hogan comes close to matching this, since he won his first WWE Championship Title in January 1984 and his last WCW World Heavyweight Title in July 1999, but he just misses because he did not have a recognized title reign at any point in 1992.
• Ric Flair survived a plane crash in 1975 that killed the pilot, paralyzed Johnny Valentine, shortened the career of "Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods, and injured Bob Bruggers and promoter David Crockett; Flair, who broke his back in three places and was told by doctors that he would never wrestle again, returned to the ring six months later. A side effect of this was a change in Flair's in-ring style in order to accommodate his injuries, which he adapted to quickly and used to great effect. The most visible of these is his absolute refusal to take a flat back body drop; he always lands on one side (usually his right) and takes most of the impact on his shoulder and hip. Flair has said that this is actually a psychological block on his part. Because he was always so afraid of re-injuring his back, he has never been able to land flat since.
• Flair's early runs as NWA World Heavyweight Champion could be considered a lifetime-sized CMOA. As NWA Champ, Flair's job was going to the various territories under the NWA umbrella and having a string of matches with the resident champion. This matches would often hit the one-hour time limit for the first few matches before Flair would win the last match. Then. he'd go to the next territory and start it all over again with a new champion. Flair would MULTIPLE one hour matches in the span of a week, then move on to a new place and do it all over again. Can you imagine ANY wrestler today having that kind of workload? This is why Flair is the man.
• His match at the Palacio de los Deportes in Santo Domingo against Jack Veneno on January 7, 1982. A crowd of 14,000 may not sound particularly large by Flair's standards but the hype for and positive reception following this match helped make professional wrestling the number 1 television program in the Dominican Republic.
• His Clash of the Champions I match with Sting. It was a tour de force performance by Flair and established Sting as a top guy in the company.
• Flair and the Four Horsemen's rule of the NWA in the 1980's. This was truly Flairs day.
• Flair's trilogy of matches with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1989, which are all considered true classics (Dave Meltzer, who was at the Chi-Town Rumble match which started things off, gave all three matches a five-star rating in the The Wrestling Observer Newsletter).
  • Perhaps even more awesome in terms of myth is that Flair thinks that some of the matches he had with Steamboat in the late 70's/early 80's might have been even better, but lacking any ability to record them, they exist solely in the memories of those lucky enough to have seen them.
• Flair deciding that personal dignity was more important than company loyalty when he refused to cut his hair, change his gimmick, and take a lower spot on the card (despite being a top draw) in WCW in 1991; WCW's then-president Jim Herd fired him, which resulted in Flair showing up in the WWF with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt (which, thanks to WCW's refusal to pay him back his $25,000 security deposit, he legally owned).
• Flair entering the 1992 Royal Rumble at #3, lasting nearly an hour, and winning the Rumble (and, thus, the vacant WWF Championship); his post-match promo is pretty awesome in its own right. Its especially admirable seeing him in full "Nature Boy" mode the entire match, avoiding eliminations by the skin of his teeth and cheating like the Flair we all know and love. Special mention goes to him giving The Undertaker a low-blow. Granted, it just pissed him off, but still!
  • Despite being "too old" for Jim Herd, when Ric Flair came back to WCW to fight Vader at Starrcade 1993, he won, and became WCW champion again. Vader was a behemoth of a man, an agile big man capable of off the top rope maneuvers like moonsaults, and a truly brutal powerbomb, yet Flair won in a higly emotional match. Nowadays, Vader vs. Flair is considered the greatest main event in Starrcade history.
• When he and Antonio Inoki were in the main event in day two of the joint WCW New Japan Collision In Korea peace festival show, the highest attended pro wrestling event on record.
• Flair's return to WCW in 1998 after he'd been fired by Eric Bischoff months earlier, where he reformed the Four Horsemen. His crazed promo at Bischoff's expense counts as well. Bonus points for being, by all accounts, a shoot.
  Ric Flair: "Fire me, I'm already fired!"
  • As we return from the ad break, Tony Schiavone calls it the greatest moment in the history of Nitro. Stopped clock moment, right there.
• Flair is responsible for, quite possibly, the most insane promo ever cut. You should really see this one for yourself. For context, Eric Bischoff got one over on Ric, and Ric told Eric "You're the man!" as per the terms of his Catchphrase. What follows is him violently discarding his clothing while name checking all the high-end designers who made it, and ripping $100 bills in half, all while claiming that they were Eric's now. This is the promo that gave the world the concept of Ric Flair ripping his clothes off and elbow-dropping his suit when his promos get too intense.
  • This promo, after Triple H turned on him in 2005, is up there as well.
• Flair's promo on the final Nitro in 2001, and his final match with Sting on that same show.
• Flair's "Old Yeller" promo leading into his WrestleMania 24 match with Shawn Michaels.
• Flair stealing a lot of Hulk Hogan's thunder by debuting on TNA Impact the very same night Hogan did.
• The fact that he's still wrestling. Consider this; Wrestling IS Ric Flair's life. He's going to keep going until he dies in the ring. Nobody in the history of the industry, aside from Abdullah the Butcher (actually longer), Terry Funk and Johnny Saint, who have been wrestling for 7 and 14 years longer respectively, can say they've been around as long as Flair has, or will be around as long as he is. He's never going to stop as long as he's breathing.
  • Quite honestly, my biggest Flair-related nightmare is that he would die in the ring.
  • At the age of 56, he competed in the first TLC singles title match of all things on the 1/16/06 episode of Raw against Edge. A somewhat overlooked or forgotten match, Flair just takes a TON of punishment and bumps throughout, including but not limited to: a splash from Edge from the top of a ladder inside the ring through a table outside, and a superplex from the top of a ladder. And of course he sports a nice crimson mask for more than half the match. For your viewing pleasure.
• Flair's Wrestlemania match with Shawn Michaels. The entire thing. It didn't seem possible, but for that match he managed to hang in there with one of the greatest wrestlers of all time even if it was clear that Michaels was his superior. Because, for one night, Flair seemed to rediscover his Red Baron of being the dirtiest player in the game. Chop blocks, the Figure Four, knife-hand chops, he did everything. And when he rolled out of the way of a moonsault by Michaels onto the announcer's table, or countered a Sweet Chin Music into a Figure Four Leg Lock, you started to think that maybe, just maybe Flair could pull it off. But then Michaels connected on the first of three Sweet Chin Musics.
• Though that in and of itself is worthy of an awesome moment: Sweet Chin Music is one of the most protected finishers in the history of the WWE. And it took three to put Flair down for good.
• Unforgiven 2005. Flair vs Carlito, for the Intercontinental Championship. Not one of his all-time classics, but there's a couple of particular Awesome moments: Flair goes to the top rope, and much of the crowd shouts "NO" because, well, it's Ric Flair. Carlito goes to toss him off as usual, but Flair counters, and for once in his career he actually hits a flying fistdrop, to the delight of the Oklahoma City crowd. He goes on to win the match and the title, beginning his sole IC title reign, making him the oldest person to hold the title, officially beginning Flair's final run as a singles champion, and basically blowing the roof off the place. See it here.
  • Flair's promo after winning is also awesome, putting over the IC title in the biggest possible way.
  Flair: I cannot begin to tell you what a great honor it is for me at this stage of my career to win this, most prestigious of all, Intercontinental Championships. My first one! My first one!!! And baby, lemme tell you this: tonight, this is as sweet to the Nature Boy as any - as any! - of those sixteen world titles. This means as much!
• Another moment with Carlito deserves mention as well: Slick Ric verbally DESTROYS Carlito in one of the best The Reason You Suck Speeches in wrestling. And it just came out of nowhere!
• Pick a vintage 80s Nature Boy promo; no one in the history of wrestling may have been better on the stick than Slick Ric talking about his vast wealthy and multitude of women on hand. There's a reason rappers love to sample Flair soundbites (and have him in their videos).
  "It's so hard for me to sit back here, in this studio, looking at a guy out here hollering MY NAME...when last year I spent more money on SPILT LIQUOR...In bars from one side of this world to the other, than you MADE! You're talking to the Rolex wearing, diamond ring wearing, kiss stealing (WOO!) wheeling and dealing, limousine riding, jet flying, son of a gun!" *points to shoes* "And I'm having a hard time holding these alligators down!"
• Say what you will about his matches in the WWE after WCW died, but Flair didn't take a backseat to anyone when it came to the mic, as he proved when he challenged Vince McMahon to a match at the Royal Rumble.
  Ric Flair: (After Flair gives a story about Vince criticizing him after his match at Wrestlemania VIII) I've always wanted to ask you one thing...WHO ARE YOU TO EVER TELL ME HOW TO WRESTLE?! I'M RIC FLAIR, YOU'RE VINCE MCMAHON!
• Ric Flair appearing at AAA Triple Mania, free of charge and chartered a private jet on his own dime, just to be in the corner with his future Son-In-Law, Andrade El Idolo.