The inaugural Boards.ie PW forum "Hall of Fame" thread

*claps, while spilling pint all over the place*

"In order to be the man, you have to beat the man."
　
That one line sums up Richard Morgan Fliehr.. better known by his ring name "The Natue Boy" Ric Flair.. WWE Hall Of Famer 16 Time World Champion and Now PW Hall Of Famer....
　
Flair was born on February 25, 1949, Starting off his Wrestling career at the AWA and was trained by fellow WWE HOFer Verne Gagne. At the time Flair weighed almost 300 pounds and had short brown hair, and scarcely resembled his future "Nature Boy" image. But he drew attention with his charismatic personality and ring endurance. During his time in the American Wrestling Association, Flair had matches with Dusty Rhodes, André the Giant, Larry Hennig, and Wahoo McDaniel.

In 1974, Flair left the AWA for Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic in the NWA and he soon captured his first singles title when, on February 8, 1975, he beat Paul Jones for the Mid-Atlantic TV Championship. On October 4, 1975, however, Flair's career nearly ended when he was in a serious plane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina that took the life of the pilot and paralyzed Johnny Valentine also on board were "Mr. Wrestling I" Tim Woods, Bob Bruggers, and promoter David Crockett.Flair broke his back in three places and, at age 26, was told by doctors that he would never wrestle again. Flair conducted a rigorous physical therapy schedule, returned to the ring just six months later,The crash did force Flair to change his wrestling technique away from the power brawling style he had used early on, which led him to adopt the "Nature Boy" style he would use throughout his career. Flair reached elite status when he began referring to himself as "The Nature Boy" in order to incite 1978 feud with the original "Nature Boy", Buddy Rogers, who put Flair over in one encounter.



Then on September 17, 1981, Flair reached the top of the mountain when he beat Dusty Rhodes for his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In the following years, Flair eventually established himself as the promotion's main franchise in the midst of emerging competition from Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation. With his outlandish wit and entertaining interview style, Flair embodied the role of the World Champion—sporting bleached blond hair, elegant jewelry, designer suits, and elaborate custom robes while dishing out his trademark chops and figure four leglock. All the while, Flair taunted his opponents with his "Wooo!" shout while boasting that "To be 'The Man,' you gotta beat the man!".


　
In the spring of 1985, the tag team of Ole Anderson and Arn Anderson began aiding Ric Flair whom they claimed as a "cousin" in attacks against Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A., and Sam Houston. A few weeks later, the Andersons interrupted Houston's match against Tully Blanchard, and the three heels combined to rough up the youngster while sending a message to the rest of the NWA. Shortly thereafter, Flair, Blanchard, and the Andersons formalized their alliance, calling themselves the Four Horsemen, with Blanchard's manager J.J. Dillon also coming on board. Upon the group's inception, it was clear that the Horsemen were unlike any villainous alliance that had ever existed. The four rule breakers immediately used their strength in numbers to decimate the NWA's top fan favorites while controlling the majority of the championship titles. Over the years, there would be various incarnations of the group, with Flair and Arn Anderson as the two permanent members, while a number of different wrestlers, including Lex Luger, Barry Windham, Sting, Sid Vicious, Paul Roma, Brian Pillman, Chris Benoit, Jeff Jarrett, Steve McMichael, Curt Hennig, and Dean Malenko, have held the other two spots in the Horsemen.
　




In early 1988, rising star Sting had challenged Flair to a match at the first ever Clash of the Champions. Flair accepted and fought Sting to a 45 minute time-limit draw. In late 1988, booker Dusty Rhodes proposed that Flair lose the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Rick Steiner in a short match at Starrcade when no agreement could be met regarding the finish to the scheduled main event between him and Lex Luger. Rhodes was fired for various issues within the company, and former JCP booker George Scott was given his role as a booker. Scott immediately negotiated to bring in Ricky Steamboat for a series of matches. On February 20, 1989, at Chi-Town Rumble in Chicago, Steamboat pinned Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. This prompted a series of rematches, where Steamboat was presented as a "family man" often accompanied by his wife and young son, while Flair opposed him as an immoral, fast-living "ladies man".





In the spring of 1991, Flair had a contract dispute with WCW president Jim Herd, who wanted him to take a substantial pay cut. Herd had removed Flair as head booker in February 1990 and wanted to reduce Flair's role in the promotion even further, despite the fact that Flair was still a top draw. According to Flair, Herd also proposed changes in his appearance by shaving his hair, wearing a diamond earring and going by the name "Spartacus" as well as his in-ring name in order to "change with the times".Flair disagreed with the proposals, and two weeks before the The Great American Bash, Herd fired him and vacated the WCW Championship. While Flair had left for the WWF he was still recognized as the NWA World Champion until September 8, when the title was officially vacated.Flair signed with the WWF in August 1991 and began appearing on television as one of the most hated heels the next month. Initially, he appeared on WWF shows with the "Big Gold Belt," calling himself "The Real World Heavyweight Champion." WCW sued Flair in an attempt to reclaim the belt, but Flair claimed that he owned the belt in lieu of the $25,000 deposit paid by NWA champions upon winning the title, which had not been returned to him when he was fired from WCW. The matter was settled later that year, with Flair's deposit being returned to him along with interest. Led by his "financial advisor" Bobby Heenan and his "executive consultant" Mr. Perfect, Flair repeatedly issued challenges to WWF wrestlers like Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan, wrestling a team led by Piper at Survivor Series in 1991 and helping The Undertaker defeat Hogan for the WWF Championship that same night.At the Royal Rumble in 1992, he won the Rumble match to claim the vacant WWF Championship. Flair drew number three in the Rumble match and lasted a then-record nearly 60 minutes.In so doing, Flair joined Buddy Rogers as the only men to win the WWF and NWA World Championships in their careers. His second reign was short-lived, however, as he lost the title to Bret Hart on October 12, 1992.


　
Flair returned to WCW in February 1993.. Flair played a major role in the New World Order storyline in late 1996 and throughout 1997. He and the Horsemen often took the lead in the war against Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan. Flair feuded with Roddy Piper, Syxx, and his old nemesis, Curt Hennig, in 1997 after Hennig was offered a spot in the Four Horsemen only to turn on Flair and the Horsemen at Fall Brawl in 1997. Hennig punctuated the act by slamming the cage door onto Flair's head. After Fall Brawl. Flair would return a month later to feud with Curt Hennig over the US title (which Hennig won from Steve McMichael). Flair would challenge for the title at Halloween Havoc and World War 3, losing both times. Flair took a hiatus from wrestling for ten months.



Flair won the WCW World Championship twice during 2000, the company's last full year of operation. WCW was purchased by the WWF in March 2001, During the final episode of Nitro on March 26, 2001, he gave an emotional speech regarding the company's greatness. Later in the night, Flair lost the final match of Nitro to Sting, recreating the first main event of Nitro in 1995. Nevertheless, Flair has repeatedly stated in various interviews how happy he was when WCW finally closed down; although, at the same time, the fact that many people would lose their jobs saddened him..After a hiatus from professional wrestling, Flair returned to the WWF in November 2001 as the on-camera co-owner of the company and as a face. Flair reappeared on Raw following the end of the "WCW/ECW Invasion" Flair's new on-screen role was that of the co-owner of the WWF, with the explanation that Shane and Stephanie McMahon had sold him their stock in the company to a consortium prior to purchasing World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling.Flair's feud with Vince McMahon led them to a match at the Royal Rumble in 2002 in a Street Fight, where Flair defeated McMahon..


　
Flair later joined the WWE's equivelent of "The Horsemen" for The 21st Century The"Evolution" stable. Flair won the World Tag Team Championship with Batista twice in 2003 and 2004 On the October 3 edition of Raw, Flair was attacked by Evolution partner Triple H, after Triple H threw him into a limousine. On the November 1, 2005 at Taboo Tuesday, Flair defeated Triple H in a steel cage match. Flair continued feud with Triple H until Survivor Series, Triple H defeated him in a Last Man Standing match to end the feud.





On March 29, 2008, Flair was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a part of the Class of 2008 by Triple H. Flair became the first active wrestler to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame. The day after, Flair wrestled at WrestleMania XXIV in Orlando, Florida, losing to Shawn Michaels. Meaning his retirement from the squared circle.This match was voted the 2008 PWI Match of the Year. Flair's fight to keep his career going garnered him the 2008 PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year award.


　
On the Following nights Raw, Flair delivered his farewell address. Afterward, Triple H brought out many current and retired superstars to thank Flair for all he has done, including Shawn Michaels, some of the Four Horsemen and Chris Jericho, followed by The Undertaker and then Vince McMahon. Along with the wrestlers, the fans gave Ric a standing ovation. This event represented a rare moment in WWE as both the heels and the faces broke character and came out to the ring together. The Undertaker's and McMahon's entrances, however, were not shown on the TV taping of Raw for the week in order to preserve their characters, more in the case of the Undertaker as it involved him hugging Ric Flair and then raising his arm in victory..





　
In retrospect no other Wrestler has been at the very top of the card for as long as Flair, in as many differant promotions as he has, without ever losing his popularity or fanbase, and althought moving to TNA after being given such a emotional farewell from the fans has no doubt left him losing the respect of many of those fans, there's no-one who can deny his legacy, but Ric Flair is the perfect example of a man who should have listened to Neil Young when he said " Is It Better to Burn Out than Fade Away?" .. "WWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

All of ye are the one's who picked them, fair play to ye. It goes without saying. the amount of knowledge here is just unreal.

*Turns into barman*

Drink, walter?? After that speech, you deserve 1

Walks to the bar with White Russians for all:cool:

The first video with Disturbed was so good i was sure WWE must have made it:cool::cool:

Those vids are very well made now I must say. Good first class of the boards hall of fame. I'd nearly go out for a cure for last night. I'm suprised I made it on the stage quite frankly. If ye'd seen me last night lads. Mercyful hour.

Fair play to the bais for doin this, further proof of how much fun the pw section is at the moment. A big bualadh bos for all involved