6 Reasons Ric Flair Is Not The GOAT In Wrestling
As a 16-time (some sources even count 20!) former World Heavyweight Champion, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair must be on any knowledgable fan's shortlist of G.O.A.T.s. Flair was winning gold before most of today's stars were even born, and helped further develop and popularize the gimmick he adopted from Buddy Rogers. To this day, 'Naitch' is a pop culture icon who - despite a ton of bad press and questionable behavior - still gets quoted and referenced regularly by wrestling fans and non-fans alike.
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In wrestling, like most industries, determining one true 'Greatest' is a fool's errand. While Bret Hart's 'rating system' is popular in some circles to determine a wrestler's cumulative value, in reality, it's a lot more subjective. Ric Flair's interviews are legendary, he's had multiple 'Match of the Year'-caliber bouts, and his 'Ric Flair Drip' is iconic, but is he really the greatest example of what a professional wrestler can - and more importantly, should - be? While the arguments in favor of granting Flair 'G.O.A.T.' status may be numerous, we think there are at least six reasons why Flair is not the Greatest (Wrestler) of All-Time.
6 Routine Man
Speaking of Bret Hart, the 'Hitman' has often criticized Flair for being what Hart describes in his 2007 autobiography as a 'Routine Man.' During his series of matches with Flair in late 1992 after winning the WWE Championship from the 'Nature Boy' that October, Hart says it was a struggle to get Flair to deviate from his usual nightly habits. This frustrated the 'Hitman,' who was trying to take the lead a little more in calling spots due to his newfound status as champ.
While Hart also somewhat ironically relied on his 'Five Moves of Doom' throughout his storied career, there's something to his criticism. Flair's spots - the Flair Flop, climbing the top rope just to be launched off by his opponent, his extremely stiff chops, to name a few - were always sure to get a pop from the crowd. However, unless there was some stipulation or another variable, if you've seen one Ric Flair match, you've sort of seen them all. Don't get it twisted - it's a great match, as current wrestlers could do a lot worse than to copy 'Natich.' However, much of the variety in Flair's best encounters, especially later in his career, depended on his opponent.
5 Relied On Great Opponents
Ric Flair has had top-flight matches with many opponents throughout his illustrious career. To list them all would be futile: Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat, Sting, Terry Funk, Randy Savage, Big Van Vader, and Shawn Michaels are among the legendary wrestlers who had classic matches with Flair.
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However, the thing about that list is most also had great matches with other wrestlers, too. For every Steamboat trilogy during Flair's NWA/WCW glory years, there's a stinker against the Junkyard Dog or 'Rugged' Ronnie Garvin. In addition, Flair gets a lot of credit for helping make Sting a household name in a star-turning match at the first Clash of the Champions in 1988, but he garnered equal criticism from future stars like Steve Austin and Shane Douglas for being unwilling to help them up WCW's proverbial ladder in the early 1990s.
4 Relied On The Horsemen
Ric Flair has said himself that his first World Title reign wasn't great, from his victory over Dusty Rhodes at a Kansas City house show in September 1981 until his loss to Harley Race at another house show, this time in Race's native St. Louis, in June 1983. The decision by the NWA Championship Committee (a dysfunctional 'team' of bookers from across the country's various regional promotions who had their own self-interests at heart) to make Flair the 'Man' for the first time was far from unanimous, and his reign was plagued by difficulties.
However, it's often glossed over that although they have their moments, Flair's (official) second and third reigns were good-but-not-great as well. It wasn't until Flair's fourth reign, which began when he recaptured the belt from Kerry Von Erich in Japan in May 1984, that he really began to hit his stride. Coincidentally (or is it), that just so happened to be the reign during which, in late 1985, the Nature Boy began being aided regularly by (kayfabe) cousins, Ole and Arn Anderson. Soon, the three would link up with Tully Blanchard and manager James J. Dillion to form the legendary Four Horsemen. It's impossible to overstate the Horsemen's importance, especially their future influence on heel factions in the industry. However, even though Flair was their unquestioned leader, the Horsemen were a unit. Cracks in their foundation began to form with Anderson and Blanchard's late 1988 departure to WWE. Despite several reunions over the next decade-plus, they (and Flair) never quite achieved the heights they did in their original run.
3 Didn't Work As A Babyface
The Four Horsemen almost always worked better as a heel faction than as babyfaces, and the same could be said for Flair solo. Although Flair was such a popular, 'cool heel' (before this became a thing), the inevitability of the cheers he and the Horsemen heard were ultimately to his detriment, as it meant that after about 1987 or so, it became quite difficult for bookers to get fans to truly hate the Nature Boy.
With that said, it seemed like every time Flair had what at first seemed like a hot face run brewing, it eventually ended in a heel turn. When Naitch's series of matches with Ricky Steamboat was so great that it earned fans' respect for the hated Flair, he turned face in a subsequent feud with Terry Funk. However, once the Horsemen reformed, it was clear that they were natural 'bad guys.' Flair's subsequent runs in WCW as a face - once upon his return from WWE in 1993 against Big Van Vader and later in early 1999 against Hulk Hogan and the reformed nWo - seemed like they could have been great, as fans were rabid for Flair to give the hated villains their comeuppance. However, both times it was Flair who asked to turn heel, which suggests that he was so uncomfortable as a face that he forced the issue.
2 Wasn't Even The Top Guy In North America At His Peak
Perhaps part of the reason why Flair was so much more interested in being a heel than a babyface during his peak was insecurity in his ability to match the drawing power of the industry's all-time top 'good guy' - WWE's Hulk Hogan. Hulkamania began in earnest in January 1984 amid Flair's first real run as a top heel, and for the next seven years, the ultimate question among wrestling fans was 'who would win if Hulk Hogan faced Ric Flair?"
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Despite Jim Crockett's (and later Ted Turner's) attempts at competing with WWE, it wasn't until Hogan came to WCW in 1994 that the company began to be seen as a real threat to Vince McMahon. It wasn't solely Flair's fault that Crockett couldn't reach the same heights as WWE in the '80s. However, Hogan definitely 'moved the needle' for WCW, leading to their highest-grossing PPVs ever in '94. When Flair came to WWE in 1991 - ostensibly for a Wrestlemania 8 main event match with Hogan that ended up not happening - his presence didn't do much for business either way.
1 Hung On Too Long
Ric Flair's WrestleMania 24 retirement match against Shawn Michaels wasn't a technical masterpiece, as Flair was 59 years old in 2008 (and HBK was only a couple of years away from his own farewell). However, it was one of the most emotional matches ever and remains fondly remembered by fans, despite what transpired in the following years. Some wrestlers like Terry Funk have retired - and subsequently un-retired - so often that it's become a running joke. For Flair fans, though, there was the hope that the Nature Boy, who experienced a career renaissance upon his WWE return in the mid-2000s, would bow out gracefully.
Those fans would end up being sorely disappointed. It was always expected that Flair would remain in the sport - even while he was still active, he essentially served as Evolution's manager, and with his daughter Ashley beginning her own training, his life's work was understandably incomplete. However, his in-ring retirement was over after a whole one and a half years, as by November 2009, Flair and longtime rival Hulk Hogan were facing off - and bleeding like stuck pigs - on Hogan's Australian Hulkamania tour. The 'Nature Boy' would further tarnish his reputation in a series of increasingly-meaningless matches in TNA. Yet in recent times, Flair mentioned that he'd like to make an in-ring return - if there's a promoter out there who'll have him.
