The SmarK Rant for Legend of the Nature Boy: The Best of Ric Flair.
– Man, do I have the coolest fans or what? Just as I’m feeling totally bummed by the self-destruction of Steve Austin on Sunday morning, I get a package notification from the post office, and head over to find that reader Kwadwo Burgee finally made good on his promise to send me two Best-Of sets from RF Video: A Rock N Roll Express one, and this one. And there’s NOTHING that can cheer me up like 4 hours of Ric Flair matches, most of which I haven’t even seen before.
All matches are for Flair’s NWA World title, except for one.
– Ric Flair v. Kevin Von Erich. This is from World Class TV in the early 80s. I have this one on another Flair comp (I have a LOT of Flair comps), but I’ve never reviewed it before. They work off a headlock to start, as Kevin keeps reversing to a headscissors. He really cranks it in, forcing Flair to make the ropes. They fight over a lockup, and Kevin overpowers him and hiptosses him out of the corner. Now Flair’s upset. He works the arm, but Kevin dropkicks him and gets a flying headscissors. Flair makes the ropes and stomps him down. Kevin comes back with a backdrop, though, and Flair begs off again. Kevin pounds him in the corner, but Flair tosses him. Kevin pops right back in. Flair starts chopping and fights dirty to put the punk kid down. Kneedrop gets two. Another one gets one, but Kevin grabs a headscissors and they head to the ropes. They slug it out and Flair ends up doing the Flair Flip. Iron Claw, but it’s in the corner. Flair goes low to break. He tries a suplex, but Kevin reverses to a sleeper in a nice spot. Flair breaks and they do the double-KO, and Flair gets two. He goes up and gets slammed off, and Kevin bodyblocks for two. Ref is bumped. Flair gives Kevin some post, and we take a break. Back in, kevin is on the comeback trail, but the ref is bumped again. Flair pounds away, but Kevin gets the Iron Claw, and then tosses Flair over the top, twice. Say, if that referee wasn’t on the floor, that’d probably be a DQ. They brawl out and Flair eats post and blades. Back in, Kevin backdrops him and goes up with a moonsault press of sorts to win the NWA World title at 12:48. Funny, I don’t remember him ever being the champion. Oh, but wait – remember that throw over the top that should have been a DQ? It was. Can you say Dusty Finish? Match was classic Flair, though. ***1/4
– Ric Flair v. Hacksaw Butch Reed. This is REALLY early in Reed’s career, back when he was the hot young babyface in the NWA. Reed overpowers Flair, and reverses a hammerlock. Reed grabs a headlock and works that for a while. Flair chops out of it and Reed gets all pissed off, and Flair wisely runs away and hides behind the ref. Flair then starts pouring on the psych-out job, as he pops out long enough to nail Reed with a cheapshot and then hides behind the ref, until Reed’s temper gets HIM the warning from the ref. Criss-cross and Reed gets a temporary measure of revenge, press-slamming Flair. Flair begs off again, and the ref warns REED again, and the crowd isn’t impressed. Reed decides to go for a bearhug, but Flair makes the ropes. Reed pounds him for two. Flair chops back and goes for the arm, but Reed slugs him down and goes back to the bearhug. He turns it into a pinning predicament, but the rather astute announcer points out that it’s really a smart move on Flair’s part because that relieves the pressure of the hold. Flair hides in the ropes and goes low, then chops away. Reed casually socks him down for two. Backslide gets two. Flair gets the kneebreaker, however, and hooks the figure-four. Reed reverses, so Flair breaks it. Back to it, but Reed reverses for two. Flair chops him down and dumps him. Back in, but Flair keeps chopping him off the apron. Reed finally sunset flips in for two. Sleeper and Flair is fading. Reed gets two. Reed tries a splash, but misses. Flair knees him and chops him down, and they works off a headlock into a pinning reversal sequence. Reed is now seriously pissed, but his temper causes the ref to get bumped. Reed cradles for nothing, but gets tossed. Reed skins-the-cat back in and gets the big shoulder tackle. Flair goes up, but gets caught coming down and Reed gets his own figure-four. The ref tosses the whole thing out at 21:24. Probably the best singles match with Reed you’ll ever see. **** Reed thinks he’s won, but then he’s not the brightest bulb in the package.
– Ric Flair v. Magnum TA. This is just clips from their match at SuperClash.
– Ric Flair v. Tatsumi Fujinami. This is the match from Japan in 1991 that set up WCW’s first Superbrawl show, and I suppose I’ll have to tell THAT story again at the end of the match. Clipped to a test of strength and they slug it out, but Fujinami misses a dropkick. Flair goes for the leg, but Fujinami fires back. Flair goes up and gets slammed off, and ends up on the floor. He blades and they brawl outside. Back in, Flair Flop, and Fujinami gets an enzuigiri for two. Backdrop and lariat get two. They slug it out, won by Fujinami. Flair is tied up in the Tree of Whoo, and Fujinami rolls him up for two. Backdrop suplex gets two. Ref bumped and they do the pinfall reversal thang with no ref. Fujinami dumps Flair over the top (which was seen by original WCW ref Bill Alphonso), and suplexes him in for the pin at 8:46 (which was counted by the replacement Japanese ref). Now, this was something of a double-cross by the NWA on WCW, because they wanted Fujinami to get the belt, whereas WCW wanted Flair to keep it. So WCW’s standpoint was that the over-the-top was a DQ and therefore Flair was still WCW champion. The NWA’s standpoint was that the pinfall counted and therefore Fujinami was the new NWA champion. The wrestling world’s standpoint was “Who the f*ck cares about any of this bullshit?†and the rematch, which actually re-unified the belts, tanked. WCW, having had enough, left the NWA soon after. **1/2
– Flair does an interview running down Philly and hyping an upcoming match with Sgt. Slaughter.
– Clips of Wahoo attacking Flair with a chair.
– Flair is interviewed afterwards and he’s shocked and appalled that Wahoo would resort to such tactics, including stealing his NWA World title belt.
– Clips of the Flair-Sarge match, which is your basic “Flair gets the figure-four but the babyface makes the big comeback and gets his inescapable finisher until the heel he’s programmed against runs in for the DQ†stuff, with Boris Zhukov providing the lame DQ finish in this case.
– Ric Flair v. Lex Luger. DQ rule is waived, which means DQ = bye bye title. This was intended to be Flair v. Steamboat, but contract negotiations delayed that until Chi-Town Rumble. Luger was firmly my favorite wrestler at this point in my life. I just did NOT like Flair. So I guess both guys were doing their jobs well. Flair acts all arrogant and Luger tosses him around like a ragdoll, as Flair goes into Punching Bag mode, yelling “Oh god” every 10 seconds. The Broomstick Rule applies here: From 1984 until 1994, Flair could carry a broomstick to ***, so the true measure of greatness was how *far* over *** he could carry someone. In an era of compressed wrestling matches, it’s pretty astonishing to see this match go almost 15 minutes before Luger blows an elbowdrop to allow Flair to take control. The first fifteen minutes was ALL Lex. Flair rams Lex into the STEEL railing and goes to work. Luger makes a mini-comeback at about 20 minutes in with a series of punches and a sleeper, but Flair cheats and escapes. Luger gets a superplex for two, and puts Flair in the figure-four. While not quite cliche at this point, the “Irony of Flair getting his own move” thing was certainly approaching it. Luger nails Tommy Young by accident, and Flair tosses Luger over the top rope, which should have ended the match and given Luger the title right there. Luger continues the assault with a suplex for two. You’d think Flair would have taken note of the fact that CHOPS DON’T WORK WITH LEX. Crowd is rabid. Luger hits the powerslam and goes for the rack, but JJ distracts the ref and allows Flair to grab a chair and slam it into Luger’s knee. Again, that should have ended the match and given Lex the title. And nooooooowwwwwwww, whoo, we go to school. Flair dismantles the knee and slaps on the figure-four. On the wrong leg. Ric, Ric, Ric, it’s THE STRAIGHT LEG! You’d think after 20 years the guy would remember that. Luger hulks up and reverses the move, and the crowd is nutso again. Flair goes back to work on the knee. Luger makes the final comeback, blocking out the pain. He press-slams Flair, and his knee gives way after the move. He no-sells Flair’s fivearm. Clothesline gets two at the 30 minute mark. Another setup powerslam and he racks Flair, but the knee gives out again and Flair falls on top (and of course puts his feet on the ropes) for the pin to retain. ****1/2
– Flair then cuts his post-match promo. He promises that Luger will NEVER, EVER get another title shot again as long as he lives. This of course lasted 6 months.
– Ric Flair v. Wahoo McDaniel. Wahoo works a headlock and goes to the arm to start. Back to the headlock, as the announcer notes that it’s applied with “gutteral vengeanceâ€Â. Now THERE’S a phrase you don’t hear enough of. I’ve gotta start working that one in, too. Wahoo chops him down and they slug it out. Back to the headlock. Wahoo chops the shit out of him and Flair runs away, THEN puts up his fists for the fight. Ah, Flair. He gets a cheapshot and pounds away to take over. Kneedrop gets two. Elbowdrop gets two. Back to the arm, with plenty of cheating. Flair moves to a hammerlock and they slug it out. Flair gets the worst of that. He goes low to counter that attack, but Wahoo suplexes him for two. More chops, but Flair cradles in the corner for two. Wahoo chops him right over the top, and clobbers him when he crawls back in. Flair’s selling of the chops is awesome. It’s just WHAM, flat-back-bump, every time. Backslide gets two, and Flair dumps him to buy some time. Both guys hit the post and Flair starts bleeding. Well there’s a shock. Flair flip, and Wahoo catches him on the way down and gets two. Wahoo does the wardance to come back and chops him down for two. Suplex gets two. Flair bails again, and shoulderblocks Wahoo down, then comes in with a pinfall attempt that gets two, and then remembers to put his feet on the ropes and gets three at 15:49. Flair’s insane bumping and selling made this a ton of fun. ***1/2
– Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff: This is from Crockett Cup 88. Flair comes out with Barry Windham, who was fresh off of joining the Horsemen. However, he leaves ringside to join the rest of the Horsemen, who never show up at any other point during the match. Flair cuts a promo before the match, but I can barely hear him over the crowd noise. Basic stuff to start, with Koloff keeping the upper hand most of the time. Koloff delivers the ten-punch count, but gets caught in an inverted atomic drop. Flair connects with one kneedrop, but misses a second one, and Koloff goes outside the ring, dragging Flair to the corner and crotching him on the ring post. Koloff slaps on the figure four, but Flair makes it to the ropes. Koloff continues targeting the knee, and Flair bails out. He drags Koloff outside the ring, but Koloff blocks an attempt to ram him into the ringpost, and Flair takes the shot instead. Back into the ring they go, and Flair has bladed at some point. Another ten-punch count from Koloff, then the corner whip for the Flair flip. Koloff no-sells a Flair chop and pummels him in response. Koloff inadvertently nails referee Tommy Young, and that allows Flair to toss Koloff over the top rope, only Koloff grabs the ropes and lands on the apron. Koloff nails a second-rope lariat, and Young is late to come over to count the pinfall and it’s only a two count. Koloff hits another lariat, sending Flair over the top rope. Koloff tries to suplex Flair back in, but Flair slips out. Flair tries a rollup, but Koloff grabs the ropes, then hits a clothesline for two. Koloff goes for a third lariat, but Flair back body drops him over the top rope for the REALLY lame DQ. Damn, and that was actually developing into a nice match, but of course, Dusty couldn’t bother to let Flair go over cleanly or anything like that. **1/2
– Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat. This is from Japan in what appears to be 80-82ish. I mean, holy crap, just when you thought I had every Flair-Steamboat match in existance already, here ya go. Steamboat works a headlock to start and they do a criss-cross, into another headlock. Another criss-cross and Steamboat gets a backslide for two, and back to the headlock. That lasts a while. Slick counter-counter-wrestling sequence on the mat sees Steamboat stay in control. Flair finally chops out, but Steamboat gets a sunset flip out of the corner for two. Flair goes for the attack and Steamboat UNLOADS with a chop, so Flair regroups. Flair decides to try a direct chop showdown, and they start smacking leather, as JR would say. They brawl out and Steamboat follows him back in with the big chop, but Flair goes low. Steamboat chops him back down for two and hits a chinlock. Atomic drop and more chops set up a Flair Flip and they brawl on the floor again. Back in, Flair elbows him down and gets a piledriver for two. Gutwrench gets two. Steamer reverses another piledriver and chops him out, and they brawl again. Flair posts his leg. And NOW, whoo, we go to school. Steamboat proceeds to sell the kneecrusher so melodramatically that he goes flying out through the ropes as a result of the pain. How can you not love this guy? Flair suplexes him back in for two. Kneedrop gets two. Steamboat blocks another one, and gets a figure-four! Flair makes the ropes, however, so Steamboat gets a bodyblock for two. Suplex gets two. Splash hits knee, but that actually hurts Flair’s knee, and when he tries a suplex it buckles and Steamboat gets two. Oh MAN that’s cool. Flair tosses him, and chops away back in. Steamboat suplexes him, however, they slug it out. Criss-cross and Steamboat gets a press-slam! He drops a knee for two and gets ANOTHER press-slam, and the flying chop sets up the finish. He goes up to end it with the flying bodypress, but Flair rolls through and gets the pin by the skin of his teeth at 16:22. While normally this would be the career peak for anyone else in the sport, they actually IMPROVED on it a few years later. ****3/4 This match is a total must-see, just as good as their 1989 stuff but faster-paced. It only loses marks for a couple of awkward spots where they went out to brawl and it went nowhere.
– Ric Flair v. Barry Windham. OH YEAH, MOTHERFUCKER! Speaking of must-see, this another match that I’ve been waiting to run across on a comp for a LONG time now – a match from Worldwide in 1987 that was given the ENTIRE show. Windham overpowers him and Flair begs off. He grabs a headlock and takes Windham down, and they do some chain-wrestling. Windham works the arm, but Flair makes the ropes. Back to the headlock and Flair chops away. Windham slams him, though, and sticks to his headlock. Flair chops out again, but Windham outsmarts him and grabs the headlock again. Flair begs off. Back to the headlock, as Flair is getting really frustrated and keeps chopping, but Windham just suckers him into a slugfest and then beats the shit out of him and dropkicks him. Flair takes a powder. Back in, Flair takes him down, but Windham outsmarts him again and goes back to the headlock. Flair hotshots him, but Windham rolls with it and cradles for two as we take our first commercial break. We return with Barry using a headscissors to transition back to the headlock. Dusty starts hitting his stride as a color man here, encouraging us to order out instead of going to the kitchen for dinner. Flair bumps Barry and beats on him outside for a bit. Dusty then notes that Flair has turned the tide and taken it back to his ballpark. Tony has no reply to that. Back in, Flair is onto the arm. Dusty analysis of this veers into the insane. Flair uses a little cheating and chops away. He works a pinfall, using the ropes, for a few two-counts. He pounds away in the corner, but Barry fights back. They slug it out and Barry beats the shit out of him again. He’s gotta stop doing slugfests with Barry. And then he goes and tries it AGAIN, and goes down like a sack of potatoes again. He tries a quick pinfall attempt in the corner (with the ropes), but only gets two. That just plain annoys Barry, and he sends Flair flying over the top. As they brawl, we take another break. We’re back as Flair is dropping a knee. He chops away and elbows Windham out. Barry reverses a suplex in, however, and slugs Flair down for two. Flair gets a backdrop suplex to come back, and locks in the figure-four. Using the ropes of course, until Tommy Young catches him. Kneecrusher, but Windham cradles for two. Flair tosses him, but Windham no-sells it and sunset-flips in for two. Flair grabs a sleeper, but Windham escapes and gets a lariat off the middle rope for two. Splash misses, however. Flair wants a suplex, but Windham reverses. To the top, but his goofy elbowdrop misses. So both guys are out. Flair misses a knee and Windham sends him crashing out. Back in, Windham hits the leg and gets his own figure-four. Flair can’t make the ropes, but finally fights to them. Flair tries to come back, but gets suckered into another slugfest and destroyed. Barry tries an abdominal stretch, but Flair bumps the ref to escape. Barry gets a missile dropkick for two. Sleeper, but time is running out. Flair suplexes out and gets a flying bodypress, rolled through by Barry for two. Whoops. Barry gets another sleeper and a rollup for two. They keep slugging it out, and AGAIN Flair gets bitchslapped and Windham gets two. Lariat get nothing because Flair runs. Windham suplexes him back in, for two. Backslide gets two, powerslam gets two, lariat gets two and time’s up at 31:08. In actuality this was a 45-minute draw, but 12 minutes where cut out by commercials. At any rate, this was, without any exaggeration, the best match of Windham’s career, possibly Flair’s peak match, and probably the best match ever to air on free TV in the 80s. If you need a reason to get this tape, this is it. *****
– Ric Flair v. Harley Race. Back in Japan, early 80s judging by Race’s sideburns. I’m not even sure who was the champion at this point. Race gets a slam and grabs a headlock, but Flair chops back. They slug it out, and Race routs him. Kneedrop gets two. Race appears to be wrestling babyface. Flair gets a cheapshot and an elbowdrop for two, as Race’s dodge fails to work. Cute spot. Flair works a facelock, but Race cradles for one. Flair chops away, but Race gets a swinging neckbreaker for two. Piledriver gets two. Kneedrop and Race goes up, but Flair slams him off (Oh, the irony!) and gets a kneedrpo for two. Race hiptosses out of an abdominal stretch, but misses a headbutt and gets tossed. Back in, Flair necksnaps him and elbows him back in. Race blocks a suplex for one. Flair chops him down for two. Race headbutts him down, and drops another headbutt when Flair is down. Flair suplexes him for two, however. He misses an elbowdrop and gets tossed, but Race can’t piledrive him on the floor. Back in, Flair does some strutting, then head out to rejoin the battle. Flair is so cool. Race posts him. Whoops, time for plan B. Back in, Race slams him off the top and drops an elbow for two. Again for two. Headbutt gets two. He presses Flair, but when he tries a kneedrop Flair blocks it and gets the figure-four. Race makes the ropes, and Flair keeps chopping. Race bails, but sunset flips in for two. Backslide gets two. Race fights back, Flair Flip into the Tree of Whoo. Another flip, and this time Flair follows through with it and gets a flying bodypress for two. Kneecrusher, but Race blocks the figure-four. Suplex sets up the diving headbutt, which gets the pin at 17:39. Race could GO up until injuries destroyed him in the WWF. ****1/2
– And finally..
– Ric Flair v. Terry Funk. The storyline is simple: Flair regained the title at WrestleWar, and jealous ringside judge Funk decided to come out of retirement and make a grandstand challenge on the spot. Flair rightly turned him down, so Funk threw a tantrum and piledrove Flair through the ringside table, breaking his neck. And now Flair’s back and he wants sweet, sweet revenge. Flair wastes no time, attacking on the floor, and Funk wants none of that action. Flair chases and pounds away, so Funk runs for cover again. Into the ring, Funk chops away, but Flair returns fire with cherries on top. Funk takes a powder again, so they brawl outside. Flair gets posted, and Funk pounds him. Back in, a suplex gets two. He starts targeting the neck, so Flair takes a breather of his own. When he gets to the apron, they fight over a suplex, and both guys tumble to the floor. Chops are exchanged, and then eyepokes. Back in, Funk goes for his first try at a piledriver, but Flair reverses. More brawling and now Flair works the neck. Back in, he drops the knee on it, twice, for two. A pair of piledrivers and Funk is dead. Finished. Kaput. Done. DOA. However, he has enough left to bail and make a run for it. Flair heads him off and they slug it out, which Flair wins back in the ring and gets two. Backdrop suplex sets up the figure-four, but Funk is smart enough to grab the branding iron and tattoo Flair with it to break the hold. Flair starts bleeding as a result, and now Funk chooses that moment to hit the long-awaited piledriver. It only gets two, so Funk rips up the mats on the floor. Flair reverses that piledriver attempt, but Funk gets three neckbreakers back in the ring. Flair gets that branding iron for himself, however, and soon both guys are bleeding. They brawl out and in, and Flair hammers away on the cut. He misses a charge and hurts his knee, so Terry goes for the spinning toehold. Ric grabs his free leg and trips him up to set up the figure-four, but Terry reverses to an inside cradle for two, which Flair reverses again for the pin at 16:20. The psychology was a little goofy, but the brawl was super-intense and had tons of blood. ****1/4 Muta & Funk then do the classic beatdown of Flair that leads to Flair & Sting v. Funk & Muta at the first Halloween Havoc.
The Bottom Line:
Holy crap, check out the shit on this mother! Rare matches galore, FOUR ****+ matches to end the tape (two of which I had never even seen before and one I had only seen clips of) and some classic Flair promos scattered here and there. GET THIS TAPE.
Hell, here’s a link
http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=4184
Highest recommendation.
