Ric Flair; why he’s missed

While watching RAW this past Monday night I couldn’t help but think about what made Ric Flair so much fun to watch on TV through the decades. In the world of professional wrestling the promise of comedy is so important to the show – Ric Flair always brought this element to the program; even if unintentionally.

During a match Flair would always have his trademark face fall. I must have seen him do it a million times and I loved it each time. Watching him climb the turnbuckles to go to the top rope only to be press-slammed was another staple in the Flair program. What made it funny is that you knew how it was always going to end. I remember one time while watching RAW Flair had gone up only to be press-slammed causing Ross to quip (in a rare moment of Ross wit) “Well at least Flair’s perfect record remains in tact.”

With Mickey Rourke bowing out of Wrestlemania as a billed part of the show, Jericho was pretty much left out of the show. The concept of Jericho taking on three old men seemed to have no appeal for me. But the Flair segment sold me (at least sort of anyway). As I watched Jericho undressing Flair I couldn’t help but crack up. The more the landscape of professional wrestling the more Flair stays the same.

Chris Jericho’s homage to the Ric Flair-Ricky Steamboat feud of old.

In one of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling World Wide Wrestling TV tapings one of the all-time classic moments was seeing Flair get undressed by current ally Ricky Steamboat. If you haven’t seen it before, check it out. This is classic Ric Flair.

Here is part 1, showing the lead up to what it was that caused Steamboat to go off on Flair.

At 60 years old and having not aged very well I no longer want to see Flair wrestling anymore. But Flair will always remain one of the more entertaining wrestlers of all-time.