[1985-07-12-Houston Wrestling] Ric Flair vs Wahoo McDaniel

[shoe]

I believe this has never been seen. This was just a battle. The announcing put their history together so it made sense for this World Title Match to seem more personal. This was gritty. Both guys with brutal chops. Flair's 1st sell of the job was tremendous. His whole body gyrated from the force. Wahoo is 1st to bleed. Not to be outdone, Wahoo takes a bite out of Flair's forehead and spits the plasma out and Flair's bleeding. That was disgusting. I loved this match. A perfect example of non formula Flair. Their wasn't long heat and shine segments. This was just a fight. 4 1/4*

[Childs]

I think this one was on the Mid-South set. At least a match between them listed as 7/12 was on the set. I haven't compared the video.

[PhilTLL]

This one is new, the one on the set is mislabeled. That one is actually the rematch on 7/26, which is also on Classics.

[Childs]

Ok cool, tx.

[KB8]

I've been watching Will's Horsemen set so I'm on as close to a Flair kick right now as I've been in about a decade, and it's put me in the mood to rewatch some of what he was doing outside Crockett. This was pretty great when they were lacing into each other. The arena isn't mic'd up too well so you don't always get to hear the thwack on strikes, but some of these Wahoo chops are audible regardless. Flair has great chops, he always has, but he can't swing that knife edge like Wahoo and he's never had anything close to the overhand, so for once he's basically outmatched. And that was kind of the story. Flair will try and go toe to toe, but not only does it never end well for him, it never even approaches level footing. He'll throw one chop, maybe two at a push, and Wahoo will shred him. Flair simply can't hang. So I guess he decides he'll use the ropes at every opportunity and just cheat his way to victory. Maybe it was deliberate on the wrestlers' part, maybe it was a story they were actively telling, maybe I'm just projecting, but Flair's best friend in this match was the ring rope and if not for that he'd have been fucked. He wasn't only using it to cheat either. There were a few points where Wahoo dropped him with a chop or a tomahawk and Flair only escaped by draping a foot over the rope. Late on he tried to take it to the floor, but that backfired as well and it was him who wound up with a bloody forehead. Still, the ropes weren't going anywhere and they were always there to bail him out. Flair winning via dodgy pinfall with his feet on the ropes wasn't exactly a rarity, but I don't remember it ever being built to quite like that. Maybe that "build" was coincidental. It probably was, honestly. Either way it worked and overall this was good stuff.

[fxnj]

First Flair match I've seen in idk how many years. A good reminder of how his style isn't my thing. On positives, I liked getting a chance to see Wahoo's chops and it made me sad that there's no full matches between him and Johnny Valentine. There's one point where Flair walks to the camera when he's on the outside and you can see Wahoo's hand imprinted on his chest, and that got across the stiffness of Wahoo's chops more than anything else. I also admire the creativity of taking the usual shitty "heel gets his feet on the ring ropes" finish and trying to make it believable. That's probably the first time I've seen someone get a win off the 2nd pin attempt in a row, and it seemed like an intentional story they were building to with how Flair repeatedly places his feet on the ropes in the rest of the match. On the negatives, the matwork looked pretty bad with them both just laying around in loose holds, though it thankfully didn't take up more than a few minutes in the match. Flair also goes way overboard with his selling here with treating basically every Wahoo chop as a knockdown or near-knockdown. Selling just the first few hits like that would have worked to get over the surprise factor, but selling every hit like that looked cartoony and made the chops lose their novelty. I also found the transitions pretty weak. Yes, it doesn't follow the standard shine-heat-comeback formula but you still need sensible shifts in momentum and that aspect didn't really do it for me. Felt like it was built around Flair getting in his signature bumps more than anything else.

[MLB]

Flair absolutely idolizes Wahoo, which might've contributed to the overboard bumps from Ric (even by his standards) for this match.