WWE Ultimate Ric Flair Collection Disc 3

Written by: Tom Hopkins

This is the third disc of the series which highlights Ric’s first tenure in the WWF as well as him going back to WCW after that.

We start with clips of Bobby Heenan from Prime Time Wrestling on 09/09/91 introducing Ric Flair. Seeing that title on WWF even now is still weird to see. Flair talks about not getting along with Jim Herd and leaving to the WCW. Flair doesn’t really have too many nice things to say about him. They decided to strip Flair of the belt but Ric didn’t give them the belt since Herd wouldn’t pay the $25,000 for the belt. Ric kept the belt and brought the title. He said he had the greatest year and a half of his career. He started off in a feud with Piper and then went into the Rumble. He says the Rumble of that year is the greatest collection of wrestlers ever assembled.

Royal Rumble Match (01/19/92)
Finkel tells us the rules and the winner will be named the WWF Champion. Tunney has a quick announcement to make before the Rumble.To let you know, Tunney’s mic skills are just a shade better than Linda McMahon’s. Heenan commentary on this match is amazing and probably the best he’s ever been in my opinion. British Bulldog is number one and number two is Ted Dibiase. They start off right away and Dibiase quickly takes control. He clotheslines Davy down then stomps on his face. DiBiase hits a suplex and follows with a gut wrench suplex. Monsoon notes that Martel has the record with 52 some odd minutes and the shortest is Bushwhacker Luke who was in for something like 4 seconds. I think Lawler and Tazz went on to beat that record though. Dibiase sends Bulldog over the top rope and celebrates thinking he tossed him but Davey lands on the apron and eliminates Dibiase. Ric Flair is the third one out and Heenan shits a brick. Man, the commentary alone on this match is worth *****. Monsoon says no one’s ever won being one of the first five in. Bulldog shoves Flair downand then military presses Flair to the mat. Bulldog starts working over Flair and Flair immediately starts begging for mercy. Bulldog tries to dump Flair as Sags enters at #4. Bulldog goes to the top to pound away on Flair and Sags attacks from behind. The heels double team Davey but a double clothesline attempt fails when Bulldog clotheslines them down. He tosses Sags over the top but holds on and celebrates on the apron. Bulldog nonchalantly dropkicks him from behind and Sags is eliminated. Davey works over Flair as Haku enters at #5. Haku starts kicking away at Bulldog then turns and kicks Flair. Flair bails beneath the ropes allowing Haku to work over Bulldog. Haku hits a piledriver on Bulldog as Flair comes back in and Flair attacks Haku from behind. Flair goes after Bulldog but Bulldog fights back. Haku goes after Bulldog but is tossed out. Flair and Bulldog square off again as Shawn Michaels enters at #6. Michaels immediately goes to work on Flair and hits the crescent kick (before it was sweet chin music). Bulldog and Michaels start battling as Shawn is tossed over but hangs on. HBK attacks Bulldog knocking him down and Flair goes after Michaels. Michaels ends up paired with Bulldog and gets crotched on the top rope. Flair attacks both men and almost eliminates Michaels as El Matador Tito Santana enters in at #7. Tito tries to dump Flair but Michaels saves and tries to throw Tito over the top. Bulldog saves and Bulldog tries to send Michaels over the top. Flair hits a belly to back suplex on Tito then saves HBK from elimination. Flair then hits a lowblow on Davey Boy and tries to toss him, but Tito makes the save. Tito hits the flying jalapeno on Flair and The Barbarian is in at #8. Barbarian comes right after Bulldog as Michaels works over Tito. Flair wanders around helps Barbarian try to eliminate The Bulldog. Flair goes after Tito now as Michels rests. Tito and Shawn pair off and Barbarian and Bulldog pair off. Texas Tornado is in at #9 as Michaels and Davey are paired off, as are Barbarian and Tito. Flair immediately challenges Kerry Von Erich and gets knocked over. Von Erich hits his tornado punch a few times and pounds away on Flair in the corner. Flair blocks with an atomic drop. Now the pairings are Flair/Tornado, Michaels/Bulldog and Tito/Barbarian, and of course switches as soon as I type this. Repo Man is our #10 and sneaks into the ring. He goes in and attacks Shawn from behind as Flair tries to eliminate Davey Boy. Tito hits a crossbody on Barbarian and saves Bulldog from Flair. Bulldog and Tornado double team Michaels as the ring gets too crowded. Flair chops away at Kerry Von Erich and tries to eliminate him. Greg Valentine is #11 and runs into the ring. Greg was in the ring last year for 44 minutes ans 20 seconds and goes right after Flair hitting him with his chops as Flair goes down. Bulldog and Hammer double team Flair until Repo Man breaks that fun up. Bulldog has Shawn on the ropes but Repo breaks that up. Tornado punches Shawn and he falls on top of the ropes and dangles dangerously as Kerry and Davey try to eliminate him. Nikolai Volkoff is in at #12 and I don’t think he’ll be there long. Now there’s way too many people in the ring as the workers wander around a bit. They need to lose some dead weight. Hammer hits the figure four on Flair in the middle of the ring as the fans go crazy. Nikolai is eliminated by a Repo Man back body drop as Hammer works over Flair. Repo Man saves as Big Bossman is in at #13. Bossman goes crazy hitting anyone in sight as Repo Man sends Valentine over the top and into elimination. Bossman tries to eliminate Michaels but can’t. Bossman eliminates Repo Man as Bulldog and Tito dounle team Flair. Davey Boy attacks Flair but Flair dumps Bulldog over the top eliminating him, then Kerry Von Erich a few seconds after that. Michaels and Santana eliminate each other as Hercules runs in at #14. We’re left with Hercules, Flair, Bossman and Barbarian at this point. Barbarian and Flair slap heach other high five as Flair chops Barbarian. Barbarian military presses Flair to the mat and tries to eliminate Flair. Hercules comes fight behind him though and dumps him but Bossman comes right behind and sends him over. That leaves Flair and Bossman and Bossman starts pounding awat at Bossman. Bossman goes for a crossbody but Flair ducks and Bossman eliminates himself. Flair is by himself in the ring and of course, Roddy Piper is #15. That leaves Flair and Piper alone for two minutes, folks. Piper goes apeshit and starts pounding away on Flair. Flair bails to the outside and Piper follows. They go back inside and Piper is still kicking the shit out of Flair. Very hot sequence between these two and the fans are just eating it up. You know it’s 1990’s WWF when Piper starts with the airplane spin. Piper goes for the sleeper hold and Flair is out. Jake Roberts is #16 and slides into the ring and lies in the corner as Roddy works over Flair. Roberts attacks Piper from behind though and starts working over Piper in the corner. Jake then goes over and hits a short-arm clothesline on Flair and tries for a DDT only to get clotheslined down. Flair goes for the figure four on Jake and uses the ropes, which is legal but Piper breaks that up. The three men battle it and Roberts tries to eliminate Piper as Flair rests in the corner. Hacksaw Jim Duggan enters the rumble at #17 and starts attacking Flair. Hacksaw then goes after Roberts as Flair and Piper pair off. Flair hits a belly to back suplex on Piper and both men are down. They make their way up and chop away at each other. Hacksaw starts fighting Flair as Roberts and Piper pair off. IRS is #18 and slowly makes his way to the ring. Flair tries to dump Hacksaw but IRS breaks it up. Flair tries to dump Piper and Roberts comes over but Hacksaw breaks that up. IRS and Flair work over Piper as Hacksaw battles Roberts. Hacksaw then goes over to IRS as Roddy tries to toss Flair. Jimmy Snuka is in at #19. Snuka headbutts Flair down as Hacksaw rests in the corner. Hacksaw starts pounding away at Flair. Not too much action going on now, Flair is getting chopped by Piper and again treis to toss Flair but fails. Roberts tries to put Flair over but he keeps hanging on. Our #20 is none other than the Undertaker and the deadman comes into the ring and eliminates Snuka with one punch. He chokes Flair in the corner and Flair is knocked out. Hacksaw goes after the Undertaker and it doesn’t go too well for him. Flair goes after Taker himself but Taker just chokes away at Duggan and Flair. #21 is Macho and runs in like his ass is on fire but gets pounded immediately by IRS and Taker. Roberts starts working Savage but Savage comes backand goes bananas on Jake. He knees Jake in the back and out of the ring. Savage then eliminates himself to keep attacking Jake but Undertaker would roll him back in so he keeps competing. The announcers say you need to be thrown out by someone to be eliminated so he’s not eliminated. I guess the rules changes then when Kane eliminated himself in 99. Flair works over Savage as Taker tries to eliminate Duggan. Flair lowblows Undertaker for no real reason and the Bezerker is in at #22. He immediately goes after the Undertaker and then after Piper. Duggan and Bezerker pair off as Flair is on the apron. He tries to suplex Savage over the top to the outside but Savage reverses and Piper and Taker go after Flair. Taker starts choking away at both Flair and Piper now as Virgil comes in at #23. Virgil goes right after IRS but Bezerker comes in and they double team him. Flair tries to dump Duggan but he’s not going over yet Taker and Flair pair off as Taker chokes Flair. Taker tries to dump Flair but Flair keeps hanging on. Col. Mustafa is out at #24 and goes after Duggan. Bezerker piledrives Virgil as Flair chops away at Piper. Flair tries to dump Piper but can’t. Piper goes up top to pound away on Flair but Taker is right behind and knocks him down. Rick Martel is out at #25 and goes after Virgil. Martel and Flair pair off and Martel tries to send Flair over. Mustafa is eliminated as Flair falls to the apron. Duggan poses to the fans and gets a USA chant going and attacks the Undertaker. Taker no sells of course and attacks Virgil. Hogan is in at #26 and I can see the bodies hit the floor already. Double noggin knocker to Flair and Taker but Taker attacks Hogan. Hogan still has his shirt on. Double noggin knocker to IRS and Taker now. Martel is eliminated by Virgil which everyone misses so Martel comes right back in. Hogan clotheslines Undertaker out of the Rumble, then back body drops Bezerker over the top. Off comes the shirt which he uses to choke Martel. Virgil and Duggan eliminate each other as Hogan works over Flair in the corner. Skinner comes in at #27 and he’s just dead weight. Hogan tries to dump Flair but IRS makes the save. Flair tries to dump Piper but can’t, Martel comes over to help and still Piper won’t go out. Piper and Flair continue fighting each other but then goes after Hogan, only to get clotheslined down. Sgt. Slaughter is in at #28 as Martel eliminates Skinner. Slaughter goes right after Flair as Piper and Hogan battle away. Flair is now the new record holder in terms of Rumble endurance, just to let you know. Not much going on as Sid Justice runs in at #29. Sid goes after IRS but can’t dump him over. Flair and Hogan square off and IRS joins him for the double team. Flair snapmares Hogan down and Sid goes after Flair. Our final entry tonight is the Warlord. Flair bails to the outisde and brings Hogan out with him. Flair goes for a suplex on the padding but it’s reversed by Hogan for a suplex of his own. Sid eliminates Slaughter by sending him to the turnbuckle and Slaughter flips out. Flair chops at Hogan as Piper eliminates IRS. Hogan and Sid double team Warlord and send him over the top. Martel and Piper try to send each other over but Sid comes and dumps them both. That leaves Sid, Hogan, Savage and Flair as our final four. Hogan and Flair pair off as Sid tries to dump Savage. Flair hits a high knee on Sid and Savage goes over. Flair and Hogan battle it out as Sid watches in the corner. Hogan sends Flair to the apron and starts pounding away as Sid tosses Hogan out, to the delight of the crowd. Hogan complains at ringside then grabs Sid. Flair sneaks up from behind and sends Sid over to win his first WWF Title at 62:02. What a Rumble. Some slow parts but it didn’t take away from the Rumble which is one of the best you’ll ever see. *****.

We now go to the part of Flair’s career where he came back to WCW to fued with Sting. Flair says that Sting was one of his greatest rivals. He talks about the 45 minute match they had at the first Clash of The Champions which went head to head against Wrestlemania 4. Of course, they only show the last two minutes of the match. Flair says he probably wrestled Sting a thousand times.

Sting vs. Ric Flair for the WCW Title from Clash of the Champions XXVII 06/23/94
This is a unification match, and if you don’t know what’s being unified or the reasoning behind it, then count yourself lucky not to know. It just boggles the mind and I don’t feel like explaining it here. They lock up to start and Sting throws Flair down. They do it again and again Flair throws him down. Flair is wearing yellow tights and boots which looks kind of weird. Flair goes to the armbar and throws Sting down but Sting kips up a few times and they break. They lock up again and Flair grabs a hammerlock which is quickly reversed by Sting so Flair goes below and takes Sting down and Sting reverses that but Flair makes the ropes. They get up and Sting knocks Flair down so Flair bails and flexes to the crowd. Flair goes back inside and they lock up. They go to the ropes and Flair shoulderblocks Sting down. He goes over Sting, then Sting leapfrogs and Flair gets military pressed to the ground. Sting sends Flair to the ropes again and military presses him again. Flair bails to the outside and collapses. Flair jaws with the crowd and Sensual Sherri. A lot of stalling in this match so far. Flair head back in. Sting starts working no Flair’s hand so Flair pokes him in the eye. Flair chops him but Sting no sells and clotheslines Flair down a few times. Again Flair goes to the outside. Flair goes back in a minute or so later and Flair takes over with a knee to the gut. Flair works Sting over in the corner and another chop Sting no sells. Sting hiptosses Flair then dropkicks him but misses another dropkick as Flair tries to the figure four. Sting cradles him for two and Flair shoves the ref and bails to the ramp. He goes back in and the lock up. Flair’s right hand is blocked and Sting takes over and sends Flair to the turnbuckles. Sting misses a Stinger Splash so Flair points something out to the referee who turns around and Flair throws him over the top, which would’ve been a DQ. Flair works Sting over on the outside. They head inside and Flair drags Sting to the center and drops a knee to the skull of Sting. Just because he can, Flair does it again. He covers Sting using the ropes but Sting counts out. He keeps trying as Sherri tries to tell the ref about Flair’s illegal uses of the ropes which causes Flair to yell at Sherri. Flair hits a belly to back suplex and tries for the figure four but Sting kicks him off. Flair sends Sting to the ropes and misses an elbow but hits it as Sting bounces off the other side. He sends Sting to the ropes again and grabs a sleeper hold on Sting in the middle of the ring. Sting elbows out if and throws himself at the turnbuckle ducking in time for Flair to the hit the turnbuckles. Sting takes over and slingshots Flair to the turnbuckle and topples over. Flair rolls out to the apron and Sting suplexes him back inside of the ring and covers for two. Flair gets sent to the turnbuckles and gets flipped over to land on the apron running only to get clotheslined by Sting. Sting goes to the turnbuckle and tries the standing ten punch count but Flair tries to hit a running atomic drop which is blocked and Sting responds with a clothesline. Sting takes Flair to the top and superplexes him . Sting tries for a flying body press but Flair moves out of the way. Flair suplexes Sting but Sting gets right up and Flair is like, Oh Shit. Sting takes over with a drop kick then a press slam then a clothesline and then clothesline Flair over the top rope to the outside. Sting flies over the top with a pescado but Flair hides behind Sherri and Sting flies onto her and Sherri takes a sick bump where here head just collides with the railing. Flair sneaks behind him and kicks him in the head. Back inside Flair goes for a hiptoss but it’s blocked and Sting tries for a backslide for two. Sting goes to check on Sherri so Flair rolls him up from behind and grabs the tights which gets the win at 17:11. Pretty dull match for Flair/Sting. **1/2. Afterwards, Sherri reveals she was working with Flair and it was all a setup and they double team Sting. Hogan runs out to help Sting and Flair bails. Sherri tries to hit Hogan from behind so in usual Hogan fashion he tries to hit a girl but Flair pulls her out and they bail.

Next, they talk about the Raw in Greenville SC on 05/19/03 and show some clips of the Flair celebration. Flair talks about the night and says it was really nice and gets pretty emotional talking about it. Really nice Flair speech followed and Flair says he’s the luckiest guy in the world and says when the fans applaud for him it’s for real.

Now onto the extras!

This is under the Royal Rumble Match Features

Bobby “The Brain” Heenan is excited
Heenan prepares for a visit by the “real world” champion Ric Flair. Very funny bits as Heenan bosses people around to prepare for Flair.
Flair’s WWE Debut
This is from Prime Time Wrestling 09/09/91. They roll out the red carpet and Flair comes out to pretty decent heel heat. Flair talks about Piper and Hogan.

Funeral Parlor
Basically a Flair/Heenan Interview as Piper goes crazy in the announce booth. Flair cuts a promo on Piper and Hulk Hogan.

Flair Attack’s Piper
This is a rather famous segment where Flair goes over and attacks Piper. What makes it so famous is when Piper goes wild and swings a wooden chair that hits Vince McMahon in the back making it Vince’s first WWF Television bump, though not his last. Flair takes the chair and lays out Piper with it then leaves. Flair rules.

The “Real” World Heavyweight Champion
Another Ric Flair interview where he talks about Piper and Hogan again.

Rumble Post-Match Interview
This is immediately after the Rumble where Tunney presents the title to Ric Flair who is flanked by Mr. Perfect and Bobby Heenan. Flair talks up the WWF Title.

This is under the Sting section of the extras
Kicked out of the Horseman
The Four Horseman kick Sting out of the group. This dates back to 1990. The Horseman threw him out because he signed a match for the WCW Title against Flair. Of course, the usual Horseman beatdown ensues.

Reeking of Sex Appeal
Ric gives an awesome interview about Sting and how Sting talks to 15 year old girls and ask girls what his greatest feature is and they’d say it’s his ability to go 60 minutes instead of Sting’s ten. Funny stuff

Ladies and Gentleman…Sting
This is Sting’s pre-match interview with Gene Okerlund.

This is under the Special Night in Greenville Section
Ric Flair’s WWWF Debut
This is Ric Flair vs. Pete Sanchez at MSG from 03/01/76. Ric is considerably younger since this is almost 30! years ago. They spelt Ric like Rick here too. They lock up to start and Flair breaks clean after pushing Pete to the ropes. They lock up again and Sanchez arm drags Flair down. Flair complains of a hair pull but the ref doesn’t buy it. Flair locks up with Sanchez and takes him to the ropes but doesn’t break clean this time. He puts on an arm-lock which Sanchez reverses into one of his own and Flair sells like a champ. Flair gets out of it only to get arm-dragged down and Sanchez goes right back to the arm. Flair breaks by sending Sanchez to the ropes and shoulderblocks him down but Sanchez gets right up and arm-drags Flair down and goes back to the arm. Flair knees Sanchez in the gut to get out of it and then does it again! WHOOOOO. Flair stomps away at this guy as commentary starts. That’s weird, all of a sudden, the commentary started. And just as quickly as it started, it ended. Anyway, it’s Flair’s turn to work over the arm as he has Sanchez on the ground with an arm-bar. Sanchez kicks Flair to release but Flair is right back on the arm. Vince, commentating, says he thinks Flair isn’t in the condition that Sanchez is in. Ha, even in the 70’s Vince didn’t make any sense. Sanchez flips out of the armbar and trips up Flair but Flair comes right back and attacks. Sanchez starts battling back and Flair tries to kick Sanchez but Sanchez holds on and kicks Flair’s leg. Sanchez has all the momentum now and kicks away. Flair comes back and drops Sanchez onto the ropes. Flair takes him down but Sanchez rolls out of the way of a Flair elbow. Sanchez makes his big comeback now and sends Flair hard into the tunrbuckles. He sends him again and Flair almost does the Flair flop, but doesn’t and instead gets hung in a tree of woe. Sanchez sends Flair to the ropes and tries a backbody drop but Flair kicks him in the face, then drops a knee, then suplexes him for the three count at 10:21 (sez the timekeeper). Eh, boring match, but for the era it was pretty good. **.

A Workout with Piper
This is from 11/24/82 and is from Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Flair hits an awesome line telling some girl to shut up or he’ll take her home and make a woman out of her. Flair mentions how North Carolina lost recently (To ST JOHNS NO LESS!) in an extremely dated reference. Flair works some amateur wrestling with two jobbers and it’s pretty cool. Flair pins the two jobbers and comes back to the announcer’s table and then mouths off to Piper which causes Piper to go into the ring. Flair of course follows and they do some amatuer style wrestling of their own. Piper manages to pin Flair once and Flair is actually cut on the forehead. This time Piper gets down in the ready position and Flair kicks him and then chops him. He sends Piper to the ropes but Piper reverses and hits a swinging neckbreaker and pins him which the ref counts for and gets a three. Piper says he beat Flair both amateur and professional and that Flair should fight him for the title. They argue and Valentine comes out and attacks Piper from behind. Awesome segment and I wish they had a Piper/Flair match on here now. Bob Orton Jr. comes in and tries to save. The jobbers try to save too but they fail miserably. Eventually the faces outnumber the heels so the heels bail.

PWI “Wrestler of the Decade”
This is from 11/15/89. PWI gives Ric Flair a trophy for being the wrestler of the decade for the 80’s.

The Final Nitro
This is from Nitro 03/26/01. Ric Flair addresses the fans on the final episode of WCW Nitro. Flair cuts one more classic interview for WCW and it makes me miss WCW actually. Ric basically says that Vince can’t control WCW or it’s future. He says he’s gonna wrestle Sting tonight because he has been Flair’s greatest opponent

Ric Flair vs. HHH
This is from Raw 05/19/03 from Greenville SC. Basically, the whole show had built up Flair as a face and majorly teased the fans with a possible Flair title win. HHH overs Flair to lie down but Flair offers his hand for a handshake then pulls it back. They lock up to start and HHH breaks clean in the corner. Flair pokes HHH in the eye then chops away in the corner but an irish whip to the ropes is reversed and HHH hits an elbow. HHH tries for a suplex but can’t due to the injured ribs. Flair sends HHH to the turnbuckles and HHH goes up and over to the outside. On the outside, Flair suplexes HHH on the floor. They head inside and Flair suplexes HHH. He covers but it only gets a two count. Flair chops away but HHH reverses a Flair whip to the ropes and follows with a spinebuster. HHH punches away at Flair then chokes him in the corner. Flair and HHH exchange blows which is won by Flair and Flair takes control of the match. Flair chop blocks HHH from behind and puts on the figure four. The crowd goes absolutely crazy for this. HHH makes the ropes though but Flair goes right back to the leg. Flair backs off cor a second and HHH lands a huge right which knocks Flair down. Flair chops back though only to be sent to the ropes and get nailed with a sleeper. Flair backs him into the corner into referee Nick Patrick and HHH gets the title belt. Flair lowblows HHH and hits him with the title and pins HHH but it only gets a two count. Flair tries for the figure four but HHH kicks out of it and tries for the pedigree, only to have Flair reverse it to a back body drop. Flair goes for the pedigree but that’s reversed by HHH into a back body drop of his own. HHH quickly gets a pedigree of his own and that finished things at 7:26. Nash comes out and HHH runs away. Austin comes out and announces HHH vs. Nash in a Hell in the Cell at Badd Blood. The show goes off the air but camera’s keep rolling. HBK’s music hits and with him comes all of the Raw locker room. They all shake hands with Flair and they lift him up on their shoulders. Austin’s music hits and Steve comes out to the ring and gives Ric a few brewskis. Next out is Stephanie McMahon, then Shane McMahon, then the head honcho himself, Vince McMahon. HHH is the last one out and puts the belt over Flair’s shoulder. Flair’s music hits as HHH raises Flair’s arms in victory. HHH and Bubba put Flair on their shoulders and carry him around. Flair gets on the mic as the wrestlers head back to the ramp. Nature Boy gives an interview which we saw already on the main part of the disc.

Well, the DVD wouldn’t be complete without a few Easter Eggs, and this disc has three!
For the first, go to chapters, then to the Greenville section, then go down to main and hit right until the beer can in Flair’s left hand is highlighted. Pressing enter will get you a Ric Flair video which has some pretty cool and old footage in it.

For the second, go to main menu, highlight play, then hit left to highlight the WWE logo. Pressing enter will unlock a classic Flair interview

For the third and final Easter egg, go to chapters, Greenville, highlight Final Nitro and hit left. This will access a Confidential piece about the history of the WHOOO.

Well, what can you say? It’s ten and a half hours of Ric Flair. And it’s all good. Out of the three discs, I’d say this is third best. The best is disc two and then disc 1. But hey, every disc features at least one ***** match so really you can’t lose. If you are a wrestling fan, you MUST have this DVD. I can only hope that the WWE makes another Ric Flair DVD showing all his post WWF stuff (from 92-present) and his classic promos during the Savage WWF Feud, which might be my most favorite feud ever.

Overall Rating
10.0