Alternate Universe: What If WCW Had Survived?

Image Source: Wrestlingfigs.com

Written By: Mark Armstrong

In 2001, the wrestling business changed dramatically. Both ECW and WCW went under, the latter being purchased by the WWF. The short-term fall-out included the Invasion angle by what would become a WCW/ECW Alliance, followed by the Brand Extension split of the WWF/WWE which set the course of history on a new path. But what if WCW had remained in existence?

Although ECW had a loyal following, it simply would not and could not have grown into a mainstream powerhouse, unless it was acquired by a larger parent organisation; and if that had been the case, the vulgar style of the company may have been forced to change. However, WCW was a major mainstream wrestling promotion, even during its final months of life. Therefore, its demise had a much bigger impact. But it's interesting to consider how things might have transpired had the company managed to continue.

Firstly, WCW would not have been on the air in April of 2001, even if the WWF purchase had not happened. Eric Bischoff and his financial backers Fusient Media Ventures had hoped to buy the organisation themselves, and even believed that they had bought the company prior to Jamie Kellner cancelling WCW television on the Turner networks. But Nitro and Thunder were still going off the air whilst Bischoff and co. found a suitable new home for WCW's television output. Their plan was to relaunch the brand at a PPV event called The Big Bang on Sunday May 6 2001 (ironically, exactly one year before the WWF was renamed WWE). There were even magazine advertisements for the show that never took place. Let's assume, though, that the Fusient purchase did happen and that WCW relaunched with Big Bang; what could we have expected?

Looking at the roster, I think the vast majority of WCW's top names in 2000-2001 would have remained with the company, at least to begin with. Goldberg would likely have been remained WCW's top star, although Booker T and Scott Steiner will have carried the workload in main events leading to big World Title showdowns with Da Man a little further down the road. Knowing his loyalty to WCW, Sting will have remained in the camp, as will have Jeff Jarrett, whose TNA venture alongside his father Jerry would not have happened if WCW had survived. Buff Bagwell may have been elevated, as annoying as he was, and with ECW a goner, it has been strongly rumoured that Rob Van Dam was actually set to debut with the company at Big Bang, so his surprise debut will have given the company a jolt. Perhaps Sabu will have been brought in to feud with old rival Van Dam; Sabu had left ECW several months before that company ceased to exist, and he would have made an ideal first opponent in the new WCW for RVD.

Heading up the mid-card scene will have been Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Kanyon, Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo, and with Rey Mysterio Jr., Billy Kidman and Chavo Guerrero leading the way for the Cruiserweights. A young AJ Styles wrestled on some of WCW's final shows; perhaps he will have been positioned as a future Cruiserweight Champion in the new WCW. Rounding off the cast will have been the rest of WCW's lower-to-mid-card roster from early 2001, as well as some ECW alumni who would ultimately not join the WWF, such as Kid Kash and The Sandman (who had WCW experience as Hardcore Hak). I suspect that Tommy Dreamer's loyalty to Paul Heyman, by this point an announcer on Raw, will have landed him a WWF spot at some point. Speaking of which, Joey Styles is said to have been chosen as the lead commentator for WCW, likely working alongside Scott Hudson or Tony Schiavone.

What about the other big names? Well, I suspect that Kevin Nash will have remained with the company but, upon his contract expiring at the beginning of 2002, he will have chosen that moment to reunite with free agent Scott Hall and return to the WWF. The Outsiders vs. The Rock and Steve Austin may have been a feature attraction for WrestleMania X8. Diamond Dallas Page likely will have stayed with WCW for some time but, given his attempts to leave the company in 2000. DDP may have found a way to join the WWF himself within one year of Big Bang, while he was still young enough to contribute.

Elsewhere, Ric Flair will not have stuck around under another Bischoff regime, likely joining the WWF in a role not dissimilar to his Co-Owner position which he held when he did return to Stamford in November 2001. Hulk Hogan was no longer attached to WCW by this point, but being good friends with Bischoff and with Vince Russo not associated with the new company, Hogan may have appeared for the brand in a special attraction role (he had been discussing what would become the XWF before WCW went down, although the short-lived company may not have happened at all if WCW had lived on). That said, I believe that by 2003, Hulk will have ensured a return to what by then will have been WWE for major showdowns with The Rock and Steve Austin (who may have co-operated to wrestle Hogan at this point) and several others before a possible retirement in the late 2000s, perhaps in a double finale with Flair. I believe Bischoff will not have even brought in Lex Luger, knowing his dislike for Luger's work. This may have spelled the end of Luger's career since a WWF/WWE return would never materialise. Veterans like Randy Savage and Roddy Piper may have been used, but knowing the necessity to promote younger talent, it's more likely that they will have been left behind, resulting in nothing more than special appearances for the WWF/WWE at some point (they may have decided to bring back Savage, despite the unexplained animosity between both parties, for a short-term ratings or buy rate gain).

Something to consider is whether the Monday Night War will have still been over. Would the new WCW have chosen to keep Nitro on Monday nights at a time when defeating Raw will have been extremely unlikely? Or will a new night have been preferred on a new channel, combined with what Bischoff planned to be a new weekly location at Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas? It's very possible, and it likely would have meant better ratings for WCW television, with the opportunity to return to Monday night head-to-head competition with Raw at a later date if it made business sense. Speaking of which, a TV-14 format will likely have been opted for to give WCW a genuine chance to compete with the WWF; the influx of ECW talent will have helped with this direction, although it will not have gone to the extremes (no pun intended) that Paul Heyman's company did, and there will have been a much lesser focus on sexuality than there had been under Russo's watch in 1999-2000. And Eric's plan was to not hold house shows at first; the focus will have solely been on television and Pay-Per-View.

I expect Big Bang to have been a moderate success, due to a combination of the WCW television hiatus, the overhaul of the company and the influx of new talent. From there, if the new creative team had a sense of logic about them and a desire to prepare for the future, television shows will have likely drawn respectable ratings over the summer of 2001 following strong numbers on their new homes (FX was rumoured to be one potential new channel for either Nitro or Thunder in the States). If the main event scene has revolved around Goldberg, Booker, Steiner and RVD, PPV numbers will have been fairly decent too, if nothing to shout about in the big picture. In a nutshell, WCW Version 2 likely will have enjoyed decent commercial success in 2001, but only with a dedicated and creative team writing the shows and catering to what the fans really wanted to see.

Meanwhile, how will the WWF have fared if WCW remained in business? In the short-term, it may have seen a decline in ratings, due to Steve Austin's heel turn coinciding with The Rock filming The Scorpion King; without the carrot of a WCW invasion being dangled to its audience, might Raw and SmackDown have seen a fairly big drop in viewership with its two top players not serving as the headline babyfaces at the same time that WCW was new and improved? That being said, the WWF will have almost certainly remained the number one company in sports entertainment; only an all-time classic WCW storyline will have changed that perception, as we saw with the nWo tale in 1996-1997. And long-term, the WWF might have actually seen its audience grow; it will have still had the opportunity to gain viewers from the competition, especially once Rock returned and Austin went babyface again, as opposed to losing fans who weren't satisfied with the WWF at a time when it was the only game in town.

Heading into 2002-2003, I doubt that much will have changed from a business perspective. I believe the WWF/WWE will have attracted higher ratings due to there being no brand extension (meaning, all the talent on all the shows), a need to remain on the ball creatively since it still had competition and the return of Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 2002. In addition, the promotion of new talent from its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling will have kept the product fresh, which will have been more important without the brand extension in effect. It's possible that one or two names from WCW might have defected by this point, perhaps Goldberg or Big Poppa Pump, further boosting business.

In contrast, WCW will have soldiered on. Its ratings would remain consistent, with some new stars coming to WCW from a new upstart promotion named Ring Of Honor to bolster its Cruiserweight ranks, like Christopher Daniels and Low Ki. No major acquisitions seem likely during this era, except for maybe Mick Foley in a non-wrestling role during his time away from WWE in 2002 and early 2003. Assuming that the product was still logical and watchable, perhaps house shows and an international tour were feasible; new, young and exciting talent would be the way forward rather than the veterans' parade of 1996-1998.

By 2004-2005, it's anybody's guess as to how things will have transpired. I believe that WWE will have signed Booker and RVD, elevating them to the top in light of Rock going to Hollywood permanently and Austin retiring from injuries. That being said, I feel that the boom period will have truly ended by this point, and with WWE's numbers declining, this could have given WCW an opportunity to once again compete on Monday nights with Raw, bolstered by the continuing signing of hot independent stars such as Samoa Joe and relationships with big companies in Mexico and Japan, a staple of the original WCW. I certainly don't believe that Nitro will have beaten Raw in the ratings again, but the gap will have been a lot closer than in the dying days of WCW in 2000-2001.

From there, assuming that WCW's creative team had their s--t together, it potentially could have continued on as a respectable Number Two to WWE to this day; if the continuing survival of TNA tells us anything, it's that a company with low ratings can last a very long time so long as it has strong financial backing, and I believe that WCW will have been in a much better position than TNA ever has been.

WWE will have remained the clear Number One company, perhaps drawing higher ratings due to the competition it was still receiving. However, it still will not ever have come close to drawing record numbers, partly due to technological advancements eliminating the need to watch Raw at that time of the week only. Incidentally, the WWE Network likely will not have been a reality, or at the very least it will have been introduced on a smaller scale, since the company will not have invested so much in its videotape library without the access to the WCW archives. One last thing to ponder: would WWE have still gone PG if it were still competing with WCW, and might such a decision have allowed WCW to make gains since its product, drawing higher numbers than TNA ever had remember, will have offered more by sticking to TV-14?

In reality, beyond 2001-2003, it's impossible to predict not only what would have happened to WCW, but wrestling as a whole had it survived. Will there have been another boom period? Will the company's relaunch have been a disaster leading to its demise aside from a WWF buy-out? Might a new and improved WCW have actually found a way to defeat a faltering WWE in the ratings? Would future stars like John Cena and Batista have received the same opportunities to headline had there not been a brand extension? And how many potential superstars will we never know about, because these athletic followers lost their interest in wrestling when WCW crumbled in 2001?

The safest bets are to say that WCW will likely have enjoyed a kinder 2001 than 1999 or 2000 due to renewed interest. The WWF probably would have thrived for another year or two longer than it did during its peak, with legitimate competition still in existence. Otherwise, the future of wrestling would have been up in the air. Really, it may have come down to the two things responsible for the death of WCW in the first place: a misguided creative team and poor business decisions. If these two issues were rectified, the new WCW could have remained in business to this very day, and perhaps thrived if everybody was truly on the same page in trying to make the brand a success again.

One thing is for sure: if WCW had remained in business under non-WWF ownership, the wrestling industry over the last 16 years will have been very different. Would it have been better or worse than what we have seen since 2001? I'll let you be the judge of that.

The Best Of WCW Clash Of The Champions

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 393 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: August 6 2012

Clash Of The Champions was the WCW equivalent of Saturday Night's Main Event. COTC was a major television special held a few times per year, showcasing top talent and major main event matches outside of the Pay-Per-View events like Starrcade and The Great American Bash. The difference between Clash and SNME was that the NWA/WCW roster was more inclined to go out and put on a great wrestling match compared to the more entertainment-based action (which I was a huge fan of at the time, by the way) you would find on SNME. Over time, the Clash would reduce in importance, but it was a key WCW occasion for many years.

This DVD, hosted by Dusty Rhodes, showcased more than two dozen of the most memorable Clash matches from its 35 specials, spanning 1988-1997. It's not a factor worth mentioning nowadays, but the DVD was delayed by several weeks in the UK due to apparent issues between Silver Vision and WWE. Whatever difficulties the two parties had must have been significant, because this would be the final year that Silver Vision distributed WWE DVDs for the European market; from January 1 2013, that task went to Fremantle Media.

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United We Slam: The Best Of The Great American Bash

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 430 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: July 14 2014

Similar to the WCW PPV compilation released a few months earlier, United We Slam (hosted by Dusty Rhodes in his own unique, at times confusing yet ultimately entertaining way) is a straight-forward collection of matches from the history of The Great American Bash. The artwork of the DVD is quite nice and somehow fits with the theme, and I liked the minor touches, such as the fireworks going off during transitional scenes. The DVD does not cover the WWE years (2004-2008, or 2009 when the event was simply renamed The Bash), which is probably a good thing: few fans want to relive the abomination that was the Concrete Crypt, or the excitement of the original Punjabi Prison match (I jest).

Anyway, TGAB actually began in 1985 as a tour of Jim Crockett Promotions/NWA wrestling shows held in the summer rather than a stand-alone card. Some were filmed, and some were not. Of those that did make it onto camera, we get some worthwhile action, as the DVD opens with Ric Flair defending his NWA World Title against Nikita Koloff, following a spectacular helicopter entrance for The Nature Boy. Dusty and Larry Zbyszko provide new commentary for this match, which becomes bizarre when Dusty openly states "I don't care about this match". Better is The Rock 'N' Roll Express challenging The Andersons for the Tag Team Titles in 1986, which is your typical logical and well-executed doubles outing from the mid-1980s NWA that has your classic 1980s post-match hand-slap by Rock 'N' Roll, to celebrate their, erm, non-victory (by the way, Dusty and Larry commentate on this one as well; it's worth remembering that both had announcing experience from the Nitro era of WCW). Next, it's a Flair vs. Dusty Cage match from 1986, but this has clearly the version that we had on Dusty's own DVD, released in 2006, because it has commentary from Rhodes, Steve Romero (who left WWE years ago) and Mike Graham (who passed away in 2012, nearly two years before this DVD was released). It's always amusing to hear Dusty mention his "belly-welly" though, so I'll give them a pass on that.

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WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches - Vol. 1

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 437 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: May 5 2014

Back in 2003 or 2004, the concept of a compilation featuring the top Pay-Per-View encounters from the rich history of WCW would have been extremely tantalising. By the time such a DVD was released in 2014, though, so many classic WCW battles had already been released and interest in the WCW brand lies solely with longtime fans wishing for a slice of nostalgia, which reduced the appeal of the three-disc set.

However, whilst the collection feels like it was released a decade too late, this is still a very enjoyable DVD compilation. Around 80-85% of the content has already been seen on past DVDs, but that fact doesn't hinder the entertainment value of this set too much.

Hosted by Booker T, the DVD begins with Ronnie Garvin vs. Ric Flair from Starrcade 1987, the first official NWA/JCP PPV (Starrcade had first aired on closed-circuit television in 1983); Booker notes that the WWF aired the inaugural Survivor Series on the same night solely to ensure that Starrcade 87 would not be a huge success. This competition would continue via television in 1988 and 1989, but that's another story. Garvin vs. Flair is okay, but the negative reaction to babyface NWA Champion Garvin is a sign that fans rejecting a top babyface was happening long before the days of John Cena and Roman Reigns. This was also held in a cage, as most Starrcade main event matches were in those early years.

Dusty Rhodes vs. Barry Windham from The Great American Bash 1988 and Dusty teaming with Sting against The Road Warriors (in a rare heel role) from Starrcade 1988 are okay, but neither can hold a candle to the first really good match on the DVD, a classic Ric Flair-Ricky Steamboat showdown from Chi-Town Rumble 1989 in the first of their epic trilogy. Given how many great WCW matches were held on PPV in 1989, Lex Luger vs. Brian Pillman from Halloween Havoc is perhaps an odd selection. Definitely worthy of inclusion is Flair vs. Sting from The Great American Bash 1990, which officially marked Sting's permanent ascendancy to the main event level and closes disc one on a high note.

Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham from The Great American Bash 1991 has a weird feel to it as it comes on the heels of Ric Flair leaving WCW; envision a WWE PPV held days after John Cena leaving the company on bad terms and you have an idea of the vibe in the air here. Even without Flair, though, WCW could still provide great supershow battles as evidenced by the next two bouts: a fantastic Jushin Liger-Brian Pillman match from Superbrawl II, and an incredible War Games between Sting's Squadron and The Dangerous Alliance at Wrestle War 1992.

Next up, we finally get an unreleased match, and it's a very violent battle between Vader and Cactus Jack from Halloween Havoc 1993, during which Vader lands with all of his weight on Cactus on the hard ramp in a spot which Mick Foley says in his first autobiography Have A Nice Day that he came up with to deliberately suffer a career-ending injury, having been so miserable in WCW at the time (as we know, Foley would continue wrestling long beyond HH 93). We then get a good Steve Austin-Ricky Steamboat clash from Bash At The Beach 1994, and there's a real big-fight feel to Flair vs. Hulk Hogan from Halloween Havoc 1994 (Muhammad Ali is in attendance for this one), although their initial meeting at BATB 94 was arguably the bigger match and thus perhaps should have been here instead.

Onto disc three and we come to a landmark match: that main event from Bash At The Beach 1996 (you know the one) which sees the official formation of the new World order. Strangely, besides making a cameo later on, we don't see Hollywood Hulk Hogan again on the main DVD, which is odd given that he is the main cover star (some would say that this isn't a bad thing). The topnotch action doesn't end there, though, as we get an intense brawl between Randy Savage and Diamond Dallas Page from Spring Stampede 1997 and the classic Eddie Guerrero-Rey Mysterio Jr battle from Halloween Havoc of the same year.

The next few matches have a filler feeling to them (Booker goes a long time between introducing bouts during this section, suggesting these matches may have been a late addition), but at least Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage (Slamboree 1998) and Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera (Road Wild 1998) are first-time releases. A more familiar match is Goldberg vs. DDP from Halloween Havoc 1998, an infamous match due to that particular PPV running overly long to the point that most fans didn't see it; re-airing it on Nitro the next night earned the show its final ratings win over Raw during The Monday Night War, but upset the fans who had already paid for the match, since this meant that millions more saw it for free.

It's telling that no matches from 1999 are included (the Blu-ray does include Savage vs. Dennis Rodman from Road Wild 99) so we jump right to Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T at Bash At The Beach 2000, a good match overshadowed by the bizarre situation earlier that night involving Jarrett, Hogan and Vince Russo (a planned Jarrett-Hogan bout didn't happen with Jarrett laying down, Hogan walking out as if it were a shoot, and Russo cutting a genuine shoot interview on Hogan; nobody knew what was real and what wasn't, with the consensus being that Russo's promo wasn't planned and with that leading to a later lawsuit, but confusingly Hulk has since said he didn't even know Jeff would lay down despite Eric Bischoff saying that he did, so who the hell knows for certain?). The DVD ends with an exciting six-man Ladder match from Starrcade 2000 and, fittingly, the final PPV match in WCW history as Scott Steiner battles DDP at Greed in March 2001 (during which Steiner berates fans with a very offensive f-word more than once), with WCW having run its final show under WWF control eight days later.

I really enjoyed this collection a lot more than I thought I would considering that much of the content had previously been released. If you wanted to pick hairs, another Flair vs. Steamboat match, Flair vs. Terry Funk from 1989, Sting/Flair vs. The Steiners from 1991, another Rey Mysterio cruiserweight stunner and Goldberg vs. Steiner from Fall Brawl 2000 should have been included, and for historical purposes Hogan vs. Sting from Starrcade 1997 should have been here too, despite the blown finish (which is a story in itself that I'll recount another time), but one can't complain too loudly about what we get here. There is enough material in the archives to warrant a Volume Two, and the name implies that a sequel would be forthcoming, but the fact that all WCW PPVs can be viewed at one's leisure on the WWE Network makes a second release less likely.

Even if there isn't a follow-up, though, this is a great introduction to WCW for newer fans and a fun trip down memory lane for longtime followers, and a nice reminder that there was far more to the history of WCW than Nitro, The Monday Night War and the weekly adventures of the nWo.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent

Raw's Most Memorable Matches

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 86 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: April 3 2007

Raw's Most Memorable Matches followed the similar SmackDown release, and again offers a few matches at a budget price. Given the long and eventful history of Raw, it was always going to be a stretch to suggest that the show's most memorable matches are within this 90-minute DVD, but there are some gems nonetheless.

The first is Jeff Hardy challenging The Undertaker for the Undisputed WWE Title in a July 2002 Ladder match. It's a very dramatic bout, and you would never know from watching this that Hardy was as stale as an old piece of toast at this point in time, as he delivers his last truly great performance before leaving WWE for the first time in 2003. Match two pits Triple H against Ric Flair in May 2003, culminating a one-night storyline where Flair (then HHH's chaperone, no pun intended) looks to prove to HHH that he really was and is The Man.

Triple H returns to face Kane in June 2003, in a bout which is fairly good but is more memorable (and is genuinely memorable) for Kane finally unmasking in the aftermath, as per the stipulation. (Some people thought this meant the end of the Kane character; how wrong they were.) Following this is a Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho match from July 2003 which is very good, but a slight notch below expectations; it certainly isn't a disappointment, but it follows and would be followed by superior HBK vs. Y2J collisions. The DVD ends with a brilliant Michaels vs. Shelton Benjamin clash from May 2005, with one of Shawn's greatest ever superkicks providing an incredible finish.

Only the first and last matches have been released in full on other DVDs, so this is a nice little release to pick up while we wait for 2003 episodes of Raw to be added to the WWE Network. Considering that it is a bargain-priced DVD, and assuming that you don't take the title too seriously, this is well worth picking up.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10 - Good

Nature Boy Ric Flair: The Definitive Collection

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 482 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: September 15 2008

Whooooo! Ric Flair remains an iconic name amongst wrestling fans today, despite it being a long time since the man was "The Man" and in his prime. But he remains popular due to his legendary status and because his last WWE match was only in 2008 (which we'll come back to later). This DVD has a documentary which covers Naitch's entire career from when he got his start to the end of his active WWE run over the weekend of WrestleMania XXIV, as well as including ten matches, bonus interview footage and several promos and segments. It has some nice old-school artwork on the DVD box and on the menus, which I personally felt was a good little touch.

The main feature clocks in at around two hours, and does a good job of highlighting Flair's highs and lows from his long and glorious career. As well as archive footage and stories from Slic Ric concerning key events in his life, we hear from talking heads spanning Ric's entire career such as David Crockett, Greg Valentine, Dusty Rhodes, Arn Anderson, Jim Ross, Ricky Steamboat, Triple H, Randy Orton, Batista, Shawn Michaels and many others, as well as members of his family. Flair is very honest, at times too honest, and on occasion painfully honest about his own perceived failings as a father and a husband. Fans of the Nature Boy should get a kick out of this documentary, which to be fair doesn't offer a great number of revelations but is an entertaining watch that covers most aspects of Flair's legendary body of work in pro wrestling.

Some faults are that we're given the impression that Flair was still a top-level wrestler when he was in his 50's, which besides one or two great matches simply wasn't the case. Also, two key issues surrounding Flair (the 1991 jump to the WWF and his problems with WCW head honcho Eric Bischoff in 1998) aren't explained very well. And whilst we do see clips from WrestleMania XXIV weekend, the talking clips were clearly recorded before Flair's three-day retirement ceremony. It would have been good to use this and then see Flair comment on the events afterwards, but we have to just assume that the whole weekend lived up to Flair's expectations (which it did, to be fair. Or fair to Flair for you Bobby Heenan fans).

Overall, though, it's a good documentary; it isn't one of the very best WWE has produced, but it does cover most aspects of Flair's decades-long stint in the industry, and is engaging enough that it merits a second viewing sometime down the road.

The match choices are interesting. Since some of Ric's greatest bouts were on The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection (and by the way, I think the two DVD names are too similar; I'd have called the product under review "Whooooo! The Ric Flair Story" to differentiate it more), it reduces the number of epic clashes available for this release. That being said, Flair had so many memorable matches that it wouldn't have been stretch to find enough to make this another vintage DVD.

Instead, though, we get a selection that does cover Ric's decades in the field of sports entertainment, but from which very few are what you'd class as being amongst his best work. A 1982 TV bout with Jack Brisco is fairly entertaining and historically interesting. A two-out-of-three-falls match with Kerry Von Erich is typical for the era in showcasing Flair's ability to lead a less talented opponent through a long match, and make him look good in the process, but has a poor finish and, as good as the match is, their Cage match on Christmas Day 1982 was their most famous meeting and perhaps should have been here instead. It does, however, show how Flair could go into any territory and prove that he was The Man.

Flair vs. Harley Race is actually the match which set up their Starrcade 1983 meeting where Ric won his second NWA title. It's good but it would have been more at home on the first Flair DVD; here, you watch this match and then you want to see the Starrcade bout, but it isn't on this release. Instead, we next get a six-man tag that highlights the Four Horsemen before a hot-as-hell crowd. I liked it, but as I had noted for the recent Wrestling's Greatest Factions DVD, the best way to spotlight the Horsemen is with their specialty match, that of course being War Games.

Next up is one of the two highlights of the DVD in terms of matches, that being a truly great battle with Sting at the first Clash Of The Champions. This went head-to-head with WrestleMania IV on live TV and did a great rating (which shows how much more popular wrestling was then than it is now), and is a classic in its own right that, as they say, "made" Sting. They would go on to main event many future shows, but this meeting is their most famous and arguably their best. Disc two ends with a very good and intense showdown with Terry Funk at the 1989 Great American Bash. We had their I Quit match on the last Flair release so it's good to get their other high-profile meeting here. There is a void before this match selection-wise which I will touch upon shortly.

After concentrating on the 1980s on disc two, disc three enters the 1990s and opens with Ric's MSG meeting with Rowdy Roddy Piper in 1991. It's an enjoyable match and is interesting to note for the babyface reaction Flair receives when he walks down the aisle at Madison Square Garden (a rarity for heels during this era). However, I don't understand why this is the only meeting from Flair's first proper WWF/WWE tenure on the DVD. Surely we could have had Flair's WrestleMania VIII showdown with Randy Savage, a WWF Title match against Bret Hart or his Loser-Leaves-Town clash with Mr. Perfect on Raw from January 1993, which ended Flair's run in the company (and by the way, none of these feuds were referenced in the documentary, which is particularly disappointing for the memorable dispute with the Macho Man), or at least something else from this chapter of Flair's career.

The next match we do get is his Spring Stampede 1994 main event with Ricky Steamboat. It's a very good match, but again I hold my hand up to ask: why don't we get their first 1989 match from Chi-Town Rumble? For those unaware, Flair and Steamboat had a truly classic three-match series in 1989, two of which we got to see on Flair's first DVD (Clash Of The Champions VI and Wrestle War 1989), so by rights we should have gotten the bout that completed the series on this release. Fair enough, we do get an unreleased meeting of Ric and Ricky, but while it's a good effort (and Bobby Heenan comes out with some of his trademark wit on commentary), it can't compare to their 1989 feud. Plus, the ending here is a mess; we're under the impression that Steamboat pinned himself in a submission hold when he actually did not, and there are no post-match replays to back up the confusing decision. Plus, I think the commentators get mixed up with the move that The Dragon used to beat The Nature Boy in their 1989 series; a minor thing, but slightly distracting nonetheless.

From this point, the classics became less frequent for Slic Ric (a fact not acknowledged in the documentary, as alluded to earlier), so our next featured match is over a decade later, at Taboo Tuesday 2005. This is a very bloody steel cage match between Flair and Triple H which Flair somehow wins despite being 56 at this point. The best way I can describe it is that, for a Flair match by 2005 standards, it's good. I personally enjoyed their subsequent Last Man Standing match at that year's Survivor Series more, but that's just splitting hairs. One very deserving inclusion, and the last match on the release, is Flair's bout with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV. This is brilliant considering Flair had not long turned 59, but even if you ignore Flair's age, this is an excellent and very dramatic match with Flair's career at stake. I mentioned this in my review of WrestleMania XXIV, but it's worth saying again that Shawn's "I'm sorry. I love you" before superkicking Flair into retirement is as emotional and heart-stopping a moment as any in wrestling history. Plus, we get the pre-match promo video which is awesome.

The other extras consist of 1980s-era Flair promos which emphasise how good he was on the microphone, although I feel he was slightly overrated, He was undoubtedly charismatic, but considering that he was king heel at this point, there are too many instances of Ric trying to pander to the crowd. The Rock could get away with it as a heel because he included enough insults to ensure that he kept receiving boos, but if you didn't know better, one would assume from these segments that Flair was actually the lead babyface for the NWA/JCP/WCW in the 1980s. The other bonus segments are some extra interview chapters for the documentary (plus Flair being present for when his home state declared a "Ric Flair Day", during which I thought "I hope Flair doesn't start crying again" ... and he does start crying!), and the excellent retirement ceremony for Flair on Raw the night after Mania 24. Billed as his Farewell Address, it ends up being a half-hour tribute where the entire WWE roster at the time, as well as a number of legends synonymous with Flair's career and of course the thousands of fans in attendance, simply say "Thank you Ric!" It is very touching, and is the perfect way for Flair to say goodbye to pro wrestling after his retirement.

But of course, as you may know, Flair would wrestle again, firstly for the very short-lived Hulkamania promotion in Australia in November 2009, and then in TNA from 2010-2011. Without being harsh, Flair didn't have one good match in either group, and at times was simply embarrassing. This was obvious at the time, and before Flair donned the tights again, but it bears repeating that Flair really shouldn't have come back to wrestling after WM XXIV. Nevertheless, Flair hasn't wrestled for WWE since his meeting with Michaels (some might say that Flair had a match on Raw with Randy Orton in 2009, but it was a brawl rather than a match and, to me, does not count as a match), so the whole retirement weekend still holds weight, at least within WWE lore.

As for the DVD as a whole? Now, I have to be honest: I'm not that much of a Ric Flair fan, and never was. I respect his accomplishments and his talents when he was at his peak, but I always felt that he was a bit overrated, and it annoyed me how he would denigrate his counterparts like Hulk Hogan, Bret and Savage, even after they were no longer at the top of the mountain, but praise himself and his friends within the business. This leads into my feeling that Flair was and remains somewhat egotistical. Case in point: Flair, at age 66 and decades past his prime, during which time many wrestlers have proved to be as good as or even better than Flair, appeared on Raw this past Monday and stated that he was "God" and the greatest of all-time. For another wrestler, I would say that the lines were scripted, but with Flair you truly believe that he believes those statements. Hulk Hogan is classed as being very egotistical to many, but even he wouldn't call himself God, especially when trying to provoke cheers from an audience.

There's also the fact that Flair, throughout his career, only ever played one character, that being the confident and arrogant ladies' man, and only changed the formula based on whether he was a face or a heel. Some might say "well, it was a great gimmick so why change it?" True, but look at Triple H, who went from a blueblood to a degenerate to a corporate sell-out to a hard-man to, well, a carbon copy of Flair in Evolution, to a somewhat older degenerate to a corporate figure in the form of the COO. Shawn Michaels was at various times a high-flying youngster, a cocky punk, a degenrate, a religious goody-two shoes and other things. Hell, even The Undertaker at one point was Undertaker in name only when he began riding motorcycles. Therefore, as good as Flair was, I would have liked to have seen if he could have pulled off a different character, because almost all of the other all-time greats played various characters to show their versatility.

Nevertheless, this DVD emphasises just how good Flair was and that he does deserve to be in the conversation for being the greatest wrestler of all-time. And I think that shows how good this DVD is: if it can convince me, someone not very fond of Slic Ric, that Flair was one of the best ever, then it must be an effective presentation. I still don't think he's the best ever, but I do think that if you're compiling a top ten, Naitch will be a part of it. To be fair, it does have a very good documentary and a good if questionable match selection. One thing it does lack, perhaps due to time constraints, is Flair's Hall Of Fame induction, a notable absentee since we get literally every other aspect of Flair's retirement weekend. But since it went on for nearly 90 minutes, I can understand why it wasn't here.

To conclude, if you're a Flair fan, you'll love this DVD, although it is a step down from his first DVD. But even if you're not a Flair fan but you are a wrestling fan, like me, you'll still enjoy this release and realise why, despite the criticisms and his shortcomings, Ric Flair at one point truly was, and to some will always be remembered as being, The Man.

Whooooo!

Overall Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent