sek69 Posted August 1, 2022 Report Share Posted August 1, 2022 Dave pointing out that Ric looked way better in those training videos with Jay Lethal than he did tonight, and also the foot injury he mentioned having like 2 weeks ago would have put out a young wrestler for like a month. I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted August 1, 2022 Report Share Posted August 1, 2022 Looks like the folks who watched nearly got two career-ending matches for the price of one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted August 1, 2022 Report Share Posted August 1, 2022 Flair looked really gassed at the end - like, he was unable to lift his body up on the figure four. At all. Hoping that realization means it's actually the end, although something tells me this sold enough tickets that he may try again at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embrodak Posted August 1, 2022 Report Share Posted August 1, 2022 Flair doing his entrance looked like that scene in The Irishman where they slapped de-aging tech over a clearly elderly Robert De Niro beating a guy up, only they forgot the VFX. Just incomprehensibly old-looking - pudgy, stiff and slow mannerisms, cheaply-made robe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 1, 2022 Report Share Posted August 1, 2022 There would be so much to say about the show, first how completely surrealistic the whole thing was in term of how many people from so many promotions got together. Fucking Taker at ringside with Foley ? Bret showing up at the end (looking like "hey, I'm glad I did not came back to look that that... fuck, forgot about that Mania with Vince"). Jim Cornette being so alienated in the pro-wrestling industry that in a show about Flair's last match which had David Crockett (as useless as ever, a joy to hear), Sting, Lex Luger, Shawn Micheals, a cameo by Jerry Lawler (write your own jokes), people from IMPACT, MLW, NWA, AEW, WWE, NJPW, AAA, ROH, and even Dixie fucking Carter sending her wishes, he would be nowhere to be found. The fact all of this was put together by that predatory loan shark turned wrestling podcast empire owner who also happens to be the other son-in-law.... really, DA FUCK ? I mostly was there for the undercard, which was a mish-mash was really good stuff, like the opener and of course the insane lucha match, which totally stole the show (and Taurus being the greatest base in pro-wrestling as he actually saves lives, Bandido owns him one big time), and other stuff not so good. One thing that was so striking to me is how many "sons-of" there was on this show, and which ones are going to be stars and great workers. I thought the worst thing (until the main event) was the rather sad to watch (until the main event) Ricky & his son Morton vs Pillman & Anderson (the sons of). As much as Ricky still looked active a few years back, now he looks like he's done. And the three other guys... they come off are re-enactors. See also, the Von Erichs, who have been around for about 10 years and never gathered any hype whatsoever, and really only ever got booked because of their name. Here they looked like the Smoking Gunns if Billy had forgotten his boots. And really now, to have a nothing match with the Briscoes, that takes some special kind of mediocre. Pillman as a heel looked better than usual. Anderson is ok, but CM was miles better, and that was more than 20 years ago. The son of Morton really showed me zilch. Meanwhile, Nick Wayne, at 17 years old, is better than any 17 years old I've ever seen this side of Terry Gordy (not sure how old Rey was when he had his first great matches in AAA). He's looking up at Will Ospreay, not people from 35/40 years ago. And he actually had a MOTYC match with Ospreay in GCW already. How good will this kid be in 5 years, when he'll be 22 ? 22 ! Yeah, there's something there about people training early, and looking at the present and forward, not behind. Kudos for Rachelle Ellering because it's obvious she screwed up her ankle badly, yet she still worked the match. Kinda screwed up the dynamic though, as everybody seemed to kinda go through the motions to get the match in and out. Reminds me that I need to catch up with IMPACT, I miss watching Deonna Purrazzo. Alexander vs Fatu was fun, but I've seen countless much better matches from Alexander in the last three years. So yeah, for all its hype, Fatu is kinda like a Brian Cage to me, not better. Post match with DDP showing up from nowhere like it's 1997 was pretty cool and made up for the "Can't have a winner in this interpromotional match" booking straight out of the 80's. I must say, Scarlett Bordeaux. I forgot. Damn. Oh there was a match happening too. They should really have made it a *Capitol Hill on a poll match*. At one point when these two guys were slapping meat and Scarlett was heard screaming "Harder !", my mind wandered for a second of two... Can I get Scarlett and that guy with hair on IMPACT or something ? Or ROH ? Yeah, that main event... Does anyone really enjoyed seeing a 73 years old wrinkled-ass with barely any mobility (he could barely do the strut, really), bleeding a bit, looking like he was gonna die at the end and really doing *nothing*. Hell, apart from one or two shots, he could not even throw a good chop. He took that one suplex bump, which was even lesser than what they thought he could do. Seriously, is that the last picture Flair wanted of him inside the ring ? I thought it was pretty pathetic and embarrassing. Meanwhile, you know who looked like he was in great shape, got shitload of heat and actually stole the show and made this main event semi-watchable ? Jeff fucking Jarrett. From the awesome entrance, to the interactions with Karen, who's as great as ever as a heel valet (I want her on my TV every week like it's 2011 TNA), to his simple but efficient and crisp looking work. This guy, who was fired by Vince on TV, who's now back in a post-Vince WWE in a higher up office job, who manages to slide his way into this spot, working with two AEW guys, using his TNA theme, making himself the last man ever pinned by Flair, but really he did all the work including a Double J Special with the guitar spot... If I'm Triple H, I'm looking behind my back when I walk through Titan Towers corridors, because when all it's said and done, who fucking knows. Post match promo was okay I guess, as it was about the fans, the family and.... Kid Rock ? Da fuck ? Yeah. Really good production (thank you IMPACT guys, apparently), cool interpromotional feel (including Nick Gage and GCW invading the Bunkhouse Brawl) but Flair really had no business in the ring at this age, and this is probably not how you want to remember him. Then again, Dark Side of the Ring wasn't the way you wanted to remember him either, I guess... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted August 1, 2022 Report Share Posted August 1, 2022 Oh my fucking GOD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted August 1, 2022 Report Share Posted August 1, 2022 12 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: Oh my fucking GOD Did Fritz book this show? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted August 2, 2022 Report Share Posted August 2, 2022 5 hours ago, Blehschmidt said: Did Fritz book this show? Conrad's going to be really embarrassed when he finally gets around to doing a show that's not about WWE/WCW/ECW, learns about World Class and realizes what he's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embrodak Posted August 2, 2022 Report Share Posted August 2, 2022 Jim Cornette has been talking shit about Ric Flair wrestling another match at his age and with his health for months, and basically agreeing with his cohost that Flair needs to exit the public eye because he’s embarrassing himself. Corny is many things, many of them bad, but even if wrestling were more like he likes it, I don’t think he would have shown up to something like this. Bizarre, sad, cynical, business-exposing, needlessly reckless, this checked all the boxes he hates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted August 2, 2022 Report Share Posted August 2, 2022 16 hours ago, Embrodak said: Jim Cornette has been talking shit about Ric Flair wrestling another match at his age and with his health for months, and basically agreeing with his cohost that Flair needs to exit the public eye because he’s embarrassing himself. Corny is many things, many of them bad, but even if wrestling were more like he likes it, I don’t think he would have shown up to something like this. Bizarre, sad, cynical, business-exposing, needlessly reckless, this checked all the boxes he hates. That’s all true. Cornette was never in favour of this spectacle at any point I ever heard. The talking points going around suggesting that Cornette would somehow be in support of this fiasco and especially that he might show up to it, are pretty hysterical. Aside from the fact that Cornette would never support this mess, he’s made it loud and clear that he’s essentially retired from any and all public appearances. That hasn’t stopped people from chortling about how he’d obviously have loved the idea of this match, or that he must have been shunned because he didn’t show up for it. Put everything else aside. This event was promoted by Conrad Thompson. Jim Cornette is partners with Brian Last, who has discussed at great length how he will never work with Conrad Thompson (he fired John Arezzi for asking to work with Thompson.) Cornette supporting this event was never going to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 3, 2022 Report Share Posted August 3, 2022 Hey, had no idea what Corny's feelings were about that one, so, makes sense. It's just that with so many people sending videos, it was odd not to see him, as Flair was such a part of his prime. So apparently Flair was knocked loopy and forgot most of the match happening. Holy shit, it was even a worse idea than it seemed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted August 3, 2022 Report Share Posted August 3, 2022 The last eight minutes or so of the match is one of the single worst wrestling performances I have ever seen. Taking strikes and not even registering (let alone selling), taking a tag while laying down, passing out himself while administering his own finishing hold. It was brutal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted August 3, 2022 Report Share Posted August 3, 2022 All that is true and yet it was still not as bad as everyone feared it could be since no one died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strobogo Posted August 3, 2022 Report Share Posted August 3, 2022 Yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted August 3, 2022 Report Share Posted August 3, 2022 Kimbo Slice did die months after his "fight" against Dada 5000 (who himself nearly lost his life). I imagine a match like that would be pretty grueling even in the long term. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 4, 2022 Report Share Posted August 4, 2022 I did found quite funny that on Dynamite they did not say a word about Lethal working Flair's last match but did refer to the card to promote Mance Warner. Like, yeah, better not mention the truly embarrassing part of the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted August 4, 2022 Report Share Posted August 4, 2022 I can't wait for Ric Flair's next last match ever! In my mind, it was all just to make Carny Conrad money & give Flair one last reason to have an aftershow party because he's an alcoholic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted August 5, 2022 Report Share Posted August 5, 2022 Via 411: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Ric Flair’s Last Match was a huge success, business-wise, and was one of the most successful independent events in recent history. The show had an attendance of 6,800 fans with a gate of $448,502. That’s the second-largest independent gate in North America, just behind All In’s 10,541 paid and $458,525 gate. It had between 20,000 and 25,000 streaming PPV buys and around 4,200 TV cable buys. Of those who bought WWE Summerslam, only 2.07% also bought this show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 5, 2022 Report Share Posted August 5, 2022 1 hour ago, The Thread Killer said: Of those who bought WWE Summerslam, only 2.07% also bought this show. Wow. I would be interested to see the overlap with the last AEW PPV (not ROH not NJPW joint show) and IMPACT PPV (especially since IMPACT had a lot of talent involved plus the production crew, which is why they promoted their next special during the show). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted August 5, 2022 Report Share Posted August 5, 2022 11 minutes ago, El-P said: Wow. I would be interested to see the overlap with the last AEW PPV (not ROH not NJPW joint show) and IMPACT PPV (especially since IMPACT had a lot of talent involved plus the production crew, which is why they promoted their next special during the show). Per Meltz: "Of those who purchased Double or Nothing on regular PPV, 3.46 percent bought this show, while 4.43 percent of those who purchased Forbidden Door purchased this show. Of those who purchased the Flair show, 26.14 percent bought Forbidden Door and 73.86 percent did not. Of those who purchased this show, 29.49 percent purchased Double or Nothing and 70.51 percent did not. The WWE number would be misleading as far as the percentage of those who bought the Flair show because most WWE viewers didn’t pay for SummerSlam specifically, but of those who did, the 2.07 percent number is an accurate figure to show those who did pay for WWE had a smaller crossover than those who pay for AEW but most of the viewers of this show aren’t buyers of WWE or AEW." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 5, 2022 Report Share Posted August 5, 2022 Thanks. Pretty interesting. I wonder how much % is actually happy of having bought that after the fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted August 5, 2022 Report Share Posted August 5, 2022 After seeing the end results, I am really happy I did not buy the Flair show. I was considering it, mostly for the undercard but then I found out later that they cut most of those matches really short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 7, 2022 Report Share Posted August 7, 2022 The pathetic never ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted August 7, 2022 Report Share Posted August 7, 2022 I guess he finally got over Colon helping Brody's murderer get off scot-free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Wolfe Posted August 7, 2022 Report Share Posted August 7, 2022 Hopefully he goes Japan next and Kobashi throws a bit of Family Mart katsu fillet at him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.