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Promo of the Day: Ric Flair Flossy



Scott,

Always have appreciated your work and have been a long-time blog follower.  

To me, there aren't many things better than a good ol' mid-80s Flair promo.  I love how he covers multiple challengers for the belt, gives them all a bit of a rub while also tearing them down a bit ... and then ad lib destroys the hell out of Landel and JJ to finish it off.  Good times!

Yeah, Flair was always great in these because he was "burying" his opponents with stuff that was so ridiculous that anyone would be able to see through and tell how jealous he was.  Like when he'd mock Magnum's "skinny little arms" or the hordes of pre-teen girls who cheered for Ricky Morton.  It was all stuff that made fans go "Man, Flair is a delusional jerk" and made people want to see him get beat, and didn't tarnish the babyfaces.  I mean, obviously, look at Magnum, he's tossing 300 pound guys around with the belly to belly, his arms were obviously not skinny.  

Now, you have Vince McMahon and his surrogates telling Daniel Bryan that he's too small and not good for business.  What counter-argument can fans make against that?  Clearly he IS small, and given we don't have access to WWE's financial information, who are we to say he's not bad for business?  HHH in particular is the worst for it, because he buries guys with stuff that is specifically true and doesn't leave himself open for comebacks by the babyface.  That was a huge problem with the Punk feud in 2011 as well.  

Anyway, tl;dr, 80s Flair rules.  

Comments

  1. YankeesHoganTripleHFanSeptember 24, 2013 at 8:05 AM

    Speaking of Triple H, anyone going to get the DVD today?

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  2. Flair played a heel, but even now hhh is basically playing a face since thats really what a cool heel is. A actual heel gets heat on babyfaces, since its much easier for a heel to get heat, and then transfer it-to a face. A cool heel just gets himself over and than that's it. That's a face. In this entire angle hhh hasn't shown any ass or gotten the tiniest silver of a commupance. But that's no surprise to me since he's never done that. Go watch-del Rio and otunga sue sheamus and ban his brogue kick. They were heels with more power and the upper hand but while doing it they got sheamus more over. Hhh won't be doing that. Watch, this angle is just to keep him strong for the match vs vkms avatar.

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  3. I think the main thing is the 'B +' label they've given him, which the fans are supposed to disagree with and cheer for him.
    Also, HHH seems to be a different sort of heel authority figure. They still haven't clarified if he was behind the Scott Armstrong thing, so that's interesting...

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  4. Love Tweener Ric Flair.


    This has to be before Starrcade 85 because he disses Tully as that would predate the Horsemen, Obviously Magnum is still in the hunt and he was the catalyst (lolz...) for the 4H...


    Just loves how he puts over heels and faces then just buries the fuck out of Landell.

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  5. It won't be referred to in 3 months because refs just recently got their names back.


    The current fan doesn't even know who the denior official is these days.

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  6. Magnum did have some skinny arms though.

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  7. YankeesHoganTripleHFanSeptember 24, 2013 at 8:38 AM

    Lol Jobber I figured that you wanted to relive the time at WM 19 where HHH hit Booker with a single boot and Pedigree, layed around, got up, signed some autographs, sampled some delicious Seattle style coffee, threw some pitches in the M's bullpen, then went back to the ring and pinned him.

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  8. I LOVE that he is actually talking about going after other people's belts. I really wish they would put more focus on belts than using them as props. It gives the wrestlers goals and storylines without having to reinvent the wheel every time a new feud is started.

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  9. YankeesHoganTripleHFanSeptember 24, 2013 at 8:45 AM

    Well the time that he beat Jericho 1,234,445,886,223 times in a row then, then shot his dog and made us dance for our amusement. Those were good times!!!

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  10. No, only 3 matches from the 2000-2001 run. = NO BUYS.

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  11. If anyone drops a Flair joke or something that was alleged in the Grantland article we are getting in a steel cage.

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  12. "Tomko, gimme a beat."

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  13. YankeesHoganTripleHFanSeptember 24, 2013 at 8:53 AM

    But they are going to show his wedding!! You remember it main evented Wrestlemania with Big Show, Foley, and The Rock as his groomsman. That happened in 2000.

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  14. YankeesHoganTripleHFanSeptember 24, 2013 at 9:02 AM

    Will you be wrestling as the Nature Boy or the Black Scorpion

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  15. Can Flair even cut a promo without crying these days?

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  16. Charismatic e-Negro Jef VinsonSeptember 24, 2013 at 10:03 AM

    http://youtu.be/bocJAqjttoU

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  17. YankeesHoganTripleHFanSeptember 24, 2013 at 10:07 AM

    Remember how at the 89 Royal Rumble Warrior and Rude had the Super Pose-down? Well now that wrestling have gotten PG rated and more PC in general, at this years Rumble Flair and the Big Show can have a Super Cry-off.

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  18. Interesting idea. Michael Cole can host the cry-off, and ask the question: which one of you is more broke?

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  19. YankeesHoganTripleHFanSeptember 24, 2013 at 10:40 AM

    Or ask about the Big Show's father and Reid.

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  20. LEAVE THE MEMORIES ALONE!

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  21. I think it may also be a legacy of his time as traveling world champ, where he'd come into a territory and everyone ( heel or face) wanted a shot at him.

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  22. If the IWC existed there'd be a groundswell of super wrong people who would want the Horsemen broken up because they were too good at promos.

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  23. And the other difference is if Flair insulted Magnum to his face, Magnum would beat the crap out of him. Now HHH and Steph insult people and they just stand their pouting.

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  24. God, vintage Flair was just the absolute best. Tony is doing his best to not legit crack up at those one-liners.

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  25. He WAS their closer in April '03, wasn't he?

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  26. Watching flair crack Schiavone up never gets old.

    WOO! WOO! ARRIIGGHHT!

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  27. There was one from the Koloff feud where Flair was making some ridiculous claim about Nikita working as a gardener and you could see David Crockett just losing it. Those would have been the best tapings to attend.

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  28. Miz hosts. Big Show knocks him out, then Flair wakes him up with the figure four. The PROPER figure four.

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  29. Bigger arms would have helped him turn that steering wheel faster.

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  30. Great points Scott, I've always kind of thought that, while I love the heeling up HHH has done lately, a lot of his digs hit "too close to home", and even worse the babyface (at least so far) hasn't been able to respond in kind. With the obvious example of HHH calling DB "too small" and bad for business with DB responding "you used to be a rebel, now you're a corporate suit". Maybe Vince and company thinks that's an appropriate rebuttal to HHH's claims, but DB's response sounds a little more "kayfabish" to me to the naked ear.


    I think a better response (or an additional response) would be for DB to say "yeah I'm small, so what, some of the best WWE champions have been small guys...like your best buddy Shawn Michaels, and Rey Misterio, and Eddy Guerrro, etc), and they have been GOOD FOR BUSINESS, so what makes me different? Rey wore a mask, Shawn dressed in chains and chaps, Eddy said CHEAT TO WIN, not necessarily "corporate friendly". I think something like this would point out HHH's hypocrisy on a little more biting level than "you're not the rebel" anymore trope.


    I don't mind the heelin, I just hope the babyfaces get in better digs rather than a)very kayfabish digs, b)just standing their silent and taking it. I guess we'll see...

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  31. Only Triple H gets to make those points, just like when Punk said Triple H and the WWE were obsessed with bodybuilders, then Triple H brings up guys like Shawn, Bret, Eddie, and Foley.

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  32. Good point, the only difference this time being HHH was still kind of a face at that point, this time when he's clearly a heel, he SHOULD be allowing faces to bring up better digs, we'll see if he actually does.

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  33. The Miz burial yesterday was b-rutal. Not that anyone cared, because it was the Miz. He got shot on by his boss and then the reluctant emo enforcer didn't even think twice before KTFO'ing him.


    The worst part of it is that you KNOW no one's getting one over on Steph. Because no one can hit her. PG. Ten years ago at least the Miz could get her drunk and knock her up or something.

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  34. Sounds right - he's still got the Domed Globe.

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  35. No, steph and hhh will at least their verbal comeuppance when Vince comes back to set up his mania angle with huntor

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  36. This is your first time seeing hhh work heel huh?

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  37. The last words he spoke to the boys were, "Yeah, Dusty said he'd take care of the brakes, no charge."

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  38. "the business has evolved"


    WHAT?!?!?


    "RAW" is the same show every week. 20 mins. of two wrestlers talking on and on with no point, then a two second match, then more talking that nobody cares about, repeat for three hours!

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  39. As good as that was, he had an even BIGGER put down of Landell: "I lose more in spilled drinks than you make in a year". Roasted.

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  40. Maybe AJ (or any other diva) would be useful for physical comeuppance against Stephanie.

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  41. The only worthwhile match on the set is the classic Iron Man Match with The Rock. Everything else, doesn't make me want to lay down any money for it.

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  42. It's always really interesting to watch Mid-South/Crockett/NWA from the 1980s because I started with WWF and hardly watched any WCW until Nitro. I say that because I'm coming into it with no nostalgia for these angles or feuds but damn if it wasn't great TV.



    Of course we had to sit through squash matches, and there was definitely more talk less wrestling per show, but somehow it is almost always more exciting and interesting than wrestling is now. And I think the scary thing is I can't decide if that's because of the performers or the bookers. I've been actively trying to follow wrestling as more of a casual fan lately, not getting caught up in things like "backstage politics" and who's getting over on whom, but I feel like it's hard to get excited for owner angles because the participants aren't even wrestlers who can solve it in the ring.



    With VKM/Stone Cold it was interesting because it had never been done, but now I feel like WWF has just been spinning its wheels with invasions & power figures for more than a decade. It's just not fun anymore.

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