[1994-04-30-WCW-Worldwide] Ric Flair vs Steven Regal

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Since this is essentially one match, we spliced them all together under the first air date, even though it aired over multiple weeks. They were all on the same taping, and they did new entrances for each round, but they were all different rounds in the same match. It will be fun to take a look at this in one viewing, since I don't think I ever have.

 

Round 1

Flair looks great. It's really fun seeing him break out so many things on the mat that he almost never does. This round goes about seven minutes and is a draw, but Regal won the round on a 2-1 judge's decision. Hey, Grizzly Smith was a judge! And Sgt. Craig Pittman?

 

Round 2

More of the same. You almost wish this could have gotten some time on PPV at some point, because Flair feels so fresh due to the difference in style. This time, Flair is the more dominant one, where the first round was more even. The judges scored this round evenly, which surprises me since Flair controlled so much of it.

 

Round 3

Terry Taylor has replaced Grizzly Smith as a judge. While the work is still really good, this is suffering in presentation. Jesse is an improvement over Bobby in this style, but the Worldwide Arena is hindering it. I would love to see how an arena crowd would respond to this, though. Regal applying the armbar while Flair is standing but he's laying on the mat is tremendous. Flair applies the figure four with a little over 30 seconds left on the clock and Regal hangs on. It's not enough, as Flair wins the round based on unanimous judge's decision.

 

Round 4

This gets a little more aggressive, with Regal landing some aggressive uppercuts, Flair going stiff with the chops, and Regal locking in a bow and arrow. Regal's execution of simple moves like a backslide is just tremendous. Flair takes a bump to the floor after an awkwardly awesome collision. This has been the best round so far. They go to another draw.

 

Round 5

Ok, my understanding had always been that this was one match, but WCW edited it to make it seem like more. Round 5, with Flair with a haircut in a different robe, and with changes to the Worldwide set, makes clear that isn't the case. The last minute of this with Regal throwing rapid fire uppercuts has some great drama, and the finish of Sir William interfering behind the ref's back costing him the deciding round was some fun poetic justice. The judges ruled this a draw, so now we're in sudden death.

 

The action here is pretty intense, as they are both desperately trying to win the round. Flair gets the win by pinfall despite Sir William interference.

 

*************

 

Because of the confusion over whether to count this as one match, two matches or five matches, I'm not going to include this in the rankings for the month. But this is something everyone should check out, because Flair and Regal really do work well together. Even this late, Flair was capable of doing something fresh and having great matches as long as he was booked properly.

 

Taken all together, this is ****-****1/4 and would likely be in the top 100 for the year. It's a great "match". But it's not fair to consider it one match.

[Loss]

Of course, I have to mention Flair's post-match promo, which is great, as he shoots on the Worldwide crowd for cheering based on cue cards and throws a few digs at Hogan. Awesome.

[Kevin Ridge]

This is interesting. Craig Pittman! Ideally the whole match with the five rounds should have been done all at once and not showing a round each week. It is cool to see Flair switch things up at this point of his career. Refreshing change of pace for him working this style with Regal. Maybe Flair gets knocked on his score in the second round for his late chop against the ropes? Still felt like Flair controlled the round. Jesse takes over on commentary and he immediately takes shots at the Marines.

 

Doesn't seem right that you can change the judges during the rounds as Taylor is now judging. I love Bobby but Ventura is better suited to provide commentary for this type of match. Fifth round arena set up does not feel like a wrestling location. Prince William finally gets involved in match. Judges are now too pleased about this.

 

Overtime period is very heated. Flair with a pretty animated victory celebration. Arn even comes out to join in. Flair shows off the Cup after. Really good match. This would have been better as a whole match on a single show when you can add in the exhaustion of the longer match.

[Exposer]

Jesse hates Marines. And this is really great too. I'd say the last two rounds were the best as there was more fire and aggression in everything they did. Flair's post-match promo was awesome as well. Both guys did an exceptional job. This shouldn't be overlooked. Excellent demonstration of mat work and aggressiveness. It's a very impressive "match."

[soup23]

Real interesting concept that was executed so well. The aggression really amped up in the last two rounds and I also loved all the little crossover and takedowns Flair sprinkled into this. Regal looked very strong and was able to hang with Flair.

[El-P]

They were all on the same taping, and they did new entrances for each round, but they were all different rounds in the same match.

Actually, the final round was not taped on the same set of tapings, which is why Flair doesn't have the same haircut.

Super fun series of match. Flair adapting to Regal is great so watch.

[PeteF3]

Heenan starting to explain the history of the Queensbury Cup was amusing. "You see, in 1545 Queen Victoria..." and then Schiavone pulls the mic away.

 

This is almost a total World of Sport-style match, and way outside of Ric's usual comfort zone. Then again, he presumably booked this, so good for him. I may be run out of town on a rail for this, but I actually like the Worldwide set. It's the antiseptic cue-carded crowd that kills things--booing Regal for doing a snap mare...really? Regal wins round 1 and round 2 is a draw, despite Flair being in control for a majority of it. Jesse joins us for round 3 and damned if I haven't missed him. He immediately cracks Schiavone up by ragging on the Marines, in reference to judge Craig Pittman. Flair has been busting out some new stuff here, he even does a semi-cross armbreaker at one point. Round 3 is the best so far, as they ramp up the intensity and they pay off Flair attempting to get in the figure four. That said, this is when it becomes apparent that this would work better as a straight-up, one-week WOS match. Round 5+6 top this off beautifully--they get the story over perfectly of Regal winning the final round, but having points deducted due to an umbrella shot from Sir William. That prompts a classic old-style Ventura meltdown. Flair eventually puts this away with 30 seconds to go in the sudden-death round.

 

Hard to rate this compared to a standard match or even a standard match with rounds, but this was awesome. This is Flair working almost a totally different style than normal, but in a hell of a lot better way than at Starrcade '90. It's the freshest he's looked in some time and as fresh as he'll look for some time to come as well.

[Zenjo]

This was totally unique. In real time the match finished on 5/12, having started about 3 months earlier by the look of things. It does all fit together though and work as one match when viewed like this. So I'll rate it as such. Great job splicing all the footage together Will.

 

Fought in the European style with 5m rounds. The emphasis was on pure wrestling with some nice technique on display. They were well matched opponents and both men impressed with their mat skills. The 3 judges had obviously been bought, so they scored it a draw. After 5m overtime Flair gets the duke and a nice trophy to join the vast collection. Except he probably had to sell them after blowing all his money. 30m of wrestling in total. A wacko idea, but I appreciated the originality and the work.