DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu #205 – Ric Flair DVD Review (Disc-3 + Conclusion)
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 5:38 PM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #205

Welcome one and all to the 205th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Today sees the final part of my 3 part DVD Review on ‘The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection’. If you have not yet had time to read my review of the first 2 discs, you may still do so by clicking on the following links:

- Disc-1: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2006_/articles/1163222734.php
- Disc-2: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2006_/articles/1163645370.php

NOTE: One thing that I really would recommend if you have this review handy & are watching the DVD for the first time, is to view it in the order I have written out my review. While everything is set out rather neatly in the sub-menus of the DVD, each match is listed following a short introduction of sorts on Flair’s particular opponent being highlighted. The extras, even if they took place before the match chronologically, are rather foolishly listed afterwards. And I can assure you that watching some of those extras before the actual bout will make you enjoy the match that much more!

On with the show….. Wooooooooooooooooooooo…..


APPETIZERS – 1991 & 1992 WWF

THE ‘NATURE BOY’ HEADS NORTH: A very good 4 minute synopsis of why Ric Flair left WCW, the circumstances around it & his first few months in the WWE in late 1991. While obviously being a one-sided story, a modern-day Flair explains that he didn’t get along with Jim Herd, got to keep the WCW Title as he technically owned it & had a lot of fun in his 18 or so months in the WWF.

’Bobby The Brain’ Is Excited: Strange one minute segment prior to Flair’s debut, where a nervous Heenan belittles many production workers backstage.

Flair’s WWE TV Debut: From the ‘Prime Time Wrestling’ television show on September-9 1991, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan introduces the live audience to the so-called real World HeavyWeight Champion (complete with his WCW Title) Ric Flair. The Nature Boy is not at his most intense here, but the promo is very effective in that it not only establishes his character well, but basically sets up 2 feuds with ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper & then WWF Champion Hulk Hogan.

Funeral Parlor: Excellent 4 minute segment on Paul Bearer’s ‘Funeral Parlor’ interview show, where Flair continues to establish his character to WWF fans & attempts to convince them all that he is better than Hogan & Piper, thus being the “real world champ”.

Flair Attacks Piper: Classic 3 minute segment where Flair, on his way out to the ring for a match, takes a detour to the announce table & argues with Roddy Piper. He then strikes Piper with the WCW Title, which leads to a melee that results in both Roddy & fellow commentator Vince McMahon being knocked out by a wooden chair!

The Real World HeavyWeight Champion: Another good 4 minute promo conducted on a stage near the entrance-way. Pretty much more of the same content-wise, but with a little more intensity that really capped it off well.

1992 ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH: Just as a quick history lesson & introduction to this match, the WWF Championship was declared vacant in late 1991 after a controversial finish to the Hulk Hogan vs Undertaker title match from The Survivor Series ppv. Basically, all sorts of interference resulted in a ‘Taker victory & the WWF President of the time (Jack Tunney) ruled the title vacant because of this. It was then decided that the winner of the Royal Rumble Battle Royal match would become the WWF Champion. It should also be noted that Flair’s advisor Bobby ‘The Brain’ Hennan co-commentated the match with Gorilla Monsoon.

‘The British Bulldog’ DaveyBoy Smith & ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase draw numbers 1 & 2, and after some decent back & forth action, DaveyBoy eliminates Dibiase at about the 90 second mark. Flair then unpredictably enters at #3, much to Heenan’s chagrin. Fortunately for The Nature Boy, a few heels enter in succession afterwards & do some of Ric’s dirty work for him. Other notable top 10 entrants include Shawn Michaels & ‘The Texas Tornado’ Kerry Von Erich, who both add some energy to the bout. A bit of a quiet spell follows, but it all picks up again at the 24 minute mark when Flair eliminates The Bulldog & Von Erich. A further succession of eliminations sees Flair left in the ring with The Big Bossman, who he promptly gets rid of. This is all a set-up for entrant #15, who just happens to be… the InterContinental Champion ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper! After some intense action between the 2, Flair is put to sleep by Piper, but is saved by Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts.

Many of the big names are left towards the end with The Undertaker entering at #20, ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage at #21, Hulk Hogan at #26, Sgt Slaughter at #28 & Sid Vicious at #29. Hogan eliminates ‘Taker & then Sid cleans house making multiple eliminations leaving the final 4 as Savage, Sid, Hogan & Flair. Savage is promptly thrown over the top-rope before the 2 faces take turns in beating on Flair. But Sid can’t resist the opportunity of dumping Hogan out from behind, and while the 2 argue about it, Flair sneaks up & eliminates Sid to win the match & title at the 62 minute mark. Terrific stuff! This is widely acknowledged as the best ever Rumble match due to the star-power involved & the prize at the end of it. I can’t rate it perfectly due to a couple of flat spots & the lack of entrance themes, but Heenan’s sensational commentary almost makes up for that! Well booked… Well performed… Entertaining & memorable! Match Rating…9.5

Rumble Post-Match Interview: Very good 2 minute backstage interview where Jack Tunney awards the WWF Championship to Flair, who then speaks with feeling & intensity along with Bobby Heenan & ‘Mr Perfect’ Curt Hennig.


ENTREE – Sting

STING – DEFINING AN ERA: Very good 4 minute introduction of sorts to the seemingly never-ending feud between Flair & Sting. As a bonus, we get to see the final 2 minutes of a 45 minute draw between the 2 at the first ever ‘Clash Of The Champions’ event in March of 1988. Flair puts over Sting as a talented, loyal & nice guy.

Kicked Out Of The Horsemen: During 1990, Terry Funk introduces The 4 Horsemen (Flair, Sting, Arn & Ole) to the ring, where they verbally (& eventually physically) kick Sting out of The 4 Horsemen stable. Ole does most of the talking during this 7 minute segment & it comes off as strangely intense & rather memorable. By the way, the reason why Sting was kicked out of the group was because he signed to wrestle Flair in a title bout.

Reeking Of Sex Appeal!: World Champion Flair (with JJ Dillon by his side) delivers a 3 minute ringside promo directed towards Sting, which is definitely effective, but doesn’t add a great deal of variety to his usual shtick.

Ladies & Gentlemen… Sting!: Pre-Match Interview conducted by ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund, where Sting is enthusiastically confident about his forthcoming title unification bout against Flair. Just over 1 minute in length.

vs STING (Clash Of The Champions 27. June-23, 1994): This match which emanated from Charleston-South Carolina is a title unification bout between the World HeavyWeight Title & the World International Title. Sting practically dominates the opening 6 minutes, having an answer for everything that Flair throws at him. Furthermore, the Stinger seems to be in The Nature Buys mind, as Flair clearly looks rattled in stalling, jaw-jacking with the crowd & even pushing the referee. A missed Stinger Splash opens the door ajar for Flair & he wastes no time in getting Sting to ringside & showing his true heel colors. Back in the ring, Flair goes to work on his opponent, but the offense is a little all over the place & doesn’t concentrate on a body part in typical Flair fashion.

A sleeper-hold provides both wrestlers with a break, before a tired looking Sting attempts a comeback, while also picking up the pace a little. A nice superplex gets Flair hurt, but a missed top-rope splash doesn’t allow Sting to finish the match off. Sting proceeds to no-sell a vertical suplex & unleash his usual flurry of offense, but it all comes to a screeching halt when he accidentally cross body-blocks Sensational Sherri at ringside. In the ensuing mayhem, he goes to check on her & gets rolled up by Flair for the pinfall at the 17 minute mark. Sherri very predictably turns on Sting afterwards & the debuting Hulk Hogan eventually makes the save.

Rather disjointed match that always gave me the impression that it was going nowhere. It began well enough, but it was the type of opening that was more suited to a 30+ minute match, not one that only lasted 17 minutes. After that, this lacked direction for the most part & what direction it had (cheap & premature ending, Sherri’s role, ordinary psychology for the most part) was a letdown. It was entertaining enough though & fairly well performed to some extent. But overall, this disappointed me. Match Rating…7


MAIN – Miscellaneous

A SPECIAL NIGHT IN GREENVILLE: Flair speaks about the surprise celebration that the WWE Superstars had for him following the May-19 2003 episode of Raw. We see some of the celebration & hear how some of Ric’s emotional in-ring speech about how much wrestling & its fans mean to him. He backs this up with current-day comments as well. 4 minutes in length.

vs PETE SANCHEZ (March-1, 1976): This match that emanated from Madison Square Garden is Flair’s WWWF debut. Flair had his Nature Boy nickname, his patented robe & didn’t look much different than what he did some 6 or 7 years later in the NWA. Sanchez, playing the face, spends the first few minutes attempting to gain a submission with a variety of arm-bar maneuvers. Some underhanded tactics get Flair back into the match & he replies with an arm-bar of his own. Sanchez eventually fires up & gets the otherwise silent crowd involved. The match picks up from there & is very even with both men getting in some half-decent offense. Flair then wins the bout from a standard suplex at the 10 minute mark. It’s always handy to see a super early match from any wrestler & I suppose this is no exception as we see what has changed & what has remained in Flair’s wrestling. Fairly boring otherwise, but not so terrible that it is unwatchable. Probably a little over-long with too many arm holds at the beginning. Match Rating…4.5

A Workout With Piper: From Mid-Atlantic Wrestling on January-24 1982, this segment begins with a ringside interview with Flair, before it proceeds to the ring where The nature Boy goes through some amateur wrestling with 2 wrestlers. But following a taunt of commentator Roddy Piper afterwards, Flair & Rowdy Roddy go at it with Flair having a little more trouble this time around. Of course, being the heel that he is, Flair eventually goes the cheap shot, before being pinned by Piper in a quick little brawl. Of course, Flair gets the last word though, with a lot of help from Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine. Great bonus segment which I rate very highly. It lasted approximately 10 minutes.

PWI Wrestler Of The Decade: Flair is presented with a trophy for being the wrestler of the 1980’s. He gives a short speech upon presentation. Just under 2 minutes in length.

The Final Nitro: From the final episode of WCW Nitro on March-26 2001, Ric Flair addresses the fans from the ring. He speaks with feeling & controlled emotion, while putting over the history of WCW, as well as the current roster. He also directly speaks to new owner Vince McMahon saying he cannot control their futures! Always the professional, Flair concludes with business as he calls out Sting to wrestle on the night. Quality promo that lasts about 7 minutes.

vs TRIPLE H (Raw. May-19, 1993): Emanating from Greenville South Carolina, this match was for Triple H’s World HeavyWeight Title. At the time, Flair & H were partners in the Evolution stable, but were matched up here when Triple H was forced to defend his title after sustaining rib injuries at the hands of Kevin Nash at a recent ppv. H chose Flair believing that he would lay down for him, but The Nature Boy was eager to wear gold around his waist once more. Flair is quick to get the live crowd on side, with a couple of cheap shots, a couple of chops, some targeting of the injured ribs & a couple of “wooooos”. He even steps up the wrestling with some suplexes & a top-rope ax-handle that actually connects. Flair then targets the leg of the champion & the crowd goes absolutely crazy as he locks on the Figure 4 Leglock. Triple H reaches the ropes though & lives to fight another day.

A referee bump follows & Triple H heads for the World Title, but falls victim to an eye-poke, low-blow & title shot to the head, all of which results in a super close 2 count that almost has the crowd rushing the ring! Flair then counters a Pedigree attempt with a back body-drop & looks to lock on a Pedigree of his own. But the champ counters & finally connects with his finisher for the pinfall at a little longer than 7 minutes. Tremendously exciting bout with most fans (both live in attendance & at home) genuinely thinking that Flair could pull off a surprise title win. Terrifically booked with hardly a moment of wasted time or energy, while the performances of both men were spot on. Tough to rate due to the short duration, but that sort of worked in its favor as well, even though an extra 2-3 minutes wouldn’t have hurt it too much. Entertaining stuff. Match Rating…8

After Raw Goes Off The Air: Shawn Michaels’ entrance theme hits & he leads most of the entire locker-room to surprisingly pay tribute to Flair. Stone Cold, Stephanie, Shane, Vince & Triple H all come out as well to give The Nature Boy a celebratory hug & a few drinking partners. Flair genuinely seems touched by the happenings & he is then allowed to be left in the ring alone as the wrestlers retreat to the top of the entrance ramp. Flair speaks for a little over 2 minutes & fights back the tears as he speaks from the heart in stating how much wrestling, the fans & the superstars mean to him. His closing words are “I’ll never forget this” & I truly don’t think he ever will. All up, this excellent after-match feature lasts about 10 minutes.


CAKE – Easter Eggs

(1) On the opening screen, highlight ‘Play’ & press ‘left’ once. This highlights the WWE symbol in the top left-hand corner of the screen yellow. Press ‘enter/select’ to see a prototypical cocky & loud 2 minute promo from Flair that puts himself as well as The 4 Horsemen over.

(2) In the ‘Special Night In Greenville’ page contained within the ‘Chapters’ menu, highlight ‘Main’ & press ‘right’ twice. This highlights yellow a beer can that Flair is holding in the background. Press ‘enter/select’ to see a 2 minute montage of clips of Flair all set to his infamous entrance theme.

(3) In the ‘Special Night In Greenville’ page contained within the ‘Chapters’ menu, highlight ‘The Final Nitro’ & press ‘left’ twice to see Ric talk about his trademark “Woooooooooooo”. He got the idea from Rock’N’Roll singer Jerry Lee Lewis & we get to see one minutes worth of many wrestlers & WWE employees giving their version of the memorable screech.


COFFEE – Conclusion

Hmmmm, where do I start with this one…??? I suppose it may be easiest to do a little summary on each disc & then go from there…..

I enjoyed Disc-1 which spanned the early parts of Flair’s career all the way up until 1987. While there is only 1 match (vs Windham) contained within the disc that I would rate as very good, the other 3 bouts were all very solid & suitable for this set in their own right. More importantly, any disappointment in the quality of those matches were more than made up for by the excellent set-up to each bout which genuinely got you involved & anticipating them. There are also above-average promos & interviews included, even if I don’t quite think they highlighted Flair at his very best.

With regards to Disc-2, it really pays to not have too high expectations here or else one could leave it being a little disappointed. But the truth of the matter is that it contains 1 excellent match & 2 very good ones. I wasn’t as high on the Funk & final Steamboat matches as some others, but they are still very entertaining in their own right. Although I know that some fans despise long matches, the 55 minute bout against Steamboat was excellent, even though I still prefer their Chi-Town Rumble bout which is included on the ‘Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 80s' DVD. A couple of nice non-match related extras top this disc off rather nicely.

On Disc-3, I really liked the build-up promos & segments for Flair’s 1991/92 WWF run, despite the fact that there is some repetition evident. It leads into the great Royal Rumble battle royal which is thankfully shown in full here. The Sting promos & match isn’t exactly scintillating stuff, but I suppose the Stinger does deserve a spot somewhere on this set. The final ‘Special Night In Greenville’ portion of this disc is a good mix of segments & promos that is all capped off nicely by the entertaining Triple H title bout & fitting after-match tribute.

Overall, this is a great 3 disc set devoted to Ric Flair. It has one huge advantage over every other DVD that the WWE have released thus far, and that is detailed set-up to each match that is shown. I cannot state how important I feel that this trait is to the set, as it genuinely makes a viewer feel as if you viewed wrestling at the particular time leading into the relevant matches!

While I can’t say I was exactly blown away by some of the matches (high expectations did not help that), the consistent quality of the bouts was very good & shouldn’t be overlooked. And while they may be spaced out all over the 3 disc set, I think it’s more than fair to state that there are some quality interviews, promos & segments included.

It’s difficult for me to personally suggest many improvements to the set, as I did not see any WCW/NWA prior to 1996 when Flair was at his best. In terms of match quality, I can only suggest that the Chi-Town Rumble match against Ricky Steamboat would have helped a little. While I also wouldn’t have minded seeing Flair’s amazing late 90’s promo directed at Eric Bischoff during another 4 Horsemen resurrection.

In conclusion, this 3 disc DVD set on Ric Flair is thoroughly recommended for any true professional wrestling fan. It may not be the best WWE DVD out on the market, but it’s not too far away. It is a hard slog at times, but that is solely due to the quantity of it all. That shouldn’t be a negative though, especially since its content & structure over the entirety of the set is filled with too much quality to ignore. Great stuff & I can’t say enough for the detailed build-up to each match.


Ok, so we have finally come to the end of my 3 part look at the 'Ultimate Ric Flair Collection' DVD set. I hope I didn't bore the hell out of too many of you with this long-winded review, but I really felt that the set deserved the extra detail that could only have been given to it with 3 separate columns. Plus, at the end of the day, only 1 Wednesday slot was taken up by the DVD review anyway. Anyone that has been holding back on feedback or questions regarding this DVD is more than welcome to fire away now by emailing me at DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. Alternately, if you are an LOP Forums member, it would be much appreciated if you could leave feedback on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217

This coming Wednesday in ‘The Wrestling Menu’, it's back to more normal shenanigans for good ol' DaveyBoy. While it only seems like yesterday that I was predicting a PPV perfectly, I have yet another event to predict on Wednesday. That's right, Survivor Series is that close folks! I will also briefly debate the main question that has revolved around the wrestling legend that I have been writing about for the past week or so. Other than that, I may take a look at Raw back on US soil. It's sure to be a jam-packed edition & as per usual, my column will be posted at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2006

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