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Post by El Mckell on Jan 27, 2018 15:52:51 GMT -5
Call me crazy but this may be my highest ranked Vader match. Flair is an all time great babyface, don't listen to Flair himself on this point, and he does an incredible job here both winning sympathy and with one of the most unusual babyface comebacks but it was hugely effective both to me and to the Charlotte crowd. I think Vader sometimes gives too much to his opponent and hurts his great aura a little but no risk of that here as he just kills Flair for 90% of the match. So great that it would be 5 stars to me without Harley Race hitting that diving headbutt i think.
****3/4
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Post by microstatistics on Mar 16, 2018 17:17:55 GMT -5
Interesting match in that some think it's overrated and some think it's a classic. I'm in the middle with it. Really good hard hitting stuff and plenty of emotion. Agree Flair was a great babyface. Vader was Vader. Second.
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Post by jml on Jun 23, 2018 19:03:57 GMT -5
I will third this. First time I saw this was years after it happened and still thought it was great. You can get wrapped up easily with the story of Ric's career on the line cause of Vader's work being so good and believable. I'm personally a Flair mark and this was always to me one of his best performances.
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Post by superstarsleeze on Jul 28, 2018 20:14:33 GMT -5
Emotion carries the day here. It will be a close cut. The ultimate feel good moment of Ric Flair's career.
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs Ric Flair - WCW Starrcade 1993
How can you not get emotional watching this? The opening video package is amazing. Vader showing up in the Ribera Jacket saying we are going to have a party and he likes this kinda party was great. Flair being picked up by Okerlund in the limo was cool. "If there is no more Ric Flair, who will go Wooo?" - Fan to Flair in 1993, amazing. The world without Ric Flair is going to be a lot less fun. Vader is such a great brute. I love that double fist pump Ric Flair gives on the entrance way. He loves pro wrestling. Pro wrestling loves him.
I'll be honest this is more lopsided than I remember, but it is fine by me because Vader was in a ridiculous groove at the time point in his career. There may be no wrestler at working heat segments ever. That's a big claim, but his brutality is totally engrossing. You cant take your eyes off Vader destroying an opponent. You see tuffs of blond hair burst into the air with each massive blow. Flair taking it to Vader early was the wrong idea. Flair chops and Vader just shoves him. "You aren't man enough" Vader twists him into a Greco-Roman Knucklelock and beats the shit out of him. Flair is the king of verbal selling and the way he hollers in pain is great. Of course, what makes Vader a great heat segment worker is how he feeds for his babyface to get hope spots. Vader misses and eats the railing. The electricity when Flair chops and punches was amazing. Flair has great, great punches. We don't talk about that enough. Harley interrupts this comeback and Flair takes a wicked bump on the floor. Vader DESTROYS Flair. Huge superplex! Punches and forearms. Wicked clotheslines. He busts open Flair real good on a lariat to the mouth. Flair "You son of a bitch!" Flair bleeding from the mouth adds to this grittiness. The fact he is in way over his head against this unstoppable monster. Vader starts to give Flair more opening. A missed splash here and a missed splash there. Vader locks up Flair again and this time Flair goes to the eye. Then Flair just unloads with punches and CHOPS HIM IN THE FACE! Off comes the mask. Vader's face is cut up and red. Hell Yes! Flair goes for the leg. The crowd comes alive. You can hear the excitement in Tony's voice. Wraps the Grizzly Bear's leg around the post and then the chair to the knee. Vader tries to attack. Flair just starts beating the shit out of his face while Vader yells "Hit me! Hit me!" Flair crowns him with a chair. That is the one sequence I always remember. This comeback is positively electric. It is the ultimate fist pump. You want to know you are over? Pick up someone's foot and see a crowd lose their shit. Flair picks up Vader's foot to setup for the figure-4 and the crowd goes wild. Vader still has some fight in him. Missed Vaderbomb! Figure-4! This should have been the finish. I know Vader submitting might have hurt his image but damn it would have been great. Vader gets control again after he makes the ropes. MISSED VADERSAULT! Insane spot. Flair covers. Harley headbutts Vader. Fun spot, but not necessary. The finish sucks as Vader does get back up and then Flair tabletops for the win. Doesn't matter Flair wins and it is one of the loudest pops of all time.
Great performances by both wrestlers. Vader comes across as an unbeatable monster. Flair is selling like a champ and really does feel over his head. What I love about Flair's offense it is all chops and punches! He came to fight! This match comes across as a fight and Flair is fighting for his life! Vader is the king of the missed move and does a great job giving Flair openings and selling for Flair's molten hot comebacks. I actually really liked the finish stretch just not the finish. Big fight feel and a big fight that delivered. Long Live The Nature Boy! ****1/2
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Post by Cap on Aug 6, 2018 20:02:10 GMT -5
From my rewatch writeup on 7/2/2018 Vader vs Ric Flair (WCW Title – 12/27/1993) Current Rank: NR Trending: Down While the Sting match exceeded my expectations and my memories, this match sort of let me down and it does so every time I watch it. I can’t express enough that I still love the overall product that is this match. It isn’t a technical masterpiece, but not all great wrestling is. This always feels like it delivers on emotion and it comes up short everywhere else to me. Part of it is my own expectations. If this were Hogan and Andre I would call this over delivering, but it isn’t. The ending is something I just can’t get past. Its both over convoluted and sort of sloppy. Additionally, I have trouble getting into face Flair here. I know conventional wisdom says that the big monster needs to be the heel, but it just doesn't work for me. . He isn’t built to physically go toe to toe with Vader. I could buy heel Flair doing heel Flair stuff to get the upper hand (and we see some borderline version of that), but it just doesn’t work at the level that I want it to in my brain. Full post can be found here: gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/657/caps-watching-project-reports#ixzz5NRxCMYgk
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Post by elliott on Sept 12, 2023 23:14:24 GMT -5
Gotta say I liked this more than I ever have. Huge spectacle, amazing crowd, Flair catches a beating while making firey comebacks. Tony Schiavone with a GOAT performance on commentary (seriously Tony rules here). This is one of those moments where everything comes together. I mean it was supposed to be Sid winning the title here but Arn really took one for the team.
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Post by puroraisedme on Jan 23, 2024 0:25:05 GMT -5
If this isn’t Vader’s best match then I don’t know what is. Absolutely tremendous match.
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Post by elliott on Jan 23, 2024 0:41:41 GMT -5
This has definitely aged better for me over time to the point where I'd at least think about it for Vader's best match and I think it's Flair's best singles match after 1989.
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Post by [Darren] on Jan 23, 2024 6:07:56 GMT -5
This match is weird because I lived it as a kid. I watched this tape all the time. As an adult Vader became one of my favorites but I rarely think about this one. I need to sit down with it. I tried recently but couldn’t give it the attention.
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Post by puroraisedme on Jan 23, 2024 6:14:02 GMT -5
This match is weird because I lived it as a kid. I watched this tape all the time. As an adult Vader became one of my favorites but I rarely think about this one. I need to sit down with it. I tried recently but couldn’t give it the attention. It's one of, if not the last truly great Flair match. The Savage match in 95 or honestly even the Michaels match in 08 could both definitely be pointed at for that conversation but this is on a whole other level imo.
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Post by [Darren] on Jan 23, 2024 6:23:16 GMT -5
This match is weird because I lived it as a kid. I watched this tape all the time. As an adult Vader became one of my favorites but I rarely think about this one. I need to sit down with it. I tried recently but couldn’t give it the attention. It's one of, if not the last truly great Flair match. The Savage match in 95 or honestly even the Michaels match in 08 could both definitely be pointed at for that conversation but this is on a whole other level imo. The Savage GAB match is fantastic. I also remember not hating the Havoc 94 match with Hogan, the two 94 Steamboat matches were good, the 95 match against Arn was good. Flair had some great tag matches of the time. Im also unsure if I’ve actually ever watched the “I’m sorry, I love you” match.
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Post by puroraisedme on Jan 23, 2024 6:29:14 GMT -5
It's one of, if not the last truly great Flair match. The Savage match in 95 or honestly even the Michaels match in 08 could both definitely be pointed at for that conversation but this is on a whole other level imo. The Savage GAB match is fantastic. I also remember not hating the Havoc 94 match with Hogan, the two 94 Steamboat matches were good, the 95 match against Arn was good. Flair had some great tag matches of the time. Im also unsure if I’ve actually ever watched the “I’m sorry, I love you” match. I remember really enjoying the Bash at the Beach 94 match against Hogan a lot but I haven't watched the Havoc match. The 2 Steamboat matches I still need to see as well as the Arn match. The Shawn match is really great WWE melodrama.
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Post by elliott on Jan 23, 2024 10:36:47 GMT -5
When was the last time anyone watched the Flair vs Regal thing?
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Post by fxnj on Jan 23, 2024 10:40:42 GMT -5
What about Flair/Foley in TNA?
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Post by timm on Jan 23, 2024 13:17:20 GMT -5
The Flair vs. Big Show WWECW match has long been a favorite of mine.
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