Ric Flair Can Thank Magnum T.A.

[Monkey_Mania]

You read that right. Magnum T.A. was destined to be this huge superstar. Some may know that he was in line for the title. Then two months before he was scheduled to win it. He had a car accident where his car hydroplaned into a telephone poll. Instantly paralyzing him. He was going to be The NWA's Hulk Hogan.

So why should Ric Flair thank Terry Allen? Because if Magnum did not get into that car wreck Ric Flair would not be the legend he is today. He would not have won as many world titles and would not be remembered the way he is today. You can bash me all you want for this statement. But Magnum T.A. would have been bigger than Ric Flair. If it had not been for his accident.

What are your thoughts?

 

[psykohurricane]

I don't remember how popular Magnum T.A. mainly because most of his matches are not on DVD yet but from what i remember, the guy was the equivalent of Sting as far as popularity goes so i don't think that it would have impacted Ric Flair's career at all, since Ric Flair was already a establish main event star when Magnum T.A. arrive. So to say that if Magnum T.A didn'T get in a accident that Ric Flair'S career wouldn'T have been the same is not realistic. I think that Sting's & Lex Luger's career wouldn'T have gone the same way if MAgnum T.A. didn't get in that car accident because let's face it both guys were given the role that was suppose to go to Magnum. Sting ran with it and became a legend while Luger just became and afterthought but again if the plan was for Magnum T.A. to be the NWA's version of Hulk Hogan, it wouldn'T have affected Ric Flair at all.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

You bring up a good point. But there is one difference. Sting was just getting started when Magnum was getting pushed to the moon. Whereas Sting got his push some 3-4 years later. In those three years if Magnum hadn't gotten in an accident. Then he would have been unstoppable. He was unbelievably over. Had the look that Ric Flair didnt and would have stopped Flair dead in his tracks.

 

[psykohurricane]

Yes you bring up a good point but again when magnum started to get over huge, Ric Flair was already a huge name in wrestling and there's a possibility that Magnum wouldn'T have stayed with the NWA if the car accident never happened. Because you know as well as i know the when somebody was stating to be a huge babyface in any promotion, Vince McMahon would try to sign them and am sure that Magnum would have sign with the WWF if he was offer a contract because he would have made a lot more money in the WWF then in the NWA. So again, Flair legacy wouldn't have been that affected if Magnum was still wrestling, in kind of a weird way it just would have made it a lot better.

Another reason i think Ric Flair career would have stayed the same is because, Flair had a lot of influence with Jim Crockett and he was the guy that brought Magnum to the NWA so that he could make him a star just by feuding with him. The same way he did we Sting a couple of years after.

 

[klunderbunker]

Oh yes Monkey. You have done well my friend.

Magnum TA was going to be the big named face star that WCW had always needed. Think about it. Until Sting came along no one was truly the face that had the look etc to be the big star. You can say Dusty but look at him. He was fat and was all talk. Magnum was at least decent in the ring. He had the build and everything behind him and even had the quick finisher in the Belly to Belly. Then came the wreck and that was that. There was nothing at all left to do but throw on a bad Nikita vs. Flair match where Flair kept the belt. After that there was no one until Sting came along to be the top face. Flair holds the title. Great thread Monkey, and exactly the kind of thing that needs to be explained sometimes.

 

[MisterRob]

People seem to be forgetting one important detail in this debate; Magnum was a face, Ric Flair was a heel. They weren't competing for the same role, Magnum wouldn't have replaced Ric Flair because they weren't competing for the same spot but they would have in fact complemented one another. Any great face needs a great heel to feud with and Flair's place as the top heel of the company wouldn't have changed whether Magnum was around or not. Sure, its quite possible championship reigns could've been altered, Flair might not have won as many championships as he did, or all sorts of smaller details, but to say Flair wouldn't have become what he did if Magnum hadn't gotten into his tragic accident is a bit short sighted. Not to mention Flair had a great deal of stroke backstage at that time and whether Magnum had become a big main event force and held titles, the entire make up of the company at that time was based around the philosophy of a heel as champion and top faces chasing that heel. I don't really see Magnum having held the championship for years straight, so Flair still would've exchanged the title with him back and forth.

So yes, history would've been different, but not to the degree people are implying or this thread seems to be trying to get at.

 

[cubwannabear]

There's alot of "what-ifs" in this implied theory.
I read some years ago that Magnum was in contract negotiations with WWE (then WWF) right at the time of his fatal car accident. I believe that is why T.A. was stuck in a useless feud with Jimmy Garvin to get Garvin over. This was also right before the War Games match he was suppose to team with Dusty Rhodes & The Road Warriors against the 4 Horseman in which Nikita Koloff replaced him.
Besides Magnum just came off numerous feuds with different members of the Horsmen and had his several title shots at Ric Flair. I marked out for Magnum T.A as much as anyone, but his NWA days were numbered at the time. I believe War Games would have been his send off, most like submitting to a Four Horseman beat down. When Koloff replaced T.A. the Rhodes led team won, I'm sure to get Nikita Koloff over as a face.

If your playing the "what-if" games then we could have assumed that Magnum T.A. went to the WWF and side swiped Hulk Hogan of all his future fame and became the icon T.A. deserved to be. Then again, at the time, knowing the character suicide of many NWA wrestlers in WWF they would have changed his name to Magnum Force, building T.A. as a big heel so he could job to Hogan.
As for all the haters wandering why Ric Flair deservered his legendary status. Lets go back to 1986 and the Great American Bash was on tour. Ric Flair defended the NWA title 5-6 nights a week while at the same time Hogan barely defended the WWF title once a month in a 10min match. Sure it might have been planned for Flair to stay champ just like WWF milked the Hogan machine for a long reign. You will see no other champion at the time or to this day put in a defense schedual like Ric Flair.
As for the term "Iron Man" contest "The Man" Ric Flair created the definition. Many times Ric Flair came to the Field House or Civic Center and had many 1 hour time limit draws with Magnum T.A., Barry Windham, Ricky Steamboat, Sting & yes (fat ole) Dusty Rhodes.
"To be the man is to beat the man" isn't just bar code Flair gave himself, it's something he's earned, it's something many wrestlers try to be ( Triple H anyone?) but fail miseralbly. It takes more than title reigns to be "The Man!"
Alot of Wrestling fans today came in around DX/NWO. That's only a 10 year span. That era couldn't scratch the surface of the NWA (Early WCW) from the late 70's to early 90's. Get some old tapes of the NWA, hell rent or buy Starcade & you will see the difference.

 

[reddevil69]

I would have to agree that while Flair was already an established star, i think he would have had no choice but to be moved to the sideline if Magnum had got the title and the mega-push he was in line for. And Vince would have surely got his hands on him and made him even bigger. He had the look of the 80's, they named him after one of the most popular TV shows of all time,Magnum P.I. because he looked like Tom Selleck, who at that point was adored by women everywhere,but was still macho enough to be liked by a male audience, which was why the show did extremely well and continues to be a best-seller on dvd today.

Terry Allen was having the same impact in NWA, women loved him and men respected him.He would have been the first NWA champ who had the ability to be a true sex-symbol and he would have had huge crossover appeal to the casual fans that were watching wrestling during the 1985-1990 boom period,and he would have appealed to the motorcycle sub-culture as well...the same type of people who watch American Chopper would have thought he was cool because he rode a Harley all the time, and at the time that was something that was not being done by anyone else in wrestling....he was the 'Marlboro Man' of wrestling.I think Flair would still have had a spot,but he would have been relegated to a position much like Randy Savage was in as the number two guy behind Hogan.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

But you see. Magnum would have never fit in up North. He wouldve played the role Ric Flair did when he went over to the WWF. He would have been champ but he would have never gained anything of notoriety. He would have been huge down in the NWA though. I suggest you all take a look back at some of the reactions he was getting. At the time in the NWA nobody was getting pops like that.

Magnum T.A. would have not taken Ric Flairs legacy. But he would have hindered it by quite a bit. Flair would NOT be a 16 time champion. Not in the least. Maybe a 10 or 12 but not 16. Everyone knows that Ric Flair is remembered for his 16 title regins. Well he can thank Magnum for getting hurt, otherwise he wouldnt have won so many of them.

 

[MisterRob]

But you see. Magnum would have never fit in up North. He wouldve played the role Ric Flair did when he went over to the WWF. He would have been champ but he would have never gained anything of notoriety. He would have been huge down in the NWA though. I suggest you all take a look back at some of the reactions he was getting. At the time in the NWA nobody was getting pops like that.

Magnum T.A. would have not taken Ric Flairs legacy. But he would have hindered it by quite a bit. Flair would NOT be a 16 time champion. Not in the least. Maybe a 10 or 12 but not 16. Everyone knows that Ric Flair is remembered for his 16 title regins. Well he can thank Magnum for getting hurt, otherwise he wouldnt have won so many of them.

Except you're forgetting something. Name me the people who can claim to have had 10-12 World title reigns in their career? Its a pretty short list, isn't it? Ric Flair, even if the number of his reigns had decreased, still would've been the bench mark if he had gotten 12 title reigns. Thats still unthinkable and still unbelievable in the wrestling business, and he still would've had that claim to fame even if he hadn't gotten 16 of them.

 

[emceelokey]

Honestly , I just learned about him through the Starrcade dvd. I was bonr in '83 and my I believe the accident happened in '87, but I got intowrestling with Wrestlemania 6 (89) so he was already done with by that time. From the few minutes I saw from him though, I actually like him. He didn't seem like a character and seemed to have the same connection with the audience that Stone Cold would later have. He definitely has the size, and physique to be a WWF Superstar and he had HAIR. If the accident had not happened I could see WWF taking him and pushing him as the top guy. I would really like to find more on him and folow some of his feudes.

 

[Shocky]

No. Ric Flair would have been just as big as he was, despite the popularity of Magnum TA. Ric Flair had already carved himself a great legacy in the thirteen years he was in the business at that time. In fact, if Magnum became a huge star, and Flair retired 15 years ago, he would have been a bigger star then what he is now.

Magnum would have done nothing to take away from Flair. Starrcade was already established as Flair's show, and Magnum beating Flair would have been the equivalant of either Hogan vs. Andre or Warrior beating Hogan. It would have been big, but as i stated, not big enough to hurt Flair.

The people that would ahve been effected, and I say this because of what got rolling after the accident, three guys.

Lex Luger: His rise to superstardom almost immediately happened after the accident. Luger had the body of a greek god, and was half way decent in the 80's. He would ahve been big regardless, but probably not as quickly as he rose. When did Luger win thew orld title, two, maybe three years into his career? It wouldn't have happened if Magnum was around, but it could have been Magnum being the guy taht Luger took the title off of.

Sting: If Luger was the heel that benefited from Magnums loss, then Sting was easily the face that benefited from it. Sting had the popularity, charisma and look to be over regardless, but his rise to fame I believe exploded because of the huge face vaccuum created by the loss of Magnum.

Ricky Steamboat: That's right. Everyone seems to be on the Ricky Steamboat bandwagon as of late, but the guy wouldn't ahve sniffed the world title if Magnum was around. Teh title seen would have been crowded, and guys like Luger, Sting, Magnum and Flair are all bigger names in the business at the time then Steamboat ever was. Without Magnum, it created a chance for a feel good story, but that chance never would have happened if Magnum was still there.

 

[jbwphoto1]

I remember when JCP first started showing the Magnum T.A. promos with him riding a motorcycle and kissing women. It was great. When he finally showed up, it was even greater. For the short time he wrestled for the big time, he did make his mark. Without him, when would we have ever had an evil Russian become a face.

I have to agree with the original poster that Magnum would have derailed the Flair legacy, at least for a while. He was the next coming for the NWA. He would have taken the title to the next step being the younger, movie star champion. As another poster mentioned, he would have captured the casual observer who also knew of the Nature Boy. Flair would not have had as many title reigns and may not have stayed with NWA/WCW for as long as he did.

If Magnum was headed to the WWF/WWE soon after the time of the accident, who knows. Vince may have put a cowboy hat on him with cowboy boots and a whip. There was a lot of that going on. Maybe he would have had the part Paul Orndorff played as foe to Hogan and then friend. Magnum, like Orndorff, would have had no problem with carrying Hulk in a match.

As for the posters who say that Magnum would not have taken Naitch's spot by one being a heel and the other a face. You can't be a great heel without having a great face. But you can't have more than one top dog. If Magnum didn't take this spot, he would have been running a close #2.