Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Favorite Match #1

1. The Royal Rumble Match at the 1992 Royal Rumble; January 19, 1992 at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York
At the Royal Rumble in Albany, NY, a 42 year old Flair won the Rumble Match to claim the vacant WWF Championship (only Royal Rumble match ever to have the WWF title on the line) in an "Iron Man" like performance. Slic' Ric drew number three in the Rumble match, and lasted a then-record 59 minutes and 26 seconds (once again proving his 60 minute man moniker), last eliminating Sid Justice with help from (of all people) Hulk Hogan, who had been eliminated by Justice seconds earlier. In addition to Justice, Flair eliminated 3 other competitors- British Bulldog, Texas Tornado, and the Big Boss Man. In so doing, Flair joined Buddy Rogers as the only men to win the WWF and NWA World Championships in their careers. He also became the fifteenth man to hold the WWF Championship. Many wrestling historians say that the '92 Royal Rumble wasn’t just the greatest Rumble of all-time but it also included the greatest collection of wrestling talent ever assembled in one ring at one time. Basically, this means Flair went through the best of the best- Hogan, Savage, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Piper, etc.- and kept going. Every time it looked like Ric was about to be eliminated he always managed to escape by the skin of his teeth. Flair's performance was off the charts. It really allowed him to showcase his abilities with pretty much every major star in the WWF at the time. The match and its entrants also gave Flair the ability to rekindle some great past feuds in his career, i.e. Piper, Kerry Von Erich. Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan commentating was classic, as always, and added so much to this match. I'll never forget the line, "that's not fair to Flair" as Heenan kept yelling that (he was a staunch Flair supporter) at Monsoon when Flair was in trouble. It was truly a remarkable accomplishment that will go down as one of the greatest ever in professional wrestling. It is definitely a must see. It's 60 minutes of Flair- what more could you want in a match?


Clip from Ric Flair DVD where he talks about that period and the '92 Rumble...

Ric Flair Pre-Rumble Interview...

Royal Rumble 1992 part 1...

Part 2...

Part 3...

Part 4...

Part 5...

Part 6...

Part 7...

Clip from Flair's DVD that includes a couple of WWF spots as well as his unforgettable post Rumble interview.


3 comments:

Big said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big said...

I know it may not matter to other people. But this guy was the most entertaining talker and wrestler ever. I learned a lot of style from him and had many laughs for over 20 years. I have a dvd titled Ric Flairs greatest interviews and its one of my coolest possesions. Thank you for the effort. Woooo! I

Weazle said...

Rick, you know this is all pretend right?