I know what you’re thinking – a Ric Flair squash match? How on earth is that even possible? I hear ya – when I used to watch him on WTBS at 6:05, dude would give even the jobberiest of jobbers way more offense than should have been legal. But when he jumped to the WWF? Yeah, that was no longer the case.
And make no mistake about it, when Flair made that jump it was the weirdest thing ever. If you weren’t there when it first happened, you really can’t comprehend just how shocking it was, especially as he was hoisting that NWA title on WWF television. It was absolutely surreal.
Flair’s opponent on this day would be Jim Powers. Yes, Jim Powers of Young Stallions fame Jim Powers. I picture a guy of similar stature showing up on NWA Saturday Night and can see Flair barely escaping with a pin at the 10 minute mark using a handful of tights.
And to be fair, he does give Powers the first move of the match with a shoulder block putting the Nature Boy on his keister. But after that?
It’s Flair Flair Flair, and he’s chopping the guy from pillar to post as Vince proudly displays the ten pounds of gold on his show. And look at that – Flair actually backdrops a guy. No, Flair wasn’t getting backdropped himself, he was on the offensive side of this exchange. Tell me you didn’t watch that and your mind was already telling you, “this is where Powers reverses this, Flair bounces into the corner, and gets backdropped.” But NO! This ain’t NWA Flair!
Naitch follows that up with a knee ot the head and a back suplex. WOOO indeed!
But what may be most shocking of all is Flair getting the win with the Figure Four Leglock. Seriously, look at him bouncing up and down as he applies it! It actually looks like it might hurt!
Say what you will about this run (and I will never forgive the company for not giving us Flair-Hogan at WrestleMania), but it started off like gangbusters. Flair wasn’t a clown – he was a bad, bad man. And one worthy of our SQUASH of the Week!