[1988-01-02-NWA-Pro] Ric Flair vs Sting

[Loss]

All the Flair-Sting sequences you’ve come to know and love in what I think was the first televised match these two ever had. Within the first three minutes, Flair goes up for two press slams. Still, this is fun because at this point, this is a fresh matchup. The feud hadn’t really gotten started yet, and Sting was just a UWF reject midcarder, so Flair did a lot to get him over as a worthy challenger, completely bitching out (yeah, I said it) for the test of strength and letting Sting shrug off his chops. The no-sell of the vertical suplex was a rare spot at this point since the Nikita feud was over a year old and the Luger feud hadn’t kicked in yet, so that got quite the reaction. After the first commercial break, Flair is working over Sting’s arm but we missed the transition, but even that offense is about putting Sting over by angling him in ways to show off Sting’s physique to the camera and letting him constantly tease comebacks. When Sting tries to strong arm his way out of it, Flair catches him with one of the best low blows I’ve ever seen. This is fun just because it’s such a lively match, and it even gets really good when Flair starts building heat with the figure four. But the stories of Arn and Tully watching Flair matches around this time and not getting why Flair was working like this and trying to talk to Ric about it sure make sense. Flair had no strong babyface opponents and felt like he had to work overtime to get all these Johnny-come-latelies over as credible challengers. It’s also a great display of the contradictions present in Flair’s work that cause a lot of the debate around here – there’s no real setup for the figure four and he’s generous to a fault in the opening segment. But no one can time nearfalls, make someone look like a million bucks and manipulate a crowd into reacting in the desired way quite like Ric Flair. (We don’t get a finish, as the show goes off the air, but we get a good 15 minutes of action.)

 

***

[Kronos]

"One member of the dreaded Four Horsemen!"

 

Remember when being only a 5x World Champion was something to be astonished about?

 

 

It’s also a great display of the contradictions present in Flair’s work that cause a lot of the debate around here – there’s no real setup for the figure four and he’s generous to a fault in the opening segment.

 

 

 

I was just thinking about this very thing. Flair gives so much to his opponents and acts like a chickenshit coward. But he never seems to come across weak. He knew just how much to use, and it worked a charm. (PS - thank god the crowds weren't Woo'ing chops yet.)

 

I sometimes think about what would have happened if the roads had reversed: Sting to WWF, and Warrior to Crockett. Sting doesn't do anything more than Warrior was doing at this time. What if Warrior had worked the big program with Flair in 1988? Would he have learned how to sell and how to put over his opponents? Would he have have developed into a better worker who had respect for the business?

[Loss]

I think Sting was a better fit if only because he was so much more agile, which made it easier to work the more athletic JCP style.

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Sting - NWA Pro 1/2/88

 

Before Clash I, this was the first Flair vs Sting television match. I have been watching the December 1987 WCW TV and Sting has been all pepped up to get a title match. Flair has been working Sting and Hayes around this time as he is bridging from Garvin to Luger. Sting is probably my least favorite Flair opponent, but I thought this match was very good. Maybe even their best match together ever. I am going to watch Clash I again soon but besides that the 90s matches have always left something to be desired.

 

The press slams to start was a good shine. Really liked the no sell of the vertical suplex at the beginning. A well-timed no sell can be really effective to pop the crowd. Flair was great at selling the no sell going into the crowd and looking totally discombobulated. Great take on the Flair/ref spot. Flair shoves Teddy Long so Long runs and hides behind Sting. I thought Flair put enough of a fight to make Sting overcome him and Flair really sold the strength of Sting. Back from the break, Flair is in control working the arm really well. Big time credit to Sting for selling the arm well. I liked as Sting was firing up, Flair went down with a lowblow. Great sell and smart decision by Flair to let Sting sell that. See that's cutting a smart pace. Sting takes a wild swing to keep Flair at bay and then takes a kneecrusher! Great! Great leg work by Flair really focused and really strong selling by Sting. Really effective and strong heat segment, which is unusual from Flair. Liked the progression of hope spots from crossbody, backslide to the clothesline and suplex! Sucks that we go off air before a finish

Did the finish air somewhere else? Sting looks like a star in this, which is the point but he does it through selling which is different for him. Really nice to see Flair work on top at length. He was great transitioning from arm to leg by using a low blow and then that progression of hope spots. Lack of finish hurts this. Solid championship title TV defense. ***1/4

[Loss]

Flair pinned Sting relatively clean as the real finish, which is what they were doing around the loop at the time, and I assume they didn't want to beat Sting on TV, so they just cut out early.

[Rjhabeeb]

This era Flair could make a mop look like a credible challenger, but with that being said there is something that Sting just brought to their matches that make every one of them special. Flair makes Sting without question but Sting just had something intangible about him that really worked well with Flair. It’s hard to put your finger on because I’ve seen a bunch of Flair matches that mechanically look just like his matches with Sting. The two of them just had some unexplainable chemistry that made their matches feel special.

 

This has nothing on their Clash match but it is a real fun tv match that flys by