Mike Rickard
Ric Flair-A Look Back at a True Hall of Famer (Part Three)
By Mike Rickard II
Mar 10, 2008 - 4:48 PM

With the announcement that Ric Flair will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, it’s time to look back at the incredible career of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair.   Flair’s accomplishments in the ring are legendary.   With 16 world championships to his credit (including the NWA and WWE) and multiple regional singles and tag team titles, Flair’s importance as a top draw is irrefutable.   Equally important is his in-ring ability which made Flair’s name synonymous with the phrase “able to carry a broomstick to a five star match”.   In part two, we examined Flair’s comeback from a devastating plane crash that nearly ended his career and his rise to the top in Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP).

By 1978, Flair was firmly entrenched in JCP as the promotion’s top heel having won most of the promotion’s titles in singles and tag team competition.     Flair’s position at the top of the cards was a reflection of the promotion’s faith in his drawing ability.   His cocky interview style and stellar ability in the ring not only built him up as a star but was a means by which to build up other wrestlers. Whether he was helping newcomers like Ricky Steamboat get over or helping to turn heels like Blackjack Mulligan into babyfaces, Flair was the promotion’s go-to man.

Since his debut in the Carolinas, Ric Flair had helped Ricky Steamboat get over in JCP.   After a brief break in their feud, Flair and Steamboat clashed again, this time over Flair’s United States Heavyweight Championship.   The two wrestlers’ conflict led to a classic angle where Flair attacked Steamboat and brutally beat him by rubbing his face into the concrete floor of the TV studio (an angle that would be repeated years later with Flair doing the same thing to babyface Ricky Morton).   Steamboat vowed revenge and got it by winning the U.S. belt from “Slick Ric”.   The last laugh would prove to be Flair’s however as he eventually won the title back from Steamboat.   As would happen over the next two decades, both men’s paths would inevitably cross over.

After nearly five years as a heel, Ric Flair began a new direction when he slowly began turning from heel to babyface.   The turn began to take form when Flair accidentally struck fellow heel Paul Jones with a steel chair, costing Jones his match and leading to a series of match-ups between the two heels.   Flair shocked both the fans and his fellow heels when he teamed with longtime foe Ricky Steamboat to challenge Paul Jones and Baron Von Raschke for the NWA World Tag Team Championship.    The Flair/Steamboat team was begrudgingly formed by both men’s enmity towards Jones (Jones had turned on Steamboat after a championship winning partnership turned sour) and despite the animosity they once had towards another, Flair and Steamboat nearly won the titles (Von Raschke and Jones lost by disqualification).  

Around this time, Flair’s turn finalized during a TV match where Flair was demonstrating his figure four leglock against wrestler Len Denton.   During the exhibition, Flair was attacked by the original “Nature Boy”, Buddy Rogers, the man whose name and finisher (the figure four leglock) Flair had adopted.   Rogers, the first man to win the NWA World Championship and the WWWF Championship was a legendary figure in professional wrestling who apparently felt that imitation wasn’t the sincerest form of flattery [1] .   It soon became clear to the fans in JCP that there was only room for one “Nature Boy” in the territory and the two competed in a much talked about “Battle of the Nature Boys”.    Rogers (whose best years in the ring were definitely behind him but who like Flair years later still had much to give to the business) lost the match with Flair winning using the figure four leglock.   Not only had the torch been passed to Flair but he was now the promotion’s top babyface.

Flair’s run as a face got off to a great start when he renewed his partnership with Blackjack Mulligan to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Paul Jones and Baron Von Raschke.   After a short run with the belts, Flair found more success by defeating Jimmy Snuka for the United States Heavyweight Championship (ironically, Flair had relinquished the United States title in order to focus on winning the tag team titles with Mulligan).   It was clear that turning babyface had no effect on Flair’s winning ways.

With the U.S. belt around his waist, Flair found himself the target of some of the promotion’s toughest heels including the man he had defeated for the U.S. title-Jimmy Snuka.   To make things worse, Snuka was managed by Gene Anderson, the man Flair had put on the shelf when he challenged Gene and brother Ole for the NWA Tag Team Championship.   Anderson led his army of heels against Flair, looking to run his cousin out of the business for good.

When Flair faced a tag team match against Anderson’s men Jimmy Snuka and the Iron Sheik, he found help from a familiar face.   Flair’s former tag team partner Greg “The Hammer” Valentine was back in JCP (after a successful tour of the WWWF) and while he had left the promotion as a heel, he told Flair that he had “seen the light” and changed his ways.   Given the successful history between the two, it was only natural for Flair to renew his partnership with Valentine.   It would turn out to be one of the worst decisions ever made during Flair’s illustrious career. Valentine turned on Flair during the match against Snuka and the Sheik, refusing to tag in when Flair needed him most.   After the match, Valentine broke Gene Anderson’s cane across Flair’s face, breaking his former friend’s nose in addition to their partnership.  

Valentine’s betrayal of Flair led to a red-hot feud between the two during the summer of 1980.   After Valentine defeated Flair for his United States title, Flair humiliated Valentine by stripping him of his clothes on TV (reminiscent of the same treatment Flair had received at the hands of Ricky Steamboat a few years earlier) and beating him up in the ring until Valentine was saved by a chair –wielding “Bad Boy” Bobby Duncum.   Flair and Valentine would do battle across the Mid-Atlantic area for the rest of the year with Flair finally regaining the U.S. belt on November 24, 1980.  

1981 began poorly for Flair as he lost the United States belt to newcomer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.   The fast-talking Piper was the perfect foil for Flair as he was able to match Flair not only in the ring but on the microphone (Behind the scenes, both men would become fast friends with Piper later serving as Flair’s best man).   Like the Steamboat/Flair rivalry,   the Piper/Flair feud would be successfully revisited several times in both men’s careers, a testament to both their abilities and their longevity in the ring.  

In the days of the territories, the top wrestlers of individual promotions were often described as being big fish in a little pond.   Looking at Ric Flair’s career in JCP, it is easy to give Flair such a description but a deeper look at the situation tells a different picture.   Flair competed in one of the most talent rich territories of all time.   The alumni of JCP were a who’s who of wrestling during the 1970’s and 1980’s.   Flair’s peers were already superstars or on their way to becoming some of the biggest stars of all time.   Working among names like Greg Valentine, Roddy Piper, Wahoo McDaniel, Ricky Steamboat,   Jimmy Snuka, Ray Stevens, and Blackjack Mulligan, it would have been easy for Flair to have been lost in the shuffle but that didn’t happen.   Instead, Flair rose to the top of the promotion and in a land of giants, he stood tall.   By 1981, Flair was poised to take the final step in his path to greatness.  

Although 1981 had got off to a rocky start, the year would prove to be Flair’s most successful to date.   On September 17, 1981, Flair reached the top of the mountain by defeating “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.    Flair’s title win represented the National Wrestling Alliance’s faith in his ability to draw not only in the Mid-Atlantic territory but around the country as he was given a lengthy run with the belt, holding the title until June 10, 1983.  

As world champion, Flair found himself tested by a rigorous travel schedule as he traveled around the world defending the most prestigious title in wrestling at the time.   The role of champion meant that Flair had to make his opponents look good, even when the challenger lacked all but the most basic wrestling skills.   Flair was also called upon to play the heel or face, depending on his opponent and where he wrestled.   Flair’s run in JCP had perfected his ability to play heel or face equally well, helping to ease the challenges he faced as the world champion.  

While Flair was cheered in JCP, he found himself booed in most of the territories he traveled to while touring as world champion.   During these tours, Flair was usually portrayed as a cocky heel who retained his belt by any means necessary.   Given the fact that Flair had played a similar role to perfection for five years as a heel in JCP, the role fit him like a glove.  Flair would belittle the local babyface, angering the fans with his boasts of his custom made suits, beautiful girlfriends, and glamorous lifestyle.   Naturally, the fans couldn’t wait to see their local hero get their hands on Flair and give him his comeuppance.    When the smoke had cleared, Flair would somehow stagger out with his title intact and the fans sure that the local babyface would win in an inevitable rematch.

As NWA champion, Flair found himself involved in some of the biggest angles of all time.   In Texas’ World Class Championship Wrestling, Flair was part of the infamous cage match where the Fabulous Freebirds turned heel on Kerry Von Erich after Von Erich refused to take the help of Freebird Michael Hayes during a title match with Flair.    During Flair’s first NWA title reign, he participated in a much talked about title unification bout against WWF champion Bob Backlund.   While neither man was able to wrest the belt from the other, the match set the wrestling world on fire as the interpromotional match was far from common.

After nearly two years with the belt, Flair’s NWA title reign finally came to an end.   For many wrestlers, the end of a world title reign would mark the last time a wrestler walked on such hallowed ground.   For Ric Flair though, it was just the beginning of an unbelievable run at the top.

REFERENCES:

 Flair, R. &. (2004). Ric Flair: To Be the Man. New York: Pocket Books.

Chappell, David, and Dick Bourne. "The Mid Atlantic Wrestling Almanac." The
Mid-Atlantic Gateway. 2007. 2 Mar. 2008

"Wrestler Profiles." Online World of Wrestling. 9 Mar. 2008
 <http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/r/ric-flair.html>.

WWE Home Video. (2003) The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection Volume One

WWE Home Video (2007). The Triumph aand Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling.