The Ric Flair Appreciation Thread...WOOOOOOO!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yeah. I know what you’re thinking. He’s over 50. Abs are sagging. Needs to hang ‘em up. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talkin’ old school here. Back in the day. Before the Freak Show. Jim Crockett Promotions. Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. Walking that aisle, night after night. Walking thousands of aisles, places like Greenville Memorial Auditorium, Asheville Civic Center, Charleston Armory. Dragging the likes of Wahoo McDaniel, Blackjack Mulligan, Ricky Steamboat, and Harley Race up and down the eastern seaboard, night after night. The epic 60-minute battles. The Lumberjack matches. Bullropes. The insane choreography amidst the smoke, sweat and smell of the dingy old arenas of days gone by. Night after night, year after year, giving his all for the people. Loved. Hated. Such was the legend, the draw, of the man we called The Nature Boy- the “limousine ridin’, jet-plane flyin’, kiss stealin’, wheelin’ and dealin’, 15-time heavyweight champion of the world!”

Don’t watch much ‘rasslin’ these days. It got too big, got too mean. All the mystery is gone, like a magic show where you know all the secrets. No more Heroes and Villians, not like back in the day. Who’s good? Who’s bad? Who knows, and who cares.

But Ric Flair. What a performer. What a legend. WOOOOOOOOO!

The Quotable Ric Flair:

“Ladies! You can’t all be first, but you sure can be next!”

“Tony Schiavone! Just because my suit costs more than the house you were born in does not mean you can be so low as to talk to me that way!”

“To be the Man, you gotta beat the Man!”

and my favorite……

“It’s like when I’m laying in bed with a woman, and she looks at me and says ‘Champ….can I ride on Space Mountain….just one…more…time’…….WOOOOO!”
The above thread inspired by the rediscovery in my parents attic of my old wrestling magazines. Nothing to see here. :wink:

2

WartimeBYGODConsigliori, here are some other great Flair quotes

“I’m a stylin’, profilin’, jet flyin’, limousine ridin’ son of a gun!!!”

“I was winning world championships when you were buying your first condom!”

“I know I can kick your ass, because I’ve been world champion more times than you’ve had pieces o’ ass! WHOOO!” - Ric Flair to Syxx

3

“Space Mountain may be the oldest ride in the park, but it’s still got the longest lines! WOOO!”
“Now it’s time to go to school!” followed by a standing vertical suplex.

I remember his real early days, teaming with Greg Valentine! Ever notice how similar their two styles are? Not just the finisher, but the way they chop, the way they fall flat on their face, the way they drop an elbow. Lots of similarities.

As for his abs, Flair is in the best shape he’s ever been, and I’ve been watching the Nature Boy style and profile for over 20 years. Not saying he was ever in bad shape, just that this is the most sculpted he’s ever looked. Sadly, he has lost quite a few steps in the ring. Still he still knows how to light up a crowd.

4

“Whether you like it or not, learn to love it, because its the best thing going. Wooooo!” - The Nature Boy Ric Flair

5

I mark out for his music alone :slight_smile:

6

I’m friends with a couple of local pro wrestlers, and they’ve told me that the consensus among wrestlers is that Flair is the greatest there has ever been.

I didn’t agree at first because I hated him, but when I think about it, I realize that is WHY he’s the greatest. He gets the room fired up. Nobody is neutral on Flair. And he always makes the guy he’s fighting against look like he’s at the absolute top of his game.

That’s what makes a great wrestler.

7

Another great Flair quote: “Meeeeeeean - WHOO! By God - Gene!”

It’s a shame that Hulk Hogan gets one last title run, but not the “Nature Boy,” seeing as how Flair could wrestle circles around Hogan on Flair’s worst day and Hogan’s best.

WHOO!!

-Dirty

8

Would that be Greg “The Hammer” Valentine?
Bring back the Old School.

9

I worked for a small pro wrestling organization in 1979. A young wrestler that went by just the name “The Nature Boy” came in and wrestled for a week with us. When the lights were off, he was one of the nicest guys around, but when the show started, he portrayed the ultimate badass and did it perfectly. A few years later, “Pro Wrestling from Atlanta” with Gordon Soley became available here in the Northwest and Flair was one of the stars. Besides wrestling, he was also one of the best at finding talent. A couple of the local wrestlers that moved up to the big time shortly after he came through include Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and Playboy Buddy Rose.

I taped the last ever WCW show and still enjoy the last match between Flair and Sting. What a lot of folks didn’t know he wrestled that match with a bum knee and a broken vertabra in his neck.

Flair to Kevin Nash at the last WCW show after Nash made a comment about girls always hanging around with him, “Nash, the girls may be hanging on you, but there a bouncin’ and a kissin’ on the Nature Boy, because they know who the real man is.”

10

God, this takes me back to the first time I ever went to see the ‘rasslin’ matches. PorkChop Cash and one of the Rat Patrol wrestling each other ( even though they were both good guys at the time, must have come up short of people for the card). They shook hands before it started and people applauded. By the end it got real, they weren’t wrestling, they were brawling, and had to be separated without an ending to the match.

But the main event was Flair giving “Bullet” Bob Armstrong a shot at the title. What a show, they went the full time, Armstrong pinned Flair God knows how many times, but Flair got his foot on the rope just in time like the master he is. He had the whole crowd (including me) ready to kill him by the end. Damn did he milk it. He and Bob traded chop for chop and figure-4 for figure-4 the whole time. Finally, he pinned Armstrong with both feet on the ropes to win. And ate it up while the crowd booed and hissed for several minutes. After the bell, “Bullet” Bob beat him bloody with the title belt until Flair was sprawled out in the center of the ring. When he was done, Bob gently laid the belt across Flair’s chest and stomped away, frustrated and bitter. They carried Flair out on a stretcher. No match I ever saw live or on TV ever matched it for the sheer theater of it. We got our money’s worth that night, and Flair earned every dollar of it. What a performance from the master.

11

I almost convinced my wife to use that for our enterance song for our wedding reception. She wasn’t crazy about it though, we settled on the theme from The Godfather.

12

You got it! There’s a lot of overlap in their ring mannerisms, but The Hammer didn’t have the Charisma of the Nature Boy.

Georgia Championship Wrestling on TBS was the best wrestling show ever, followed by ECW. Drove by the “Madhouse of Extreme” (Elk’s Lodge, Queens, NY) this weekend and waxed nostalgic of the many shows I saw there. Then Ms. D_Odds slapped me in the head and I started paying attention to traffic again. :slight_smile:

13

AMEN to that, friend! Gordon Solie was the coolest announcer there ever was. The man should have been an anatomy professor! To whit:

<gravelly Solie Voice ON>

“And the Masked Superstar has locked in the cobrahold and is applying massive amounts of pressure on his opponents carotid artery.”

“Mr. Wrestling II hits Snake Brown with the atomic drop, severely compromising the integrity of Brown’s lumbar vertebrae.”

“Ernie Ladd drives that taped thumb into the trachea of his opponent”

<gravelly Solie Voice OFF>

The man had a dignity that he never compromised, a tough thing to do in the world of wrestling. You think he’d ever literally kiss Vince McMahon’s ass on national TV? Not only no, but hell no.

14

Ric Flair is the greatest ever. My favorite quote “I’m not a movie star, but I’m better looking than most, and I’m not a rock star, but I can sing and dance my fanny off.”
I loved when he would interrupt an in ring promo to shout at the crowd, “Shut up fat boy, or I’ll take your girl home and make a woman out of her.”

15

A friend who lives in Charlotte told me Flair came to a bar he was at, started walking on the tabletops, and pointed at everybody while hollering, “WHOOO! WHO’S THE MAN? WHOOO!”