Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

RIC FLAIR 30 FOR 30


Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

The father in me was very angry at Flair, but I gave him props because at least he was brave and honest enough to sit there and admit how selfish he was knowing that everyone watching will judge him. 

I also gave Ric a bit of a pass because of New Jack and other cautionary tales about how Flair isn't even close to being the worst example of bringing your gimmick home with you.

I'm a bit hazy on the timeline as far as when the documentary was filmed versus his recent health issues,, but Flair being so candid felt a lot like a classic show of unburdening to me.  Confess your soul before your number really comes up.

They mentioned that his health issues came up while the documentary was in post-production so I'd imagine all the interviews he gave happened before.  You're right about the unburdening, I'm sure he's been sitting on all this stuff for a while now and finally had the right venue to get it all off his chest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really well done doc and I can only echo the sentiment of how truly sad it is to see the damage done by his choices and lifestyle. I mean what he has done to himself is what it is. You play hard, you pay hard. However what he put his wives and kids through is awful and I still don't get the sense that he fully realizes it somehow. 

So yeah seeing Ric now just makes me sad, but it can't take away from what he did give to the sport. Were his sacrifices worth it to create those moments for the fans? I can't imagine, but really that is true of most everyone who gets in the ring. It's just the nature of this crazy business. It ultimately takes more than it gives for most.

Also it was bizarre seeing Taker just being regular joe Mark Calaway sitting his couch talking about the business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, quackhell said:

However what he put his wives and kids through is awful and I still don't get the sense that he fully realizes it somehow. 

Seems he provided them a pretty good life. You take the good with the bad. Most people get a crappy life without the perks the Flair family has. 

What happened to Reid was tragic. But I don't think that is something you can pin on Flair completely. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was suprised how NWA centric this was instead of portraying the WWF as the be all end all of wrestling. This was a great wrestling documentary,  I get why they had parts  where they exposed the business even though Im still not a fan of that type of thing. I hope ESPN does more serious wrestling themed docs once in a blue.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Ziggy said:

I was suprised how NWA centric this was instead of portraying the WWF as the be all end all of wrestling. This was a great wrestling documentary,  I get why they had parts  where they exposed the business even though Im still not a fan of that type of thing. I hope ESPN does more serious wrestling themed docs once in a blue.

Honestly I think it's things like these that show the reach the NWA had.  I guess maybe sometimes the attendance figures didn't show it but from what I remember the ratings on TBS back in the days were always pretty good.   Ric Flair spent the majority of his prime in NWA/WCW  and he's still maybe the second most recognizable wrestler outside of Hogan. I mean that as for someone who is known for their wrestling. The Rock is there too.  I'm still pissed off that WCW went out of business. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It could be that, but remember Hogan talking about Flair being "giving"? You can easily read into Hogan talking about him being "giving" and hear him saying "TOO giving" instead. No doubt he was thinking it. I think Flair didn't understand how underhanded these fuckers he was getting in bed with could be. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All these years later, it still doesn't make any sense that Hulk didn't drop the belt back to Ric at the Clash to set up the cage match. I mean, I know he reportedly was worried they were just using him to pop a buyrate, but that's seriously crazy level paranoia given his contract. They built in the excuse for him to lose without losing heat, the cage match being to ward off interference makes way more sense if that interference had cost him the match, a rubber match is a lot more interesting if both guys have a real win...

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/9/2017 at 3:05 AM, Curt McGirt said:

Just watched a horrible quality version of it on Dailymotion. You. Are. RIGHT! The crowd seems really divided, but leaning particularly toward Flair (where was this, in Philly?) and they gave them what they wanted. Just stiff, mean, great selling (Ronnie's sell of the leg was fantastic), but they ditched that psychology and went for big highspots and nearfalls towards the end. It came in at a nice 15 or so minutes too. My only complaint is Ronnie didn't bleed, really. Need to see this not looking like a 4th generation VHS that was put on an MP3 file though.

EDIT: Not Philly, but Chicago, so close enough

I think I was lucky in that I was able to buy Ronnie as a top guy, because I didn't start watching American wrestling until that the summer of that year, when I discovered the Midnights (who quickly became my favorites due to the squashes).  Don't know if I would have enjoyed as much if the 8-yr or 9-yr old me saw Ronnie as a midcarder.

Also don't think it's fair to lump WCW Savage in with Hogan- WCW Savage did a lot,and was willing to put folks over.  I remember him even putting Chris Adams over once (albeit by DQ).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And there's that story about him deciding to let DDP go over on a house show one night, and then backstage just unilaterally deciding that Page was winning the ppv match and they would use that same finish.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing I'm surprised they left out was Flair reportedly being a black market baby. Just playing arm chair psychiatrist but I think something like that would mess with your head a bit if you found out about it. Your parents either gave you up willingly or were conned into giving you up. Seeing as how they delved into everything else, I thought they'd bring that up for sure. Maybe they couldn't for legal purposes though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/9/2017 at 3:05 AM, Curt McGirt said:

Just watched a horrible quality version of it on Dailymotion. You. Are. RIGHT! The crowd seems really divided, but leaning particularly toward Flair (where was this, in Philly?) and they gave them what they wanted. Just stiff, mean, great selling (Ronnie's sell of the leg was fantastic), but they ditched that psychology and went for big highspots and nearfalls towards the end. It came in at a nice 15 or so minutes too. My only complaint is Ronnie didn't bleed, really. Need to see this not looking like a 4th generation VHS that was put on an MP3 file though.

EDIT: Not Philly, but Chicago, so close enough

I still can't believe they didn't put the Warriors over the Horsemen that night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, Ryan said:

I really hope Bix didn't pick that headline.

ESPN's 30 For 30 On Ric Flair Glorifies Decades Of Sexual Misconduct


"We at ESPN willfully and gladly endorse all of Ric Flair's actions as a person!"

I actually wouldn't be surprised if he picked that headline, Bix has been apoplectic about those segments since the doc aired, basically accusing them of treating Flair exposing himself as "well that's just good old Ric!"

Of course, nevermind that every animated sequence depicting those events showed every character in the animation with embarrassed looks on their faces at what they are seeing and all of those stories were framed in the overall narrative context of people speculating why Ric felt the need to pull such antics to begin with. 

Ric himself in his interviews may have been laughing it off, but I felt overall the doc presented such antics as that of a pathetic figure that was attention-starved and couldn't stand to have a moment alone with his own thoughts. Saying his behavior was "glorified" by the doc is very extreme at least, especially compared to shoot interviews with other wrestlers addressing the same stories, and at most a straight-up misrepresentation of how that was presented in the documentary.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, cwoy2j said:

One thing I'm surprised they left out was Flair reportedly being a black market baby. Just playing arm chair psychiatrist but I think something like that would mess with your head a bit if you found out about it. Your parents either gave you up willingly or were conned into giving you up. Seeing as how they delved into everything else, I thought they'd bring that up for sure. Maybe they couldn't for legal purposes though.

In his book it did seem to have an effect on him. He was born as Fred in Tennessee then was adopted by a wealthy couple from Minnesota. He seems to love them but it seemed to be a strained relationship. He was never what they wanted him to be. He flunked out of college and became a wrestler. He also had issues with how frugal his father was with money, despite his wealth. Which influenced how Flair spent money. But I think being adopted is the root of a lot of issues. Just based on the book and various interviews. 

I have not watched it all yet. But did they go into the business about Ric and Beth getting fleeced by an insurance agent? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No Vic. Beth is mentioned pretty sparingly and mostly by Charlotte. I guess because she didn't participate. 

The animated sequence where he flashes the frat party and everyone turns away embarrassed and he sadly withdraws from the window was clearly their way of editorializing on his behavior. I wouldn't even begin to speculate on his private behavior with women, but the public nudity seemed less sexually aggressive and more, as Clint put it, pathetic and attention-starved. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/11/2017 at 2:13 AM, Niners Fan in CT said:

It's a great match and Chicago was wild for a Roadies win.  I always hated that cheap shit over the top rope DQ spot. 

I can only guess Dusty did not want to figure out a way for them to drop it back to the Horsemen. I would guess the thinking was if the Warriors are champions you are down a marquee match. Where if the Horsemen kept the belts, you have a tag title match and a Road Warriors match. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally got around to watching this. Thought it was well done, but man, did they miss a lot of moments in his career. Saw the director had to make three edits to please ESPN, which probably made it not as good as it should have really been. Wasn’t there supposed to be a scene where Flair demonstrates blading? Would’ve liked to see that. Oh well. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally got around to watching it. It started off on a bad foot for me by showing Reid's grave. Then you have c listers with no connection to his life taking up real estate that could have been used by people who actually knew Flair. I got to the point they played the 911 call and i turned it off. If WWE made this, they would be rightfully tore a new one. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Victator said:

Finally got around to watching it. It started off on a bad foot for me by showing Reid's grave. Then you have c listers with no connection to his life taking up real estate that could have been used by people who actually knew Flair. I got to the point they played the 911 call and i turned it off. If WWE made this, they would be rightfully tore a new one. 

What? You didn't like Snoop Dogg saying how important Flair was to the black community?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...