David Flair, Daffney and Crowbar – WCW, 1999
History
This all started on December 6, 1999. David Flair had come into WCW and was becoming rapidly hated by the fans for his lack of ability in the ring. (It’s been said that Flair was rushed into the ring by WCW with minimal training, so that could contribute to the problem, but I digress.) That night we saw the return of the Nitro party – where we would see tapes from various “Nitro parties” around the country. Yes, getting to watch Nitro was a reason to throw a party. That night we were in Peoria, Illinois, and a very interesting looking girl was in front of the camera, proclaiming how cool she thought David Flair was.
Things continued down their path the next week on Nitro, as David received a package at the arena – which contained a headless teddy bear. Unfortunately, David would not keep the bear for long as Luger took it away from him and threw it into the crowd.
Somehow David got his bear back in time for Thunder as he challenged Norman Smiley for the Hardcore title. Smiley panicked when Meng made his way down toward the ring. He grabbed the bear and threw it at Meng. Meng shredded it and chased Norman to the back. After David won the match by countout (yes, I know this was a hardcore match), he gathered up his bear’s pieces and left.
On Sunday was Starrcade, and David got another present – this time it was a golden crowbar. It came in handy as David took on DDP in a crowbar match. Unfortunately, it wasn’t lucky enough as DDP wound up winning the match. After it was over, the girl from the Nitro party came out and rescued David from a beating.
David and his new girlfriend (Daffney) didn’t have much to do on the next night’s Nitro. They were backstage and got to meet the Misfits. Daffney gave Jerry Only a quick knee to the crotch and ran off, which did not make Vampiro (their ally at the time) very happy. Flair and Daffney made their way out to the ring. Flair attacked the ring announcer, and then Vampiro came out. He said that they’d had a misunderstanding and apologized. Okay – your buddy gets kneed in the crotch and you’re apologizing for a misunderstanding? Anyway, David and Daffney quickly beat down both Vampiro and Only.
Thunder saw David and Daffney going out on a date. First we saw them going through a restaurant’s drive-through. David went nuts when they screwed up his order. Daffney just cackled. Next they went to get some gas and David screamed at a gas station worker named Crowbar. After the fill up, Vampiro and the Misfits arrived and attacked David and Daffney. Fortunately, Crowbar was there and made the save.
Nitro saw an extremely strange tag team match. Evan Karagias (of Three Count) teamed with Vampiro to take on David Flair and Crowbar. I can see David and Crowbar, but Evan and Vampiro? Anyway, Three Count came in and tried to attack Vampiro, only to have Vampiro beat them all down. With the ref distracted, Crowbar took advantage of the opportunity to nail Vampiro with a pipe for the win. Post match, Standards and Practices (Lenny Lane, Lodi, and Ms. Hancock (Stacy Keibler)) threatened to remove David, Daffney, and Crowbar from WCW programming, only to get attacked and left laying.
January 3rd’s Nitro saw David and Crowbar teaming again – this time against Lash LeRoux and Midnight. It appeared that David and Crowbar were carrying rabbit’s feet, because Big Vito and Johnny the Bull showed up and leveled Lash, leaving him easy prey for David.
Later that night, David found himself in the middle of a power struggle between the NWO and new WCW Commissioner Terry Funk. That led to another tag match for David and Crowbar – this time against Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash for the Tag Team titles. With a crowbar shot from special guest referee Arn Anderson, the tide turned against the NWO. Arn dragged David on top of Nash and counted the pin. David Flair and Crowbar were now the WCW Tag Team Champions. Jeff Jarrett and Bret Hart then came out of the back with Daffney as their hostage. David nailed Arn with the crowbar, then he and Crowbar grabbed Daffney and the belts and ran.
On Thunder, David and Crowbar were scheduled to defend their titles against Konnan and Billy Kidman. David found himself in the middle again as the NWO kidnapped Arn Anderson. Finally he attacked Jeff Jarrett while he defended the United States title against Norman Smiley. Arn was exchanged for Jarrett.
Later on, the tag team match did go down as scheduled. Konnan and Kidman were in firm control until Arn interfered with a crowbar shot. The champions retained, but their night wasn’t over yet. Bret Hart took on Terry Funk in a hardcore match in the main event. After the referee was attacked, Arn said he was going out. David locked Arn in his locker room and then he, Daffney, and Crowbar headed out to face the NOW and to take a traditional WCW vs. NWO beating.
The next Nitro opened with David and Crowbar defending their tag titles against Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko, and Konnan and Rey Misterio Jr. The match ended with Saturn jumping off a balcony to splash Rey through a table only to get pinned by David Flair.
Thunder opened with Crowbar taking on Vampiro in a match that Vampiro won. He then laid out David Flair only to have Daffney attack him with a pipe. Arn came out to talk to David. As he climbed in the ring, Crowbar tried to attack Arn, only to get beaten down. In response, David and Daffney simply turned around and left.
At Souled Out, Vampiro took on David and Crowbar in a triple threat match. Crowbar tried to pin Vampiro, only to get pulled off by David. Daffney then climbed into the ring for a kiss. Crowbar tried to sneak up and roll David up, but Daffney put a stop to that. Vampiro then easily put away Crowbar and David for the win.
On Nitro the next night, David and Crowbar defeated Three Count (Shane and Shannon) to retain the titles. There weren’t any sort of angle advancements – of course, the WCW champion and some of his closest friends had just walked out, so a level of chaos backstage was a certainty.
Thunder opened with David and Crowbar defending their belts against the Mamalukes. This time their luck had run out as David accidentally nailed Crowbar with his crowbar, which allowed Vito to win the match and the titles.
David and Crowbar began planning to get their belts back as the next Nitro saw them doing guest commentary as the Mamalukes defended against Fit Finlay and Brian Knobbs. On Thunder, they attacked the Mamalukes and left them laying after another successful defense, this time against Three Count.
The next Nitro saw David and Crowbar (after getting jumped during an interview) taking on the Mamalukes. Big Vito put Crowbar through a table and got the pin.
On Thunder, David and Crowbar got a rematch of the non-title variety. One crowbar shot from David later, he and Crowbar had a victory.
Nitro saw David in an unusual match as he was in the middle of his father’s feud with Terry Funk – Funk vs. David in an I Quit match. David sent Crowbar and Daffney to the back, and then got beaten from pillar to post by Funk. Finally Terry Funk looked down at the unconscious David and said that he’d quit that night but wouldn’t against Flair – which meant that David won.
After having Thunder off, the gang was back to their usual ways on Nitro. Disco Inferno, trying to impress the Mamalukes, had brought a wedding to the arena for Big Vito’s sister. Suddenly Daffney caught the bouquet and David and Crowbar trashed the place.
Immediately after that turn of events, David and Crowbar met the Mamalukes and Harlem Heat 2000 (Stevie Ray and Big T(Ahmed Johnson)) in a tag match. Despite being covered in wedding cake, Vito still pulled out the win before he and Johnny got into a brawl with Harlem Heat.
The losing ways continued on Thunder as Vito took on Crowbar in a Philadelphia street fight (after taking care to lock Daffney and David in their locker room). Big Vito easily won.
Superbrawl saw Vito and Johnny defending their titles against David and Crowbar in a stretcher match. The Mamalukes won after duct-taping David and Crowbar to stretchers. However, they were very thoughtful and duct-taped Daffney to a wheelchair (and gagged her) so that she wouldn’t feel left out.
Unfortunately, David and Daffney’s relationship began having problems. First, Billy Kidman’s KidCam caught Buff Bagwell hitting on Daffney (she screamed at him). Then David came out and danced with the Nitro Girls before kissing Daffney.
Following this, we got a month of nonsense as the Wall hurt David and Crowbar, then feuded with Bam Bam Bigelow. After that ended at Uncensored with Crowbar getting chokeslammed off the Turnertron, they simply disappeared….
…until Slamboree. It was the height of the New Blood vs. the Millionaire’s Club feud, and Ric Flair was taking on Shane Douglas. Flair lost after getting hit in the back by someone in a Sting mask, presumably Vince Russo. Instead, “Sting” unmasked to reveal that it was David. Daffney and Russo then came down to the ring. David and Russo got leveled by Kevin Nash, but Daffney hit a low blow to put down the big man.
On Nitro, Ric Flair addressed the situation in a heartfelt plea to his son – even offering to get him a spot in the WWF if he would apologize. David came out and gave his father a hug, then broke a plaster Statue of Liberty over his head. Also, a match was made for the Great American Bash- Ric Flair vs. David.
Thunder saw Arn Anderson coming into the fray on the side of his best friend, only for Russo to immediately book a match between Arn and David. David won, but it took the efforts of himself, Daffney, Crowbar, and another Statue of Liberty replica to put Arn away. Also, all through the show vignettes of David, Daffney, Crowbar, and Russo in New York had been airing. They culminated as David got down on one knee and proposed to Daffney.
The Flair-Russo feud continued on Nitro as the gang paid a visit to Flair’s house. Russo put on one of Flair’s robes and started strutting around. Then David showed them his basement room. This only served to fire Flair up and tell David that he wouldn’t be facing his father at the Bash – he’d be facing Ric Flair, the former 14-time world champion. Also that night, Crowbar won the cruiserweight title.
On Thunder the next week, Ric and Arn took on David and Crowbar. At least, that’s how it was supposed to go down. As Flair made his way to the ring, David and Crowbar were busy dismantling Arn in the back. Jeff Jarrett then came out to keep Flair occupied. When Flair got Jarrett into the corner and started chopping away, David and Crowbar came in to get the match started. Just as David put the figure four on his father, Kevin Nash hit the ring to even things up. Flair responded by rolling up Daffney for the win.
Unfortunately, Flair collapsed at the end of Thunder, which prompted a “funeral” for Ric Flair the next week on Nitro. Terry Taylor then brought out Reid Flair, David’s younger brother, for an interview. Reid pleaded with his brother to come home. David responded with a figure four. Crowbar also lost the cruiserweight title – to Daffney.
Thunder saw Russo conducting an interview with one of Reid’s teachers while David laughed. And Daffney successfully defended her cruiserweight title against Chris Candido and the Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea.
The relationship between David and Daffney hit an all-time low on the next Nitro as David ran in to save Ms. Hancock from Chris Candido and got beaten up. Then Candido got tired or something so Flair ran in to continue the beating.
On Thunder, David and Russo teamed to take on Ric and Reid Flair. Needless to say, David and Russo won, prompting a cage match between Ric and Russo on Nitro, which Russo also after won as the mysterious “red liquid” fell from the ceiling. By the way – on Thunder Daffney lost the cruiserweight belt to Lt. Loco (Lash LeRoux).
Long story short, Ric Flair won at the Bash (with the help of pretty much his entire family), only to lose the next night and get his head shaved by Vince Russo.
The rest of their run in WCW saw Daffney and David breaking up as David hooked up with Ms. Hancock. Then it came out that Hancock was pregnant, and the baby wasn’t David’s. The true father was never revealed, but it was rumored that it would have been Russo if he hadn’t been released.
Analysis
It’s funny to see how an angle that started out so strong could really fizzle. The worst thing for David was also his biggest claim to fame – that he was Ric Flair’s son. That fact sucked them into feud after feud between Wrestler X and Ric Flair.
Daffney’s screaming was irritating but fun, kind of like Bill Alfonso’s trademark whistle in ECW. Plus, Daffney wasn’t afraid to get involved in a match. Unlike most of the other Nitro Girls, Daffney was totally believable as a fighter.
Crowbar was the first one to leave the crew as he kept heading off by himself to chase cruiserweight gold (which he deserved). Finally he won the cruiserweight belt only to lose it to Daffney.
Where are they now?
Crowbar was released from his WCW contract in March of 2001. Following this, he competed for many different independent shows, mostly with WWA (World Wrestling All-Stars). Today he works as a physical therapist in New Jersey, although he still does wrestle on some independent shows.
After the WCW buyout, David Flair was signed to a WWF development deal but was released before appearing on TV. He then had stints in TNA and IWA Puerto Rico before stepping back from the ring. Today he works in a medical equipment firm and works independent shows on weekends.
Daffney was not picked up by the WWF after the buyout and went on to work for Ring of Honor. In 2003, she was awarded a WWF developmental contract and began work as Nova and Aaron Stevens’ manager. She was released in November of that year.
From the Mailbag
Well, it looks like there was quite a positive response on my column last week regarding the Guerreros. I’ll do some more digging to see what other lucha goodies I may be able to write about. In the meantime, keep your requests coming!
Next Week
The most decorated champion (at one time) in WCW.
