Talk about your good news/bad news scenarios. The good news is that, after an onscreen absence of many months, Ric Flair returns to WWE RAW tonight. As was almost always the case back in Flair's WCW days, WWE is using Charlotte, NC...the capital of Flair Country...as the staging ground for a Nature Boy re-launch. Ric's returns from his frequent hiatuses are always fun to watch because Flair so deftly walks the tightrope between putting over a storyline and his own "shoot" versions of events to explain his absences. Add a red-hot hometown crowd and you've got some must-see TV.
Now the bad news...Flair's return almost certainly means that his much-discussed and debated farewell/retirement storyline begins tonight. Originally, the storyline was supposed to culminate at next year's WrestleMania. Now, according to the wrestling dirt sheets, WWE wants the potential return of John Cena to be the big in-ring story of 'Mania while making Flair the centerpiece of the 2008 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony. So we can expect some disruption to Flair's big comeback speech tonight...and whoever does the disrupting will go a long way in determining the direction of Flair's last hurrah.
Even though he just started a program/feud with the returning Chris Jericho last week, I'd make "the legend killer" and current WWE champ Randy Orton tonight's designated party-pooper. Build a program with Flair directed toward a showdown for the WWE title at January's Royal Rumble. Flair gets pounded within an inch of his life, pulls a classic cheating move worthy of "the dirtiest player in the game," and rolls Orton up for the unexpected title win out of nowhere. Then, right there in the middle of the ring, he announces his retirement and gives up the belt. That way, you give Flair a proper send-off and set up a wild scramble for the WWE title a couple of months later at WrestleMania.
But...still...pro-wrestling without Ric Flair? It'll be hard to get used to.
Phillip Fulmer can loosen his belt a couple of notches, belly up at The Varsity, and paint the whole city of Atlanta orange as far as I'm concerned. Georgia's got more ambitious postseason travel plans. Can you say, "Look at the rose petals falling from the sky!"?
Now the bad news...Flair's return almost certainly means that his much-discussed and debated farewell/retirement storyline begins tonight. Originally, the storyline was supposed to culminate at next year's WrestleMania. Now, according to the wrestling dirt sheets, WWE wants the potential return of John Cena to be the big in-ring story of 'Mania while making Flair the centerpiece of the 2008 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony. So we can expect some disruption to Flair's big comeback speech tonight...and whoever does the disrupting will go a long way in determining the direction of Flair's last hurrah.
Even though he just started a program/feud with the returning Chris Jericho last week, I'd make "the legend killer" and current WWE champ Randy Orton tonight's designated party-pooper. Build a program with Flair directed toward a showdown for the WWE title at January's Royal Rumble. Flair gets pounded within an inch of his life, pulls a classic cheating move worthy of "the dirtiest player in the game," and rolls Orton up for the unexpected title win out of nowhere. Then, right there in the middle of the ring, he announces his retirement and gives up the belt. That way, you give Flair a proper send-off and set up a wild scramble for the WWE title a couple of months later at WrestleMania.
But...still...pro-wrestling without Ric Flair? It'll be hard to get used to.
Phillip Fulmer can loosen his belt a couple of notches, belly up at The Varsity, and paint the whole city of Atlanta orange as far as I'm concerned. Georgia's got more ambitious postseason travel plans. Can you say, "Look at the rose petals falling from the sky!"?
2 comments:
Long live Natch. His legacy will live on forever on dvd, YouTube and our hearts.
Nice call on the Orton angle. Too bad they wasted it on a non title TV match. Since the angle is his next loss will be his last match, I guess this will play out at Mania. Knowing Vince, that means a tombstone in Flair's future. The best angle I can think of is Hogan coming back to put Flair over at WM, then Flair walks away a winner. It would never happen, but how sweet would that be?
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