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Submitted by Hustle on Sunday, February 24, 2008 at 5:58 AM EST
 Good lookin out for the graphics work, Noc The Take Over, The Break's Over Here I am, going all-out again, still flyer than a piece of paper bearing my name.. yezzur, its ya boy, Hustle, back in the building once more. Fresh off a "promotion" to the main page, let me take this time to thank everyone that left me some sort of feedback, whether it be on the Forums, through e-mail, or on AIM. I gotta admit.. the feedback was considerably more "positive" than I was expecting it to be. As a lot of writers of any sort will be able to relate to, I'm my own hardest critic, and I'm never completely satisfied with my work. Basically, I just want to let my people know that I appreciate them, from my biggest fan (Hi, Michellerbell) to my biggest critics (you know who you are). With that out of the way, allow me to welcome you boys, girls, and folks in between to "Hustle Is Posting Right Now: Volume 8". I think I should get right into it, no? Shall I proceed? (Yes, indeed.) Less dew eet!! Thriller Ric Flair. The Man. The Champ. The Dirtiest Player In The Game. Naitch. The man is the single greatest performer in the history of the business. Folks, there really isn't much you can say about Ric Flair that hasn't already been said. While John Cena is at the very top of my "current favorite wrestler" list, he still hasn't reached Ric Flair-like levels of admiration from me. I began watching wrestling with Ric Flair matches before I was even of school age, ferchrissakes. Someone told me that I should try to do an entire column on Flair's legacy and career, and I've gotta be honest.. I thought about it for a while. I thought about it until I realized that I'm nowhere near as talented of a writer as I would need to be for a column of that nature. I did like the Flair idea, though, so I decided that it would be better to talk about his current "Win Or Retire" storyline. When the storyline was announced, I smiled a big smile. One of those weird, freaky Julia Roberts-sized smiles. I mean, seriously, have you seen the size of her mouth? Anyway.. I've been telling people that Ric Flair deserved one last "big" storyline before he officially retires. By that, I don't mean let him become a World Champion one last time, but just something to keep him in the spotlight and involved with some of the upper-tier guys in the company. Even at the ripe old age of 58 (59 very soon), he's "above" his final storyline involving people like Carlito or Val Venis. When "Win Or Retire" was announced, I knew it would be something fun and entertaining to watch. It wouldn't make much sense to create the storyline and build up the drama for it, only to have him face lower-level guys week in and week out. "ZOMG kan Rick Flare win 2 keep hiz kareer?!? Flare versiz Lanse Kade 2nyght~!" They started it off by having Flair go toe-to-toe with WWE Champion, Randy Orton, which is as "upper-tier" as you can get right now. Going into the match, most people (myself included) figured that having Orton retire Flair would make sense on multiple levels. For one, he's supposed to be a "Legend Killer", and there aren't many bigger legends in the business than Ric Flair. Their history together as a part of Evolution would also be a natural tie-in to things, as well. It also would've been a good way to get Orton's title reign not to seem like a joke anymore, and would add some serious fire to his character. Of course, it didn't exactly end that way, and it was merely used as a way to advance the Randy Orton VS Chris Jericho program that was going on at the time. Flair got the win, and everyone started throwing their 2 cents in about how and when the "Win Or Retire" story should end. When it was announced that Flair would be taking on Triple H during the New Year's Eve edition of Raw, I posted on the Forums that I couldn't remember the last time I looked forward to a televised match like that. It just had this electricity around it, and it had a "big match" atmosphere that Flair matches hadn't seen since his TLC Match against Edge, or even.. his World Heavyweight Title match against the very same Triple H a few years earlier. People just KNEW that Trips was going to win, because come on.. he's obviously an arrogant prick who is only where he is in the business because he's giving Stephanie McMahon the "Waikiki Sneaky Between The Cheeky", right? There's no way he'd allow himself to lose a match, right? Well, I'll be damned.. he actually lost the match. Go figure. People in the IWC were wrong for once. In a bit of a strange move (in my opinion), Flair has been announced as the very first member of the "Class Of 2008" for the WWE Hall Of Fame. The move is strange to me because I figured that Flair would lose a match leading into WrestleMania and THEN he'd be inducted into the HoF. Either that, or he'd lose a match at Mania, and we'd have to wait an entire year before he was inducted at Mania 25. Now, instead of speculating on exactly when Flair will be inducted into the Hall, we can focus our energy on speculating who will get the honor (curse?) of ending his career. Seeing as how I have a column and all, I figure this would be a nice place to do just that. There are plenty of rumors floating around, so let's look at the names that I've seen come up most often for that job:  Shawn Michaels - He seems to be the front-runner, if you've been following the rumors and the "news". Personally, I wouldn't mind a Ric Flair VS Shawn Michaels match, but you'd think that they'd almost have to play it out like Michaels did with Hulk Hogan a couple years ago. Maybe you could have Michaels talk about how he just "needed to know" if he could get it done, like he explained about why he attacked Hogan and had the match with him. However, along those lines, I think HBK is in need of a character tweak, and that can only mean one thing.. heel turn. Think about it.. an asshole Shawn Michaels would get a nice boost out of ending Ric Flair's career, but he would also be able to add a fresh take on old feuds. Heel Michaels VS Face Triple H? We haven't seen that one before. It would even provide an interesting take on the Michaels VS John Cena feud, provided that Michaels goes all the way with the turn and turns on his fans, as well. After HBK's emotional announcement of Flair's induction, it would probably be a good time to start working on that heel turn. That's going off-topic a bit, though. I've thought that HBK needs a heel turn for months now, and with the Flair storyline going on, there's a perfect opportunity to blend them together and help both guys out.  Mr. Kennedy - I've seen folks throw out Kennedy's name as a person who could really use the "rub" that a person would get by being the man who ends Ric Flair's career. Even after the loss to Flair at No Way Out, people are still saying that Kennedy could be "the man". For those that know me, you know that I'm not a fan of Kennedy whatsoever. He was praised by the IWC as basically the next Jesus Christ just because he knows how to repeat his fucking name. He's basically like Santino Marella, only slightly better in the ring. They both fucking suck (well, Kennedy's average, at least), but are praised way beyond their abilities by typical IWC hype-machines. Sorry. I'd better get back on topic before I mail a rusty butter knife to Kennedy's house. The point I'm trying to make is this.. he JUST lost to Flair. Let's get our Grown-Up thinking caps on here and be realistic.. Kennedy isn't what a lot of people make him out to be, and he damn sure shouldn't be the one to end Ric Flair's career. Look on the bright side, though, Kennedy fans.. he knows his name. Hooray for Kenny! Maybe next he can try to master his ABCs or even learn how to count to 10! Schmuck.  Undertaker - A few months back, the big "buzz" was possibly having a "Streak VS Streak" type of match at WrestleMania, with Flair putting his career on the line against Taker's 15-0 Mania record. You couldn't possibly make Flair a bigger underdog than to have him face Taker in Taker's "yard" at the event where Taker ups his game and performs the best. However, time has changed, and now that Taker is the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Title, he'll be a bit busy in Orlando on March 30th. Unless, of course, Flair wins the belt between now and then, which would be an amazing way to.. nah. Let's scratch Taker off the list, shall we?  John Cena - Admittedly, I'm not seeing Cena's name come up in a serious matter for this topic. Its usually more along the lines of people complaining that Cena wins everything else, so he might as well just end Flair's career, too. Alright, let's be completely realistic here.. unless Cena turns heel ASAP, what the hell sense would this outcome make? Nothing about it makes any sense to me.. how the match would come about, what Cena would have to gain by winning, etc. Besides, I'd prefer not to be banned from the Forums for having to deal with the string of borderline-retarded kids that always seem to pop up when Cena wins anything. I mean, seriously, if women and children are the majority of Cena fans, while men are the majority of Cena haters, why is it these fucktards always show up and post with the intelligence of a 10-year-old who was recently in an automobile accident? You know, I think I may have come up with some ideas for future columns, but I'll have to go and save that for.. uh.. future columns.  Hulk Hogan - Wait.. wait.. wait.. just hear me out for a second. The idea for Hogan VS Flair at Mania comes from a close source to the situation.. Hulk Hogan himself. He's recently gone on record saying that he feels a match against Flair at Mania will be "strong". He even made it sound like it could be a Career VS Career match by saying "Either he'll put me out for good, or I'll put him out for good." and referring to it as the "match of the new millenium". He finalized the entire thing by saying that it could even have Vince McMahon as a special guest referee, based on his past history with both men. I'm sure some of you look like you just bit into a lemon right now, and I can't say that I fully blame you for that, but you know.. a big part of me likes the idea. I know, I know.. I'll put myself on timeout when I'm finished. Think about it, though.. both of them were EASILY the biggest names of their era, albeit in different companies. When Flair came to the WWF in 1991, people were salivating over the thought of those guys finally working together.. and the entire thing was a flop. Their encounters in WCW years later were nothing special, either, as Flair never stood a chance due to backstage politics and people wanting to slob on Hogan's knob because he was coming to "save" their company. 2008 is a different time.. obviously. The company wouldn't even have to spend extra money flying Hogan in for the show, as he resides in Florida. It goes without saying that this is the biggest longshot of all the possibilities I've posted, but at the same time, it may very well be the most intriguing of them all, as well. The feedback for this one should be fun. All in all, of the above options, I'd definitely prefer to have Shawn Michaels "be the man to beat the man", but only if they can really give us a full-fledged heel turn for Michaels. If we can't get that heel turn, then I still can't believe I'd basically be asking for Hulk Hogan VS Ric Flair at the biggest event of the year. Yikes. That just makes me feel dirty. The type of dirty you would feel if you got drunk and woke up the next morning in bed with someone who was, let's say, Gollum-esque. Speaking of the consumption of alcohol.. Hi Mac. Don't You Know Who I Think I Am? "Cocky's something that I just can't help.." Those are words to live by, folks. Sometimes, you just can't help but to be cocky. With that said, I really do love me some me. So much so that I have my own name in my column. So much so that I've asked other people to start spreading the HIPRN phenomenon at events in their neck of the woods. To my surprise, a couple of them actually did it. Here's what's poppin so far:  Shouts-out to Zuma (who a lot of you main page column readers will remember) for getting this whole thing started. I told you I'd get this picture into one of my columns, didn't I? Well, here it is.. obviously. Yes, that is Zuma in the picture, and not me.  It then escalated from there as LoPForums.com member Chris Tams aka Chip Whitley got this sign on display during an episode of Raw. That was big-time, to say the very least. Two words, Mr Tams.. Dr Pepper. While I only have 2 to this point, let's just say I'll be very well represented during WrestleMania week (refer to my last column for details about that week). Plenty of opportunities, and plenty of time before then to come up with something special. It may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so I've gotta make sure I go all-out. I may even parachute into the ring during the main event, or maybe I'll hop the guardrail during Randy Orton's entrance and defecate on his title belt. We'll just have to wait and find out, won't we? Go ahead and make me some signs. Take them to wrestling events near you. Take them to concerts. Take them to school. You could even make a HIPRN-related shirt and wear it to church. Whatever floats your proverbial boat. Take some pics and send them to me, and I'll see about getting you some sort of reward for your efforts. Hustle, the columnist that gives back to his peoples. Don't say that I never did anything for you guys. I'm like a one-man charity. And now back to your regularly scheduled column.. Golden "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather, arguably the best boxer alive today appears to be doing a bit of crossover work now, appearing at No Way Out and again on Raw the next night. Honestly, I can understand why some people would be upset over this program, with the whole "valuable TV time" line of thinking, but I disagree. Yes, its true that spots on TV and on PPV shouldn't be given to "outside" people that aren't really adding anything to the product. I'm not denying that. However, this is a beautiful pairing, and one that will be beneficial to both sides in the long run if done correctly. For WWE, they're getting themselves a natural born showman. Mayweather is about as charismatic a fighter as the boxing world has seen in years. People have been saying for a while now that Mayweather's antics are almost more-suited for the world of professional wrestling, and now, we get to see if that's true or not. We don't have to worry about a non-charismatic robot coming in, embarrassing himself and everyone close to him. Don't get me wrong.. I'm not saying he'll be 20x better than The Rock on the mic and make Dean Malenko look like Khali in the ring.. just that he won't embarrass himself. I'm sure they'll be able to shield his lack of wrestling training if they do have him actually get down and wrestle. Him nearly breaking Big Show's face in 18 different places was a "nice" start to doing just that. For Mayweather (and for the sport of boxing, in general), this will open the eyes of a new potential fanbase. They could talk about his boxing career, as well as show highlights of some of his bigger fights, and even promote his future endeavors a bit to try and help WWE fans go "hey, that guy is a heckuva fighter, I'll have to check his next fight out". Boxing, all around, could use a bit of a boost as far as viewership goes, even though Mayweather's fights have been doing extremely well. There was a time was boxing was HUGE on a global scale, but with the emergence of UFC and all of Mixed Martial Arts, the sport has been falling in popularity for a long time. Numerous scandals definitely haven't helped the sport's cause. Obviously, this won't propel boxing back to the top of the food chain or anything, but for a sport that could use all the positive news it can get, this should be a welcome collaboration. The strange part about this entire thing is the fact that WWE appears to be trying to push Mayweather as a bit of a face, even though he's got an amazing natural heel vibe to his personality.. brash, cocky, arrogant. He's one of those "love to hate him" characters (check his fight against Oscar De La Hoya during Cinco De Mayo for proof of just that). It would be almost destiny for him to come in and be paired up with an Elijah Burke or maybe even MVP, but seeing as how we're far too early into the storyline for true opinions to be shared, I'll hold off on that aspect for now. I'll just stick to my fantasies for the time being. No, not like that, you perverts. Those ones are for Cena Thnks fr th Mmrs I originally had this as the title of the Flair section, but it wouldn't exactly fit just yet, seeing as how he hasn't retired yet. Anyway, now that I look at it, I think I may have put too many sections into this one column. That's what happens when you have a lot to say about numerous subjects, and only a single opportunity every 2 weeks to talk about them. Not saying that it'll be a regular thing with me, but don't be surprised if it happens again. Anyway.. thanks for riding it out with me once again. Feedback is the same deal as it was last time.. Email: Down at the very bottom.. AIM: KangstaKasoo LoPForums: PM me I've got a bunch of ideas floating around in my head for future columns.. from guest appearances to "concept" ideas.. so let's see if I can formulate my flows, as they say, and get things poppin for everyone. Either way, this concludes another edition of HIPRN. You know the deal.. 2 weeks from now.. brand new HIPRN for that ass. I'm out like a rainbow trout, nah'mean? Be easy, folks. From Paradise, I bid you farewell.. Aloha and Mahalo Nui Loa Hustle HIPRNFeedback@gmail.com  ***DIRECT LINK*** Amazing UP CLOSE Kelly Kelly Tease Photos! MUST SEE!
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