Let me just state for the record that I believe Ric Flair is the greatest wrestler of all time. I also believe that Shawn Michaels is creeping his way up closer to 'Naitch', but that is for another blog at another time.
Within the business, wrestlers, promoters, announcers, almost the majority agree that Ric Flair is the clear cut #1. But to a lot of fans? He isn't even close. It used to bother me but...are they really to blame? In this blog entry I'm going to break down the reasons Why a fan would think Flair Isn't the greatest wrestler of all time. And their points are compelling to say the least.
Let’s think about the fans that got into wrestling around 1996-1998, the last boom period in the business. This is a perfect era being that time is responsible for many wrestling fans that are around today. Why wouldn't they believe Ric Flair is the greatest? Let’s see…
Past His Prime
In my opinion Ric Flair to this day can still perform on a high level...but his best days were way before 96-98. The Ric Flair, the doubters got to know, was a Ric Flair that wasn't close to the performer of the mid to late 80's. It's tough to judge a man's legacy just on the downfall of his career.
Matches Don't Age Well
Fans from the mid 90's up until today have seen almost everything. People crashing through tables, jumping off ladders, falling off Hell in a Cells, thrown off stages. Wrestling was taken to an entirely different and dangerous level during the Monday Night Wars, a pattern that continues today long after the Wars have been settled.
Simply put...the Flair classics don't hold up well to the casual fan. They are long technical marvels...but they are still long and technical. A Flair match in his heyday would easily last at least 45 minutes and more often than not they would do a Broadway (Broadway is a kayfabe term for one hour draw).
I personally love the matches and would take Flair vs. Sting, Steamboat, Funk, Luger, Ricky Morton, Dusty, for an hour over a lot of stuff we see today. With that being said...I haven't always been that way, so I can understand the fan not being able to appreciate or even enjoy any NWA matches from the 80's. Just think about it, the big payoff move during a Flair match would be a suplex or a hiptoss. Today it’s a Canadian Destroyer.
He's Old
Some fans have never seen a Ric Flair match where he wasn't in his mid 40's or older. To them he is just old. Just like the ‘past his prime’ point, fans can only judge a wrestler on what they have seen.
Awful Booking in WCW
Speaking of only seeing him from his mid 40's and older...the way he was booked in WCW from 1996 until its dying days was disgraceful. Honestly if a fan only saw Ric Flair during those 4-5 years...I don't blame them for not thinking he's the best.
It seemed WCW, mainly Bischoff, took pride in beating down Ric Flair without him ever getting his heat back. Countless PPVs and Nitro's ended with NWO killing the horsemen...and the next week nothing would come of it. Or how about Flair in the mental institution? How about Flair being buried in the desert for no reason? Or even better...tag teaming with his youngest son Reid before the kid was even in High School? Nice way to book a legend.
Out of Shape
Not a huge reason, but it was always easy to make fun of Flair because of his physical appearance towards the end of his career.
Didn't Wrestle Often On Free T.V
If you watch Nitro during its peak ratings period, Flair hardly ever wrestled. He was there for the great promo and official 9:45pm beat down at the hands of Hogan and his friends...but he didn't wrestle much on free TV. So if you didn't cough up the PPV cash, you didn't see Ric Flair wrestle. If you didn't see him wrestle at all its impossible to label him as the best.
But the biggest reason fans could possibly believe Ric Flair isn’t the very best?
During Flair’s glory years, WCW/NWA was never the clear #1. Ever since the origins of Hulkamania whether it was Ted Turner or Jim Crockett, they played second fiddle to the WWF while Flair was on top of his game. Even if you were a wrestling fan in the late 80’s chances are you tuned in to see what Vince McMahon was doing.
It boils down to this. If you were a fan of WCW/NWA while Flair was on top, you’ll think he was the greatest of all time. You would have lived through a career that developed in such a way that it revolutionized the business. Buddy Rogers can be credited for being the 1st heel, but Ric Flair popularized and perfected it.
But if you only watched Vince’s product and the only Nature Boy you know is from 1995 and on…I can’t blame you for thinking otherwise.
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1 comment:
Of course there will always be debates and arguments over who's the greatest wrestler of all time and more often than not Ric Flair will be at the top of the list and justifiably so in my opinion. Flair's charisma, intelligence, in ring ability, ring psychology, mic skills, appearance, numerous world heavyweight championship title reigns among many other things speaks for itself.
Of course the casual wreslting fan who may have just started watching wrestling would say otherwise. Even those who've been watching pro wrestling for decades may have feel that Harley Race, Bruno Sammartino, Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne, or any other legendary perfomer should get the nod as being considered the greatest of all time.
However Flair's 35 plus years in the business goes beyond remarkable; his influence is undeniable as well as his legacy. He wrestled in the days of the territories and also was present for the dominance of the WWE/F; not to mention he's been all over the world and back many times over.
If Ric Flair's not the greatest than who is?
Charles H. aka Bad News C
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