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Last night, in Nashville TN Pay per view was Crockett Promotions staging of a big wrestling (rasslin) card centered around Ric Flair's Last match.
While giving this wrestling legend a "farewell" show was a great idea, the match itself was far from good. In fact it was terrible. AS was the whole idea.
the intention was good, the result, not so much.
Ric Flair needed a send off, a closure to what was one of the greatest wrestling careers ever. So at 73, they got 55 year old Jeff Jarrett to be his opponent. But knowing that this was not going to work, they added two younger guys and made it into a tag team match. SO by allowing the younger guys to carry the match, they hoped that a main event would happen.
What happened is that a 73 year old blew up within the first 10 minutes and could not perform any of his spots. And added to that, Ric Flair was a famous and legendary singles wrestler his whole life. He was not known for his tag team work. He looked out of place, and spent the majority of the match on the floor or the apron and not engaged. The two younger guys carried the match, and Jeff Jarrett did his job to make Flair look good.
At least twice, he had officials checking on his condition. At the high spot, he had to accept that he lacked strength and mobility and needed a lot of help from Jeff Jarrett to apply the finisher. And lets face it, we all knew that Ric Flair would win. It was just sad to see an old man trying to match what he had been known to do.
I am glad that no one got hurt. (The blood was part of the work.)
So while the match was awful, no one present likely cared because hey, this was about seeing a legend one last time. And for the $35 PPV Fee, I did not watch it, because I knew that today it would be posted online for free.
And part of it too is that I grew up watching and being entertained by Professional Wrestling (Rasslin') but a couple of decades ago it stopped being fun or entertaining. While I have several friends who are part of the local INDY Circuit, and I support them and the work that they do. (once a year at least)
But I am no fan of Vince's product, and stopped watching it long ago, except on occasion to see that yes, in fact, it is very disappointing compared to old school shows.
Ric FLair was one of my faves to watch back in the college days, but like all of us, we get old and move on. Crockett Promotions I guess needed a big show and I guess this was a way for Ric to make afew $$ (he is said to be broke anyway) and send a legend off into the sunset.
They should've just had an hour-long presentation where they show highlight reels and people give speeches to his greatness. Trekking him out there, even if it was his idea, was just sad and not a good way for him to go out.
They should've just had an hour-long presentation where they show highlight reels and people give speeches to his greatness. Trekking him out there, even if it was his idea, was just sad and not a good way for him to go out.
I see that the video has already been taken down. Don't know if you were able to see the match, but it was very sad.
Flair blew up after his first few minutes in the ring, did little else and could not even do his spots.
I agree that it was not a good way for him to go out.
I like your idea of a presentation of highlight reels and such. I saw Ric Flair live from the front row at a house show in the early 90s , part of a WCW tour. He rassled Sting in the main event. There was a reason Ric Flair was so successful. He had great in person ring skills, improv and mic skills. The man would work every night , and none of the 5 minute matches that people like Hulk Hogan (who had horrible ring skills) would do Ric Flair would gladly go 2 out of 3 or take the match long He was good at making people look good, beating them in the end and moving on to the next show.
\Dory Funk Jr said that the world championship is the world's "Loneliest Job" He pointed out that "You go out to your car, alone, drive to the next show, alone, make the local favorite look like he almost beat you but ran out of time or got cheated in the end." The NWA WCW championship was always that, a travelling champion who gave the fans their money's worth. Terry Funk did it, I saw him live a few times, Harley Race did it, and Race always too a tremendous amount of bumps and still made his spots, almost always going the time limit.
Sadly, Most Workers now cannot do that, and most audiences have such a short attention span that a longer match would not be as enjoyable to many fans today as it once was.
Ric Flair made a lot of fans happy. He would show up as champion, go the time limit, leave the fans wanting more but entertained, something that a true professional performed knows how to do.
He had some good years, many good matches, many fans. But At 73 he should not have tried this, I was worried about his safety after watching his first exchange, but clearly, he lacked the strength and stamina to go on, Jarret and the two young guys had to carry the match.
I see that the video has already been taken down. Don't know if you were able to see the match, but it was very sad.
Flair blew up after his first few minutes in the ring, did little else and could not even do his spots.
I agree that it was not a good way for him to go out.
I like your idea of a presentation of highlight reels and such. I saw Ric Flair live from the front row at a house show in the early 90s , part of a WCW tour. He rassled Sting in the main event. There was a reason Ric Flair was so successful. He had great in person ring skills, improv and mic skills. The man would work every night , and none of the 5 minute matches that people like Hulk Hogan (who had horrible ring skills) would do Ric Flair would gladly go 2 out of 3 or take the match long He was good at making people look good, beating them in the end and moving on to the next show.
\Dory Funk Jr said that the world championship is the world's "Loneliest Job" He pointed out that "You go out to your car, alone, drive to the next show, alone, make the local favorite look like he almost beat you but ran out of time or got cheated in the end." The NWA WCW championship was always that, a travelling champion who gave the fans their money's worth. Terry Funk did it, I saw him live a few times, Harley Race did it, and Race always too a tremendous amount of bumps and still made his spots, almost always going the time limit.
Sadly, Most Workers now cannot do that, and most audiences have such a short attention span that a longer match would not be as enjoyable to many fans today as it once was.
Ric Flair made a lot of fans happy. He would show up as champion, go the time limit, leave the fans wanting more but entertained, something that a true professional performed knows how to do.
He had some good years, many good matches, many fans. But At 73 he should not have tried this, I was worried about his safety after watching his first exchange, but clearly, he lacked the strength and stamina to go on, Jarret and the two young guys had to carry the match.
Ric Flair was NEVER lonely. Woo.
The man is 73.. Of course this was a bad idea. He had.. Whatever the issues were 5 or 6 years ago when he basically was near death in the hospital. I heard it was due to his rampant drinking, had half his guts removed.
Now.. This would have been a good last match. Put him at a bar against everyone on the roster.. A true last man standing match.
Rick Flair is pretty much the biggest and longest lived wrestling star on this planet. I remember being amazed at how long he was still so active and entertaining into his old age.
Sure he was the heel in WWF, etc. But he was pretty much the best one. Cocky but has the real skills to back it up. Flamboyant and in your face. But always always entertaining whether winning or losing.
I remember him fighting Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka or Ricky Steamboat. Epic matches.
I never understood why Hulk Hogan was so popular (he was the highest paid for the longest time). He had almost no moves (leg drop and clothesline). He wasn't exactly ripped... just big (for that time period). I found him boring. And way way way too goody goody and blind (how many times has he been blindsided in a match).
If Flair is indeed broke and desperate for $$$, that is kinda sad for such a legend.
Survived an airplane crash.
Survived lightning hitting his umbrella but killing the guy standing behind him.
Survived being in a coma for 2 weeks.
Survived 4 heart surgeries.
Survived his last match.
The man is a survivor.
Last night, in Nashville TN Pay per view was Crockett Promotions staging of a big wrestling (rasslin) card centered around Ric Flair's Last match.
Crockett Promotions brings back memories from the 1960's.
Greg Valentine and Flair defeated Gene and Ole Anderson in 1977 in Greensboro, NC.
That's the earliest match against names I was familiar with though Flair's career started in 1973.
I never understood why Hulk Hogan was so popular (he was the highest paid for the longest time). He had almost no moves (leg drop and clothesline). He wasn't exactly ripped... just big (for that time period). I found him boring. And way way way too goody goody and blind (how many times has he been blindsided in a match).
If Flair is indeed broke and desperate for $$$, that is kinda sad for such a legend.
Marketing is the answer to your question. Plus, Hogan was a face for most of his career.. At least the part that made him a legend.
Flair, more than not, was a heel. At the wrong time. Had Flair done his thing more towards the 90's when the whole anti-hero/Stone Cold kinda thing started.. He might have been as big as Hogan.
In hindsight, yes, we all look at Flair as at least an equal on popularity to Hogan, but.. That's in hindsight. Not in real time.
as for him being broke. Lord, he never met a dollar he held on to. It went to the broads or the bottle.
Marketing is the answer to your question. Plus, Hogan was a face for most of his career.. At least the part that made him a legend.
as for him being broke. Lord, he never met a dollar he held on to. It went to the broads or the bottle.
Pretty much every serious book written about Flair, as well as all accounts from other workers tells that he was the quintessential partier. He even admitted that he spent more than he made many years.
He had a reputation of spending money on all night parties, buying drinks for the whole bar. The Ex Cat wife found him in a Dallas area West End bar one night, he was dressed to the hilt, partying like it was his last. (He did sign an autograph for her)
I saw him in person once and he was definitely a much better worker than Hogan. Hogan could have never gone the distance if he had to, and knew about what 2 moves? Flair could work a 45 minute match back when the NWA was structured that a Heel Champion was much more common. Terry funk was a superhero to the fans of West Texas and a heel everywhere else. That was how the business worked, the champ traveled to the local promotion, fought the local hero, went the distance and in the end made it look like he had barely beaten the town fave. One worker said that a perfect World Title match would be to leave the fans thinking that if there had been FIVE more minutes, then the local boy would have won.
I saw Hogan live twice as world champ. First was against the Iron Sheik, and it was the exact same match they did on TV Over in 7 minutes after The Sheik jumped Hogan getting into the ring. The second was worse, Paul Orndorff pulled a foreign object at 5 minutes, Hogan took it from him, the ref saw Hogan with it and DQ'd Hogan. Under 6 minutes for that one. Which was what Hogan did at house shows: Disappoint. Yes, he showed up but did very little, more time posing after the match than putting any effort into actually wrestling.
Flair, Like FUnk, ALWAYS gave the fans their money's worth. Hogan wanted to go out, get his paycheck ASAP with as little work as possible, while Flair wanted to go out and entertain.
He wanted to go out and entertain in his last match, but his body has just given out. With all the years of booze and health problems, he at least got there.
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