Let It Snow - The Ric Flair Fiasco
Submitted by Winter on Saturday, July 31, 2004 at 8:22 AM EST





Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of 'Let It Snow',, brought to you as always by Winter. It's been a while since I wrote my last column hasn't it? I thought during the summer I'd have more time than ever to write, but all of my time recently has been spent either going out or looking for a job, and when I do get a chance to sit in front of a computer I spend that time in the LOPForums. But I've noticed a number of columnists have been taking time off lately so I suppose it's just something about summer that makes us slow down. I realise by last 2 or 3 columns haven't been anything special, and I know some people cry and whine about that stuff, because apparently us main page guys aren't allowed to have 'off' weeks, but those columns still generated a lot of hits and feedback, so it's not all bad. Before I get on with the column I need to make another apology to everyone that sent feedback last time. My hotmail account has basically died and I was unable to reply to anything, but I've recently created a new account with Yahoo so I'll be able to respond to anyone from now on. Anyway, enough small talk, on to this week's main section.


SNOW - The Ric Flair Fiasco

Anyone that's been visiting the LOPForums or main page over the last 2-3 weeks will know about the situation between Ric Flair and Bret Hart, and for any of you who don't, here's a quick recap:

In a cheap effort to create publicity and sales for his new book, Ric Flair dedicated several pages of 'To Be The Man' to bashing the legendary Bret 'Hitman' Hart. Flair called Bret everything; a repetitive worker, a whiner, a sellout and even accused Bret of exploiting Owen Hart's death. Flair also decided to give us his opinion on the Survivor Series screw job, and even though Flair had no inside information, and wasn't good friends with any of the people involved, he came to the conclusion that Bret screwed Bret. Hart wasn't the only wrestler to receive this treatment from Flair, as fellow legends Mick Foley and Randy Savage were also unfairly criticised by 'Slick' Ric. After reading what Flair had to say about him, Bret Hart retaliated with a hate filled column, in which he exposed Flair for the coward to that he really is. Even though Bret did sound slightly immature with some of his comments, he was justified. How you feel if someone who you didn't really know that well accused you of exploiting your little brother's death?

Of all the points that Flair brought up about Bret, only one had any truth to it. Bret Hart's matches can be repetitive. We all know how they went; atomic drop followed be a Russian leg-sweep, followed by a second rope elbow and finished with the Sharpshooter. So yeah, I'll have to give Flair credit for pointing out the obvious. However, what he forget to mention was that just about every wrestler has repetitive matches, especially Flair himself. Look at the likes of HBK, HHH, Austin, The Rock, RVD, Jeff Hardy, Hogan etc. Did they use the same sequence of moves in almost every match they participated in? Damn right they did, so why did Flair single out Bret Hart? I'll tell you why, Ric Flair is jealous of Bret Hart.

Flair likes to believe that he's the greatest wrestler to ever lace a pair of boots. He might praise the likes of Steamboat and Rhodes as being some of the greatest of all-time, but really, he's just praising himself. And since Ric Flair re-debuted with the WWE in 2001, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler have continually told fans that Flair is the greatest of all time. Before Flair came back to the WWE, his name was never even uttered by WWE announcers, so why is it that when he comes back they can't stop talking about how great he was? Even when Flair isn't on screen, his name is still mentioned over and over again. If you ask me, I think J.R and The King have to praise Flair as being the greatest, because he's under WWE contract. If you ask the fans who the greatest is, would they say Ric Flair? Unlikely. Last year an official WWE poll was taken to determine who the greatest champion of all time was. Ric Flair was included in this poll, but did he come out on top? No, Bret Hart came out the winner, and Flair just can't handle. If you ask wrestling fans who they prefer, Bret Hart or Ric Flair, it almost goes without saying that Bret's name would be mentioned more times than Flair's. And that is the sole reason Flair bashed Bret in his book. The two men have never been close, there was no reason for Flair to even mention Hart, but he did, his jealousy made him.

If you look at who Flair has criticized as of late, you'll notice that the majority of them are not employed by the WWE. Hart, Foley, Savage, Raven, none of them are under contract to Vince McMahon. Do you know what this tells me? It tells me that Flair is a man with no balls. Mick Foley, in his book, told his true feelings about Vince McMahon, and they weren't all positive. The Rock stated that he didn't agree with the Montreal screw job in his book, and The Hardy Boyz stated how unhappy they were with the McMahons and WWE management. These guys weren't afraid to tell it like it is, so why is Flair? Surely if Matt Hardy can criticize the WWE and get away with, then Ric Flair could too? Of course he could, but he doesn't have the balls to do it. We all know that there are plently of things Flair would love top say about the McMahon family, but he doesn't have the guts to do so. Instead, he chooses to hang around with McMahon's son-in-law, and be the corporate yes-man he's always been.

Another thing Flair said in his book, was that Mick Foley was a glorified stuntman, some who would have gone nowhere without Vince McMahon, and even compared him to the Ultimate Warrior and Brutus Beefcake. Doesn't realise who much of a jackass he sounds saying things like that? First off all, falling off a cage and a few ladders doesn't make anyone a stuntman. Hasn't Shawn Michaels done those exact same things? Yes, several times in fact. Falling into thumbtacks and using barbed wire, does that make someone a glorified stuntman? Possibly, but if so, why doesn't Flair mention Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes, Triple H or Randy Orton? How can Flair say Foley wasn't a real wrestler? Allow me to list some of Mick Foley's great matches:

Mick Foley v Shawn Michaels - September 1996
Mick Foley v Triple - June - August 1997
Mick Foley v The Undertaker - June 1998
Mick Foley v The Rock - September 1998 - February 1999
Mick Foley v Triple H - December 1999 - April 2001

All of the matches that took place during the periods I mentioned are classics. Do you know what a classic match includes? Two classic workers. Do you really think Shawn Michaels could have had just as great a match at Mind Games if he were facing the Ultimate Warrior? Or how about Triple H v Cactus Jack and the 2000 Royal Rumble. Could you swap Foley for Ed Leslie and expect the match to be of the same high standard? Of course not! Not only is Mick Foley 10 times the wrestler Warrior and Beefcake ever were, he's a legend, on of the greatest performers of all time. When the WWE was at it's most popular, who was always one of the guys in a top-spot? Foley. When the WWE isn't doing so well, who can be found in a top-spot? Ric Flair. It seems that the 'Nature Boy' couldn't handle Foley's critique of him as head booker of WCW, so, to get revenge he calls Mick everything under the sun. But us fans aren't stupid, we know that what Flair is saying is a blatant lie. It's time the old man faced facts. He was terrible in his role as head-booker in WCW. He let Steve Austin and Mick Foley, two of the biggest names in the history of wrestling, he did nothing with them and let them leave the company. How did he not see the potential in these two guys? Was he blind? Senile? Or just an old has-been scared of being overshadowed by better performers? Probably all 3.

Before I finish I just want to get back to what Flair said about Bret. Flair claims that Bret Hart was never a draw, and that Soon after Flair dropped the WWE title to Bret in 1992, the company started to go downhill. Well, in case Flair hadn't realised, the WWE had been losing fans an entire year before Bret became champion. How can he blame Bret Hart for the WWE spiralling downhill, when we all know the real reason was the steroids scandal and the Iraq storyline. Both of these events turned fans away from the WWE, as they realised the WWE wasn't the 'family friendly' organisation they'd believed it to be. Blaming Bret Hart is nothing but ignorance from Ric Flair. After all, how good a draw was Flair when he was a top man? Sure, he was able to sell-out a few small arenas around the south, where he was loved by 'rasslin' fans, but how about when he was mainstream, how well did he do then? Why did Flair forget to mention that while he was WCW's top guy, the company never made a profit. In fact, the only time WCW ever did huge business was during 1996-1998, ironically enough at a time when Ric Flair was demoted to an upper-mid card wrestler. Isn't it funny that the only time WCW beat the WWE, Flair was kept away from the main event? And guess what, when Flair did crawl his way back up to the top in 1999, the company started losing money. Funny how Flair forgot to mention that.

And during both of his stints in the WWE, Flair never mad the company a dollar. His arrival in 1991 did nothing to stop the WWE's slow downfall. Sure, his feud with Savage was awesome, but overall fans didn't care, more and more were turning away from the WWE. And when he returned to the WWE in 2001, the company again started to go downhill, getting some of it's lowest numbers in years. Now I'm not blaming Flair for this, but don't you think it's a coincidence that every time the man's around the main event scene, the company he's in starts to lose it's popularity. If there's one thing Ric Flair proved in his book, it's that he's a hypocrite. He criticizes Bret Hart for being repetitive, yet Flair is the most repetitive wrestler I've ever seen. He said Bret couldn't draw, but when was Flair ever a draw for WCW or the WWE? He calls Foley a stuntman, but wasn't Flair the guy who on several occasions disobeyed the booker's orders and did the juice job, despite being told not to so? Doesn't that sound like the actions of a stuntman?

As a wrestler, I can't deny that Flair is great, He's slightly overrated by his followers, but he is one of the most. As a human being, Flair is nothing more than a childish, arrogant, rude, cowardly person. Whether it's telling fans they aren't allowed to use the word 'heel' or picking on people he doesn't even know on a personal level, Flair has proven time and time again recently that he isn't 'the man'. He picked on Raven like the bully that he is, and he got away with it, but not now. Hart and Foley are two guys who aren't going to bury their head in sand and allow Flair to write lies about them just to make himself look better. These two legends, despite not being employed by a major wrestling company, have a fan base greater than Flair's, and the only thing Flair has accomplished by writing what he did was to turn these fans against him. In 100 years time, Flair, Hart and Foley will all be remembered as some of the greatest of all time, but only two of those men will be remembered as men with integrity, and I'm sure you all know which 2 I'm referring. The only question that's now left is, what will Rany Savage have to say about the whole situation?


MELTED

Well, that's all for another week, I hope you all enjoyed the column. I'm sure a few Flair loyalists won't be happy with what I've wrote, so if you have anything to say regarding this column, please send it to Winter118118@yahoo.co.uk, and this time I'll be able to reply to all responses I'll be back in 2 weeks time with my One Year Anniversary Column, but until then...

Thanks for reading and take care

-Winter .









*NEW GALLERY* Must See Hot Shots of the TNA Knockouts CROSSING THE LINE!

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