Sure I'm married and in my 30's, and I hadn't watched wrestling in probably 5 years, but I heard Ric Flair was retiring last night, so I had to at least watch. WOW Did you see all the corpses they dug up for his farewell address? I was sure King Harley Race was going to die in the ring and that they were going to need the jaws of life to pry Greg "The Hammer" Valentine out of his suit. Then the "Four Horsemen" came out....Tully Blanchard and Barry Windham (not an original member) looked awful, though Arn Anderson and JJ Dillon looked about the same. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat also came out. Steamboat is probably involved in the two highest rated matches ever: a 60 minute match with Flair in Chicago, and his match with Randy Savage at Wrestlemania III. I know probably most of you chuckle inside at people who watched wrestling, but a small piece of my teenage years died last night.
There's no reason to believe retirement ceremony #45 is going to be legit. Flair will be back by SummerSlam. The man is going to die in the ring.
I have to admit, I watched more pro wrestling last night than I had in the past 5 years, and I loved the ending of that show. It was really emotional. When you stop and think about it, guys like Harley Race, Barry Windham, Greg Valentine were never in THAT great of shape. Plus they're all well into their 50's or 60's at this point. Do you expect them to be in tremendous shape? Just look at guys like Barkley from other professional sports. Wooooooooooo!
from the sounds of it, this seemed more like a forced retirement than voluntary. I know these things rarely last, but things I've heard, guys were getting scared to work with Flair because they were afraid that they might actually hurt him in the ring.
Woooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VomRP04cJ7M&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VomRP04cJ7M&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
Yeah I remember when Flair retired first. I think I was in third grade. That was fifteen years ago. Then he did it again in seventh grade.
I don't believe Ric Flair ever officially retired before. And by all accounts he is officially retired now and has no intention to ever return to the ring. Whether or not that holds up is questionable, but in terms of working as a full-time performer I don't believe we'll ever see him in the ring again. He certainly wasn't retired 15 years ago. Or any time around then. I think you are mistaking him for other performers. I just did a quick check through my wrestling history, and I really don't think he's ever retired before.
Ric Flair first "retired" when he was attacked by Dick Slater and Bob Orton, Jr. when he was chasing Harley Race for his second NWA title. That was in 1983. He wrestled in a thousand retirement matches and he was "retired" in storylines many times. He very nearly did retire after a bitter argument over time off with Eric Bischoff that ended in a lawsuit where Bischoff literally tried to ruin Rick Flair. That was in 1998. Eventually they brought him back (again) to lead a new Four Horsement. He was essentially retired when WCW closed its doors; amazingly his self-esteem was wrecked by the final years of WCW and he didn't think he was any good. WWE ended up being a nice cap to his career. But this is by no means his first retirement. I think we're probably at least up in the 30s at this point.
He was retired briefly in storylines at the time but that is not actually retiring. Vince McMahon has died in storyline before. He wasn't retired in 1998 when the Bischoff thing blew up, he was just out of work. Same thing when WCW closed. Both times he questioned whether he would work again, but he never retired. This time he's under contract with the WWF but is officially retiring from active competition. This is the first time he's ever retired out of character. Hogan has done it multiple times as has Terry Funk (maybe a hundred), but Ric Flair has never said he was retiring out of character.
I watched some of the Hall of Fame show and thought that that must be how the p*rn award shows go. To each his own.
OMG! They actually showed the AVN Awards show on Showtime this year. I watched some of it and it was freaking hilarious. Actress after winning award: I'd like to thank [actor] and his huge c0ck Actor after winning award: I'd like to thank [actress] for letting me ***** her. Those were actual acceptance speeches. I need to watch the whole thing. LOL!
I find it pretty humorous how many people like to chime in on an internet message board and either say or insinuate how wrestling is for geeks and/or uncool.
