Brooklyn Brawlin 4.09.08: Re-Writing the Book on Flair’s First WrestleMania Experience

Thanks to everyone who commented on my first column last week. And yes, I made a ridiculous error saying that Edge was the only one to kick out of a Tombstone at Wrestlemania as Kane kicked out of 2 at WM 14. Kudos to the correctors on that one.

My star ratings came into question a bit especially the Edge/Taker ****3/4 rating. My reasoning as I stated was because a) the crowd was dead and tired and they managed to wake everyone up, and b) no one gave Edge a hope in hell of retaining and the storytelling of the match made me actually believe he could. So huzzah to them for their effort.

Raw Notes:

That might have been the most ass-backwards way of getting a ppv main event I have ever seen. Regal announces a #1 contender (JBL) but Triple H disagrees. So we get a handicap match (yes another handicap match). The WWE Champ, and #1 contender and who jobs clean…You guessed it, RANDY ORTON, your WWE Champion. Then in the most blatant booking in a long time, I mean it was only half way through the show, John Cena comes out looking for a spot. And we get ANOTHER HANDICAP MATCH! Then Orton stands around watching and costs JBL the pin and thus himself another match where he can lose the belt without being pinned. Why didn’t Orton just hit JBL and get Cena DQ’ed? The easy solution would’ve been for JBL to be announced #1 contender, Cena and Triple H argue, Regal announces a Fatal 4-Way and we have a long tag match main event. That way the Champ and # 1 Contender don’t job in the same night.

On the better side, I like the re-emergence of tag teams and the build towards Shawn/Batista so call it thumbs in the middle.

Re-Writing the Book: Flair vs. Hogan at Wrestlemania VIII

So we all said goodbye to Ric Flair this week and it got me thinking about Flair at Wrestlemania. It is sad to me that his lone win came in a 3-2 Handicap Tag Match where he never even got the pin. He has lost to Randy Savage (WM 8), Undertaker (WM 18), MITB (WM 22) and of course HBK (WM 24). So lets travel back to 1992 and set the stage for what should’ve been the single most anticipated match in WWE history: Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF(E) Title.

At the end of 1991 the top line feuds in the WWE were Hogan/Undertaker, Macho Man/Jake the Snake, and Ric Flair/everyone. Flair was carrying around his NWA World Title claiming to be the Real World’s Champ. After the controversy surrounding the two Hogan/Taker title matches, the 1992 Royal Rumble would produce an undisputed Champ. In the Rumble match, Flair enters #3 to the screams of Bobby Heenan. He survives down to the Final Four, which includes Hulk Hogan, Sid Justice and Undertaker. In the original 1992 Rumble, Macho Man leaps over the top to chase an eliminated Jake the Snake so we will consider that his elimination because it keeps their feud alive. Sid and Hogan team up and double clothesline Taker out and they turn their attention to Flair. A double big boot puts Flair out through the middle ropes. Hogan and Sid begin to slug it out and get near the ropes when a returning Flair lunges and dumps both men to stand tall as WWE Champion leaving Sid and Hogan to ponder what happened.

The months between the Rumble and Wrestlemania would see a series of Dream Matches pitting the faces; Hogan, Sid and Savage against the heels; Flair, Taker and Jake. Macho Man and Jake usually wind up brawling throughout arenas and or getting DQ’ed or COTR. This leads to Jack Tunney booking a No DQ/CO match at Wrestlemania. Sid and Taker are at a stand off and get booked into a match at Wrestlemania. This leaves Flair, the greatest wrestler of the 1980’s and undisputed Champion against Hulk Hogan, the greatest entertainer of the 1990’s and former champ screwed out of it by Flair. This was prime time, this was a truly historic main event.

Wrestlemania VIII – Indiana Hoosier Dome – The card outside of the main event remains the same. Bret and Piper still have their classic IC Title match, and yes, don’t worry Tatanka and Rick Martel still have their ***** match. In the No DQ match, Savage and Elizabeth gain a measure of revenge as Elizabeth in a rare showing of aggression (pre WCW) delivers a low blow to Jake as he goes for the DDT allowing Macho to hit the Flying Elbow and score the pinfall. Undertaker; whose pops from the fans have been building since his brief title win, has a decent power match with Sid. Sid hits the Powerbomb but stops to get praise from the fans and Taker sits up. Taker goes for the Tombstone but Sid slips out and grabs the urn from Paul Bearer and uses it to deck Taker for the blatant DQ. The crowd is shocked by the heel-like actions of the favorite Sid. Sid waves his arms in disgust and walks off to a chorus of boos. Taker does the zombie sit-up again as Sid leaves. This leaves Flair and Hogan. They rock the house for nearly 20 minutes. Flair is bleeding and working the leg, Hogan is popping the crowd on the comebacks. Flair gets the Figure 4 but Hogan hulks up. As he seems ready to regain the World Title, Sid stalks back down to ringside and trips Hogan up as he goes for the leg drop. Hogan looks stunned as his friend stands there mocking him. The dirtiest player in the game hits a low blow and rolls up Hogan (of course with a handful of tights) for the pin. Flair becomes the first heel to win at Wrestlemania. Sid and Flair begin a beat down but Undertaker runs out to even things up. Papa Shango (late as usual) runs out to counter Taker and its 3 on 2 for the heels. Suddenly the music hits the Ultimate Warrior makes his grand return to chase off the heels as the show ends with Warrior, Hogan and Taker standing strong.

With Warrior returning, having a heel win would be overlooked and it could set the stage for the summer. The only one screwed from this booking was Savage, but you add him to the face side and have a another heel (Perfect or Razor Ramon) equal things out. I just never made sense to me why the WWE and Vince did not exploit Flair/Hogan for its true money potential. Sadly if given the opportunity they would probably do it now.

Next week we continue to re-write the book as we look at what could’ve been the original “AGE OF ORTON” way back in 2004 when Orton won the title from that guy who used to be my favorite wrestler before he killed his wife and son. Thanks again for reading and make sure to hit up EVERY other column here!