Ric Flair Returns

[Jack-Hammer]

One of the very few highlights of an extremely boring & mediocre Raw last night was the return of Ric Flair. Flair initially came out and presented the Slammy Award for Sueprstar of the Year. Cena came out and got an incredible mixed reaction before humbly giving the award to Ric Flair. CM Punk's music hit and he came out on crutches and did his thing, with some great interaction with Ric Flair.

He tells Flair he could beat him with one leg and Flair proceeds down to the ring. In the ring, Punk jabs Flair in the gut with his crutch and breaks one of them over his back. Punk then mocks Flair by strutting, albeit on one leg, for a bit before going for another one. Flair pops up and thumbs Punk in the eye before putting Paul Heyman in the Figure Four.

Soon after, The Shield make their way down and a brawl breaks out once Team Hell No comes down to make the save. The Shield gain the advantage and are on the verge of powerbombing Flair through the announce table before Ryback pops up. He & Team Hell No rally and send The Shield packing before interacting with Flair in the ring, including Ryback & Kane hoisting Flair onto their shoulders.

Basically, the last 5 minutes of the 8 pm hour and the first 20 minutes or so of the 9 pm hour were, for me, the highlight of the show. I was genuinely surprised that Ric Flair showed up and it was nice to see him. Now it leads me to wonder if Ric Flair is back for good in some role or if last night was the last time we'll see him for a long while & was just a one time deal.

Given TNA's lawsuit against WWE, I'm more inclined to go with the latter unless there's been some sort of development happen in regards to the lawsuit that's being kept confidential.

If Flair is back, however, then I don't see him actually wrestling again. For one thing, WWE has no interest in having him wrestle from what I understand. That was one of the reasons Flair left WWE in the first place. According to a report I read a few days ago, Flair himself has stated that he'll never wrestle again and that Jerry Lawler's heart attack just after wrestling in a tag match on Raw really got to him.

So if Flair is back on a regular basis, or soon will be, what role do you want to see WWE put him in?

There was talk a while back of putting Flair with Dolph Ziggler as his new manager. Personally, I'm not sure if I want that. While it'd be fun to see Flair paired with Ziggler, Ziggler is finally own his own without Vickie Guerrero and we've seen him progress more in the past couple of months as a character than we have in the past couple of years. I'm also concerned that WWE might book Flair in a way that basically makes him the star of the duo and that's not going to do Ziggler any favors.

Flair would be fun on commentary I think or he'd be a natural for the fit of Raw GM.

At the end of the day, however, I think anything would be better than watching Flair as a wrestler. Nostalgia is all well and good but all the nostalgia in the world can't hide the fact that Flair probably shouldn't wrestle. Given what happened to Lawler, it might be irresponsible of WWE to have Flair wrestle.

 

[Compound_Lotus]

First thing I thought of is to have Flair as the Raw General Manager. I'm not sure if AJ is still in charge or not but if she is then given what happened at TLC I can't see her remaining Raw GM much longer. This way they have a polarizing character like Flair on tv every week, and he doesn't have to compete in actual matches.

 

[Wald]

I absolutely do not want to see Ric Flair being given a microphone every week on Raw. It will just lead to him going off on rants that puts himself and no-one else over.

Leave it alone, we have a good group of young superstars vying for TV time at the moment and we don't need to allocate 15 mins every Monday to the Wrestling God

 

[Mustang Sally]

So if Flair is back on a regular basis, or soon will be, what role do you want to see WWE put him in?

Managing wrestlers. I always thought they could make the best use of him in that manner; I only wish he had turned to it a few years ago. It's understood he's starting out as a good guy since fans are happy to see him back where he belongs, but the writers should turn him heel ASAP so he can plot his devious strategies, get in people's faces and take the occasional shots that overly involved managers usually wind up taking. He showed last night he's still capable of being physically involved, although we shouldn't expect to see it too often. (I was grateful he kept his damn shirt on once entering the ring)

Sure, he could be the general manager, as he was before, but his apoplectic rages don't translate well to administrative roles and it's always going to be his best destiny being in the ring, close to the action. There's never been a more confrontational performer than Ric Flair....and now, even CM Punk knows it.

Having not seen Flair since he left WWE to go to TNA, I was a little taken aback by how much he's aged these past few years.....but hell, it's still him. He's still stylin' and profilin' and if WWE can resist the urge to put him back in competition (which is ridiculous at 63 years old, but he's a stubborn old buzzard) he can keep doing what he does best, at least until he catches up on the back alimony from his 63 ex-wives.

 

[Kliq]

I absolutely do not want to see Ric Flair being given a microphone every week on Raw. It will just lead to him going off on rants that puts himself and no-one else over.

Leave it alone, we have a good group of young superstars vying for TV time at the moment and we don't need to allocate 15 mins every Monday to the Wrestling God

Are you kidding me?? I almost don't want to reply for fear you may be trolling, so I'll just say this. RAW right now is awful. I think *most* of us agree about that. Not just us here in the IWC, because ratings haven't been above a 3.0 in a long time. So with that said, you just want to "Leave it alone"?? Every week that there is a possibility of Ric Flair holding a microphone is a week that RAW has improved. I haven't been watching RAW for weeks now, and I even missed it last night. But because of him I might start tuning in again.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Really good segment. Is it so hard for professional wrestling to produce someone nowadays with that level of built up intensity in a promo? I hate to say it, and it's still pretty early in the morning, but the first guy that came to mind when I think of an intense Flair-like promo on today's roster is Heath Slater (kill me, kill me for this reason right now).

I don't know where he is best placed, but right now he should still be on TV ranting and raving about some nonsense. Either as a manager or an authority figure. Maybe he will romance the newly single Vicky in to a position of authority or maybe he will romance her out of her position entirely. I could definitely see him screwing Cena over in future title matches in order to try and protect his title reign record. He definitely should be the face of WWE TV if Hogan is still not available and this thing ever gets off the ground.

And he should be able to do it all tax free.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Managing wrestlers. I always thought they could make the best use of him in that manner; I only wish he had turned to it a few years ago. It's understood he's starting out as a good guy since fans are happy to see him back where he belongs, but the writers should turn him heel ASAP so he can plot his devious strategies, get in people's faces and take the occasional shots that overly involved managers usually wind up taking. He showed last night he's still capable of being physically involved, although we shouldn't expect to see it too often. (I was grateful he kept his damn shirt on once entering the ring)

Sure, he could be the general manager, as he was before, but his apoplectic rages don't translate well to administrative roles and it's always going to be his best destiny being in the ring, close to the action. There's never been a more confrontational performer than Ric Flair....and now, even CM Punk knows it.

Having not seen Flair since he left WWE to go to TNA, I was a little taken aback by how much he's aged these past few years.....but hell, it's still him. He's still stylin' and profilin' and if WWE can resist the urge to put him back in competition (which is ridiculous at 63 years old, but he's a stubborn old buzzard) he can keep doing what he does best, at least until he catches up on the back alimony from his 63 ex-wives.

In that vein, I would love to see Flair recruit Ziggler to bring back the 4 Horsemen. Between Flair serving as the mentor, and AJ as the Diva, you can have Big E. Langston be the enforcer, and either get Rhodes Scholars to round out the group, or Cesaro, and another rising midcard heel to round out the group.

Either way if I can here the Horsemen theme on a weekly basis I would be happy.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I'm all for seeing Ric Flair back in the WWE where he belongs. The larger stage clearly suits him, and he obviously thrives off the energy that the bigger venue provides.

Having said this, I love nostalgia as much as the next guy, but in small doses. So please God, keep the guy out of the ring and away from active competition. Sure, have the occasional display of bravado like last night, but please do not have him wrestle an actual match on TV or on PPV.

I have no interest in seeing Flair as the General Manager, that would be too much of him for my tastes. I'd love to see him either as a manager for some existing wrestler (although not Ziggler, he doesn't need it anymore). I would have liked to see him somehow being a force behind the Shield, although last night would seem to rule this out. Who knows, you could even associate him with Zack Ryder, letting Wooooo! Merge with Woo Woo Woo.

Either way, it's great that he's back. But as I said through his brief and unsuccessful stint in TNA, keep the focus off him and let him fill a small non-wrestling role, and it's all good.

 

[vampirek]

He should not be GM of Raw, the role of GM has basically just become a cheap way of keeping someone on tv because there is nothing else for them. They do pretty much nothing for the most of the time.

Ziggler does not need a manager, he is pretty much good to go on his own when they do finally have him cash in.

So what should Flair do? Just keep it as the odd appearance, show up when needed. Go on Miz Tv, NxT and spice up feuds when need be. The rest of the time be used more backstage and help develop the next generation, with the overhaul going on havin Flair in the mix would be a great strength.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I agree with most when I say Ric Flair belongs in the WWE. He’s the only SuperStar ever to be a 2 time Hall Of Famer. That still doesn’t make sense to me, because once you’re in, you’re in, but I get it. I can’t wait for Evolution to be inducted.

Anyway, with that being said, Flair should not compete in a WWE ring ever again, unless he faces Shawn Michaels, with the winner of the match gets a one year, one million dollar contract. Let’s call it an “Un-Retirement match”. Of course, I’d have it go to a draw somehow, maybe interference from the Shield. They could say it’s an injustice to see the “Nature Man” and the “Heart Break Adult” go at it, when there are tons of young up and coming Stars in the back waiting for a chance…to job to Ryback.

I say Flair should a manager. He was great for Triple H. He was great for A. J. Styles. He’ll be great for the next great. Actually, if you want to really spice things up, have Flair turn Heel, start the Four Horsemen, and announce the new Leader, John Cena. Let’s see. The new Four Horsemen should be John Cena, Randy Orton, CM Punk and the Big Show. That’ll put butts in the seats.

Whatever you do, Vince, keep him on TV and don’t ever let go this time. WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

While you’re at it, get Hulk Hogan back. I wouldn’t mind seeing Hogan as the Raw GM and Flair as the Smackdown GM for a year or 3. It would be better than Hogan at the “Open Gut Championship” Night in Orlando Championship Wrestling. It doesn’t matter where Wrestling matters!!

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Easily my favorite moment of last night if not in recent Raw memory.

I've always been a huge fan of Ric Flair, due to his misuse in WCW I rarely saw him but when I did he always got a laugh out of me. Love his work from the seventies and eighties too, plus the parts I've seen from his initial WWE run (real World Heavyweight Champion, feud with Randy Savage, "With a tear in my eye," promo) are all brilliant. Actually marked out for his return.

I don't want to see him wrestle again but if he did, I've always been of the opinion that hes due the respect to decide for himself after four decades of hard work. Anything that gets him on the microphone works for me, the aforementioned and speculated General Manager role would be my preferred. I have no (and I mean no) desire to see him interact with Dolph Ziggler in any fashion.

Asides from the hair and cocky attitude, Ric Flair and Dolph Ziggler have little in common. Flair made overselling comedic in the eighties, Dolph Ziggler has made it ridiculous. End point, it's good to have Naitch back where he belongs. Woooooooo!!

 

[WWEIsLife2]

Im fine with Flair being back where he belongs and thats in a WWE Ring. I just couldn't see him ending his Career in TNA where he brought nothing to the table. I think Ric can do alot for WWE and help some of the younger guys like The Shield,Cesaro,Langston,etc out. I don't think he will get back in the Ring anymore. Welcome Back Naitch,I missed you.

 

[BaconBits]

I don't get why folks think he should be Ziggler's manager. Dolph broke away from his manager like a week ago, finally getting out on his own, and it should stay that way. Besides, he's clearly going to be involved with AJ somehow, and he's not all that bad on the stick anyways.

If Flair is to be anybody's manager, to me at least, it should be Jack Swagger. Jack is decent wrestler, but his lisp is always going to hold him back on the mic, so he's pretty much always going to need a manager. Flair would be a big improvement over Vickie in this respect.

 

[DarkLordFett]

Missed Raw live last night. Catching up on the DVR. Just saw the segment with Flair, Hell NO & Ryback vs the Shield. Seeing those four in the ring after, I almost immediately thought "New 4 Horsemen". Ok, probably bad idea, but just brought back great memories of the WCW era Horsemen. It was fun. I think Flair mentoring a new Horsemen stable could be fun. I'm not saying to tarnish the history and reputation of arguably the greatest stable in wrestling history. It would absolutely have to be done right.

 

[Wrestling101]

I just don't want to see him as a face. And he needs to be in, at most, 2 segments per Raw, so GM is out of the question. Heel manager sounds like a good fit, but in what role?

Yesterday, he got a nudge into the top storyline, so if he is in fact back (Justin Roberts did emphasize 'Welcome BACK!'), I'm pre-predicting (it's too early for a true prediction this far ahead) a heel swerve by Flair and an alliance with a newly-Main Event-level-arriving wrestler. He's great at getting you to hate him. But I don't think WWE will turn him as early as, say, RR. They'll want to get a few more months of crowd pops out of him. Maybe right before WM? EC? First Raw after WM?

That still leaves the question of who he aligns himself with......who are the best choices? Obviously Ziggler.......Cesaro? Too bad WWE turned ADR already, he would've been an option for this. Heel Daniel Bryan? That might have some legs to it. I'd love to see Bryan go straight to the ME and be a legit WHC contender (WHC winner would be better). Sandow? Nah, I want Sandow alone, he's on a roll right now.

Ziggler is the 'WWE predictable' choice....If WWE's plan for Cesaro is to be a ME challenger by June-July, Flair and he could pair up right after WM in some Holy Shit type of way. Bryan would be a great choice too.....he's able to get anything over character-wise, and he's a great heel, but I don't think WWE would pull the trigger on that. Are there any other options I'm forgetting? Maybe a returning heel Orton? His viper, loner gimmick wouldn't work with Flair next to him, but maybe a different character base? Hmmm....this might work.

I'm still guessing WWE goes the predictable, safe route with Ziggler, but they've got some interesting directions they could go with this.

 

[silrock316]

First, Jack Hammer, I want to say appreciate your thread. You take the time with ALL of your threads to make them decent so I don't want you to think im ripping you AT ALL because I am NOT.

I just didn't care about Flairs return. I was watching the show last night with a childhood friend of mine whom has watched wrestling for over 20 years like myself and when Flair came out we both reacted the same: "WOW im so surprised Ric Flair has REDEBUTED with the WWE AGAIN"

I am sure we are not the only ones that feel Flair has completely butchered his legacy with all of his comes and goings and retiring and unretiring to retire again. HBK has a great match with him to end his in ring career. Michaels and Flair did awesome, it was emotional. It actually had me near tears and I am a 32 year old man born and raised in Philadelphia. He then unretired to TNA and went onto have ANOTHER short wrestling stint.

I guess my point is I didn't share the same excitement as you did when he showed up. I was more excited about the Boogeyman to be honest with you.

So my question is to you Jack Hammer. Can you see where I am coming from? Why it wouldn't excite me to see him like it did you?

 

[JaylisJayP]

I'm all for seeing Ric Flair back in the WWE where he belongs. The larger stage clearly suits him, and he obviously thrives off the energy that the bigger venue provides.

Having said this, I love nostalgia as much as the next guy, but in small doses. So please God, keep the guy out of the ring and away from active competition. Sure, have the occasional display of bravado like last night, but please do not have him wrestle an actual match on TV or on PPV.

I have no interest in seeing Flair as the General Manager, that would be too much of him for my tastes. I'd love to see him either as a manager for some existing wrestler (although not Ziggler, he doesn't need it anymore). I would have liked to see him somehow being a force behind the Shield, although last night would seem to rule this out. Who knows, you could even associate him with Zack Ryder, letting Wooooo! Merge with Woo Woo Woo.

Either way, it's great that he's back. But as I said through his brief and unsuccessful stint in TNA, keep the focus off him and let him fill a small non-wrestling role, and it's all good.

Pretty sure Flair said in a recent interview that he would never wrestle a match again because of what he saw happen to Lawler. I think that was Flair.

I'd be up for seeing Flair every week in some capacity. I agree with others who say the GM position is stale and worthless, especially when Vince just comes out and makes matches anyway. I think he could bring value as a manager...look at Heyman with Punk. The guy can talk on the mic and is just entertaining. Flair is the same way.

 

[Slash-LN]

First thing I thought of is to have Flair as the Raw General Manager. I'm not sure if AJ is still in charge or not but if she is then given what happened at TLC I can't see her remaining Raw GM much longer. This way they have a polarizing character like Flair on tv every week, and he doesn't have to compete in actual matches.

AJ hasn't been in charge for a while now. Vickie is in charge. They gave her some other title than gm though.

As far as Flair goes. If the "article" on the front page of this website is accurate then it was a one time thing and WWE and TNA are both being cautious about hiring talent from the other company.

I'm not a fan of Flair but I can't deny the man's legacy and all he did for the wrestling business. If he were to come back in an on screen role I'd want to see him work as a manager. Pairing anyone with him gives that person instant credibility. He may rant a lot but eventually he gets to the point and people tend to pay attention when he's on screen. He isn't a channel changer.

 

[Dynamitekid2012]

"Are you kidding me?? I almost don't want to reply for fear you may be trolling, so I'll just say this. RAW right now is awful. I think *most* of us agree about that. Not just us here in the IWC, because ratings haven't been above a 3.0 in a long time. So with that said, you just want to "Leave it alone"?? Every week that there is a possibility of Ric Flair holding a microphone is a week that RAW has improved. I haven't been watching RAW for weeks now, and I even missed it last night. But because of him I might start tuning in again."


Well said. I too missed the show but when reading the results, I was actually upset I missed it. Flair's promos are a 1000x better than most of what's on their programming and if he was there each week I just may start tuning in regularly once more.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Flair would do more good and be more useful as a manager than as a commentator or a GM as he could easily help the WWE make their next star. Commentary is just fine as it is, and Vickie could become the permanent GM of RAW instead, she's just as good as Ric Flair is in an authority figure role and now that she's no longer managing Ziggler, she could become a tweener so that she's a fair GM from now on.

I don't wanna see Flair manage Ziggler though, Ziggler has gotten this far on his own just fine and is close to becoming a World Champion, he doesn't need Flair at this point in his career. Considering Flair's history with the Rhodes family, I'd like to see Flair manage Cody Rhodes after he and Sandow are done as a tag team. He's gonna need direction when he becomes single again and I could see Flair directing him to the top. I imagine a small storyline coming out of this relationship where Dusty Rhodes appears on RAW and tries to convince his son to dump Flair because he's bad news to the Rhodes' name and he can't be trusted, but Flair gets Cody to turn on his father and beat the holy hell out of him instead, gaining some major heel heat for him, then John Cena could run out and save Dusty Rhodes from his beating, setting up for a Rhodes-Cena feud.

Could see some really interesting things coming from a Cody Rhodes/Ric Flair pairing.

 

[Compound_Lotus]

AJ hasn't been in charge for a while now. Vickie is in charge. They gave her some other title than gm though.

As far as Flair goes. If the "article" on the front page of this website is accurate then it was a one time thing and WWE and TNA are both being cautious about hiring talent from the other company.

I'm not a fan of Flair but I can't deny the man's legacy and all he did for the wrestling business. If he were to come back in an on screen role I'd want to see him work as a manager. Pairing anyone with him gives that person instant credibility. He may rant a lot but eventually he gets to the point and people tend to pay attention when he's on screen. He isn't a channel changer.

I haven't watched a full episode of Raw in awhile so I missed that change. Thanks for clarifying. Who would you want to see him manage? You said you wanted to see him as a manager but didn't provide any examples.

 

[Slash-LN]

I haven't watched a full episode of Raw in awhile so I missed that change. Thanks for clarifying. Who would you want to see him manage? You said you wanted to see him as a manager but didn't provide any examples.

Good question.
I just went through the roster and really I only see two people that stood out.

Earlier someone mentioned Jack Swagger and I think that would be a great fit. Swagger is a big athletic guy. He's better in the ring than some people give him credit for. Flair could be the mouth piece that leads him back to the main event.

The other one is a long shot but Mason Ryan. We haven't seen him in a while and he needs to get better in the ring but his biggest problem is that he doesn't have charisma. Flair with a heel Mason Ryan would be a decent pairing. He has an awesome look and I think Flair could hype him up enough to make people take notice of him and react to him. Like I said though. That would be a long shot.

 

[HBsam31]

My favorite moment on Raw last night, and I like most am glad to see Flair back in the WWE. I hope with everything going on with the TNA lawsuit that he stays. I think Flair would be great on commentary for one. Imagine the wrestling knowledge he could add to matches. I think the GM role might over expose him a little bit, but I would not mind a short stint doing that either. I like a lot of other people would like to see him as a manager. I have enjoyed him in that role in the past, but this time keep him totally out of the ring. I think he could do wonders for a guy like Drew McIntyre, or even a returning Jack Swagger. I think the time for him to manage Dolph is in the past and he is better off on his own. Was great to see The Nature boy back though even if it was for just one night.

 

[IT Factor]

I enjoyed Flair's appearance on RAW. They had him in just the right role given his limited capacity for ring work. If Flair does return to manage a superstar, I'd like to see Joe Hennig get Flair as his mouthpiece. Given Flair's history with Mr. Perfect, it'd be a good fit and a nice way to get Joe over with his real name and not that God awful name he is using now. If not Joe Hennig, maybe Jack Swagger? That is if WWE doesn't release Swags first. As for Ziggler, he is starting to impress me with his mic work improvement. He is good enough to get over without Flair as a mouthpiece. He just got rid of Vickie and doesn't need anyone else to talk for him.

 

[XXJJ]

The one thing I find funny is that the returning legends always put over Cena and it never works. Cena still ends up being booed.

I think were at the point where Flair is not going to be booed by the crowd. So making him a manager for a heel doesn't make much sense. I think Flair taking a young upcoming babyface under his wing would work better.

You can also make him a GM. I think Flair being a CO-Gm or whatever their calling it with Vickie would work.