[1999-04-19-WCW-Nitro] Ric Flair and Roddy Piper

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Flair is an absolute riot in this. He says every time he's in town, Gator fans want him to go across the street to the bar because they think they can outdrink him. But he's ready to buy the entire town of Gainesville a round of drinks if they want to take him on when Roddy Piper returns. He's being booed loudly and gets drowned out every time he tries to talk. Seriously, WCW, stop using this guy. Piper's role is to tell Flair he's lost it and try to intervene. Piper cites Flair stripping to his underwear and throwing his shoes in the audience as proof he's not fit for office, so Flair strips down again and asks him if he has a problem with it. This time, Flair strips down and he has Gator boxers on. So many funny moments here. Charles Robinson tries to put a robe on Flair and can't do it. Anyway, Piper reveals that he has paperwork to show that Flair has been deemed incompetent and he's being removed from the WCW Presidency. Flair says no way and responds by firing Piper, and then says he's giving Florida back the National title from Tennessee. Crowd LOVES that one. Piper points out that he also signed a match against Kevin Nash that night and Flair says he'll kick his ass from there to Knoxville. Arn faints in the corner. Flair says Piper is fired but he is facing him at Slamboree in a funny, nonsensical announcement. Such a tremendously entertaining segment, even if Flair is not being used in the way he should be at all.

[tim]

This is one of the most hilarious wrestling segments ever. Just an absurd spectacle. Flair is out of his mind, which seems to be the angle!, and Piper gets big heat. I love Piper giving reasons why Flair must be insane and Arn responding with "yeah, it's just Ric." The best thing is that Flair really IS more crazy than usual but "it's just Ric" really is a reasonable explanation. Arn fainting when Nash/Flair is announced is great. Maybe this is a silly booking move for Flair but man is this segment something else.

[Tim Evans]

The Gator fan in me loves that Flair is such a big fan. It will help his GWE case. Anyways, this is amazing. Flair is out of his mind throwing his shoes and clothes into the crowd. They go bonkers for him. Arn pulls a Fred Sanford and is hilarious as the straight man. Piper is useless though. Why would the commissioner be able to tell the president what to do? Piper is like Vince Mcmahon circa 1994 with all the 90's references. Slingblade, Al Bundy etc.

[soup23]

PIper has needed to buzz off for a while now and the crowd sending him that message directly with boos worked for me. Flair is a ridi in this and amped to a ten. I don't think this was a good use of him at all but damn if it wasn't memorable and he embraced the role presented. Arn also does his part by fainting in the corner at the Kevin Nash match. This feels like everything good and bad with WCW right now rolled into one segment.

[PeteF3]

Parts of this were funny, parts of this were sad, a few parts were just dull, but overall the segment kept your attention, sometimes for the right reasons. That said, I think this is the segment that definitively proves that for all of WCW's faults in 1999, *some* of the blame has to fall on Flair himself. He's the one who's bookending the decades with selfish decisions to turn himself heel because he's more comfortable that way, but now for one of the first times in his career he refuses to commit to it--Flair of course is a big Gator fan and buddies with the Head Ball Coach, so he shamelessly kisses up to the Gainesville audience and babyfaces himself all over again while also trying to sell that he's become a crazy old embarrassment. Piper is beyond useless at this point but Flair set him up to fail here. Oh, and Psicosis' Cruiserweight title victory is only the second-biggest shock of the show, #1 now being that WCW is actually going to run Flair vs. Piper on PPV in 1999. Flabbergasting--that match was past its sell-by date two years before this.