YR's Pro Wrestling of the Day

MichaelWinicki

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If you look up the definition of "Wrestling feud" you would see Lawler's photo by it.

The guy and Jarret did an amazing job at starting, cultivating and ending feuds. They had it down to a science.

The Lawler/Kauffman angle along with the Phil Donahue wrestling special helped speed up the renewed interest in the business in the early 80's.

Lawler was A-No. 1 when it came to doing promo's... Either as a face or a heel. He had it down pact.

I think his work in the ring was OK. He didn't have the offensive arsenal of say Harley Race, nor did he have a "wrestler's build" IMO. Nor was he as athletic as many of the guys. But he knew how to take bumps and sell which of course is a big part of telling the "story".

I think a big negative is that he didn't travel which of course helped Memphis maintain it's standing as one of the most stable territories out there. But not traveling kept him somewhat "small time" as compared to other wrestlers.
 

Stash

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Here's the results of Ric Flair's title defenses (as taken from another site) that correspond to the NWA schedule I posted earlier:

Here's Flair's known results from this period.


01/17 Wichita, KS Ric Flair vs. Harley Race

01/18 Joplin, MO Ric Flair double DQ Harley Race

01/19 Decatur, IL Ric Flair beat Harley Race by DQ

01/20 Kansas City, KS Ric Flair draw Bruiser Brody(60:00)

01/21 Chillicothe, MO Ric Flair vs. Buzz Tyler

01/22 Atlanta, GA(TV) Bruce Reed beat Ric Flair

01/23 Atlanta, GA Bruce Reed beat Ric Flair

01/24 Charleston, WV Ric Flair beat Bruce Reed by DQ

01/25 Canton, OH Ric Flair beat Paul Orndorff

01/26 Charlotte, NC(TV) Ric Flair beat Pat Rose

01/29 Columbus, OH Ric Flair beat Bruce Reed by DQ

02/02 Lawton, OK Ric Flair beat David Von Erich by DQ

02/03 Dayton, OH Ric Flair beat Paul Orndorff

02/04 Dallas, TX Ric Flair beat Terry Gordy

02/05 Seagoville, TX Ric Flair double DQ Kevin Von Erich

02/05 St. Louis, MO Ric Flair draw Bruiser Brody

02/06 Fayetteville, NC Ric Flair beat Ricky Steamboat

02/07 Greenville, SC Ric Flair beat Mike Rotundo

02/08 Columbia, SC Ric Flair beat Ricky Steamboat

02/09 Miami, FL Midnight Rider beat Ric Flair to win NWA World Title

02/09 Miami, FL NWA World Title was returned when Midnight Rider refused to unmask in accordance with NWA bi-laws

02/10 Norfolk, VA Ric Flair beat Ricky Steamboat

02/11 St. Louis, MO Ric Flair draw Bruiser Brody(60:00) in a 2 of 3 falls match

02/12 Sumter, SC Ric Flair beat Jimmy Valiant

02/12 Sarasota, FL Midnight Rider beat Ric Flair

02/13 Fort Myers, FL Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham

02/13 Orlando, FL Ric Flair double countout with Andre The Giant(24:00)

02/14 West Palm Beach, FL Ric Flair beat Barry Windham in a steel cage match

02/15 Tampa, FL Ric Flair beat Scott McGhee

02/17 Ocala, FL Ric Flair beat Barry Windham

02/18 Hollywood, FL Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham

02/19 Sarasota, FL Ric Flair vs. Midnight Rider

02/20 Greensboro, NC Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood beat Ric Flair & Greg Valentine

02/20 Toronto, Ontario Ric Flair beat Terry Funk(17:28) via pinfall

02/24 Auckland, New Zealand Ric Flair beat Mark Lewin

02/25 New Plymouth, New Zealand Ric Flair vs. Mark Lewin

02/26 Christchurch, New Zealand Ric Flair vs. Mark Lewin

02/27 Dunedin, New Zealand Ric Flair beat Mark Lewin

02/27 Dunedin, New Zealand Ric Flair vs. Steve Rickard

02/28 Invercargill, New Zealand Ric Flair vs. Mark Lewin

03/03 Auckland, New Zealand Ric Flair beat Mark Lewin by DQ

03/04 Hamilton, New Zealand Ric Flair vs. Steve Rickard

03/05 Atlanta, GA(TV) Ric Flair beat Denny Brown

03/05 Birmingham, AL Ric Flair beat Jimmy Golden

03/06 Toronto, Ontario Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk

03/09 Charlotte, NC(TV) Ric Flair beat Masa Fuchi

03/09 Charlotte, NC(TV) Ric Flair beat Ron Rossi

03/11 Hampton, VA Ric Flair beat Dory Funk, Jr.

03/12 Greensboro, NC Ric Flair draw Greg Valentine(60:00)

03/13 Pensacola, FL Ric Flair beat Ken Lucas by DQ

03/14 Birmingham, AL Ric Flair double DQ Mr. Olympia(Jerry Stubbs)

03/16 Mobile, AL Ric Flair no contest with Ron Fuller

03/17 Dayton, OH Ric Flair beat Paul Orndorff

03/18 Richmond, VA Ric Flair draw Greg Valentine

03/20 San Antonio, TX Ric Flair beat Kerry Von Erich by DQ in a steel cage match

03/21 Wichita, KS Ric Flair beat Harley Race

03/22 Topeka, KS Ric Flair vs. Manny Fernandez

03/24 Kansas City, KS Ric Flair beat Bruiser Brody by DQ

03/25 St. Louis, MO Ric Flair beat Kerry Von Erich in a 2 of 3 falls match

03/26 Iola, KS Ric Flair vs. Bob Brown

03/27 Toronto, Ontario Ric Flair beat Roddy Piper(19:26)

03/28 Fort Worth, TX Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Ric Flair, King Kong Bundy & Great Kabuki with David Von Erich as special referee

04/01 Dallas, TX Ric Flair beat Kevin Von Erich by DQ

04/03 Atlanta, GA Ric Flair double DQ Tony Atlas

04/?? ??, Alabama Ric Flair beat Austin Idol

04/07 Huntington, WV Ric Flair beat Tony Atlas

04/08 Dayton, OH Tony Atlas beat Ric Flair

04/09 Cincinnati, OH Tommy Rich beat Ric Flair

04/10 Toronto, Ontario Ric Flair beat Roddy Piper(19:48) by DQ with Sandy Scott as special referee

04/10 Asheville, NC Ric Flair beat Greg Valentine by DQ

04/12 Tampa, FL Ric Flair double DQ Big Daddy

04/13 Miami, FL Ric Flair draw Barry Windham

04/16 St. Petersburg, FL Ric Flair beat Dusty Rhodes by DQ

04/17 Orlando, FL Ric Flair draw Barry Windham

04/19 Port of Spain, Trinidad Ric Flair vs. Victor Jovica

04/22 St. Louis, MO Ric Flair beat Jerry Blackwell

04/23 San Juan, Puerto Rico Ric Flair vs. Pedro Morales

04/24 Asheville, NC Ric Flair beat Greg Valentine

04/24 St. Louis, MO Ric Flair beat Jerry Blackwell

04/25 Greenville, SC Ric Flair beat Dick Slater by DQ

04/26 Columbia, SC Ric Flair double DQ Jimmy Valiant

04/27 Sumter, SC Ric Flair vs. Dick Slater

04/28 Norfolk, VA Ric Flair beat Dick Slater

04/29 St. Louis, MO Ric Flair beat Jerry Blackwell by countout

05/01 Atlanta, GA Tony Atlas beat Ric Flair by DQ

05/02 Beckley, WV Tony Atlas beat Ric Flair by DQ

05/03 Williamson, WV Ric Flair vs. Tommy Rich

05/04 Akron, OH Tony Atlas beat Ric Flair

05/05 Toledo, OH Tony Atlas beat Ric Flair

05/07 Atlanta, GA(TV) Ric Flair beat Mike Starbuck

05/07 Cincinnati, OH Ric Flair beat Tommy Rich by DQ

05/08 Centralia, WA Ric Flair beat Billy Jack Haynes by DQ

05/09 Longview, WA Ric Flair beat Buddy Rose by countout

05/10 Portland, OR Ric Flair draw Roddy Piper(60:00) in a 2 of 3 falls match

05/11 Seattle, WA Ric Flair beat Roddy Piper by reverse decision

05/12 Yakima, WA Ric Flair beat Billy Jack Haynes by DQ

05/12 Portland, OR Ric Flair beat Buddy Rose

05/13 Eugene, OR Ric Flair beat Billy Jack Haynes by DQ

05/14 Portland, OR Roddy Piper & Billy Jack Haynes beat Ric Flair & Rip Olive

That's why Flair will always be #1 for me. And why there will never be another one like him. He defies all laws of "Nature".
 

MichaelWinicki

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That's why Flair will always be #1 for me. And why there will never be another one like him. He defies all laws of "Nature".

Flair was great in so many areas...

-Mic work
-Getting/keeping a crowd involved in a match
-Selling
-Taking bumps

And he could wrestle. He had a nice variety of moves when he elected to use them.

His negative was the cookie-cutter approach to most of his matches as world champ. I think he over-sold to the point of looking like a poor champion at times. And I still resent the fact he had to put Hulk Hogan over & over again in the WWF.


But maybe his best attribute was his conditioning. He could go 60 minutes and hardly break a sweat.
 

Stash

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Flair was great in so many areas...

-Mic work
-Getting/keeping a crowd involved in a match
-Selling
-Taking bumps

And he could wrestle. He had a nice variety of moves when he elected to use them.

His negative was the cookie-cutter approach to most of his matches as world champ. I think he over-sold to the point of looking like a poor champion at times. And I still resent the fact he had to put Hulk Hogan over & over again in the WWF.


But maybe his best attribute was his conditioning. He could go 60 minutes and hardly break a sweat.

All valid points.

Especially the disgrace with Hogan. Heck, Hogan himself admits he couldn't t lace up Flair's boots.

I think it's a well-established fact that Vince McMahon's ego has negatively affected the wrestling business on many occasions.
 

MichaelWinicki

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All valid points.

Especially the disgrace with Hogan. Heck, Hogan himself admits he couldn't t lace up Flair's boots.

I think it's a well-established fact that Vince McMahon's ego has negatively affected the wrestling business on many occasions.

Vince carried a grudge against the former NWA guys like Race, Flair and Rhodes. Yeah he gave them jobs but they were all "punished" in some way for being ex-NWA headliners.
 

Stash

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Vince carried a grudge against the former NWA guys like Race, Flair and Rhodes. Yeah he gave them jobs but they were all "punished" in some way for being ex-NWA headliners.

And they were all minimized as well, with a significant Ceiling that they were never allowed to overcome. Even Flair's world title win couldn't dare come at Hogan's expense. Hogan had to be stripped of the title so Flair could win it at the Royal Rumble. Even his world title win had to be undermined.
 

MichaelWinicki

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And they were all minimized as well, with a significant Ceiling that they were never allowed to overcome. Even Flair's world title win couldn't dare come at Hogan's expense. Hogan had to be stripped of the title so Flair could win it at the Royal Rumble. Even his world title win had to be undermined.

Yep.

Don't care for many of Vince's practices. Keeps me from watching much of the product today.

Seeing Rhodes come out in those polka-dot shorts... Just too much.

And that was after Rhodes provided top-flight matches with "Superstar" Billy Graham during his title run. Vince Jr. still crapped on him.

In one way I'm glad Brody never got to the WWF during Hogan's run because he would have been expected to job out as well.
 

Stash

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Yep.

Don't care for many of Vince's practices. Keeps me from watching much of the product today.

Seeing Rhodes come out in those polka-dot shorts... Just too much.

And that was after Rhodes provided top-flight matches with "Superstar" Billy Graham during his title run. Vince Jr. still crapped on him.

In one way I'm glad Brody never got to the WWF during Hogan's run because he would have been expected to job out as well.

That was the formula. Buy up whatever talent you could from other promotions, build the guy up with squashes for a few weeks, and then feed them to Hogan for a few months after that, only for them to end up in the midcard ranks or worse.

The list is huge.

Vince even allowed his ego to destroy the greatest opportunity anyone ever had in Pro wrestling. His purchase of WCW. He had to ruin that product no matter what, had to show everyone that his was better, effectively devaluing his own property (since he owned it all at that point). You and I will never see an opportunity so utterly and completely squandered as that one was.
 

MichaelWinicki

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That was the formula. Buy up whatever talent you could from other promotions, build the guy up with squashes for a few weeks, and then feed them to Hogan for a few months after that, only for them to end up in the midcard ranks or worse.

The list is huge.

Vince even allowed his ego to destroy the greatest opportunity anyone ever had in Pro wrestling. His purchase of WCW. He had to ruin that product no matter what, had to show everyone that his was better, effectively devaluing his own property (since he owned it all at that point). You and I will never see an opportunity so utterly and completely squandered as that one was.

Agreed.

Many within the business have panned Vince and how completely he ham-fisted the opportunity– Just to rub some noses in it.
 

bigdnlaca

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Flair was great in so many areas...

-Mic work
-Getting/keeping a crowd involved in a match
-Selling
-Taking bumps

And he could wrestle. He had a nice variety of moves when he elected to use them.

His negative was the cookie-cutter approach to most of his matches as world champ. I think he over-sold to the point of looking like a poor champion at times. And I still resent the fact he had to put Hulk Hogan over & over again in the WWF.


But maybe his best attribute was his conditioning. He could go 60 minutes and hardly break a sweat.

Flair did admit in his book that he did use Steroids for a short period of time off and on for stamina and conditioning when he did wrestle those long matches. IIRC, I think the last time he said he used it was in 89.
 

MichaelWinicki

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Always loved Flair's Flops.



One of the greatest, if not the greatest at working the crowd.

He just used certain parts of his repertoire way too often. You could get away with stuff like that in untelevised house shows but when your matches show up on TV too often a maneuver like this or his flip over the turn-buckle became cartoonish.
 

Aikmaniac

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He was great at selling as you guys have mentioned.

You're going to laugh but I thought the best of recent years at selling is Dolph Ziggler. I know, I know...

I always did love The Rock's selling of the Stunner:

 

cowboyec

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4yrs ago where I work,I started a tradition on our lunch hr on the last thursday of the month called Throwdown Thursday...we get together and watch classic matches.
Today was Undertaker v Sycho Sid from WM13...excellent match of big men.
Undertaker is timeless...Sid was a excellent bad guy.
 

MichaelWinicki

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4yrs ago where I work,I started a tradition on our lunch hr on the last thursday of the month called Throwdown Thursday...we get together and watch classic matches.
Today was Undertaker v Sycho Sid from WM13...excellent match of big men.
Undertaker is timeless...Sid was a excellent bad guy.

Sid could have been so much more than he was.

One of those guys who's ring history didn't match his abilities.
 

timb2

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Wrestling is a cutthroat business. Wrestlers got pushed down. WCW at one time had HHH,Steve Austin,Edge,Kevin Nash,Scott Hall before they were famous because guys on the TOP, RICK Flair, didn't want the competition.IF WCW had kept those guys the Monday Night Wars would have gone to WCW.
 
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