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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
#MusicMonday – Ric Flair Entrance Theme
With the concerning news about Ric Flair’s health issues, I thought it was appropriate to dedicate todays Music Monday to The Man. Flair is one of the few guys that transcended wrestling thanks to his longevity and overall knack for being able to consistently entertain us. Flair is undoubtedly one of the best pro wrestlers in history, and hopefully he’s able to beat this illness and continue to WOOO his way into our hearts.
-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
Stone Cold Steve Austin Kicked Off Last Night’s #RAW In Dallas & Raised Some Old School Hell
The go home Raw before Hell in a Cell Sunday was live last night in Dallas, and ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’ himself Stone Cold Steve Austin opened the show. He half promoted his post Raw podcast with Lesnar and Lesnar’s match with the Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell, and started a trend of cameos by WWE Hall of Famers that included HBK and Ric Flair. WWE tends to overuse it’s stars from the past, but I thought all three were used effectively last night. They hyped up whichever match they were supposed to hype and you believed what they said because they have built-in credibility. This was a better Raw than the past few weeks, and it was certainly helped by the presence of Austin, HBK and Flair.
-Ryan
Ric Flair Pumped Up The Cleveland Crowd Last Night & Even Snuck In A Dusty Rhodes Tribute
Ric Flair looking and sounding as insane as ever last night, and I’d like to think that ‘hard time’ line was a little tribute to his friend and mentor Dusty Rhodes who passed away yesterday. Between Flair and Hogan, they have about 150 favorite professional sports teams. It’s kind of a genius move by the teams, because if I was a fan in the crowd, nothing would get me more pumped up than a loud, rambling, outrageous Ric Flair wrestling promo. Unfortunately for the Cavs, the pump up didn’t work, and now weathermen in the city of Cleveland are bringing weed whackers on air.
– Ryan
Happy 66th Birthday To ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair
Ric Flair turns 66 years old today, and he’s still as entertaining as ever. Not only is Flair the most entertaining wrestler of all time, but he’s also one of the best in the ring with a career that has now spanned five decades. I could link a few videos of his matches with Ricky Steamboat, or Sting, or Terry Funk, but I think it’s more appropriate to show him in his natural, insane element: entertaining the fans.
Also, how about that time he pumped up my 49ers ahead of their playoff game vs. the Carolina Panthers. The same Carolina Panthers that hail from right near Flair’s billed hometown of Charlotte.
And my personal favorite, from his Raw farewell night. The Undertaker, the man Flair helped win his first ever WWF title, coming out to pay his respects to The Nature Boy.
Here’s to another 66 years. If anybody can do it, it’s Ric Flair.
– Ryan
Ranking The Royal Rumble Winners – Part 21
It’s Royal Rumble season, which means it’s almost WrestleMania season. Thanks to the WWE Network, you can go back and watch all the old Royal Rumble pay per views and matches, and in that spirit, I decided to rank the winners. I’ll be ranking the winners every day until the we reach #1, and if you’re interested in checking out who’s already on the list, use the tricky magnifying glass at the top of the screen and search ‘Royal Rumble winners’ or scroll through the blog. We’re officially into the top 2, so now is the time to check out the rest of the list. Onto the rankings!
2. Ric Flair – 1992 Royal Rumble
Like I wasn’t going to include a video of Flair elbow dropping nothing.
A lot of wrestlers may claim to be crazy, or play a crazy character, but there’s crazy, and then there’s The Nature Boy Ric Flair. Ric Flair is very similar to Lex Luger in regards to this list, in that almost all of their legacy resides outside of the WWE. But whether you watched him in the NWA, WCW or WWE, when Ric Flair was on your television, you were about to be entertained.
The 1992 Royal Rumble was a little more significant than other Rumbles, because instead of the winner going on to main event WrestleMania, he would instead become the WWF Champion. Flair’s performance in the ’92 Rumble is the stuff of legends. He entered at #3, lasted over an hour and eliminated 5 participants on his way to his first (and only) WWF Championship.
The Good: in my opinion, there is no “not so good” when it comes to The Nature Boy. Flair and the #1 entrant on this list are pretty much interchangeable. What Flair did for the NWA/WCW in the late 80’s, the #1 entrant did for the WWF, but I’m more of a WWF/E guy, so Flair is going to have to hold down the number two spot. With his most recent appearance on Mondays Raw, Flair has now been involved in wrestling in some capacity for over 43 years. Officially, he is a 16 time World Champion and he is the only person to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice (once as himself and once as a member of the Four Horsemen). His durability in the ring is unmatched, as during his heyday in the 80s, he would regularly wrestle hour long matches defending his coveted NWA World Title. It seemed as if every feud Flair was in became magical, and part of that magic has to be attributed to Flair. Terry Funk, Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, Lex Luger, Dusty Rhodes, Kerry Von Erich, Shawn Michaels, Sting; everyone who worked with Ric Flair became better off for it. He had more nicknames than you could count, and besides his prowess as an in ring wrestler, he was also tremendous on the microphone and was the centerpiece of one of the greatest factions in wrestling history, The Four Horsemen. If I may slightly change the Horsemen’s famous saying, ‘Diamonds are forever, and so is Ric Flair.’
– Ryan
I Have Never Seen This Level of Pride Before
Just look at this kid! Just absolutely pumped that he just slammed his brain through a table.
And besides long term brain injuries he only has small amounts of bleeding…
…which is a total disappointment, if you ask me. i was half expecting a scene from Saving Private Ryan when he pulled his head out of the table. Dude, if your gonna shove your noggin through a coffee table make the “after” worth it. Take a page out of the WWF playbook and tap a razor blade to your wrist. Make it count, or don’t do it. Showmanship is going out the window these days.
-MattyV
