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Posts Tagged ‘Ric Flair’

The headlining match for TNA Impact’s first Monday Night broadcast will be a tag-team affair, with Hulk Hogan and Abyss teaming against Ric Flair and A.J. Styles. This seems, on the surface, to be a smart blending of wrestling legends with new, TNA-homegrown talent… a smart way to introduce the lesser-known, younger guys to a potentially larger audience.

However, it’s all in the execution and if the egos of Hogan and Flair (oy, the eczema!) drown out the talent of Abyss and Styles, it’ll be all for naught. Sure, Hogan’s been selling the “it ain’t gonna be like last time” story since his arrival in TNA, but that’s all a bit too “inside baseball” for mainstream wrestling audiences who may not remember Hogan’s role in the WCW-WWE Monday Night Wars.

If TNA is to prove a credible threat to WWE’s dominance, the storylines will have to get a lot more mainstream, and quickly.

Randy Orton may regularly be WWE champ right now, but he certainly doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of one-time mentor Ric Flair. Despite receiving one of the classiest retirement matches ever by WWE at the 2008 WrestleMania, Flair may soon return to regular ring action in order to comply with court-mandated alimony payments to his many ex-wives.

“I don’t want to put myself in a position where financially I need to perform when I’m 60 or 50 or even in my mid-40s,” Orton told the Charlotte Observer. “There will be a time when I’m a dad of two or three and I just want to be at home with my family.”

While staying away from diet pills and other performance-enhancers would be a good first step for Orton, choosing wisely when he takes a wife might also help Orton avoid Flair’s fate.

Although he’s at least “a year away” from his WWE debut, according to his father, Reid Flair may eventually become the newest member of the Second Generation faction that currently includes Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase Jr., and Manu.

While it’s a ways off, if he matures and develops properly, adding Reid Flair to that group could become WWE gold: can anyone say “the second coming of the Four Horsemen?” Having a young Flair join a slightly older faction that includes Rhodes, DiBiase and Manu would certainly be a step toward having son Reid follow in his father’s legendary footsteps.

While it’s far to early to know if Reid can be successful as a professional wrestler, you have to believe that it is the potential of something like this which has WWE talent scouts watching Reid Flair’s development with more than a casual interest, even if it means swapping Mexican recipes with Flair family members.

Although Ric Flair was given one of the classiest send-offs in all of WWE history, the ring veteran isn’t taking retirement well. According to online reports, he’s even negotiating for a return to the wrestling ring.

If it happens, however, it won’t be in WWE, TNA or even in the US. Word is, Flair is negotiating with several promotions based out of Japan for some matches that would inflate his bank account impressively, which just goes to show how important budgeting and planning is, even in retirement.

Flair’s official line currently is that his retirement applies only to the US and European markets. Let’s hope the Living Legend doesn’t embarrass himself in his golden years, the way Muhammad Ali has, on occasion.

I don’t think it’s hype when Ric Flair said that his parting of the ways with WWE was amicable, or that his goal was to stop relying on WWE to “prop him up,” but that he wanted to build his own name and reputation as a brand unto itself.

Flair is apparently not interested in a return to the wrestling ring upon his release, but is looking to explore other avenues of generating revenue and becoming a business man capable of “standing on his own” without the help of the McMahon family and WWE.

Hopefully, Flair will follow through with his plan and start making announcements about his next achievements soon; after the send-off Flair received at WrestleMania last spring, it would be a shame to see Flair sign with TNA or some other promotion in a vain attempt to extend his in-ring career.

Flair’s not some acne-ridden kid anymore; at 59, it’s time he pursued something new, like he was talking about, and he certainly has the skills to do well in other fields.

A few years ago, Flair played around with the idea of running for public office in North Carolina as a Republican; that would seem to be a potential course of action for Flair and would re-define his post-wrestling career.

Ric Flair has been giving great matches lately, thanks to the “next time you lose, it’s your retirement match” storyline, and last Monday night’s street fight with Mr. McMahon was no exception. No one wears the crimson mask to greater effect than Flair, and although he’s ridiculously old to be winning so much, he’s been giving some of his best in-ring performances in years of late.

Although popular thought has Flair losing to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania to put the final swan song on his career, it would be fun to push the storyline past WrestleMania, I think. It’s not like Flair is a man just out of drug rehab; he’s in top form for a many of his age, and could probably ride this storyline until SummerSlam next August.

See, thing is, Flair has now won enough that he ought really to be considered a number one contender for the WWE title, if he wins his match at WrestleMania; what better way to send Flair off into his final sunset than to have him fact whoever is champ after WrestleMania, win the title, and carry it for a few PPVs before finally losing the title and retiring at SummerSlam? The 17-time world champ deserves one final, career-capping title run, if you ask me.

Ric Flair earned a victory over MVP as part of the opening match to the 2008 edition of the WWE Royal Rumble PPV. In the ongoing storyline for Flair, the Nature Boy will continue to have a job with WWE until the next time he loses a match. The storyline has led to Flair winning five consecutive matches, including the win Sunday night over MVP.

While Flair wasn’t vamping it up by wearing a bustiers or another other such showman nonsense, his matches since this storyline began did have the feeling of being a retirement / final tour storyline. The PPV event was held at Madison Square Garden. Flair wrestled at the facility for the first time in 1976, do to still be in the ring, winning matches, 32 years later and in his 50s is an achievement worthy of the Verne Gagne era of pro wrestling.

Tonight, WWE Monday Night Raw will celebrate its 15th anniversary. After 15 years on the air, surviving the Monday Night Wars against WCW, the celebration is set to run three hours plus overrun, and the guest list is growing by the hour.

Currently confirmed to appear in some way, shape, manner or form tonight on Raw are the following:

* Hulk Hogan
* Stone Cold Steve Austin
* The Undertaker
* Mick Foley
* Sunny
* Trish Stratus
* Lita
* Eric Bischoff
* Evolution Reunion (Ric Flair, Triple H, Randy Orton, Batista)
* 15-person gimmick Battle Royale featuring stars from the last 15 years

All in all, it’s building up to be a great show, and even greater if The Rock decides to make a cameo. C’mon, Dwayne Johnson, don’t make us beg! Cat5E!

The WWE is attempting to crack down on wrestlers violating the company’s wellness policy, but the attrition rate is getting a bit startling.

Since 11 wrestlers were suspended in one fell swoop recently, more names have been added to the list of wrestlers being confirmed as cut by WWE, some of whom have shown up, allegedly, as customers of the shady online pharmacy that started this whole scandal.

Here’s a rundown:

* Although not confirmed to have done anything illegal, wrestler Paul Wight, better known as The Big Show, was named as an online pharmacy customer. Wight left the WWE in late 2006/early 2007 after losing the ECW title at the ECW December to Dismember PPV event and has not been on the company’s active roster since.

* Although not confirmed to have done anything illegal, wrestler Ric Flair was announced to have been on this pharmacy’s list of customers as well. In possibly-related news, Flair has tentatively filed papers to step down from the WWE, allegedly because he’s upset over the lack of useful storylines the company is placing him in; however, Flair and WWE are said to be working on terms of a possible return. However, all of this could be a smokescreen to cover for alleged online pharmacy connections for Flair.

* Wrestler Nick Dinsmore, known in WWE as Eugene, has been released from the WWE. He was allegedly suspended by the company for a time on the basis of substance abuse, about a year ago.

* Sylvan Grenier, a former WWE tag-team champion, came out and admitted he was one of the wrestlers suspended by WWE for allegedly being a customer of the online pharmacy at the heart of the company’s HGH/steriods scandal, but of course insisted it was false, he was a customer, but had done nothing wrong.

Of course, it’s interesting to note that none of the WWE divas have been part of the HGH/steroid scandal. Now, if there’s ever a WWE scandal over boob jobs and wearing expensive jewelry, then watch out, diva fans! Heads and other body parts will be sure to roll… or at least bounce!