Once upon a time I rememer a day before hocked titles, re-sold watches, road rage, and 54th marriages when the name Ric Flair was synonymous with in-ring action. Today however "The dirtiest player in the game" is known for close to everything but his talent and it would seem Flair's lifestyle has been leading to this for many years. After all, where does he go after Space Mountain is closed? Despite the logic of it all, it still sucks to see the greatest of all time resort himself to podcast punchline and tabloid fodder.  

   Therefore, I have decided this week's article will focus on what we all know Flair for to begin with: his skills. For my money Flair's best work occured in 1989. It was the NWA still and the Four Horseman had disbanded. Flair was being managed by Hiro Matsuda, although I'm not sure why as Hiro had the personality of paste. Late in 1988, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat re-appeared in the company as a mystery partner of Eddie Gilbert. An immediate re-kindling of the Flair-Steamboat feud of the late '70's and early '80's was lit and th Feb. 1989 PPV Chi-Town Rumble main event featured Flair vs. Steamboat for the belt. In no surprise  it was a classic, but in a quasi-surprise, Steamboat did win the title. Truth was Steamboat was a better challenger than champion. His white meat baby face persona was becoming antiquated at this time. Plus bringing out your kid to the ringdressed in a dragon costume is lame in any era, and the fans were beginning to reject wholesome in favor of Flair's flamboyant "anti-hero". But the facts remain that Steamboat was one of the greatest workers ever and on the day of Wrestlemania V the NWA booked a 2 of 3 falls re-match for their Clash of the Champions TBS special. This match is in my top five all-time favorite matches. While Hogan was was raking in huge money flexing and throwing out his same old cookie-cutter match, Flair and "The Dragon" put on a 58 minute classic in technical wrestling and incomparable ring psychology. With Steamboat winning that match, another encounter was envitable as everyone knew the "Nature Boy" would regain the belt sooner than later. In the th  ird match Flair won a great match to the surprise of few. But the swerves were to come. First, Flair in very face style, congratulates Steamboat after the match calling him the greatest champion hes'd ever faced and proclaiming himself to be proud to be the fans champion. Right after here comes former champion Terry Funk. In all time great promo Funk, who was guest judge in case of a draw (don't ask), challenged Flair to title match, when refused due to Funk not being a relevant contender "the Funker" claimed to be kidding before blindsiding Flair and pile driving him into a table and the floor. This turn of events set up my favorite story arc ever in wrestling, as not only were the announcers able to call attention to Flair's broken neck from his 1973 plane crash to amp-up the "injury", but for the first time in 6 years, Flair was a bonafide "face"

It was a great change of pace and something the fans were yearning fornd at the Great American Bash 1989, after over a month off Flair returned to defeat Funk in a memorable brawl, which also saw Sting assist Nature Boy in the beginning of another story line which culminated in Sting beating Flair at the next year's Bash. The Flair-Funk feud went on for the rest of the year and ended in a classic "I Quit" match in November at a Troy, NY, Clash of Champions. As for Sting he became a short-lived member of the Horsemen when Arn Anderson returned from the WWF (Tully Blanchard was supposed to join, but failed a drug test leaving us with a huge "what could've been"). To me this was Flair's last truly great run. Partly because Jim Herd and Eric Bishoff weren't there to bonehead his angles (heart attack, burial, and the Black Scorpion if you need an example), but also because the story was stong as we begin with Flair and Steamboat and travel through Funk and baby-face and end up as a on an ex-ally in Sting. I could say that don't do angles that good anymore, but rarely did they do them that good back then. So, as my rant trickles down all I can say is at least Flair left a plethora of great past memories to make up for his current actions. Again feel free to E-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Later.