Ric Flair vs. Sting (WCW - 3/27/1988)

Very happy to third this. I saw this a bunch and did not think it would my list. Wow! How things change? Watching this match with fresh eyes I saw a whole new story and loved this. Perfect experienced, wily veteran vs. the inexperienced, overzealous rookie sensation. If you have seen this before and think it is just ho-hum, watch with fresh eyes or read my review and watch with fresh eyes. This one surprised me!

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Sting - Clash of the Champions I

First 15 minutes: Ric Flair in that bearhug is a great exhibition of why he is one of the greatest of all time. The pain expression, biting his thumb, clenching his fist and the wails of agony. God, he makes even the most boring holds very entertaining. I feel like this is a cross of the "musclehead" Flair match (Nikita/Hawk) and the Butch Reed style match. The first five minutes is tests of strength but also plenty of traditional shoot off into the ropes, criss cross movement Flair style. You feel like they are not telegraphing the draw. However, once they hit the Butch Reed headlock portion is when I felt that the telegraphing became evident. While I didnt care much for the Butch Reed matches, I thought these were better because they worked in and out of the headlocks more frequently and with more interesting, dynamic portions. I really liked the spot where Flair throws Sting out of the ring and he lands on his feet and he immediately leaps back into the ring. Watching a lot of Flair that is a typical Flair spot to buy himself some time and ultimately take over on the outside. This shows that those tricks would not work. He used this spot with Magnum when he was working that series in 1985. I really liked Sting catching Flair in the press slam on two occasions on the criss cross. Flair loves to use motion in a kayfabe sense to create offense and in a non-kayfabe sense to generate excitement, you see the early portion Sting winning all these battles usually with the press slam. You are generating excitement from the motion and the payoff is the babyface press slam is just smart pro wrestling psychology. Then on one drop down, Sting just jumps on him with and clamps down the headlock. This shows Sting is smart (which is a shocker) because he is not just blindly following routine he sees an opportunity goes for it. Flair's majority of offense is coming from non-clean breaks as one would expect. He lands a couple good shots to the ribs, but cant sustain any momentum. Again, this makes Sting look like a viable champion because he is not just ragdolling Flair, but overcoming his shortcuts. There was one awkward sequence when Sting misses a dropkick but Flair takes a Flair Flop. The first third of the match is that great bearhug that I opened with. I really think thats the best bearhug I have ever seen. This is way better than I remember. It is quite engaging and Flair is doing a great job leading in the match.

Middle 15 minutes: Tremendous Ric Flair heat segment. I am actually a little disappointed they did so many Sting hope spots because I think they had so much in the tank. This middle section is is defined by the overeager Sting making rookie mistake after rookie mistake. As Ric Flair is hollering out "My back, my back", Sting lets go of the bearhug. I get it. He was frustrated and had grown impatient, but that was the start of the downfall. I love how gradual the transition is. First Sting misses an elbow drop but he can still whip Flair hard into the corner, but he goes charging in and Flair moves and Sting hits hard on the buckles and hurts his ribs. Still Sting perseveres and tries to mount for the ten punch in the corner but Flair comes out and hits the inverted atomic drop. Now it is Rolex Time, brutha. He throws Sting out and whips him hard into the steel railing repeatedly. Flair is targetting the back and great selling from Sting. I really, really liked the backrakes and then fishhook! Flair was getting nasty. Sting did a lot of No Selling to get back into the match. I like No Selling; it definitely beats just going back on offense. At least it signals to the offense something cool is happening. I also like that each time it looked like Sting would gain momentum he would get overeager and fuck up. First it was a flying lariat into the steel post and then a lariat over the top rope onto the floor. The side headlock and bearhug were serving Sting so well as soon as he started leaving his feet he started to dig himself in a hole. I love that these moves were being treated as high risk moves because they are! They are NOT gimmes! What I didnt like is that there were so many of them that they lost their luster. I think they could have built off the flying lariat to the post that they went back to Sting on offense too quickly. I did like the top rope Sting crossbody as a nearfall. Then as the second 15 minutes was ending Flair hits a kneecrusher. We had three different body parts and four major momentum swings to Flair in a 15 minute time period. As much as I enjoy Flairism and its chaotic nature, this was too much and things were not allowed to breathe. It is amazing that you can claim things are being rushed in a 45 minute match, but they were. Flair works the leg very well as expected. Kneecrushers, kicks, knees and chops to the knee. It only dawned on me recently but he really loved the back suplex as his setup move to the Figure-4. It makes sense you need to get your opponent flat on his back and it is cooler than a bodyslam. I thought they established a good foundation in the first 15 minutes. I liked the story of Sting making a ton of rookie mistakes in this 15 minutes but it is tempered by the fact that I thought it was a little rushed and the Flair heat segments did not feel fleshed out.

Final 15 minutes: Ok it is official, this match is way, way better than I remember it. I loved this thread they weaved of Sting being able to ever hit a move when he leaves his feet. If Sting just works holds, he can stay in control, but he cant win the match either that way. So needs to take these chances but they never pay off. Until he finally hits the Stinger Splash with 30 seconds left and then applies the Scorpion Deathlock...I mean how fucking great is that! Lets take it from the top, Sting is in the Figure-4 at the start of this third. I really thought there was some exceptional selling from both men. I really thought Flair sold the turnover well. Stinger goes for a splash on the mat, but Flair gets the knees up. See Sting cant buy a big spot. But when it comes time to put on the abdominal stretch he can get that. If Sting can keep it basic, he can use his strength, but he cant put the match away that way. He grabs Flair by the feet and pulls him over into the corner and posts him! I love it! Sting uses the figure-4 see now this is a submission hold. Of course this does not get it done, but now we go into overdrive with Flair doing the Flair Flip right over the celebrity judges and Sting kicking ass on the outside. We get all the great Flair sunset flip spots; I really liked the Flair Flip->Crossbody roll through for nearfall for Sting. In this fracas, Sting absolutely crashes and burns on a Stinger Splash in the corner and ends up on the outside. Nasty bump. Great reinforcement that Sting has controlled the match, but cant hit the home run. Then with time dwindling and all the rapid nearfalls, we finally get that Stinger Splash that finally lands and the Scorpion Deathlock as time expires. It is ruled a draw.

I thought I was going to like this match, but I ended up loving it! I had seen twice before, but I think once I picked up on the thread that Sting just couldnt buy a highspot and they really treated high risk moves as just that high risk moves that match was really enhanced. The first 15 minutes is very basic but establishes that Sting can do Pro Wrestling 101, but you cant beat the Nature Boy that way. The middle 15 minutes is Flair gaining his advantages because Sting is impatient and keeps making mistakes going for the home run. Flair is great on offense during this time. The last 15 minutes is just balls to the wall can Sting pull out a major upset. Whats amazing is half of Sting's offense was just fucking No Selling. Flair took a greenhorn and made him look like The Man. Flair was just on fire. I cant say enough about his selling in the holds. Just so damn good. Look how good he was when he going for those backrakes and fishhooks, he looked nasty. In that last 15 minutes when it is all cardio and it is a race against the clock thats Flair in his element. This is A-Grade Flair Spot Calling combined with a very compelling Flair performance and a game opponent, thats all the recipe for one of the best matches of all-time. You know whats crazy, is I think they needed more time! I think some of this match was rushed that they could have spread out some of those Sting mistakes that this match would be even better! Only Ric Flair could ever need more time than 45 minutes to take his match to next level. He rocks! I am saying it here this match has become so overrated that it is now underrated. Clash of Champions I with MX vs Fantastics at ***** for me and Luger/Windham vs AA/Tully at ****3/4 and with this at a whopping ****3/4, it is undeniable to me that Clash I is the greatest US card of all time!