[1997-09-29-WCW-Nitro] Interview: Ric Flair

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Ric Flair calls in to do the best promo he has done in years and I think it would have been so much more effective if we could see him. I don't want to take the paranoia about them undercutting Flair too far, but they definitely don't maximize the potential benefit of anything he does. He thanks Curt Hennig for giving him a wake up call that he's probably needed for a while. He has been guilty of being caught off guard and was stupid enough not to see it coming. Four years ago, he would have left Hennig laying a week before the match even happened. The stitches are out next week and Flair will be back in his face very soon.

 

Second, Flair wants to address Hogan wearing the sleeveless Nature Boy robe and I'm pretty sure he means every word he says. "In the past 20 years, I haven't heard one person say you could fill my shoes, much less wear my robe, pal!"

 

Finally, Flair praises Benoit and Mongo for their help, but says that's not how wrestling works. They need to go their own way and Flair needs to go his own way, so he is disbanding the Horsemen. Schiavone is shocked on that.

[Gregor]

I'd never heard this before. It's up there with Bret's heel turn promo and his Hart family reunion promo as the best I've heard from 1997.

[Kevin Ridge]

Great line by Flair towards Hogan. You feel bad for Ric right now and want him to come back and kick ass. Flair disbands the Horsemen which is sad but the right thing with Anderson no longer around. Strong promo by Flair that it would have been live in the arena but it did have the benefit of not having Okerlund interview him.

[soup23]

Outstanding promo but really where I feel the Flair in 1997 stuff goes awry. I have again been defending both the NWO parody and the Hennig turn and can get behind everything Ric says here about Curt and the wake up call that was needed. The Hogan stuff is again him addressing Hogan but it feels really muddled with everything else going on with Hulk. The lines from Flair is great though. Him disbanding the Horseman could have been used for dramatic effect if the Horseman would have stuck together the next week but feels really hollow when looking back in retrospect. Again Tony plays this off magnificently and adds to the gravity of the moment.

[El-P]

I don't think I had heard this promo before. And yes, one of the best he's cut in years. Too bad it won't lead to anything up to its measure though. Tony is excellent playing the whole thing off too. The Horsemen are dead, at least until 1999.

[PeteF3]

Flair cuts a low-key, philosophical promo--this is as good as his "retirement" 14 years earlier at the hands of Race, Orton, and Slater. He has words for Hennig and Hogan, and then does a great job of putting over Benoit and imploring him to go his own way. And then does a damn good job of making McMichael into something. Flair stresses that he's not breaking up the Horsemen--just asking for a grace period. And he wraps it up by putting over the whole Havoc and Nitro card. Fantastic stuff from the Man, just as you'd expect.