[1998-01-19-WCW-Nitro] Ric Flair and Bret Hart

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[soup23]

More Flair vs. Bret? yes, please. Bret is really getting boo'd more and more with a big time USA chant coming out during his promo. Bret states that he has respect for Flair and thinks Flair is one of the greatest wrestler of all time. However, Bret grew up for wrestling his entire life. His whole life was waiting for this moment. Bret didn't disrespect THE WCW. Wait, this PPV was on a Saturday? I guess they didn't want to go against the conference championship football games. Bret gives a great promo saying Sunday morning Flair will feel the words, the best there is, was, and ever will be. Flair comes back firing of course and really builds up the ramifications of the match Saturday and how a loss will linger for days to come. Flair warns him with getting cocky and says he isn't going to ruin his night in the Big Easy. They did a great job of them having limited physical contact before this match. It really feels like a first time match in a lot of ways. Flair is one of the greatest of all times and this build is one of his unheralded accomplishments throughout his career.

[stomperspc]

Every time Gene pops up in the ring on one of these year books, I am hoping for a "shank of the evening" line. I think we are now two for two with that on this yearbook.

 

They risked repeating themselves at this point. While some of this did come off as stuff we had already seen in the previous weeks, both guys (Flair particularly) kept the feud moving forward. After things got very heated last time, both guys appear to have cooled down and there is never a real chance of anything escalating. At the same time, you can feel the tension and also understand where both Bret and Flair are coming from. Flair's reaction to Bret's final line about heating "those words" ringing in his head Sunday was classic Flair stuff. It made a so-so line come off like the world's biggest insult.

[Loss]

Flair has shined more in the previous segments but Bret gets more of a chance to talk here and does a really good job. Flair does an awesome job putting over the importance of winning this match. They have done a really good job hyping this match.

[tim]

Simple and very effective build for this match. Makes it feel like a big deal. Great promo from Flair and good stuff from Bret too.

[PeteF3]

"Shank of the evening"...until now, I had never heard of that phrase before.

 

Another strong segment between these two, helped because Bret cuts his best and most focused promo since jumping ship. Even as the rest of WCW's booking is in disarray, these two can sell a glass of water to a drowning man. In retrospect it's not hard to see why this show did better than expected.

[TravJ1979]

Flair is great and well on his way of being best on the mic in 1998, but we all know where that goes unfortunately. Bret does get to speak more here, but that isn't a good thing, he repeats himself and pretty much says nothing until his parting line that Flair sells so well. I must admit I can't imagine that Bret came up with that on his own.

 

RATING: Good thing "promo work" isn't the tiebreaker when arguing who is better because it is painfully obvious.