Take up thy wrestling boots and walk - Hart vs. Flair
Submitted by Pt2 on Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 1:21 PM EST





Welcome once again to the column that says to be the man you’ve got to be the best there ever will be, Take up thy wrestling boots and walk. I’m the man that has no intention of beating the man, Pt2, back once again from the wearisome humdrum of the week, to discuss all things concerning the stimulating sports entertainment safari that is professional wrestling.

I swear, these introductory passages get stranger every year. I’ll end up making a reference to Savio Vega next time, just you watch.

I got a lot of responses to the question at the end of my last column, and to be honest, I got pretty much exactly what I expected. It was right down the middle.

To be exact, Flair got one more e-mail of support. Bret, on the other hand, got plenty of support in mails for Flair, many people saying he’d never had a bad match, and didn’t get one mail specifically criticizing him. Flair, on the other hand, did.

It’s undoubted that these are two of the most popular in ring performers in history. Flair, through the seventies and eighties, had great, memorable matches with Rick Steamboat, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, Terry Funk, and a host of others. He was the biggest star in the NWA, the best Wrestling promotion of the time, and carried that belt more often than anybody.

Then there’s the Hitman. Classic matches with virtually everyone he got in the ring with. Mr. Perfect, British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, and Chris Benoit have all had matches with the Hitman that are routinely voted as classics. He’s also had very watchable matches with opponents such as Kevin Nash, The Undertaker, Bam Bam Bigelow, Razor Ramon and Yokozuna. If you look at his tag career… well, there’s another list of fine matches with The British Bulldogs, Demolition, The Rockers and others to choose from.

As the era of Ric Flair came to a close in WCW, Bret Hart was establishing the WWF as the top “wrestling” promotion in North America. To be honest, he succeeded, despite WCW’s dominance in the ratings. Their sports entertainment oriented show won the ratings war, but the classic match count was, through the period 1994-1997, much higher on the WWE side of the line. A lot of that comes down to two men. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, the flag bearer for the new style WWF.

The one thing that came through, when reading these e-mails was how hard it was for people to choose between the two. Here’s some examples of how people made it clear how difficult it is to choose, or of their respect for the person they voted against.

Not to take anything away from Bret Hart, but Ric Flair definitely gets my
vote…..

While Bret Hart has some of the best looking moves in the business and could put on very classic mat wrestling matches, I have to go with Flair on this one….

Tough call, I’d probably go with Hitman if you are just talking about in-ring work, but I can see people going the other way…..

Both are fantastic, and are two of my all time favourites, but I have to go with Flair……

…..while Flair’s in ring may have been classic heel in ring work, Hart was one of, if not THE, best technical wrestlers of all time……

After going over it in my head for some length of time, I think I've made my own personal decision, take it or leave it: Bret Hart…..

I could go on. This is just a small portion of the e-mails that make a point of emphasising they hold both stars in high esteem. But it doesn’t actually help me to start answering the initial question: “who is the greatest in ring performer of the two?”

I started thinking about some of the points raised in the e-mails. A gentleman by the name of Rob praised Flair’s longevity, stating that “Flair was around before Hart, and he was around after him”. This much is true, I can’t deny it, but I also don’t it’s fair to base a decision that hinders Hart based around his being born after Ric Flair, and his being kicked in the head by Bill Goldberg. If he hadn’t have been injured, perhaps Hart might still have been wrestling today – although probably not, since WCW would almost certainly still have gone out of business, and we know of his relationship with the WWE.

Another gentleman by the name of Aaron Parsons suggested that Hart was better because Flair had become the most boring wrestler I’ve ever seen [whose] matches are always the same”. While this certainly isn’t too unfair based on Flair’s ring work over the past couple of years, I’m not going to criticize him too much for his age. Like Hart, it’s not Flair’s fault that he’s in his fifties now. I think it’s far more fair to look at the years when he was in his prime, when he made the contribution to the wrestling industry that he will be remembered for.

People raised points about putting people over; but I drew up a huge list of people made to look better by each of these great athletes. People also raised points about entertainment value, but since these e-mails were all arguing different points, I had to conclude that in-ring entertainment value is subjective, and not a basis for a decision. We all do find different things entertaining about in ring work, after all.

Then, after sifting through the e-mails, the answer to “who is the greatest in ring worker between Hart and Flair?” suddenly hit me.

Neither is. Or both are, depending on your perspective.

Seems like a cop-out answer? Allow to explain myself.

It’s all a question of style. Look at Ric Flair, and more specifically, look at where he learned his trade. Initially with Verne Gagne in the AWA, before moving to the South, where he spends the best part of the remainder of his career, working for Mid-South and the NWA, before becoming part of WCW. He’d learned his trade by the time he started working abroad and also by the time he started working for the WWF in 1991.

Contrast that all-American schooling with that of Bret Hart. The Hitman learned his trade up in stampede wrestling in Calgary. Compared with the promotions south of the border, Stampede wrestling was far more international, and Bret picked up the flavours of wrestling from all over the world. Trained initially by Mr. Hito and Mr. Sakurada of Japan, Bret would also be exposed to the European stylings of Johnny Smith and Tom Billington – better known as the Dynamite kid.

Comparing their influences goes some way to explaining their styles – Flair, grounded very much in the amateur stylings of Gagne but also mixing it up with influences like Dusty Rhodes and Johnny Valentine. Is it all that surprising then, that Flair’s style tends to be very fast paced, based on athleticism and lots of quick holds and moves, but also incorporates a lot of comedy? The begging off, the face-flop, and a host of other moves all help to colour Flair’s matches, and do seem to be a staple of many wrestlers in the United States from that period.

Think then, of Bret: is it really all that surprising that people often say “Bret Hart never had a bad match” when his influences are as diverse as Japanese, European, and his American schooling comes from no less of an authority than Harley Race? It can’t be too unreasonable to think that Bret’s methodical, more realistic style shouldn’t come from being taught by and exposed to a wrestling culture that puts more emphasis on realism?

Case in point: When Chris Jericho was young, he’d been watching a lot of Japanese tapes, and had been working in Japan. He came over to work in America for Jim Cornette, and James E. had to encourage the young Canadian to lighten up, to entertain a little more, to be just a little bit less serious for the American audience.

So, no matter how much they shout and blaster at each other, and accuse each other of overusing the same moves time and time again (whether that is a good thing or not is up to do to decide), the fact remains, that it comes down to a personal preference on style. You like a quick pace and in ring charisma? You’re probably going to be a Flair man. Prefer a methodical pace, harder hitting moves and feel that, as Adam Deming articulates, ”a good in-ring performer should, nine times out of ten, make the audience feel like what's going on in that ring is approaching realism than staged entertainment.”? In this case, the odds are you’ve thrown your lot in with the Hart camp.

Which is right? Both. Which is wrong? Neither. Which is better? That’s up to you to decide. I know who I’ve chosen for myself, but as I say, it’s a question of style. For now, I’m happy to say that Ric Flair is better than Bret Hart when it comes to an American Style, while Bret Hart is the more versatile of the two and certainly better at a realistic approach.

If you don’t have an opinion? Buy both DVD sets. I’ve got them both. They are both great, and you’ll certainly come out of watching them with an opinion one way or the other.

With that out of the way, I’ll take a quick look at the wrestling news this week.

Shawn Michaels is back, and has plunged into a feud with Randy Orton. Awesome. I must be honest, I was a bit disappointed when it looked like Michaels not be coming back. Simply put, I think he’s one of the most important performers on the roster, even at his age. He just seems to get better. Great to have him back.

Booker T and Sharmell have left the WWE. Booker has apparently wanted out for some time, and the suspension, which the pair claim was unjust, along with the company continuing to move in a direction Booker has no interested in, seems to have pushed the pair out. Best of luck to them in the future.

Daivari has also left the WWE, and is accepting independent bookings. I’ve got no fears for his future. He’s a talented man, and people will be queuing up to hire him, I’m certain.

Apparently TNA are talking with David Arquette.... I thought we’d been down this road once before?

Shawn Michaels DVD set is coming out soon. I can’t help but be a bit disappointed with the match listing. What happened to matches like Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart in the ladder match for the Intercontinental Title? One, or even both, of the two ladder matches with Razor Ramon? The match with Vader at the 1996 Summerslam? The match with Diesel at In Your House Good Friends, Better Enemies? I could go on. I suppose that’s always going to be the case with any DVD set of someone with a career like Michaels, though. There’s never going to be enough room to get it all on. I’m glad they got the classic St. George’s day RAW match between him and Cena on there, though. I’ll buy it for that alone. Nothing wrong with a bit of nostalgia.

On that note, I think I’ll leave you now. Any feedback can reach me at takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com

Until next time, take care

Pt2









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