[1996-05-25-WCW-Pro] Ric Flair vs Brad Armstrong

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Notable for Flair putting Armstrong over, if only by DQ. But mind-boggling in a few ways. First, it's actually a hell of a match even though it's short, as Armstrong seems to be putting forth a big effort. Second, it's on Pro, which was being taped from MGM at this point. This is the first syndicated match on the set, and the cheer/boo stuff looks even more stupid in hindsight than it did at the time. Third, the announcers ignore it, but Woman is holding the world title for Flair at ringside, so this had to be at least a month old. Had Armstrong won the cruiserweight tournament or made a strong showing, this result would make sense. But why protect Brad Armstrong in a syndicated match against the world champion? It also makes me wonder how long Flair was originally supposed to hold the belt, before they ended his run early for missing a house show.

 

Very WCW in every way.

[PeteF3]

I did like Woman's groveling apology after the match, and Armstrong looked good, but...sheesh. Flair gets dominated for most of the match, needs bailed out by Woman after Brad hits the Russian legsweep, then gets disqualified? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[soup23]

Armstrong winning by DQ was something to see as it was so odd. The highlight to me was Flair running out Wild Cat Willy from the Pro studio. This was good on the set to have a courtesy look at Flair in this small environment but the dominant run of him in the beginning of the year is now a thing firmly in the past. **

[tim]

Entire match is basically the beginning of a longer Flair match, with Armstrong getting the best of Flair working around a headlock. It's really energetic and fun stuff, Armstrong's dropkicks look really good. Kind of a swerve ending; you totally expect Flair to cheat and hit him with the knuckles, but you don't expected him to be found out and DQ'd.