The first nomination for the Wrestlezone Real Hall of Fame, Class of 2009

[Slyfox696]

"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair

List of Championships and Accomplishments:

* All Japan Pro Wrestling
o NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[82]

* Central States Wrestling
o NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[82]

* Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling / Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling
o NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (4 times)[83]
o NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Rip Hawk (1), Greg Valentine (1) and Big John Studd (1)[84]
o NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship (1 time)[85]
o NWA Television Championship (1 time)[85]
o NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (5 times)1[86]
o NWA World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)2[82]
o NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (3 times) - with Greg Valentine (2) and Blackjack Mulligan (1)[87]
o WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)3[88]
o WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[86]
o WCW World Heavyweight Championship (8 times)[89]

* National Wrestling Alliance
o NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)4[82]
o NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2008)

* Pro Wrestling Illustrated
o Ranked #2 of the PWI 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.[90]
o Feud of the Year (1987) Four Horsemen vs. Super Powers & Road Warriors[91]
o Feud of the Year (1988, 1990) vs. Lex Luger[91]
o Feud of the Year (1989) vs. Terry Funk[91]
o Match of the Year (1983) vs. Harley Race (June 10)[91]
o Match of the Year (1984) vs. Kerry Von Erich at Parade of Champions 1 (May 6)[92]
o Match of the Year (1986) vs. Dusty Rhodes at The Great American Bash in a steel cage match[92]
o Match of the Year (1989) vs. Ricky Steamboat at WrestleWar[92]
o Match of the Year (2008) vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV
o Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1978, 1987)[93]
o Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2008)
o Rookie of the Year (1975)[94]
o Stanley Weston Award (2008)
o Wrestler of the Year (1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1992)[95]

* Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
o Class of 2006

* St. Louis Wrestling Club
o NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[96]
o NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[82]

* St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame
o Class of 2007

* World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment
o WWF World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)[97]
o WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)[97]
o World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Batista (2) and Roddy Piper (1)[97]
o Royal Rumble (1992)[97]
o WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2008)
o Triple Crown Championship (Thirteenth)
o Slammy Award for Match of the Year (2008) vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania

* Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
o 5 Star Match (1987) vs. Barry Windham (April 11, Crockett Cup Tournament)
o 5 Star Match (1989) vs. Ricky Steamboat (February 20, Chi-Town Rumble)
o 5 Star Match (1989) vs. Ricky Steamboat (April 2, two out of three falls match, Clash of the Champions VI)
o 5 Star Match (1989) vs. Ricky Steamboat (May 7, WrestleWar)
o 5 Star Match (1989) vs. Terry Funk (November 15, "I Quit" match, Clash of the Champions IX)
o 5 Star Match (1991) with Larry Zbyszko, Barry Windham and Sid Vicious vs. Sting, Brian Pillman, Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner (February 24, WarGames match, WCW WrestleWar)
o Best Heel (1990)
o Best Interviews (1991, 1992, 1994)
o Feud of the Year (1989) vs. Terry Funk
o Match of the Year (1983) vs. Harley Race in a steel cage match at Starrcade
o Match of the Year (1986) vs. Barry Windham at Battle of the Belts II on February 14
o Match of the Year (1988) vs. Sting at Clash of the Champions I
o Match of the Year (1989) vs. Ricky Steamboat at WrestleWar
o Most Charismatic (1980, 1982–1984, 1993)
o Most Outstanding (1986, 1987, 1989)
o Readers' Favorite Wrestler (1984–1993, 1996)
o Worst Feud of the Year (1990) vs. The Junkyard Dog
o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996) with Arn Anderson, Meng, The Barbarian, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Z-Gangsta and The Ultimate Solution vs. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, WCW Uncensored, Towers of Doom match, Tupelo, MS, March 24
o Wrestler of the Year (1982–1986, 1989, 1990, 1992)
o Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

Do you believe that Ric Flair deserves to go into the Wrestlezone Real Hall of Fame? Why or Why not? Be advised that spam rule is in effect, so give reasons for why you believe he should or should not be in.

Voting will start on March 20th or 21th.

 

[NSL]

If we're going to start a Hall Of Fame, there's nowhere else to start, but with the Nature Boy. Besides the title reigns, he was great in the ring, and will always be one of the best guys to watch. He didn't even need to be in the ring for people to go to the show. All he'd have to do, is make an appearance.

I can't think of anyone better to be #1. Without Ric Flair, many of us wouldn't know a thing about wrestling. Even if you don't like Flair yourself, I'm sure your parents did. And, if they didn't, I'd bet they still tuned in to see him.

 

[Slyfox696]

If we're going to start a Hall Of Fame, there's nowhere else to start, but with the Nature Boy. Besides the title reigns, he was great in the ring, and will always be one of the best guys to watch. He didn't even need to be in the ring for people to go to the show. All he'd have to do, is make an appearance.

I can't think of anyone better to be #1. Without Ric Flair, many of us wouldn't know a thing about wrestling. Even if you don't like Flair yourself, I'm sure your parents did. And, if they didn't, I'd bet they still tuned in to see him.

Well, he's not "number 1". He's actually number 8.

And while I've NEVER been a Flair fain, and have many times criticized the man's overrated ring work, it doesn't change the fact that he is, indeed, worthy of being in the Hall of Fame. While I don't think he is as great as other do, he is still great. He still was a many time World Champion, and was still a major player in the NWA days.

 

[HBK-aholic]

The only people that hate Ric Flair are either the ones who think it's cool to do so, or the ones who have only recently began to watch the WWE, and know simply of the last couple of years of his career, which weren't his best to put it lightly.

Few people deserve a sopt more than Flair does, and if he doesn't get inducted this isn't a 'Real' Hall of Fame. His accomplishments speak for themselves, but you only have to watch a few matches or promos from the 80-90s to realise he is HOF material.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The last couple of years being the last 15? For almost your entire life he was a joke. Of course he deserve his spot, but he's not as great as everybody makes him out to be. It's just that WWE do a brilliant job of hyping people. Where would he be now if WWE hadn't bought him back and pushed him as a fallen legend who sold badly, had saggy tits and lost to everybody?

 

[Slyfox696]

The poll is now open. You will have three weeks from the time of my post to vote. We ask that you give reason as to why or why not you feel that Ric Flair is in the Hall of Fame.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Never been a big Ric Flair fan. Maybe further down the line I'd gladly vote yes. However, I'd rather that one of the most overrated wrestlers of all time wasn't the first inductee into our Hall of Fame. Why couldn't you put Randy Savage as the first nominee, Sly? If you were to promise that Flair would be inducted after some others, I'd happily change my vote.

Why am I making such a big deal of this? Man, I'm a douche.

 

[DD84]

He isn't the greatest of all time like many say, the greatest World Champ with most reigns for so, but the greatest ever. He got my vote based on his body of work and the fact that he was in two of the greatest factions ever - 4 Horsemen and Evolution. He is an Ex-Triple Crown winner also, he had one hell of a career.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

The last couple of years being the last 15? For almost your entire life he was a joke. Of course he deserve his spot, but he's not as great as everybody makes him out to be. It's just that WWE do a brilliant job of hyping people. Where would he be now if WWE hadn't bought him back and pushed him as a fallen legend who sold badly, had saggy tits and lost to everybody?

You know, his physical condition may have wavered recently, but the man was still able to capture the imagination of fans. I still remember his Wrestlemania match with the Undertaker fondly, and he certainly wasn't a joke then. Even last night on Raw, he took the beating of a lifetime from Chris Jericho, and in the process, put Jericho over HUGE.

Anyway, unquestionably he is a hall of famer. His accomplishments are indisputable. Some may rail against his in-ring work, claiming he didn't work realistic matches, but I am not sure I buy that. I felt he was as effective a heel as we've ever seen.

Furthermore, he's never been a "large" guy, yet he won multiple titles in almost every promotion he's been in, from NWA to WCW to WWF/E. There's a reason for that, because he sure didn't have booking control in all of these promotions to make that happen. He drew heat, he drew fans. He had a formula that worked.

Flair was among the first to prove that a professional wrestler didn't need to be huge in stature to be larger than life. He had charisma off the charts, and had WWF not dropped the ball with it, we'd be remembering the classic Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair match that headlined Wrestlemania.

 

[Ezzee]

There are only two other people I would even consider putting ahead of Ric Flair, and the only reason I would consider them is because of their main stream presence outside of the wrestling business.

The question is this that I have to ask. Are we basing the first person inducted just based on what they did in Professional Wrestling, or are we basing it on their total contributions to the world.

I think, if we were to do a true top three or first three inductees to a Hall of Fame, it has to be these names, in no particular order:

Ric Flair
Hulk Hogan
Andre the Giant

All three of them deserve to be a first inductee.

 

[SavageTaker]

I am not a Flair Fan,but i do think he dserves to be in the hall of fame.he has been a 16 time champion (it's really 20..something).He was part of one of the Biggest stables in professional wrestling.He carried the NWA on his back for a long time.He has had enough credentials imo to be inducted in the hall.

I would put some people ahead of him but my vote remains as a yes to the hall of fame.

 

[wolvdog316]

I would LOVE to hear what some of you would claim is a "Great" wrestler if Flair isn't it. Hogan for sure, and maybe Austin would be the only two above him. And thats not my opinion, thats facts. And you get facts by who sold the most, who put the most asses in the seats, and who carried what. It just so happened Flair could also talk AND wrestle, and do it both so easy.

He was in the bonafide best Stable there ever has been. When Hogan comes out do you hear nWo chants? No. When Nash comes out in TNA do you hear nWo chants? No. But when Flair comes out you hear the Wooooo and you see the Fingers. Thats legendary.

 

[Tastycles]

I don't like Ric Flair, but you cannot argue that for the first 15 years of his career he was good and that for his entire career he has been relevant, significant and important to the world of wrestling. Flair has won more World titles than anybody else and they were mostly all relevant and derserved, with just a couple in the late WCW days being a complete and utter waste of time.

You only need to look at his farewell edition of Raw to see the genuine emotion coming from his contemporaries to see that his impact on those within the business was also huge.

In wrestling's second big boom era that was the 1980s, Flair was the man in NWA and he was a top draw and performer in WCW during the Monday Night Wars. Flair should go into the actual hall of fame, if for nothing else because he has the biggest legacy in terms of championhips ever.

 

[TwistofRKO]

Unquestionably yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

It's hard to even make any points in addition to his resume, so I'll just echo those. Numerous matches of the year, feuds of the year, best heel of the year, and a 16x World Champion.

Isn't that the definition of the Hall of Fame? He's superior to almost everyone to step in the ring.