Execproducer Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Just watched Flair/HBK. Say what you will about Ric Flair right now (and I still love the guy), but if you didn't at least have to hold back a tear and claim that the room got a little dusty or at the very least saw your a bit of your childhood die a tad when HBK finally put him down, you're not a wrestling fan in my opinion. I'm pretty tolerant of every position anyone can have in the realm of wrestling but I'm gonna stand firm on that one. The story is a masterpiece. Part of me wished Flair could have pulled it off just so he could have had that one last moment. But everything about that match is great. It's one of those matches that I could nitpick to death but I just don't care b/c of who is in it. Flair was just such a huge part of my childhood that the match always gets me. Unless he goes full Benoit, that match will always draw a tear from me. You are both 100% correct. Man, everyone remembers Shawn mouthing "I love you", but I remember Ric clenching his fists yelling "C'mon!", something he did a thousand times easily, but that time, it felt like his last stand and I was like "ahh fuck" before Sweet Chin Music even landed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Just watched Flair/HBK. Say what you will about Ric Flair right now (and I still love the guy), but if you didn't at least have to hold back a tear and claim that the room got a little dusty or at the very least saw your a bit of your childhood die a tad when HBK finally put him down, you're not a wrestling fan in my opinion. I'm pretty tolerant of every position anyone can have in the realm of wrestling but I'm gonna stand firm on that one. The story is a masterpiece. Part of me wished Flair could have pulled it off just so he could have had that one last moment. But everything about that match is great. It's one of those matches that I could nitpick to death but I just don't care b/c of who is in it. Flair was just such a huge part of my childhood that the match always gets me. Unless he goes full Benoit, that match will always draw a tear from me. You are both 100% correct. Man, everyone remembers Shawn mouthing "I love you", but I remember Ric clenching his fists yelling "C'mon!", something he did a thousand times easily, but that time, it felt like his last stand and I was like "ahh fuck" before Sweet Chin Music even landed. Flair ducks the kick, gets a backslide or inside cradle for the win. If the citrus bowl had a dome it would have blown off. Next night he still does his farewell because he was going out on top. It's a miracle the match even ended how it did considering HBK almost disembowled himself when he did that moonsalt and hit the table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 The end of Flair/Michaels is a thing of beauty though. Flair eats that last superkick and he is aware enough to kick but just doesn't, he knows he's beat and lays there crying as the ref counts 3. Him goading Shawn on was equivalent of "This is the only way it can end for me, don't you dare think you're winning any other way!". This isn't Flair losing ot Stng or Dusty so a small package win ain't happening, if Ric Flair was going down he was going down after 2 shots ot the face. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I dig the Flair/Michaels match/angle. I just wish that Michaels hadn't finally kicked Flair's Old Man Crazy to the surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I don't think he needed any help with that... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwoy2j Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I don't think he needed any help with that... One of my favorite Flair lines was in 02 when he was GM. Jericho accused him of having a midlife crisis and Flair dropped his coat and started yelling, "Mid.....Life....Crisis!!!.....Hell, I had that 10 years ago! I'm the boss!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakk_Sabbath Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I always loved the Flair line in early 99 when he was the on-screen president of WCW and in the middle of a great classic-style promo, he starts yelling at Mean Gene about how he's the President of the United States 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 WCW Flair in the asylum, complete with random Scott Hall appearance is one of those surreal but awesome things that will always stick with me James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Jeez y'all talking like Ric Flair died. Not trying to be a dickhead, it's just eerie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I feel like that's on you. I'd much rather reminisce about someone who's still alive than be all somber because they passed. Edit: the banner ad for me is totally Alpha Brain right now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyMax46 Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Not me. It was okay at best. And like a decade too late. The farewell on raw though was pretty solid. I feel sorry for you then. Why? Because I have a realistic opinion of the world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 It's a pretty joyless position to take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 RIP Doris Adksson / von Erich 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS81177 Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I remember when I watched HBK/Flair, that super kick was like the first time I saw the ending of Old Yeller. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Conn Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Flair vs HBK at Mania is one of the more emotional matches I have ever watched. Such a great match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I feel like that's on you. I'd much rather reminisce about someone who's still alive than be all somber because they passed. Edit: the banner ad for me is totally Alpha Brain right now. That is an excellent position for you to take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamBroken Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Love Michaels/Flair. Favorite spot when Shawn stops his first Superkick attempt so Flair takes him down in to the figure four. "Michaels couldn't pull the trigger!! But the Nature Boy does!" One of my all time favorite WWE music videos, wish they still made ones like this. Music fit perfect, awesome match. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I'm a HUGE Flair mark so I loved that match and everything about it. I hate that Flair wrestled in TNA after this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I'm a HUGE Flair mark so I loved that match and everything about it. I hate that Flair wrestled in TNA after this. I imagine Ric does too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I love emotional drama in matches, but I think that for me, two things hurt the match, one of which is a criticism for the match itself and one of which is just my personal tastes: 1. Shawn does a terrible job at drama like this. He's far too overwrought. You take someone like Dusty Rhodes and put him in Shawn's spot in that match and it doesn't come off as so self-aware that it's cheesy. It comes off as extremely authentic. I think Flair was great at it, but if I were going to make a list of wrestling's best natural actors, Flair would also be on that list and ranked very highly, like a top twenty-five sort of ranking. Michaels, on the other hand, is abysmal at communicating an emotional performance without making a Days of Our Lives actor say, "Whoa bud, I think you're overdoing things here." 2. I am not as invested in Flair's career as I needed to be to get all the way there. Personally, I started watching wrestling at about 1986 WWF when I was four and didn't see any other wrestling until AWA and WCW maybe a couple years later, so I have the strongest emotional connection to guys from that specific time and place. For me personally, you'd have to have Randy Savage in that Flair spot for it to connect with me in the way that it did for some of you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincey Greene Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I grew up on NWA/WCW and have always thought it sucky that Shawn was in that role. Sting would have been a lot more fitting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Execproducer Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I think Shawn had the perfect finish for that part. I sure as hell wouldn't have wanted it to end with Flair tapping to the Scorpion. Maybe as an alternative Orton the Legend Killer RKO'ing him into retirement would have worked, but I think it worked out fine as is, especially with Shawn's number coming up 2 WrestleManias later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 It was a pretty good match with maybe the best finish in WrestleMania history, for my money. I'm okay with Shawn acting for the cheap seats when they have those absurdly huge crowds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyMax46 Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 It's a pretty joyless position to take. I'm not a joyous person. I don't deal in emotions. I deal in facts. That match was okay at best. Which is actually pretty good considering Ric Flair was legit 15 years past his "past his prime" point. 1988 Ric Flair would have made it a five star match. 1998 Ric Flair would have made it a four star match. 2008 Ric Flair made me kinda sad that this happened about 15 years too late. I wasn't sad he was retiring. I was happy. He should have retired a long time ago. The build up was weird for me? I remember minutes before the show thinking "This is going to be the last match Flair ever wrestles" and realizing it would piss me off if he came back. The match was okay. The ending with Flair begging for more was great. The Raw afterwards was probably the most emotional moment in that shows history. It definitely is the epitome of an angle I really didn't dig until the very end because the payoff was solid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS81177 Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 For me the best thing about that match was that, for one night only HBK brought back the Nature Boy. Instead of looking like a broken down shell of what he used to be, Flair looked like the Naitch of old thanks largely to Shawn carrying him masterfully. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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