[2000-05-03-WCW-Thunder] Ric Flair vs Billy Kidman

[soup23]

lair interrupts a segment with Russo and Liz and Liz low blows Flair. Flair goes nuts and puts the figure four onto Russo until Buff and Shane come in to attack Flair. Flair is still in street clothes btw. Kronik puts Douglas and Buff away and out comes Kidman for the match. Back from break and Flair is beating up Kidman. I like this match up for Kidman as he could have really been put over with a nice, long feud vs Flair and even use Torrie as evidence that now he gets the girls instead of the Nature Boy. I thought the chemistry was good here between these two until K-Dawg and Rey Mysterio Jr interfere to beat up Flair. Big Sexy runs in to a big pop as he tears through Konnan and Rey together. Konnan gets the jackknife. Kidman gets attacked on the entrance way by Hogan who beats him down to the ring. Rey saves Kidman and now here comes Awesome running out. Awesome gets powerbombed too as Hogan and Flair hug and all three raise each other arms. *1/2

[Loss]

Flair's selling here is artful. Check out the way he bumps for every single Kidman strike and puts over everything so effectively. There's always a split second when Flair sells a superplex where I think he was legit injured because of the way he puts it over. These two look better opposite each other as a visual, and this would have been a good follow-up program for both guys had they chosen to go in that direction. The mix of the Filthy Animals, Hogan, and Nash is exactly the right mix of talent for WCW at this point in time. I have no problem with any of this. A bit overbooked, but when that's the worst thing you can say about a Russo segment, that's pretty good.

[GSR]

Action is joined during a match (?) between The Wall and Lex Luger. Ric Flair is on commentary and climbs over the announcer’s table to go and help Luger, only to be hit in the back with a baseball bat by Vince Russo (also providing commentary). Luger racks The Wall on the floor and Russo then nails him in the stomach with the bat, dropping the Package, but in the process Lex also drops The Wall through a conveniently placed table. Tough guy Russo challenges Flair to “come into my ring, let’s go for five minutes right now”, and the Naitch can’t get in there quick enough. Ric tells him he’s a dead man and Russo drags Elizabeth infront of him and hides behind her. Liz with a back kick low blow, Flair clocks the security and just as he’s about to put Russo in the Figure Four, here’s Shane Douglas and Buff Bagwell with the save. Kronik are out soon after and they chase Douglas and Bagwell to the back leaving Flair all alone in the ring. Billy Kidman’s music then plays and he tells Ric that he drew him and if he can get his old body up “tonight he’ll make him famous!”

 

We return from an advert and Flair is unloading on Kidman in the corner. Kidman reverses the whip to the opposite corner and levels Ric with a dropkick. Oh yeah, no referee for this either. Missile dropkick followed by a superplex. Flair takes his bump into the turnbuckle over the top to the outside and does the face first drop on the floor. Inside, and Kidman with a bodyslam and a slingshot legdrop from the apron over the top rope and back into the ring onto the Naitch. He misses a splash off the top and Flair is up and strutting. Flair tears off Kidman’s ‘New Blood’ shirt and a couple of knife edge chops to his bare chest. He backs him up in the corner and here come the troops, Konan and Rey Misterio Jr. from the Filthy Animals. Its triple team time on Flair until Kevin Nash comes to the aid of his fellow Millionaire’s Club member. ‘Jackknife’ on Konan, and Kidman sneaks away back up the rampway only to get blindsided by Hulk Hogan as he’s heading through the curtain. Mike Awesome tries to even up the odds for the New Blood, but he too gets jackknifed as Kidman and the Filthy Animals leave him to fend for himself. No result to this, however Hogan, Flair and Nash all raise each other’s arms as Mike Tenay talks about unity in the Millionaire’s Club.

 

The main take from this is that Kidman and Flair could have a great straight up wrestling match if given the chance and there wasn’t all this other nonsense going on. Oh, and if Flair didn’t have to wrestle in trousers and dress shoes! Really enjoyed what we got until the interference and non-finish.

[Robert S]

The match itself was quite decent for what it was but everything around it makes me rather tear out my eyes instead of watching another WCW 2000 match / angle. I mean how much overbooking can you put into a throwaway 10 minute TV segment?