Dark Pegasus Video Review: The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection, Disc Two

First Fall: Steamboat backs him into the corner, and they slap each other in the face. They exchange counters for a bit and wind up in an overhand wristlock battle. Steamboat wins that contest, and Flair bails to think about things. Back in, Flair shoulderblocks him down, but Steamboat hiptosses him on a second attempt and rides him down into a side headlock. They work off that for a while with Flair hooking the tights. Finally, Flair forces Steamboat into the corner and shoulderblocks his gut. Flair lays in some absolutely BRUTAL chops, but Steamboat comes back with his own equally stiff chops. Steamboat comes back with a dropkick and fires off a series of crossfaces. Flair forces him to the corner again, and elbows him in the ribs. They exchange chops again, and adjectives just can’t do them justice. Flair takes a backdrop and begs off. Steamboat moves in and gets kicked in the gut. Steamboat slides between Flair’s legs, gets an O’Connor Roll for two, and it’s back to the side headlock. That segues to a front facelock. They exchange chops yet again, and Flair gives Steamboat an atomic drop. Flair is late on getting over to him, so Steamboat DESTROYS him with a chop and gets two. A shoulderblock gets two. And two more. And now a double chop gets two. The nearfalls are coming fast and furious, so Flair bails again. Back in, Flair fires off a few more chops, triggering a battle of chops that sound like shotgun blasts. Even commentator Terry Funk is wincing. Steamboat gets a suplex, but his splash meets Flair’s knees. Flair gets a Sullivan-stomp to Steamboat’s gut and starts going after pinfalls of his own with a 3/4-Nelson. Steamboat maneuvers into a wristlock and kips up into a test of strength. Flair boots him in the gut, triggering another round of chops. “What can you say except ‘Ouch,'” says Funk. “Ouch” indeed, Terry. Steamboat misses a dropkick, allowing Flair to go for the figure-four leglock. Steamboat reverses to a small package, but Flair rolls it over to his own to pick up the first fall at 19:33.

Second Fall: After the first tremendous fall, Flair is now your champion if the match goes to a time-limit draw, thanks to the “Louisiana Rule.” The best compliment I can give that first fall is that it’s twenty minutes of action that feels more like five. Steamboat starts the second fall aggressively with a chop off the top rope for two. He tries a headlock, but Flair counters to a backdrop suplex to take over again. Flair hits a kneedrop but misses a second, and Steamboat hits FIFTEEN consecutive elbow drops on Flair’s knee (Funk added in an extra one on commentary)! Steamboat applies the figure-four, and Flair squeals in pain. Flair makes the ropes and kicks Steamboat away on another figure-four attempt, but Steamboat yanks him off and turns him over into the Boston Crab. Flair makes the ropes again and screams, “OH GAWWWD!” right into the camera. They fight it out with more stiff chops and work in the headlock > headscissors > pinfall > power-into-a-backslide sequence that’s been ripped off for every epic match since. Flair sends Steamboat to the floor and tosses Ricky into the railing. Ricky takes his time returning to the ring, and Flair snaps his throat on the ropes. A suplex into the ring gets two, and Flair rolls Steamboat back into the Oklahoma Crossbody Ride from an abdominal stretch.

Third Fall: Flair clips Steamboat’s knee early in the fall, and they lay into each other with more chops. Steamboat backdrops him to continue the work-the-back theme he’d established in the second fall. Flair gets a kneebreaker out of nowhere, though. FIGURE-FOUR! Steamboat makes the ropes immediately, though, and Flair gets chippy with Tommy Young. More chops, and Flair works in the Flair Flip. Steamboat cuts him off with another chop, though. Flair begs off and then scoops up Steamboat’s legs and puts his feet on the ropes for several nearfalls. Steamboat charges right into a boot. He misses another charge and gets his knee tied up on the ropes. Flair goes right after it, of course. FIGURE-FOUR! Steamboat is in the middle of the ring this time, though. Flair gets several nearfalls before Ricky finally rolls to the ropes. Flair continues to work the leg, though, smashing Ricky’s leg into the apron. Back in, the Flair Flip works this time, and Flair gets two off a crossbody. Steamboat tries a bodyslam but collapses, giving Flair another two count. Steamboat hits a flying headbutt and hits his own crossbody (the move that restarted the whole feud) for two. A swinging neckbreaker gets two more for Steamboat, and he powers Flair over with a sunset flip for two. He shoulderblocks Flair down, but Flair counters another one with a sleeper. Steamboat powers up and sends Flair to the floor. Flair sneaks back in and clips his leg again, but Steamboat hits a surprise enzuigiri. A flying chop misses, and they tease a double KO. More chops. Steamboat is just taking his hide off with those. Flair begs off as Steamboat lets out a primal scream. Flair suckers him in and gives him a backdrop suplex. He goes up again, and this time Steamboat catches him with the traditional slam. DOUBLE CHICKENWING! Oh, but Ricky’s leg buckles this time from the accumulated injuries. *****

But it ain’t over yet! Terry Funk leaves the judges’ position to congratulate Flair and tell him that he had Terry’s vote all along. Flair tries to politely excuse himself and put Ricky Steamboat over, but Funk interrupts again and lays out a challenge for the NWA Title. Flair rightly tells Funk that since Terry has been out of wrestling for so long, he can hardly be considered a contender above all the guys who have been working their asses off. Funk offers a handshake before suckerpunching Flair and tossing him to the floor. The judges’ table is just sitting there, so Funk gives him a piledriver on it, breaking Flair’s neck and setting up the next six months’ worth of matches. So Flair goes from the lead heel to the lead babyface like *that*, and the beauty of it all – it was so seamless.

Flair explains that Funk was so popular because he added a little humor and he could get hardcore when he needed to.

This is the Confidential segment where Flair recounts the plane crash involving Flair, Johnnie Valentine, and Greg Valentine. I won’t go too far into this because it’s not my thing and doesn’t really involve wrestling. In short: we nearly lost a lot of good people…and David Crockett. I kid. Dave’s really a nice guy, but he’s an easy target. Really great piece that tells the story from all angles, including a fan who was there the night they were supposed to wrestle. Flair would come back about six months later and tear up all the cards and letters the fans sent him to maintain his heel status.

Oh baby, here we go! Another Confidential segment. The original Horsemen were Flair, Blanchard, Ole and Arn Anderson and JJ Dillon as the manager. Tully says it worked because the fans grabbed onto it and the rest of them had to try to reach Flair’s level. Arn says that he was the rookie at the time and he didn’t quite know what he was doing then. That’s jarring to hear from a total pro like Arn. Arn says they defined a work ethic and that’s why it worked. Tully says that the original Horsemen were the only real Horsemen but I’ve always thought of Ole as the Stu Sutcliffe of the Horsemen. For the first time, Arn confirms what we already knew — Paul Roma sucks. He didn’t exactly say that, but the editing implies it.

More from Confidential. Arn talks about living the life just like they appeared to on TV. The flew in private jets and road in limos. They bought 5 Mercedes at one time. Whooo!!! They show the Russo segment of Flair’s house. That’s not really how I would want to remember that. Ric lets Tully and Arn play in his pool because they’re champs. Tully tells a funny story about trying to upstage Ric Flair’s rolex and car and Flair always going one better.