D1 - Stone Cold Steve Austin & Ric Flair versus Bret Hart & Andre The Giant

[Dave]

Day 1 of the inaugral WrestleZone International Cup begins with tag team matches that pit Team U.S.A against Team R.O.W in randomly assigned matches. Who will gain the early advantage in the Cup and who will let their team down? Let the debate begin!

Boards are open for 1 day for discussion and then polling will begin in 24 hours. Polling lasts for 48 hours afterwards. The winning team gets the point. In the event of a draw, teams will half a point each.

 

[Dave]

This is a hell of a match right here. There is so much history between the four men in the ring that it would have been a classic match if it had happened in real life.

At the end of the day though, I think I am going to go with Andre and Bret. For me, the difference maker in this match is definitely Andre The Giant. Austin and Flair are great wrestlers, there is no doubt about it. But I don't see anything in their arsenal that would make it possible for them to take down Andre.

Apart from that, Bret and Austin obviously have a tonne of history between them and that would be a nice little aside in this match. But when it comes right down to it, Andre would beat up Ric Flair and Stone Cold.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Certain things grow on you as you age. Blue cheese, the comedy of Stewart Lee, or - in my case - Ric Flair. Whereas I used to turn my nose up at even the Ric Flair matches of the finest vintage - against Savage, against Hogan, against Steamboat, against Dusty - rewatches have put them in a new light. Have you seen Flair's match against Sting at the first Clash of Champions? Phwoar. That's a belter.

People might remember Steve Austin as one half of the Hollywood Blondes, or one half of the Two Man Power Trip, or one half of, uh... Steve Austin and Dude Love. While he's obviously a very accomplished tag wrestler, and a very accomplished wrestler, let's not forget those few weeks before Triple H ran him over when he did nothing but phone it in in tag matches. Debilitating neck injury? Pull the other one!

If you read Bret Hart's book, you'd believe he was one of the best professional wrestlers ever. If you watched Bret Hart's matches, you'd believe he was one of the best professional wrestlers ever. And, you know, the Hart Foundation weren't anything to sneeze at either.

Andre the Giant - and you might not know this - was fucking tall. And very broad as well. Even for a wrestler. There's a reason his face is painted on buildings and t-shirts and he was in The Princess Bride.

There are so many different permutations that this match could have any outcome. Austin famously didn't play well with others - except for Brian Pillman, Triple H, The Undertaker, and, uh... Dude Love - so I could see him getting fed up with Flair begging off for the third time in the match, invading the ring, stunnering everybody, and walking out, as he was wont to do.

 

[Bernkastel]

Individually Austin and Flair were much bigger stars than Bret. Completely different level. Andre's star power is comparable, sure, but he was a special attraction, while the former were top champions. On paper that team looks practically unstoppable. And maybe they would be. Flair had an ego, but he would play ball for the sake of a team. Same with Austin. Look at the Two Man Power Trip. That was a team built on nothing but the principle of domination. And Trips and Austin clicked very well.

Andre was an easy guy to tag with. His partner would call him Boss and let him call the shots. Bret wouldn't have any problem with that. Andre's partner would rough up their opponents and then Andre would get the hot tag and clean house. It was a similar formula that Big Daddy used in the UK. However, Austin and Flair weren't pushovers. They have proven that they would be willing to do just about anything to secure a victory. Austin would have probably cracked Bret's own mother across the head with a chair if it meant getting him to lower his guard. And while I have no doubt that Andre could handle either in a one on one situation, I'm not so sure he could take on both at once. And that would likely be Austin and Flair's game plan: eliminate Andre early on and then focus all their efforts into beating Bret as quickly as possible.

I am leaning Austin and Flair for the win via any means necessary.

 

[Slyfox696]

So we have arguably the greatest in-ring technician of all time and the most dominant wrestler of all time teaming up together...how would Hart and Andre not win this match?

First of all, Ric Flair is vastly overrated. I've always said that and it's always true. And how many times did Bret Hart defeat Steve Austin? According to Cagematch, just about every single time.

Hart had Austin's number. Flair has no chance against Andre. Andre and Hart should be the winners.

Individually Austin and Flair were much bigger stars than Bret. Completely different level. Andre's star power is comparable, sure, but he was a special attraction, while the former were top champions.

That's an incredibly unfair argument. Andre was never a "top champion" because he was so dominant. Andre couldn't lose, so he never got the title.

Flair was a star simply because he did lose so often. Also, I disagree heartily with the idea Flair was a "much bigger star" than Bret Hart.

On paper that team looks practically unstoppable. And maybe they would be. Flair had an ego, but he would play ball for the sake of a team. Same with Austin.

Yes, the one thing Flair and Austin were never known for was betraying others.

Nope, never happened, for either of them.

 

[Dave]

I was going to point out that no one has anything to gain by betraying their team mates but that never really mattered for Austin. He was as much of a free spirit that wrestling world has ever seen. Christ, he would dole out Stunners just for the sake of it, indiscriminately in most cases.

I can totally see Austin taking a bump from Flair after Andre pushes Flair into him or something. Boom! Stunner on Flair and team ROTW takes the Pinfall. As much as there is nothing to gain from betraying your team, it never stopped Austin before. It's a difference maker.