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Monster Blog Wednesday: Our Favorite Ric Flair Promos #NatureBoy
Photo: Wrestling News Source
WOOOOO! Has there ever been a sound you associate with someone as quickly as you associate the WOOOO with Ric Flair? ESPN aired their latest 30 for 30 last night, Nature Boy, which chronicled the incredible life and career of Flair. While the WOOOO has taken on a life of it’s own over the last few years at different sporting events, Ric Flair has been a household name in the wrestling industry since the 70s. While he may not be as popular with the non wrestling crowd as Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold or The Rock, Flair was THE MAN in WCW (the southern equivalent to New York’s WWF) for almost all of the 80s and early 90s.
Imagine someone with the energy level of a Hulk Hogan, but instead of talking about saying prayers and eating vitamins, he was talking about how rich he was. Or how much better than you he was. Or about how many women he had sex with last night. Flair had swag before swag was a thing, and he had the wrestling prowess to back it up. To celebrate the release of Flair’s 30 for 30, we decided to bring back the Monster Blog and talk about our favorite Ric Flair promos. This wasn’t an easy task, as Flair has about 100 promos that could be considered all time, but we narrowed it down to two. Enjoy. WOOOOOO!
Your World Champion
Flair was a master at hyping up his own opponent, because he knew he’d only look good if he beat someone who also looked good in the eyes of the audience. It’s sort of a lost art in pro wrestling, as most guys are busy bashing their opponents, and the only name I can think of that does it well is Paul Heyman. Flair starts the promo off talking about himself, which happens in literally every Flair promo, but he quickly switches gears to talking about his latest challenger, Lex Luger. Flair points out that Luger is a former NFL player and has one of the greatest physiques he’s ever seen. Luger might be able to beat most champions, and but he won’t beat the WORLD champion, because that’s Flair, and Ric Flair can go all night long.
As a side note, I’m very upset we never got that Flair presidential run.
–Ryan
The Dirtiest Player in the Game, Ric Flair
Easily one of my favorite Flair promos, which was pretty hard to find, is this one from 1987 with David Crockett. This promo/interview completely embodies what Flair’s character is––he’s better than you, in fact, he’s better than everyone. He only drives the best, dates the best and is the dirtiest player in the game. Skip to 3:00 for PEAK Flair. That last few minutes are like Flair loaded his words into a machine gun and started firing straight down the barrel of the camera. Unlike most modern wrestling promos, this one is quick-witted and cuts so god damn deep. Can’t wait to see his 30 on 30…I really hope this promo makes it in.
–Matt
Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan Has Passed Away At The Age of 73 #RIPBobbyHeenan
My generation of wrestling fans usually pick Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross as their favorite broadcast team, but whenever that conversation comes up, I’ll always lean towards Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon. Heenan, who passed away over the weekend at the age of 73, was a jack of all trades wrestling personality and talent that excelled at everything he did in or around a wrestling ring. His career spanned the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, starting as an in ring performer, but ‘The Brain’ will always be known as one of the greatest managers and color commentators of all time. Heenan always delivered, and he was one of the most entertaining personality’s in the history of wrestling. Thanks for the memories ‘Brain’, and thanks for entertaining us humanoids for so many years.
-Ryan
Mark Your Calendars: Ric Flair’s 30 For 30 ‘Nature Boy’ Will Debut November 7th
Few people in this world have lived a more interesting, fascinating & heartbreaking life than Ric Flair. He’s inarguably one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time, but when you spend 40+ years in the spotlight, the bad times can start to outweigh the good times. Judging from this trailer, director Rory Karpf (who’s also directed the Tim Richmond & Christian Laettner 30 for 30s) doesn’t shy away from the dark side of Flair’s fame, and I’m glad he didn’t because that darkness has helped shape the Ric Flair you see today. We’ll also Ric Flair is all his glory from the 80s where he was THE MAN in professional wrestling, including comments from his peers Shawn Michaels, HHH & Hulk Hogan. I hope they show his resurrection in mid 2000s WWE as well, because he could still wrestle with the best of them during that era. Diamonds are forever, and so is Ric Flair.
-Ryan
‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’ Netted FX Record Ratings, & An O.J. ’30 For 30′ Is Coming In June
EW – The numbers aren’t that surprising, given the pre-publicity surrounding The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, but the results are no less significant; the anthology series starring Cuba Gooding Jr. as the former NFL player-turned-convicted felon netted more than 5 million viewers, a record for an FX debut.
Nielsen says the first installment of the miniseries also averaged a 2.0 rating in adults 18–49, which represents 2.481 million viewers. That’s better than the first episode of American Horror Story, which achieved a 1.6 in 2011.
It shouldn’t be surprising that ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’ was a huge ratings hit, but that it set record ratings for a network like FX is pretty crazy. FX is not exactly an unknown network, and for the past 10-15 years, they’ve had some of the best shows on television. It just goes to show you that over 20 years later, people are still fascinated by the ‘trial of the century’. I watched the premiere last night, and even though it’s been covered incessantly by the media, it’s still compelling television. The show is perfectly cast, and the direction and writing are just as good. The O.J. case has so many factors; race, celebrity, domestic abuse – that the media could key in on any aspect of it and the viewing public would eat it up.
What I’m more excited about, though, is that the documentary ‘O.J. Simpson: Made in America’ premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It’s an 8 hour documentary about O.J. and how race relations affected his life and career both before and after the death of his ex wife Nicole and Ronald Goldman. This 8 hour documentary is being turned into a 5 part ’30 for 30′, which, judging by the reviews on Twitter, is going to be something special.
But now I’ve seen OJ SIMPSON: MADE IN AMERICA, a five-part documentary that comes out in June on ESPN. It will blow your mind. [2]
— Chuck Klosterman (@CKlosterman) January 28, 2016
When this eventually airs, it will be viewed as the greatest thing ESPN has ever produced. I almost can’t believe how revelatory it is. [3]
— Chuck Klosterman (@CKlosterman) January 28, 2016
“O.J.: Made in America” (https://t.co/GrAjvx2f1z) won’t air until June. Doubt I’ll see 10 TV things better this year.
— Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint) January 23, 2016
Happy to see Sundance audiences are as riveted by “O.J.: Made in America” as I was. Saw it in NY back in October and it is a masterpiece
— Robert Mills (@Millsy11374) January 23, 2016
Since the O.J. saga isn’t going away any time soon, we might as well sit back and enjoy the enthralling content.
-Ryan
ESPN Will Now Run A Weekly WWE Recap Segment On Sportscenter & I Guess I’m Watching Sportscenter Again
.@WWE + @ESPN = awesome…hear @TheCoachESPN and @WWERollins tonight on @SportsCenter at 9pm. pic.twitter.com/x4pJhfgAPv
— Triple H (@TripleH) October 14, 2015
I’m sure sports fans/assholes around the world will be OUTRAGED that ESPN is going to start airing WWE recaps on Sportscenter, but as a wrestling fan, I am overjoyed. Jonathan Coachman is our man on the inside and he’s been pushing for a collaboration between ESPN and the WWE for awhile now, so I’m glad it’s finally happening. WWE being ‘PG TV’ helps in situations like this, as you know young kids aren’t going to be tuning in and watching Val Venis get his penis chopped off or Sable with black hand paint as a bra. WrestleMania 31 was a huge success and WM 32 taking place in Dallas has a chance to be the biggest WrestleMania ever, so I’m glad this partnership is starting now. Now, if the main roster writers and Vince can get their heads out their asses and start writing good TV shows we’ll be golden.
-Ryan
Make the 2015 NFL Season a Classy One – Fumble Brewski
Drinking With Class is Back! In this episode we cover the unofficial official beer of the NFL. The beer everyone loves, but Führer Goodell doesn’t want you to know about.
– The Average Nobodies
The Patriots Are Involved In A New Cheating Scandal & Oh My God Are We Really Still Doing This?
In fact, many former New England coaches and employees insist that the taping of signals wasn’t even the most effective cheating method the Patriots deployed in that era. Several of them acknowledge that during pregame warm-ups, a low-level Patriots employee would sneak into the visiting locker room and steal the play sheet, listing the first 20 or so scripted calls for the opposing team’s offense. (The practice became so notorious that some coaches put out fake play sheets for the Patriots to swipe.) Numerous former employees say the Patriots would have someone rummage through the visiting team hotel for playbooks or scouting reports. – USA Today
I knew that when Judge Berman reversed Tom Brady’s suspension that it wasn’t the end of deflate gate, but I was hoping that we’d at least be able to put that story on the back burner and focus on the upcoming season, which starts in two days. Of course that didn’t happen, and of course there’s a NEW cheating scandal to come out about the Patriots. According to a couple investigative journalists who totally aren’t trying to start a witch hunt, the Patriots used to send employees into hotel and locker rooms to try and steal the other teams playbook. If this story lived on it’s own, there would probably be a lot more people who cared about it, but after everything that’s been written and talked about in regards to spy gate and deflate gate, I’m just indifferent. Who cares at this point? There’s honestly nothing that could come out about the Patriots that would be make me feel happiness or anger. When reporting on the Patriots, ESPN might as well identify themselves as a gossip website, because that’s what it’s becoming. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if a story came out about a talented Patriot who ended up being a serial killer. Oh wait…
-Ryan
Jon Stewart Will Be The Official Host Of This Sunday’s Summerslam #WWE
BREAKING: Former @TheDailyShow host Jon Stewart will be the host of @SummerSlam THIS SUNDAY! http://t.co/NY362xMnKQpic.twitter.com/dLUOyMNVxU
— WWE (@WWE) August 17, 2015
Big ol’ news ahead of the ‘biggest party of the summer’ this Sunday: former ‘Daily Show’ host Jon Stewart is going to step back into a WWE ring to host Summerslam. Stewart briefly feuded with WWE Champion Seth Rollins a few months ago, and is fresh off his final ‘Daily Show’. Between this and ESPN/Jonathan Coachman doing a Summerslam themed Sportscenter segment, it almost feels like WrestleMania season all over again. It’s easy to complain about how wrestling isn’t what it used to be, but the current WWE has more mainstream appeal than any other era sans the mid 80s. It’s pure entertainment mixed with a roster of men and women who are ready to steal the show. This weekend should be out of this world.
-Ryan
