@@megathesimper4050 Heenan: I'm going to have to apologize to the people. I don't think I can really be objective. Monsoon: When have you ever been objective?!
@@sird2333 He was ECW champion in 1993 when it was Eastern Championship Wrestling, so I doubt most people know that Tito Santana was ECW champion myself included before it was mentioned in this thread.
Flair's selling is more entertaining than his offense. Truly the greatest of all time! Royal Rumble 1992 is legitimately the greatest Rumble of all time. His WM 8 match vs Savage and Hart vs Piper are the show stealers of the event
The commentating between Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan for the 1991 Survivor Series and the 1992 Royal Rumble was great. Heenan ('91 S.S.): I think everyone should stand! (Ric Flair approaching the ring) Monsoon: Well, I'm not standing! Monsoon: ('92 R. R.): ...Ric Flair doing whatever necessary to hang in there (after giving British Bulldog a low blow). Heenan: I'd do that to my grandma if I had to! Monsoon: I'm sure you would!
My favorite heenan line was from survivor series 92 Did you introduce yourself to tatanka Monsoon... yes I did Hennan.... did you do it properly... hi how are ya hi how are ya Monsoon. Will you stop
Since WCW wasn't really a thing here in the UK that I remembered seeing in the early 90s I never realised until years later that the belt Flair had was actually important and just thought it was a belt made to make him seem like a big deal. Quite a ballsy move parading it around the way they did.
Yeah I also had no idea growing up watching 2000s raw and smackdown that the big gold one came from Wcw originally come to think about it I didn't even know WCW even existed since Vince made sure it was well and truly buried only bringing it up very vaguely when dealing with bischoff but that was before my time.
@@nomnomnommy2955 Maybe later on in his career but not too much here.. He was working long matches while Warrior who was ripped to the tee couldn't have long matches while Ric Flair was still doing it well into the early 2000s with his man boobs..
One of my favorite moments will always be Flair in the 92 Rumble. He took so many bumps, and was in it for so long and had so much charisma. It was awesome. Definitely an A.
HEY... Serious question *MARK,* appropriate name btw, how is the HELL are you able to access all these classic matches?? Peacock doesn't have the complete wwf/e catalog so where are you getting this footage from???
@chuckbuskeemf Have you heard of the Ding Dongs? That was Herd's baby, but he only came up with it after another idea he had didn't become reality for reasons I forget. (Not sure if it was shot down, or if he had a flash of good judgment, or what.) Herd's original idea for a tag team was to have two wrestlers with hunchbacks. The pitch went something like this: "So these guys have hunchbacks, right, and that means it's impossible to pin them, because you CAN'T get both their shoulders on the mat at the same time, because of their backs!" He Russo'd before Russo.
Good video, but you failed to mention Ric and Piper were really good friends behind the scenes. and the final time ric held up the " wcw " belt, it was actually the WWF tag title blurred out because he had to give the belt back to WCW
That's no "female ring announcer" that's Michelle "Mike" McGuirk, daughter of former wrestler and promoter Leroy McGuirk. She worked in the WWF for years and was married to B. Brian Blair ... there's a good 80's era story about her, Ted DiBiase, her dad, Jim Ross and a large handgun.
Flair was rougher to Headbanger Trash because it was announced before the match that he wasnt getting a WWF title shot against Macho, it was given to warrior instead. So they had flair be rougher like he was pissed even if it was taped a few weeks before the announcement 😂
I love Flair’s entrance in the 92 Rumble Despite being number 3 Flair had the look and walk of a man who wasn’t afraid in the slightest despite being a cowardly heel A true legend
That's something that always confused me about cowardly heels: in the build to a match they're always running away from the babyface...but when it's time for the match suddenly they're brave enough to step into the ring with the babyface they were running from for so long. And sure, sometimes an authority figure is making them do it, but usually they don't have to be coerced that way. "Why are they brave enough to fight NOW?" I asked myself.
@@rosestewart9281 I guess sometimes, but when I read that it just makes me ask another question: "If they're smart enough to have something up their sleeve for the match, why weren't they smart enough to have something up their sleeve before?"
Fun fact: The reason they distorted the belt is b/c it wasn’t the WCW title. It was a cheap knockoff. WCW sued WWF b/c they showed the real belt on tv. And to keep up the facade of it being the same belt, they digitally altered the image. Bruce Pritchard and Flair have both talked about it on their podcasts.
Ric Flair with the WCW World title belt in WWE could have been a major storyline, but they did absolutely positively nothing with it. Another missed opportunity. It could have been viewed as an invasion type of angle.
It was a huge storyline at the time. You can't fathom how big a deal it was to see the NWA /WCW show up on WWF. It was HUGE no "angle" needed it was real life. Also, before that moment WWF NEVER acknowledged the existence of other federations, so again, huge deal. But, contracts and lawsuits stunted whatever "storyline" could have been built. WCW had the might of Turner networks behind them, which meant lots of lawyers. Flair couldn't appear on WWF TV at 1st, hence the belt showing up before he did, then lawsuit followed and the belt had to be returned. This led to the pixelated shots, where Flairvwas actually carrying an old WWF belt because the BGB had been returned to Turner /WCW. They got a gift and milked it for all they could.
By far the most significant thing Flair did from this run was the 92 Rumble. Probably one of the best post match promos i think ive ever seen. Everything about that match is amazing.
The post-match promo from Flair after winning the Royal Rumble is one I come back to quite a bit, including after watching this video. Such a great promo and the blondes looked genuinely excited and happy.
There’s a lot of matches like that throughout history, where being in the building made the spectacle and match quality ten times better. I was at Wrestlemania 31 and felt the same watching HHH vs Sting. When I got home, I saw that people didn’t think much of the match. Being there live, however, it was a big highlight of the show and the crowd was going nuts for everything they did. Crowd reactions make average matches good (HHH vs Sting) and good matches legendary (Flair vs Macho)
Damn Marky you been pumping out material and I love it. 🍻 to your continued success, you deserve it #brickbrigade Edit: I’ll never ever forget the tears I had when one of the clown posse slid off the bus in the mike awesome ROH and the did that farting sound effect I was in legit tears laughing. Anyone go to the mike awesome Ring of the Hawk
The match between Flair and Savage - where Scott Hall cost Savage the belt was the match that Vince was disappointed in - so the switch was made to Bret a month later - That was probably the plan going forward but that match with Savage helped speed up the process.
The issue with the WCW title....actually, NWA. They agreed to buy it back, so WWF had to hide the fact, hence the blurring. (From that point on it was a modified WWF tag belt...)
I believe, though I have only read this on various internet sites, so be prepared to take it with a pinch of salt (certainly sounds plausible enough though) that the initial run of Flair/Hogan matches on the House Show Loop (of which the Madison Square Garden Match you have at Match 9 was probably the biggest) persuaded the WWF brass that Flair/Hogan in reality wasn't quite the dream match that it was at the time in fantasy booking. Their styles were too dissimilar to mesh well and their egos were too similar to develop great in-ring chemistry, so they never pulled the trigger on a big PPV match. - Edit, apologies, you mention this in Match 17! It's quite possible Powers WAS actually Flair's favourite jobber...back then Powers was essentially a "jobber to the stars" - someone who could be trusted to sell the absolute heck out of any opponent's offence without overselling it. There was even a jobber hierarchy back in the 80s/90s. Think you were a bit harsh on Savage/Flair, but I can also see your point looking at it from a modern perspective - much respect for taking on a throwback RoTH as wresting was very different back in the eighties/nineties.
the 92 Rumble is the best wrestling match of all time period. Flair the best wrestler of all time gives his best performance, Bobby and Gorilla the best commentators ever give their best performance. a masterclass in storytelling.
"Why not save it for pay per view?" Back in 91, it was still only four PPVs a year, WWF and WCW hadn't been expanding as much so these MSG shows the bigger ones for the time.
Love the Hawk giving love to 'Chico' Santana here. One of best in ring workers of all time to me. Flair's formula works well, but his best matches are against strong baby face workers.
I still think it's hilarious that Flair had to pay that big deposit as a deterrent from taking the belt to another company with him, and that deposit ended up being the exact reason why he took the belt with him to the WWF.
Ric Flair enters Royal Rumble 92 as the third entrant Bobby Heenan: WTF? Flair’s number three! It’s not fair to Flair! After the match Bobby Heenan: YES! Flair has done it! Ric Flair’s the Man, he’s the World Wrestling Federation Champion! Yahoo!
Love the video truely, just had one thing I wanted to point out. You say at the beginning and end of the video that you’ll be judging the matches from and early 90s perspective, but deduct Flair vs. Savage at mania points, saying that it’s slightly boring to watch from a modern perspective. Not a big deal, sure it wouldn’t change the overall score but just wanted to point it out.
Seeing runs like these makes me think a J-for-job-guy rating might clarify which matches aren't really "counted" gradewise (unless they're notably excellent or poor).
Flair talking about wrestling for a hour straight every night if the week and on top of that getting color every night is crazy super human athlete and the best saler in the business 💯
Can someone explain why Mr Perfect became an opponent of Ric Flair out of nowhere? He was his manager and all of the sudden they face each other in a tag match
I remember Mr Perfect turning against Bobby Heenan because Heenan insulted him and accepting the Macho Man's offer of being his tag partner against Flair and Razor Ramon which made Flair furious.
The video distortion of the "Big Gold" belt was because of a lawsuit from WCW (Jim Herd) telling them (WWF and Ric Flair) to stop. I think that needed to have a mention in your video along with the storyline reason that you gave.
Was Herd still in charge of WCW at that point? I know they sued the WWF, but I thought that Herd got fired shortly after he lost Flair. I'm sure that the Great American Bash with "We want Flair!" chants throughout the show didn't endear Herd to his bosses if he were still there.
So for some context Savage was selling his leg during his second match with Flair, was meant to be because Flair kayfabe injured it, when he interfered in the Summerslam match.
I love how Flair earns the respect of the northern audience, who go from not knowing why he's a big deal when he arrives to chanting his name by the end. He built his rep over time by doing his thing.
MarkyD your channel is really good and have a lot of good humor in it. I'll have to donate to your Patreon brother. You should have more WWF videos. You should do his return to the WWF/WWE Ruthless aggression Era 2001-2008
Also SummerSlam spectacular was free specials air on USA network usually a week before the PPV(remember only 4-5 ppvs) they would have additional angles and matches to build the card.
@@marccaselle8108 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SummerSlam_Spectacular They ran three of them and similar ones around the other big 4 PPVs. They became prominent in the early 90s as SNME was canceled by NBC and only aired twice on Fox.
Hey MARK, the reason Flair dropped the title to Hart at a house show is because Warrior injured Flair in a house show a few days earlier, which caused Flair to get Vertigo, and he was not able to wrestle effectively (McMahon was going a different direction anyway, and the injury sped up the process). He stated that match in which he beat Savage for the belt, McMahon made him and Savage re-do the match because he was not happy with their performance, so that match happened back to back in front of the same crowd.
So the MSG matches weren't a SuperCard exactly. Here in states there are number of regional sports channels that show games from the local teams. One of the channels is the MSG network which is still available in NYC. During the 70s and 80s and into the early 90s MSG would air the WWF house shows that were held at MSG. So these basically an example of the house shows airing at the time. At WWFs peak actually several regional networks, Philly and Boston particularly, would air their house shows.
I always thought it was crazy that Flair had more WWF Monday Night Raw matches in the 90s than Hogan did (2 for Flair compared to 0 for Hogan). Hogan’s first Raw match was in 2002.
What's crazy about it? Hogan was gone from WWE before the first episode of Raw. How could he possibly be on Raw in the 90s when he was contracted to WCW until 2001?
@@markwither796 he was around for the first 6 months of Raw, he appeared on an episode or two as well in the 90s to do promos, but didn’t have any matches. The weirdness is the “face” of WWF back then had less matches than the man synonymous with NWA/WCW back then. It’s not something a fan from back then would ever conceive of.
Fair enough I thought Hogan was gone from the WWE for all of 93 because of the steroid scandal thingy but on doing some research you are right. My history of the WWE back then is a bit scetchy as I was mostly watching WCW at the time lol.
I've always considered this run Flairs best work. I know I'm a minority but I just found his character more fun as someone who was slightly delusional thinking he was' the top guy' rather than simply being 'the top guy' like he was in NWA.
this isn't actually the last video of the month, right? It was said cause the video was meant to be released in december, before Don West's passing, right?
The 1992 Royal Rumble Match is genuinely one of my favourite matches of all time, an absolute much watch classic
@Ted Cox "THIS IS NOT FAIR TO FLAIR!"
There are so many legendary wrestlers in that rumble. Probably the most star power out of any other rumble
@@megathesimper4050 Heenan: I'm going to have to apologize to the people. I don't think I can really be objective.
Monsoon: When have you ever been objective?!
Put that cigarette out!
@@jeffreymarksworld534 nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnNNNNOT!!!!!
Is it weird that my main takeaway from a 30 minute Rick Flair video is how underrated Tito Santana was?
Hey! He was the AWF champion!
Former ECW champion
@@CuzinBilly
Tito was? Wow
@@sird2333 He was ECW champion in 1993 when it was Eastern Championship Wrestling, so I doubt most people know that Tito Santana was ECW champion myself included before it was mentioned in this thread.
It's because if you have seen one flair match you have seen them all, vastly overrated
Flair's selling is more entertaining than his offense. Truly the greatest of all time! Royal Rumble 1992 is legitimately the greatest Rumble of all time. His WM 8 match vs Savage and Hart vs Piper are the show stealers of the event
No one takes an ass kicking like Flair
The commentating between Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan for the 1991 Survivor Series and the 1992 Royal Rumble was great.
Heenan ('91 S.S.): I think everyone should stand! (Ric Flair approaching the ring)
Monsoon: Well, I'm not standing!
Monsoon: ('92 R. R.): ...Ric Flair doing whatever necessary to hang in there (after giving British Bulldog a low blow).
Heenan: I'd do that to my grandma if I had to!
Monsoon: I'm sure you would!
My favorite commentary duo from wwf! Wish we had them together longer
@@xROCKLOBSTUHx its not fair for flair
My favorite heenan line was from survivor series 92
Did you introduce yourself to tatanka
Monsoon... yes I did
Hennan.... did you do it properly... hi how are ya hi how are ya
Monsoon. Will you stop
just the fact that he managed to win the RR in the worst position which is number three is amazing, great chopper flair
Every Royal Rumble number until 15 is the worst
Since WCW wasn't really a thing here in the UK that I remembered seeing in the early 90s I never realised until years later that the belt Flair had was actually important and just thought it was a belt made to make him seem like a big deal. Quite a ballsy move parading it around the way they did.
Yeah I also had no idea growing up watching 2000s raw and smackdown that the big gold one came from Wcw originally come to think about it I didn't even know WCW even existed since Vince made sure it was well and truly buried only bringing it up very vaguely when dealing with bischoff but that was before my time.
IIRC they started blurring it out because WCW sued. Lots of lawsuits between those two companies over the years.
I remember WCW being on ITV in the early 90s.
@@Eddie-lm3jf johnny b bad was on every episode
@@Eddie-lm3jf I Remember Big Van Vader Destroying Jobbers back in 1992 on ITV.
Flair was 42 during this run. Crazy
Flair was in crazy shape even though he partied hard as hell..
Wow
@@kenrickeasoncrazy shape? He has a dad bod
Gyrating his hips- Tommy Dreamer
@@nomnomnommy2955 Maybe later on in his career but not too much here.. He was working long matches while Warrior who was ripped to the tee couldn't have long matches while Ric Flair was still doing it well into the early 2000s with his man boobs..
One of my favorite moments will always be Flair in the 92 Rumble. He took so many bumps, and was in it for so long and had so much charisma. It was awesome. Definitely an A.
Full match is on UA-cam too. It's great.
HEY... Serious question *MARK,* appropriate name btw, how is the HELL are you able to access all these classic matches?? Peacock doesn't have the complete wwf/e catalog so where are you getting this footage from???
The uk version of the network is how it used to be before peacock.
You can find anything if you look hard enough..
Try using google
@@Markyd123 ok I got you...
If u use a VPN you could use wwe network
20:48 That was the most polite big boot I've ever seen
Ric Flair as Spartacus would have been the best gimmick in history.
I'm actually kind of curious whether he could have actually made it work. But I don't blame him for not wanting to.
@chuckbuskeemf Have you heard of the Ding Dongs? That was Herd's baby, but he only came up with it after another idea he had didn't become reality for reasons I forget. (Not sure if it was shot down, or if he had a flash of good judgment, or what.)
Herd's original idea for a tag team was to have two wrestlers with hunchbacks. The pitch went something like this:
"So these guys have hunchbacks, right, and that means it's impossible to pin them, because you CAN'T get both their shoulders on the mat at the same time, because of their backs!"
He Russo'd before Russo.
Good video, but you failed to mention Ric and Piper were really good friends behind the scenes. and the final time ric held up the " wcw " belt, it was actually the WWF tag title blurred out because he had to give the belt back to WCW
That's no "female ring announcer" that's Michelle "Mike" McGuirk, daughter of former wrestler and promoter Leroy McGuirk. She worked in the WWF for years and was married to B. Brian Blair ... there's a good 80's era story about her, Ted DiBiase, her dad, Jim Ross and a large handgun.
I think we need a video on Billy Kidman. One looking at his WCW career and another for WWE
I think you need my bits in your mouf?
WCW was way too long
When I think of Flair, this is the run that comes to mind.
Happy to see the team of Sid and Hogan, they are tag team partners who don't get on.
Flair staring at that ring announcer like she was a flight attendant.
Lmao
Flair was rougher to Headbanger Trash because it was announced before the match that he wasnt getting a WWF title shot against Macho, it was given to warrior instead. So they had flair be rougher like he was pissed even if it was taped a few weeks before the announcement 😂
Putting a $25K deposit down makes it his and since they weren't going to give it back meant he could do with it what he wanted.
Thank you. Exactly what I have been saying
Dude does hardly any research
I know if you've seen one Flair match you've seen them all but I love it! WOOOOOOOOOOO!
I love Flair’s entrance in the 92 Rumble
Despite being number 3
Flair had the look and walk of a man who wasn’t afraid in the slightest despite being a cowardly heel
A true legend
That roadie run makes him look like an absolute megastar.
Very fitting.
That's something that always confused me about cowardly heels: in the build to a match they're always running away from the babyface...but when it's time for the match suddenly they're brave enough to step into the ring with the babyface they were running from for so long. And sure, sometimes an authority figure is making them do it, but usually they don't have to be coerced that way. "Why are they brave enough to fight NOW?" I asked myself.
@@Trustme77 because they have something up thier sleeve.
@@rosestewart9281 I guess sometimes, but when I read that it just makes me ask another question: "If they're smart enough to have something up their sleeve for the match, why weren't they smart enough to have something up their sleeve before?"
@@Trustme77 it's wrestling 😎
I don't think Flair and Piper hate each other, in fact, they're best friends.
Good save on the Headbanger Thrash match. I would have been gutted if I missed that one!
Fun fact: The reason they distorted the belt is b/c it wasn’t the WCW title. It was a cheap knockoff. WCW sued WWF b/c they showed the real belt on tv. And to keep up the facade of it being the same belt, they digitally altered the image. Bruce Pritchard and Flair have both talked about it on their podcasts.
@@theskeeboo they did.
@@theskeeboo The cheap knockoff bit was from Flair himself. He called it that in numerous interviews.
The rock in uswa would be a interesting ring of the hawk video
Ric Flair with the WCW World title belt in WWE could have been a major storyline, but they did absolutely positively nothing with it. Another missed opportunity. It could have been viewed as an invasion type of angle.
If Vince cared more about Wrestling and money over his ego, wrestling would have stayed red-hot till today
It was a huge storyline at the time. You can't fathom how big a deal it was to see the NWA /WCW show up on WWF. It was HUGE no "angle" needed it was real life. Also, before that moment WWF NEVER acknowledged the existence of other federations, so again, huge deal. But, contracts and lawsuits stunted whatever "storyline" could have been built. WCW had the might of Turner networks behind them, which meant lots of lawyers. Flair couldn't appear on WWF TV at 1st, hence the belt showing up before he did, then lawsuit followed and the belt had to be returned. This led to the pixelated shots, where Flairvwas actually carrying an old WWF belt because the BGB had been returned to Turner /WCW. They got a gift and milked it for all they could.
Man I miss Roddy Piper.
Man I miss Macho Man.
Man I miss Mr. Perfect.
I'm depressed.
Don't forget Rick Rude
Oh oh and Vader.....
Big Bossman
Test... Ugh the list gets longer
and Razor Ramon! Come on guys.
@@theman6705 I was just listing off the 3 that appeared in this video.
By far the most significant thing Flair did from this run was the 92 Rumble. Probably one of the best post match promos i think ive ever seen. Everything about that match is amazing.
Ric Flair showed up in the WWF with the NWA big Gold belt.
They had to stop using the Big Gold Belt, the one that is seen with pixelation over it is actually an old WWF tag belt
the pixle belt is WCW, the blacked out belt was the tag title.
@@MikeDijital I wish WWE Themselves gave us a Blurred WCW Belt for the Ric Flair Cosplay.
@@conradojavier7547 that would be amazing
The post-match promo from Flair after winning the Royal Rumble is one I come back to quite a bit, including after watching this video. Such a great promo and the blondes looked genuinely excited and happy.
I've been looking forward to this!
I was there at Mania 8 as a kid. Macho winning was awesome
There’s a lot of matches like that throughout history, where being in the building made the spectacle and match quality ten times better. I was at Wrestlemania 31 and felt the same watching HHH vs Sting. When I got home, I saw that people didn’t think much of the match. Being there live, however, it was a big highlight of the show and the crowd was going nuts for everything they did. Crowd reactions make average matches good (HHH vs Sting) and good matches legendary (Flair vs Macho)
A WILD SLAPNUTS APPEARS
I’ve been waiting for this video since you put up that poll months ago! Yes!
Damn Marky you been pumping out material and I love it. 🍻 to your continued success, you deserve it #brickbrigade
Edit: I’ll never ever forget the tears I had when one of the clown posse slid off the bus in the mike awesome ROH and the did that farting sound effect I was in legit tears laughing. Anyone go to the mike awesome Ring of the Hawk
MarkyD dropped a new video and I dumped in my nappy 3 times with excitement
The match between Flair and Savage - where Scott Hall cost Savage the belt was the match that Vince was disappointed in - so the switch was made to Bret a month later - That was probably the plan going forward but that match with Savage helped speed up the process.
I mean…his selling and mannerisms aren’t that much more obnoxious than Kenny or The Bucks.
Those chair shots from Piper remind me of the ones Lance Storm did to RVD in ECW or the ones Hogan did during his feud with the Dungeon of Doom.
The issue with the WCW title....actually, NWA. They agreed to buy it back, so WWF had to hide the fact, hence the blurring.
(From that point on it was a modified WWF tag belt...)
Hell is going on with Flair’s back at 11:18?
Might be a screen burn like you’d see on old film reels? Definitely looked almost like a hole through his spleen.
19:34
Sid wistfully thinking of softball....
19:45
Sid gives into his need for softball and leaves hulk hanging..
Flair getting a B makes sense. I enjoy your fair and honest analyzations of these videos.
But he got an A
I believe, though I have only read this on various internet sites, so be prepared to take it with a pinch of salt (certainly sounds plausible enough though) that the initial run of Flair/Hogan matches on the House Show Loop (of which the Madison Square Garden Match you have at Match 9 was probably the biggest) persuaded the WWF brass that Flair/Hogan in reality wasn't quite the dream match that it was at the time in fantasy booking. Their styles were too dissimilar to mesh well and their egos were too similar to develop great in-ring chemistry, so they never pulled the trigger on a big PPV match. - Edit, apologies, you mention this in Match 17! It's quite possible Powers WAS actually Flair's favourite jobber...back then Powers was essentially a "jobber to the stars" - someone who could be trusted to sell the absolute heck out of any opponent's offence without overselling it. There was even a jobber hierarchy back in the 80s/90s. Think you were a bit harsh on Savage/Flair, but I can also see your point looking at it from a modern perspective - much respect for taking on a throwback RoTH as wresting was very different back in the eighties/nineties.
Of course, not even brass knuckles could stop Hogan!
the 92 Rumble is the best wrestling match of all time period. Flair the best wrestler of all time gives his best performance, Bobby and Gorilla the best commentators ever give their best performance. a masterclass in storytelling.
The SummerSlam Spectacular was a program aired in the early 90s. It was aired a week before the PPV to get buys.
Piper is gold, I didn't realise he was so good
"Why not save it for pay per view?" Back in 91, it was still only four PPVs a year, WWF and WCW hadn't been expanding as much so these MSG shows the bigger ones for the time.
Love the Hawk giving love to 'Chico' Santana here. One of best in ring workers of all time to me. Flair's formula works well, but his best matches are against strong baby face workers.
Look how little the ring bounces back then 😮 flair flying off the top rope and doing his mid air flip looks like landing on concrete 😨😨
I gotta search for this Flair vs Santana match; It seems that was a great contest!
I still think it's hilarious that Flair had to pay that big deposit as a deterrent from taking the belt to another company with him, and that deposit ended up being the exact reason why he took the belt with him to the WWF.
16:32 flair bumps the ref with an eye poke and Hogan small packages perfect. 😂
Ric Flair enters Royal Rumble 92 as the third entrant
Bobby Heenan: WTF? Flair’s number three! It’s not fair to Flair!
After the match
Bobby Heenan: YES! Flair has done it! Ric Flair’s the Man, he’s the World Wrestling Federation Champion! Yahoo!
Happy New Year Hawk good to see you.
I've seen the Bret vs Flair match from the Hitman's DVD set. Really good match in my opinion.
Love the video truely, just had one thing I wanted to point out. You say at the beginning and end of the video that you’ll be judging the matches from and early 90s perspective, but deduct Flair vs. Savage at mania points, saying that it’s slightly boring to watch from a modern perspective. Not a big deal, sure it wouldn’t change the overall score but just wanted to point it out.
I think it's gonna be a new thing on this channel: And there is a Flair bump
Seeing runs like these makes me think a J-for-job-guy rating might clarify which matches aren't really "counted" gradewise (unless they're notably excellent or poor).
My challengers for a A grade un ROH
The rock (2011-2013,2016 run)
Kenny Omega ( tna 2021 run)
I November RIC flair being big gold Wcw World wrestling champion belt in the wwf in 1991
Flair talking about wrestling for a hour straight every night if the week and on top of that getting color every night is crazy super human athlete and the best saler in the business 💯
Can someone explain why Mr Perfect became an opponent of Ric Flair out of nowhere?
He was his manager and all of the sudden they face each other in a tag match
I remember Mr Perfect turning against Bobby Heenan because Heenan insulted him and accepting the Macho Man's offer of being his tag partner against Flair and Razor Ramon which made Flair furious.
@@Eddie-lm3jfyep, was an angle on Prime Time Wrestling
The video distortion of the "Big Gold" belt was because of a lawsuit from WCW (Jim Herd) telling them (WWF and Ric Flair) to stop. I think that needed to have a mention in your video along with the storyline reason that you gave.
Was Herd still in charge of WCW at that point? I know they sued the WWF, but I thought that Herd got fired shortly after he lost Flair. I'm sure that the Great American Bash with "We want Flair!" chants throughout the show didn't endear Herd to his bosses if he were still there.
That was actually the tag belt not the wcw title when they started distorting the belt
"Why not put Hogan and Flair on PPV?"
Back then, there were only four PPVs per year, so there's that
The house show matches between them also stunk out loud lol
Kinda strange that this is the most that we have seen the deadman here. Would love to see his ‘pre’ Undertaker WCW run though.
It was NOT the WCW belt! It was the NWA belt, and remained so for several years afterward.
Ronnie has a smaller head than the hawk had me crying. Loved it
Short run/long video is my kind of video
1991 standards!? Second place!? Such nonsense can only be squawked by a hawk with chronic bird flu born in 2002!
Ric Flair and Piper is basically a Laurel and Hardy and gimmick. The photo shoot Flair had of Miss Elizabeth and him pool side was classic heel heat.
Jim Powers just makes me think of that Owen Hart rib that Bret talked about
So for some context Savage was selling his leg during his second match with Flair, was meant to be because Flair kayfabe injured it, when he interfered in the Summerslam match.
The ric flair/ Bret hart match is legendary *the biggest dreams can always come true*
I love when the hawk is talking about Piper no selling Rick Flair’s hits or Piper not being a good loser you will hear The hawk hold back laughs.
I love how Flair earns the respect of the northern audience, who go from not knowing why he's a big deal when he arrives to chanting his name by the end.
He built his rep over time by doing his thing.
MarkyD your channel is really good and have a lot of good humor in it. I'll have to donate to your Patreon brother. You should have more WWF videos. You should do his return to the WWF/WWE Ruthless aggression Era 2001-2008
He does short runs with at most around 30 ish matches. This series is meant to highlight shorter runs. Some obscure, some way shorter than we thought.
FINALLY ❤️🥹
Also SummerSlam spectacular was free specials air on USA network usually a week before the PPV(remember only 4-5 ppvs) they would have additional angles and matches to build the card.
I never heard of or seen any of the summerslam spectacular
@@marccaselle8108 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SummerSlam_Spectacular
They ran three of them and similar ones around the other big 4 PPVs. They became prominent in the early 90s as SNME was canceled by NBC and only aired twice on Fox.
Look how old Flair was back in 1991.
I love your video ❤❤
Hey MARK, the reason Flair dropped the title to Hart at a house show is because Warrior injured Flair in a house show a few days earlier, which caused Flair to get Vertigo, and he was not able to wrestle effectively (McMahon was going a different direction anyway, and the injury sped up the process). He stated that match in which he beat Savage for the belt, McMahon made him and Savage re-do the match because he was not happy with their performance, so that match happened back to back in front of the same crowd.
I think that Ric Flair vs Tito Santana as El Matador on the SummerSlam spectacular before SummerSlam was Ric Flair's best match in WWF
So the MSG matches weren't a SuperCard exactly. Here in states there are number of regional sports channels that show games from the local teams. One of the channels is the MSG network which is still available in NYC. During the 70s and 80s and into the early 90s MSG would air the WWF house shows that were held at MSG. So these basically an example of the house shows airing at the time.
At WWFs peak actually several regional networks, Philly and Boston particularly, would air their house shows.
And back in 1973 Flair was in a plane crash.... He managed to do so much after
Great video
The Hawkmnia logo is alive and well, I see.
Flair is one of only 3 wrestlers piper ever allowed to pin his shoulders to the mat for, the other 2 were Jimmy Snuka and Bret Hart.
I always thought it was crazy that Flair had more WWF Monday Night Raw matches in the 90s than Hogan did (2 for Flair compared to 0 for Hogan). Hogan’s first Raw match was in 2002.
What's crazy about it? Hogan was gone from WWE before the first episode of Raw. How could he possibly be on Raw in the 90s when he was contracted to WCW until 2001?
@@markwither796 he was around for the first 6 months of Raw, he appeared on an episode or two as well in the 90s to do promos, but didn’t have any matches.
The weirdness is the “face” of WWF back then had less matches than the man synonymous with NWA/WCW back then. It’s not something a fan from back then would ever conceive of.
Fair enough I thought Hogan was gone from the WWE for all of 93 because of the steroid scandal thingy but on doing some research you are right. My history of the WWE back then is a bit scetchy as I was mostly watching WCW at the time lol.
They went from gingerly hitting with chairs to unprotected chair shots in only a few years
Brief run but a 36 minute video lol
Man these are good real Big-time...!! Keep it up...
*BTW ever thought about covering The WWF vs USWA invasion feud from 93?
Would be dope but would probably get struck in like 4 seconds
Whatever he did, he was always entertaining. And you can see in the A rated matched you don't need a lot too make an entertaining match.
I've always considered this run Flairs best work. I know I'm a minority but I just found his character more fun as someone who was slightly delusional thinking he was' the top guy' rather than simply being 'the top guy' like he was in NWA.
I agree! Loved him during this run and hate that the vertigo cut it short. Wish that it was just a year longer with a long feud with Piper.
10:49 On TV yes. Hogan and Flair fought at house shows throughout the country
this isn't actually the last video of the month, right? It was said cause the video was meant to be released in december, before Don West's passing, right?
Great way to bust into the 2023 Hawk. Shame Flair's run didn't get much higher after the incredible Royal Rumble 1992
Primetime was the original Monday Night Raw