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Which one of Flair's and Steamboat's '89 were truly the best?
As it is well know, Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat had one of the greatest feuds in Pro Wrestling History. Some would argue that their feud was in fact the greatest in history. Let me refresh your memory of the feud.
Let me take you back to around Wrestlemania 1988. Before wrestlemania, their was a tournament to become the number one contender for the WWF title. Steamboat loss in the first round the Greg Valintine. They teased for a couple weeks after wrestlemania that The Dragon might be coming back for a feud with The Hammer, but soon after wrestlemania he retired from wrestling
Steamboat returned to wrestling in January of the next year, 1989. He joined the NWA. On an edition of WCW (World Championship Wrestling) in late January, maybe early February, He was a surprise partner of Eddie Gilbert. The man with the coolest nick name is wrestling history "Hot Stuff". The took on of course Ric Flair and his partner Barry Windham. In the tag match, Steamboat pinned Flair. At the next pay-per-view which would have been in late February because it was the pay-per-view before WrestleWar (I think it was called "The Rumble", or "The _____ Rumble" Sorry, but I memory isn't working right now.)
At that PPV, Steamboat beat Ric Flair for the NWA championship! Now, was this their greatest match? They went on to have a rematch at Clash of the Champions which took place on the same day as wrestlemania that year, April 2nd. This was a two out of three falls match. Ricky Steamboat was able to win the match after 55 minutes of the 60 minute time limit.
So, was that their best match? Not so fast! After a review of the replay from their Clash of the Champions match showed that Flair's foot was in fact in fact on the rope, giving Flair a rematch at none other then the following Pay-Per-View, WrestleWar!
The two fought for over a half an hour at WrestleWar until Ric Flair was able to counter a body slam into an inside cradle, and got the 1,2,3! This was their last match until some years latter, in the mid 90's. So was the last match of the '89 feud the best?
Personally, I think there match at Clash of the Champions was not only there best match, it may of been the best match period. In the history of the wrestling. It was great, Flair pinned Steamboat, Steamboat made Flair tap, then Steamboat pinned Flair! Then with only a few minutes to go before the time expired, both men lay motionless in the ring. The referee of course was counting to ten, just as the referee was about to reach ten, Steamboat got a shoulder up! And Flair didn't. This won Steamboat the match. But, like I said, they looked it over and Flair had his foot on the bottom rope.
So, that's my favorite. What's yours?
