Diamonds Are Forever: Favorite Match #2

2. Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV in a Career Threatening Match; March 30th, 2008 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida
This match may be a little higher up on my list than other people's and that could be because it's still fresh in my mind almost a month later where as the other matches on this list took place over 15 years ago. That might be part of it but a very small part. I put this match at #2 because it literally was history in the making. It was seriously the first match I've seen live where I said "I just got to witness something special, a truly once in a lifetime event that I'll be talking about 50 years from now." It had that kind of impact on me and sure the same can be said for many other wrestling fans. In a career threatening match, the night after a very emotional induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, the Nature Boy Ric Flair "walked that aisle" one last time and turned back the clock at least 10 years. Flair hit all of his old spots (with the exception of his turnbuckle flip) and fought Shawn Michaels blow for blow before falling victim to a second rendition of HBK's "Sweet Chin Music." Naitch did everything in his power to pick up the victory, including a few illegal tactics, proving why he's known as the dirtiest player in the game. However, on this night it just wasn't meant to be and the 35 year career of the greatest wrestler to ever live came to a sad and tearful end. Earlier I talked about the emotions and intensity of the Flair-Vader match from Starrcade, but even that great match doesn't come close to the level of emotions on this night. From Flair's long walk down the aisle to a deafening ovation of "WOOOOOOOs," to the climatic sequence of events that ended the match, to Flair breaking down in the ring afterwards and sharing in the moment with his family at ringside, everything just seemed so real in a sport that everyone knows is fake (yes it is a sport). The cameras panned the crowd as Ric walked back up the aisle towards the back and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Even grown men wept. It was a storybook ending, a high profile match on the "Grandest Stage of Them All" against a close friend and future Hall of Famer in Shawn Michaels (who has idolized Flair since he was a young kid), and both men stole the show. So every year, on March 30th, I'll stop whatever I'm doing and reflect back to that night in 2008 at WreslteMania XXIV in the Citrus Bowl, when I had the privilege and honor of watching Ric Flair, the man, the myth, and the legend, hang up his wrestling boots for good. It's a moment that will go down in wrestling history and certainly never be forgotten. I'm just glad I was fortunate enough to see the Nature Boy wrestle, whereas future generations will have to grow with the crap we have now.