[1999-03-14-WCW-Uncensored] Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan (Cage, First Blood)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I've seen this described as NWA fanfic, watching Flair win the title with referee Charles Robinson refusing to acknowledge his bleeding. As a double-turn, it's a massive failure and is sort of the moment WCW really fell off the rails. Yes the WWF had re-established itself as the #1 wrestling company by this point, but WCW was still successful until they made this switch. They do get the crowd to go with the turn, but it's Flair and Hogan, they know how to work a crowd into reacting the way they want. Flair wins the title again, which I don't think anyone expected at this point, and also takes the Presidency of WCW "for life", which should have been the finish of SuperBrawl. But when you see how he won it and the way he's presented after winning it, it's pretty obvious he was set up to fail here.

[tim]

As Tony Schiavone says, "this is bizarre." If I didn't read it in Loss' post I wouldn't know this was a double turn. Is Flair bleeding and Robinson ignoring it intentional? I guess Hogan Hulking up is a signal he's turning face? Anderson comes out to help Flair cheat which I guess is supposed to be the heel thing but he beats up David first .. surely David Flair turning last month is still a solidly heel move and him getting his comeuppance is still supposed to pop the crowd. Well, okay, let's see what the follow up is. Bizarre is right.

[Tim Evans]

So WCW turns it's new hot heel a babyface in a matter of a month. Sure why not. This is about as bad as Hogan pinning Flair in a strap match that didn't even involve Flair that one time. The lack of crowd heat is telling.

[soup23]

So this is a weird ass match where again the in ring work was fine and both were working hard but the overall narrative is a complete mess. A double turn that people don't get. TOrrie and David still involved. The tire iron. Charles Robinson. Everyone is just too convoluted and intertwined to make any sense of it. WCW does has the Starrcade 97, Finger poke and other seminal moments to point to their decline but this seems like one for sure because the effort and work is there of the people inside the ring but the booking is off and the two people that get praised for that hard work in the ring are to blame for some of the stuff outside of it. Hogan moreso than Flair but its all just a mess. **1/2

[Zenjo]

In any other year this would be guaranteed to be the most nonsensical match of the year. A first blood match where one guy bleeds for ages and the match continues like it's never happened. Until the pinfall that doesn't count. Except it does. The attempted double turn with no buildup or logic behind it. The fans are instantly supposed to forget the previous 3 years because Hogan has Hulked Up. What? The backstabbing, treacherous son getting his comeuppance is supposed to result in booing? Why? A referee who nobody had probably noticed suddenly becomes a central character. Uh huh, we needed that.

 

Come on Vince Russo. Top this if you can.

[PeteF3]

A complete mess indeed. Hogan and Flair *do* get the crowd reacting the way they want, to their sort-of credit. But everything else about this is awful. Nash has no idea as a booker how to commit to a premise, hence the build-up to a Hogan babyface turn involving him pulling off the most despicable heel acts imaginable and the entire layout of this match. He also has no idea how to properly prep announcers, resulting in the Treacherous Three basically making fools of themselves for the duration of the match. Schiavone tries to put over how the soon-to-be-heel Flair has "become a better man" as WCW President. No one has any idea if this is a First-Blood Match or not. No one's told them that Charles Robinson is supposed to be crooked. Nobody notices the fast count, or indeed that Flair won the first-blood match by pinfall. Schiavone cheers when Arn snap mares Torrie Wilson (whose jumping on Arn's back is a pure babyface spot).

 

And while it's easy to blame everything on Nash, Bischoff, and Hogan, I think Flair's feet need to be held to the fire a bit here. He's essentially bookending the decade of the '90s with an insistence on going back heel when nobody wants to see him in that role. He wasn't forced into turning by any means. WCW died from many wounds, but Ric wasn't blameless either.