Evolution Schematic 11.29.08: Video Game Ric Flair

As I said in the teaser, I am rather sick with some overblown name that means head cold. I’ve been stuck in bed for the last few days, and am now pausing on my way to dragging myself to a wrestling show to post this… column, since I really don’t want to post nothing yet again.

This is… Ok, well, there’s a different website out there, that approached me after I finished the WWE Video Games behemoth, and offered me a chance to write a column for his site, based around a thing they had done before. They had looked back over the many video games Tom Brady had appeared in and done a comparison dealy, and sine I knew about video games and, at the time, Flair had just been superkicked into retirement, they wanted to do one for him.

After checking it over with the bosses and getting a resounding ‘We can’t stop you, but we REALLY don’t want you to’, or words to that effect, I decided, after a couple of weeks, to give it a shot, wrote it out, sent it off…

And I never heard from him again. I probably waited far too long, but whatever. I still have it on my hard drive, and since I can barely think straight, let alone put together a coherent argument about anything, I might as well get some readership of it. So yeah, this is slightly different from my usual fare, but it’s generally similar to my style, so yeah, let’s see how this flies. I’m sorry it’s a little dated, but this intro has taken it out of me, and was already half written, so sorry, here it is, warts and all…

(Just pretend a third banner by Meehan is here, one that looks cool and is green and labeled ‘Sort Of An Evolution Schematic’ in order to complete the primary colors.)

March 30th, 2008- Wrestlemania XXIV. With the third Sweet Chin Music of the match, Shawn Michaels ended the career of perhaps the greatest Professional Wrestler in history. Ric Flair has had a career longer than most of the guys currently in World Wrestling Entertainment have been alive. Certainly no other man has held as many World Titles, has had as many Five Star Matches, created more controversy, or produced more memories than The Nature Boy. In the ring, on the mic, be it alone, with the Four Horsemen, in WCW, WWE, Ric Flair has stood for the pinnacle of the business for a very long time. And now, we must sit back and consider a Pro Wrestling industry, consider the Pro Wrestling business without Ric Flair front and center. He may come back, this is Pro Wrestling after all, but this does seem definite. And while we can watch out tapes, relive past glories and have the Flair-Steamboat matches on loop for hours on end, we can also consider the other aspects of Ric Flair’s career.

Ric Flair has been a focal point for the sport for many years. So, naturally, he’s been the focus of wrestling media and merchandise for a long time as well. Posters, Magazines, DVDs, Videos, T-Shirts, Ric Flair has had his name and his likeness on quite a lot of things in his time. Including, naturally, Video Games. And so, we’re going to go back and review Ric Flair’s career in Video Games. Certainly, there’s nothing like locking in the Figure Four Leg Lock and making the computer tap like a marching band to really prove your dominance. And there’s been a lot of games to officially feature Ric Flair throughout the ages. Even if a couple of them are a little unrealistic. Ric Flair, using a dropkick? Yeah, right…

1990

Ric Flair’s debut in the Video Game world was in 1990, in the debut WCW Video Game. Well, technically it was the first and probably only National Wrestling Alliance video game, WCW being the biggest member of the NWA, but trying to explain the NWA/WCW saga is a bit hard unless you already know about it. Anyway, WCW Wrestling (such a creative name) was a port for the NES. It was ported from the Japanese Wrestling game Super Star Pro Wrestling. Now the original game had several legendary Japanese (and Japanese based) stars, Antonio Inoki, Jumbo Tsuruta, Stan Hansen and so on. So rather than recode the wrestlers, they just changed their look and shazam, it was ported. However, in Ric Flair’s case, they used Giant Baba. A fellow legend of the sport, but not someone who you would judge had a similar style to Ric Flair.

Hence, Flair’s move set is a little ill fitting, especially when you consider that you could choose the move set. Apart from the generic moves everyone could do, clotheslines and headbutts and the like, you assigned 4 out of 8 possible grapple moves to the 4 direction pads. Hence, Flair could use some moves that did fit him (Head Chop, Atomic Drop, Piledriver), some that you could see him doing but wouldn’t expect (Boston Crab, Back Drop, Neck Breaker Drop) and a couple that were not Ric Flair at all, (Brainbuster, Bulldog Head Lock). His finisher was a Jumping Neck Breaker Drop, basically a Super Clothesline, a One Man Hart Attack.

So that would be a resounding “Not Ric Flair At All” type move. But then, little about the game was Ric Flair like. In 1990 Ric Flair had turned on Sting, kicking him out of the Horsemen, fighting with Lex Luger and Sting throughout the year, using his technical prowess to outsmart the two young guns. But in the game, he had the same strength, speed and move power than everyone else. Every wrestler was the same, every move the same strength. Not a great start to his pixelated career.

1992

Ric Flair soon left WCW for various reasons and head ‘Up North’ to the World Wrestling Federation. Ric Flair, with Bobby Heenan and Mr. Perfect to back him up, quickly rose to the top of his new home, winning the vacant World Wrestling Federation Championship at the 1992 Royal Rumble. So, naturally, he got into their video games, although he only got into one of them in 1992, the Sega Master System version of WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge. So if you wanted to play as Ric Flair and Roddy Piper, you had to get both versions of the game. Flair also got into the Sega Game Gear version of the game, although it hardly mattered. For like in WCW, every wrestler had the same power and speed, but he went backwards, not even having a unique moveset. No Figure Fours, no chops, not even a thumb to the eye. Although you can dropkick as him. The lack of blood when Ric is thrown into the cage is also not in character. Ric Flair in name and likeness only.

1993

In early 1993, Ric Flair left the World Wrestling Federation, heading back to WCW. Flair left in January and debuted back with WCW in February. In June, a World Wrestling Federation game came out with him in it.

Bit of a delay there.

WWF Royal Rumble, a cartoony but adequate version of Pro Wrestling for the SNES featured Ric Flair. And while his standard moveset, complete with Dropkick was still intact, and while he was still as strong as The Undertaker and had the speed of Yokozuna, the game did feature the first appearance of the Figure Four Leg Lock as a finisher. It had the same power as every other finisher, but still, it was the Figure Four Leg Lock! At last!

1994

1994 was an unusual year for Ric Flair. He went from emotionally winning the World Title off Vader to turning on Sting again in order to unify two belts to feuding with and losing to Hulk Hogan when Hulk debuted with the company, to ‘retiring’ at the end of the year. And in the middle of all this, he was in WCW’s third video game, WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling on the SNES. The cartoonish style of the game was slightly out of place with WCW’s hard hitting, down to earth style at the start of the year, although it fit the odd turn the company took near the end once Hogan showed up. Once again however, Ric Flair’s style was barely touched upon, Ric busting out Sunset Flips, Belly to Belly suplexes, Tombstone Piledrivers and yes, Dropkicks, just like everyone else. The Figure Four Leg Lock was the sole touch of Ric Flair being Ric Flair, punching the guy down then locking in the hold. WOOOO!

1997

There was a bit of gap between video games for WCW, coinciding with it’s decline until Eric Bischoff took over. Once Nitro debuted, and then Hulk Hogan shocked the world and formed the New World Order, the video games started back up again, catching up on lost time.

Certainly Ric Flair began to look and more importantly act like Ric Flair. In WCW vs. the World for the Playstation, made by AKI Corporation, Flair for the first time had his own moveset, complete with the classic Ric Flair begging off, Chops, kneebreakers and the Figure Four. His strength and speed and such were still generic, being classed as a Heavyweight the sole distinction, but certainly things were looking up, Ric was beginning to style and profile.

Near the end of the year, AKI Corporation made a game for the N64, WCW vs. nWo: World Tour. The AKI Wrestling Engine is widely regarded as perhaps the greatest of all time, and their games improved every step of the way. Certainly their Nintendo effort improved on the graphics, even if they had a slightly smaller number of Wrestlers. Wrestlers could bleed, which was a step foreward. And for most wrestlers, their movesets were improved. Ric Flair had an unusual situation however, as the game didn’t have Special Moves that could be performed from the ground. The Figure Four was in the game but not as a finisher, although you could argue that’s a positive. But that left two finishers needed. So, to compliment Flair’s much more dirty moveset, as befits the dirtiest player in the game, Flair got a Japanese style roll up from the rear, and from the front, the Ric Flair Sucker Punch. Ric would chop his opponent, the opponent would return it, Flair would take the Flair Flop onto his face, kneel, beg off, and then thumb the other wrestler in the eye. Odd for a finisher, but it certainly fit Ric Flair.

1998

Ric Flair would be a glaring omission from WCW/nWo Revenge, the follow up to World Tour. Unfortunately Ric was fired from WCW at the time the game was made, coming back far too late to be included in the game. However, he did manage to get into WCW Nitro for the Playstation, which may or may not be considered a positive.

WCW Nitro was not made by AKI, but instead by Inland Productions. And the game, while featuring a huge roster and acceptable graphics, as well as video promos from each wrestler, allowing you to see and hear Ric Flair being Ric Flair in game, also featured a terrible wrestling engine, requiring several button presses to perform moves and only 3 unique moves per wrestler. Certainly, Ric’s moves were perfectly fitting, the Figure Four, the Nature Boy Chop and the Low Blow, but still, the only three in the game, the rest of the moves being universal. And there was still no distinguishing between wrestler’s speed, strength or skill.

1999

This tradition continued with WCW Mayhem in 1999 for the Playstation. Instead of improving character development, the games focused on new modes, new match styles, and Mayhem’s new addition, backstage areas to fight in. Which was nice, sure, but if you don’t have the steak, all the sizzle can’t help you.

Ric Flair at least got a decent moveset, to go along with his Presidential run in WCW. Most of his moves in the game were ones you’d expect to see Ric Flair use, with one exception, his finisher being a Flatliner. I don’t recall ever seeing Ric Flair bust one of them out, but hey, he had the Figure Four, so it didn’t matter, right?

The Playstation got a second dose of Ric at the very end of the year, as WCW/nWo Thunder was released, combining all 3 versions of Nitro into one game, the roster having been expanded in the PC and N64 versions of the game. So, to make some more cash, they combined them all, added in a few things and ‘released’ the ‘new game’. Hence, Ric was still just with 3 moves, and without any sense of him being, you know, Ric Flair. It looked like him, but it didn’t wrestling like him. Unfortunately.

2000

WCW in 2000 was on it’s last legs. The company had suffered under many leaders, many visions. By this time, Ric on TV was wildly veering from self parody to joke to, on occasion, the Ric Flair of old. However, on the video game front, two important things happened.

Firstly, WCW’s second and last portable game, WCW Mayhem was released in April. And while it veered more towards the later stages of WCW, focusing on backstage areas and weapons, and while Ric Flair again had no unique moveset and could barely be seen, it was important in that it was a decent game. For WCW, it had been a while since that happened.

The other was the very first video game was released that had Ric Flair in the game and had stats. It’s a shame this had to be WCW Backstage Assault, widely regarded as a terrible, terrible game, and widely laughed at for having no actual ring, only backstage areas.

But Ric was in it, and he was rated! And rated quite well, despite being 51 years old. Flair had a full 10 in Ability and Submission, and a 9 in Impact. Every other category was a 6, apart from Aerial, which was only a 5. This is to signify how Ric Flair always seems to get caught and slammed when he goes up, but when he actually does hit it, it’s deadly. Regardless of the horrible nature of the game, and having a ‘Thunder Slam’ for a finisher, Ric Flair finally got some credit in the video game world, having a fitting move set and being ranked as one of the best wrestlers in the game, stats wise. After all, he is Ric Flair.

2002

Soon after the release of Backstage Assault, WCW was sold to Vince McMahon. Ric Flair took a hiatus from the industry, but returned in November 2001 as Co-Owner of the World Wrestling Federation, soon to be WWE after their court case with the World Wildlife Fund. Flair’s return and ‘corruption’ of the company caused Vince McMahon, on screen, to bring in the nWo to kill the company, rather than let Flair do it. So, it can be argued, Ric Flair created the two main story arcs in the 2002 Video Games he was part of.

In WWE WrestleMania X8 for the Gamecube, the first WWE Gamecube game, Ric Flair was an unlockable wrestler. You obtained him by winning the WWE European Title. Not the most fitting of methods, but hey. His first WWE video game appearance in nearly 10 years saw his move set improve dramatically, with every move being one that you could see him perform. He lacked the hard, cheating edge that Flair would increasingly rely on as he moved into his 50’s, but it was still a perfectly acceptable move set for the legend.

WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth was Ric Flair’s biggest involvement in a video game up to that point. As well as being a playable character, with a balanced moveset as befits his newfound status as the good guy boss he held at the time, he was also a major character in the games Season Mode. As Raw GM, he controlled Raw in game, interacting with your character at various points, as well as fighting off the nWo, until a year in, at which point Flair turns heel, joins forces with Vince McMahon, and the game goes from Raw vs. Smackdown to the Owners vs. The Superstars.

It’s a shame the video game had a better storyline than what really happened. Ric Flair was all over the game, and was a decent character. Not bad for a 53 year old.

2003

At this point, the WWE began churning out 3 separate games per year, one per console. A fourth one came out this year, marking the WWE’s second attempt at a non-wrestling game. WWE Crush Hour was an ok Twisted Metal rip off in game play, but the idea is still weird. Wrestlers in cars, fighting. Ok…

Ric Flair was in the game, driving a pimped out Sports Car. It had stats, in handling, defense, strength and speed, which while for the car officially did kinda match Flair’s personality. That was the point after all. Flair’s handling was bad (the guy tends to strut too much), his defense was highish (he takes a licking and keeps on ticking after all), his strength was average (he was getting on in years) and his speed wasn’t the best. Overall he wasn’t that great a character in the game, which doesn’t really impact on his career that much.

Back in the real wrestling games, the three consoles at the time got their games within about a month of each other. First off the ranks was WWE WrestleMania XIX for the Gamecube. And while the story mode may not have been that great (why would anyone want to play a beat em up in order to stop Wrestlemania?), Ric Flair was slowly making improvements to his moveset. His strengths were logical, submissions and the like, his weaknesses were also logical, jumping and speed. And his moveset was pretty much spot on, with the taunts and moves you expected of Evolution’s Ric Flair. Lots of roll ups, lots of low blows, and styling and profiling all night long. It’s a shame such a good moveset was wasted on such a badly received game.

Over on Xbox, WWE Raw 2 was released, and with it Flair’s first appearance on the Microsoft console. And with it came the most detailed stats in wrestling game history. With 22 different stats, Ric Flair, you hoped, would be tied down pretty well. And he pretty much was, with no real major problems, just minor ones. He had strong ‘punches’, submissions, and ‘rough housing’, he had strong defense against grapples, he got finishers easily, and had maximum intelligence. Although a mere 4/5 for Charisma is certainly a debatable point. But his moveset was filled with cheap shots and chops, which by this point his normal matches were becoming more and more reliant on. This moveset, although undergoing changes, became pretty much what Flair’s moveset has been since then in WWE games. There’s some changes as new modes, new situations have been made, but the basic, standard moves tend to be the same now, chops, cheap shots and the Figure Four. Why fix what ain’t broke?

WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain on the Playstation 2, widely regarded as one of the best in the series, had Ric Flair as a upper-mid character. The introduction of ratings made it easier to see what level Ric was now being judged at compared to everyone else. His overall ranking of 75 was fairly strong, although being at the same level as George ‘The Animal’ Steele, in the game as a legend, seems a little off. But then you have to remember that that’s Steele at his best, and Ric in modern day. Certainly Ric had impressive stats, with 9 in Submission and Endurance, an 8.5 for technique. His strength and speed was what brought his overall score down, 6 and 5 respectively, but then if you’re playing Ric Flair as a guy constantly going to the top rope, you may have missed the point. In any other game, those stats would put Ric in the top level. But with a game with 9 men with 10 Endurance (Kane? Kevin Nash?) and another at 9.5 (BIG SHOW?), Flair is in the same position in game as on TV at the time, an older man, in the upper midcard.

2004

In 2004, Ric was firmly entrenched in Evolution, and this was used for WWE Day of Reckoning’s story mode. The Gamecube game’s story mode saw you create a wrestler and take them from a developmental deal up to winning a World title at Wrestlemania. However, you were given a choice to sign with Raw or Smackdown. If you went with Smackdown, you joined The New Ministry, and eventually would take the WWE Title off The Undertaker. Pick Raw, and you joined Evolution and ended up winning the World Title from HHH. Throughout the season, you teamed with and eventually fueded with Flair, having to fight him on multiple occasions.

In the exhibition mode, Ric was near the middle, despite being a respectable 72 overall. His submission and charisma were high, his durability and countering skills were above average, and his speed and strength were average.

However, this perhaps represented Ric near the start of 2004, where he was more in a managerial role in Evolution. As 2004 continued, Ric stepped into the ring more often, winning the World Tag Team titles with Batista. This was represented in WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, where Flair’s stats got bumped up to 86, with full Submission and Charisma, a 9 in Technique, and moderately high scores in the other stats. Coupled with a Light Heavyweight class, Flair became a solid pick, even if he wouldn’t be the first one you’d want. He also got his own Superstar Challenge, the Challenges being a sort of proto-Achievement in game. While he could be used in the ‘Take Out Evolution’ one, you also had the ‘Nature Boy’ challenge, in which you had to beat Ric in a hardcore match after making him bleed within 3 minutes.

2005

2005 was a good year for Ric Flair. He won the Intercontinental Title, he feuded with HHH, it was a good in ring year for him. In the video game stakes, alas, it didn’t go quite so well. He started with WWE WrestleMania 21, a horrid game for the Xbox that while looking good, and having a decent set of stats for Ric, was so unplayable that it didn’t matter how good he was envisaged in game.

At least in WWE Day of Reckoning 2 for the Gamecube Flair was in a decent game. And his stats were again fitting of the position he had found, IC champ to upper midcard. He was once again one of the best counter wrestlers, one of the most charismatic, and the third best submission wrestler in the game, submission wrestling being a major part of the game. His overall 85 put him in good company, and his moveset was once again fitting and appropriate.

At the end of the year, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 came out for PS2 and PSP. Oddly enough, in the two games, his stats were similar but subtly different. On the move, he was stronger and more durable, yet had the same overall rating. Clearly Jake Roberts on the PSP ruined the scale. Flair’s move set remained relatively unchanged from the last SD game, and he was featured prominently in some storylines in the Season mode, Uneasy Allies as HHH’s manager and ally, and the Road to Wrestlemania as a minor player, both on the Raw side of the season. Add in a couple of challenges, based on Evolution and different generations of wrestler, and you had a game.

2006

WWE finally got their act together, and unified their Video Game brands, releasing just one game on all platforms, SmackDown vs. Raw 2007. And, of course, Flair was involved, again getting a little boost up in the rankings, based on fights with Mick Foley and The Spirit Squad throughout 2006. His Submission, Charisma and Technical skills were all once again top notch, with all his other skills leveling out a little, his hardcore score (based on his propensity to cheat) coming down but having all his other skills raised to an OK level, thus making Ric a pretty good all round choice in this version of the game, although his Stamina is relatively low, compared to the rest of the roster. But, given Evolution’s dissolving, Flair does not play as big a role in the season mode this time round. He appears once or twice, but overall he is not a major player. On the plus side, this does let you play him without getting any alternate storylines.

2007

Ric Flair’s last to date appearance in a WWE Video Games (at the time of writing) is, naturally, SmackDown vs. Raw 2008. And yet again, despite getting a year older, Ric “Fine Wine” Flair gets a bump up in his stats, having transferred to Smackdown he now rates an 88, his lowest stat in speed a respectable 68, with 3 stats hovering around 90. With his Dirty and Showman fighting styles, Flair can cheat to win, and then rub it in your face by stealing your finisher, a useful tool, although Flair does now have a second finisher, the Figure Four complimented by the Grapefruit Claw, aka a stiff squeeze of his opponent’s, uh, manhood.

‘Future’