Ric Flair

[Evenflow DDT]

I think when Ric Flair lost his Retirement Cage Match to Hulk Hogan at Halloween Havoc should have walked away for good. He didnt do anything worth wile from 1995-2011 in-ring.

1995 - was involed in a HORRIBLE angles with Hogan, Savage, and the Dungon of Doom, small feud with Vader, and another feud with Arn Anderson, reformed the Horsemen for like the 4th or 5th time.

1996- Still feuding with Hogan, won the U.S title, Horsemen are forced tro turn face due to the nWo, misses the last few monthes of '96 due to shoulder injury

1997 - Feuding with the nWo, gets head slammed in a cage door, disbands the horsemen and an ok mid-card feud with Curt Hennig.

1998 - Poorly booked feud with Bret Hart, "sent home" by Eric Bischoff, returns to reform the horsemen... again, beats Eric at Starrcade

1999 - becomes "president" of WCW, goes to the crazy house, beat up in the desert by The Filthy Animals, "sent home" by Vince Russo

2000 - returns to WCW and feuds with, Sting, Shane Douglas, Vince Russo. Gets his head shaved and goes home again. Near the end of 2000 he becomes the main figurehead of WCW.

2001 - magnificant 7, Final match with on Nitro with Sting, Co-Owner of WWF

2002 - returns to in-ring action and becomes HHH manager.

2003-2005 - Evolution, handful of mid-card matches and a tag title run with Batista.

2006 - TLC Match with Edge, beat Mick Foley at Summerslam, Tag tile run with Piper

2007 - Tags with Carlito, Feuds with Carlito, traded to Smackdown, Vince says the next match Flair loses will be his last.

2008-2009 - retired by HBK

2010-2011 - TNA.....

So you can see that between 1995 and 2011 Ric Flair did NOTHING worth wile (in the ring). His biggest contributions came as a manager or figurehead. Now a lot of it can be blamed on the bad booking of WCW but he stayed and cashed the checks. When he went back to WWF he was nothing more than a mid-carder which was sad to see. Im not saying he should have been a headliner but should have just stuck to the manager role. Nothing worse than seeing a wrestler who just can't walk away. IN MY EYES all he did was tarnish his legacy more and more with each passing year.

Odds are I'm gonna catch a lot of heat here cuz i dared to tell the truth about the wrestling god, but its how i feel.

Thoughts?

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think Flair was very badly used in WCW's later years. From reading his book I know he was very unhappy at this point with the way he was being treated, which I think was justified. There was no reason for WCW to humiliate a legend like Ric Flair, when he had done so much for the business. If he had decided to retire then I would have understood his decision.

However, I think he had a decent run in WWE. He accepted his days as a main event level wrestler were over, but he still had a few great matches and worthy feuds. The cage match with HHH was good, as was his WM match with Undertaker. I enjoyed his ECW match with Big Show, his war with Foley and of course there was his excellent retirement match with HBK. THAT is when he should have called it a day for good. It was the perfect send off for the Nature Boy. A great WM match, a huge ovation, he should have never wrestled again after that, he will never get that high again.

I loved his work in Evolution too, even if it was more of a managerial role. It only benefitted Orton and Batista to be associated with, and be in the ring with a legend like Flair.

He is definitely hanging on too long though, the guy looks awful now and cannot produce in the ring any more. Beating him is still noteworthy but nowhere near as big as it was a few years ago. I still think he has a place in wrestling, but as a GM type figure, or strictly as a manager. He should not be in the ring any more, his time has gone long ago and its time for him to step aside. Noone really wants to see him wrestle and tarnish his legacy any more, losing to guys like Jay Lethal.

Sadly though, Ric just cannot seem to let go.

 

[WWWYKI777]

Nah , I'm glad he continues to wrestle way beyond that

Heres some video of highlights from one of his most recent matches
[youtube]DycBZpphT84[/youtube]

I remember seeing the whole match on TV live and thinking it was great , this silly little highlight video doesn't seem to do justice compared to my memory but eh you know

Oh yeah and his retirement match Vs. HBK was great too

I think its fine that he kept wrestling , doesn't really tarnish his legacy , just keeps him active in the public eye longer and makes him even more known by newer generations

 

[Evenflow DDT]

So 2 good matches in 15 years...

I just think he should have gone out on top and I would be fine with occasional apperances but after a certain point he just got sad to watch

 

[Jeff]

Like mentioned before Flair in the late part of WCW was due to just poor management in WCW. Everyone who was apart of WCW in that time shoudl have just given it up and left the business. The product was just awful.

When Flair came over to WWE, I think he did some good stuff actually. Granted he wasn't main event material anymore, but he did something that I think is even more important and that is build future stars.

If it wasn't for Flair (and of course Triple H) Randy Orton and certainly Batista wouldn't have become the superstars they became. Remember Flair and Batista were two time tag team champions. I am not saying Orton and Batista wouldn't have made it to the main event level, they were going to become main event stars regardless if Flair was there or not, but we can't say Flair wasn't apart of building their character.

After that he did go on to some mid card feuds, and he really never was able to really launch any main event stars but he did get to work with many potential main event WWE players like MVP, Mr. Kennedy and Shelton Benjamin, all guys who WWE were working on making Main Event at one point or another in their careers.

Then you look at where he is today with TNA. He for a little while had a feud with Jay Lethal, which in my opinion was a way for Flair and TNA to attempt to push Lethal. He started Fortune which was a way to push guys like Morgan, Beer Money and attempt to push guys like Douglas Williams.

I understand the argument that Ric Flair didn't do much after his golden years, but I would rather see him put or attempt to put young guys over then have him in the main event and I wish other guys would do the same.

 

[Evenflow DDT]

I just hope guys like Cena, Orton, and AJ can learn a lesson from guys like Flair and Hogan and just walk away when the times right and get a fucking pre-nup!

I expected guys like jake roberts and koko b ware to not have a lot of cash in the bank and have to do the occasional indy show in a high school gym somewhere in mid-america but Flair was one of the biggest names of all times and Im pretty sure he a shitload of cash but a mixture of his ego and ex-wives have made him look bad in my eyes for years.

 

[Jessie Lynn DivaGirl]

Okay, okay, Ric Flair has done pretty much nadda when it comes to the ring. But how about outside of the ring? On TNA he's been pushing the heel charge pretty well and has been in some decent fueds. He's still a wrestling god, but maybe he's cutting back a little. I mean, be serious, this guy is what? 60? Thereabouts? I never expect him to do much except yell till he's hoarse and get punched in the face every now and then. However, I do kind of wish he could do more in the ring- I just don't expect it

 

[Evenflow DDT]

@JLDG Thats the point i was making. Had he just hung the boots up in '94 and maybe resurfaced around '98 or '99 as strictly in a manager or GM type role it would have been perfect. But he chose to stay in the ring and tarnish his legacy for the next 15 years. Let's face it besides his "Last Match" against HBK how many were memorible? To me his biggest accomplishments came as the manager of HHH, Evolution, and Fourtune.

 

[H33LTurn]

I cant agree with you there. Flair helped put Carlito over, which would've turned out great if Carlito actually cared about his job. He was also a key member of Evolution. And I know he could've just been a manager for HHH, Batista, and Orton but the fact that the fans knew he could still step into the ring made it all better. He wasnt going to win another world title or steal the show at his age, but him being in the ring didnt harm anybody.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I had no problems with Flair's career until 2009-2010. He had his time as a world champion, led the Four Horsemen, had a good run in multiple organizations, then he was in Evolution and his career seemed to die down after that until he had his "last" match against Michaels. Flair broke his promise of that being his final match ever and ruined the grand sendoff he had by not staying retired. It is not the fact that he went to TNA. Flair managing Immortal was a brilliant move. Flair WRESTLING again however tarnishes his legacy because he is way past his prime and had already promised to Michaels that he had done his final match. Flair lost a ton of my respect after that.

 

[RicoLen]

I'm not afraid to vocalize my criticism of Ric Flair... but since I always play the heel, for this thread I will stay true to that.

I have a huge amount of respect for Ric Flair. He's certainly in the top 10 all time in everything to do with pro-wrestling. And as a figurehead, and a tv personality he is IMO still one of the best... I hope to see him on TV for years to come, and I'm totally fine seeing him wrestle again... once or twice.