[1991-08-17-WWF-Superstars] Update: Ric Flair is WWF bound

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Bobby Heenan dropped a bombshell last week that RIC FLAIR is WWF bound "as soon as his current contract expires". We get Heenan showing off the NWA World title on WWF TV. He makes the famous ice cream/horse manure comparison and this was pretty surreal stuff at the time.

[flyonthewall2983]

Did his contract expire in September? I was watching a bit of SummerSlam from this year and thought that the perfect place for him to have started on screen.

[PeteF3]

The big bomb drops. Okerlund does put over "the great Ric Flair" and wonders aloud why he'd need Bobby Heenan as an adviser. With the Jake heel turn and arrival of Flair the WWF suddenly feels revitalized, after a year and a half of a weak heel roster in comparison to the babyfaces.

 

There will never be any mention of "NWA" or specifics about Flair's past during this, but for the WWF to acknowledge "another organization" and that Flair actually had a wrestling past and pedigree was nothing short of mind-blowing at the time.

 

And yes, Flair's contract expired on 9/1. I'm a little surprised that the WWF was so open about bringing him in as early as mid-August. Seems like it could come off as tampering even if it was a virtual certainty if for no other reason than it was Flair's only realistic option for employment.

[flyonthewall2983]

My guess is that Vince wanted right away to claim this as a personal victory over Turner, getting arguably the biggest wrestling name on his network. And maybe Flair wanted to for similar reasons against Herd.

[Kevin Ridge]

What is this? I never knew they were talking up Flair before Summerslam. Heenan with WCW World Title. Flair may be joining WWF when his current contract expires. Heenan looking to be Flair’s advisor. I'm looking forward to seeing the arrival of Flair in WWF.

[soup23]

It is surreal to think of the context of 1990 and 1991 yearbook as well as my WCW watching for the podcast to hear Ric Flair named by Mean Gene and see Hennan holding the belt. Crazy shit.

[garretta]

As good as this was, it would have been better if Heenan actually was Flair's ringside manager instead of just an advisor. As wonderful as it was to hear him putting Flair over in the booth, particularly at the '92 Rumble, it took more away from the package than he added to put Hennig at ringside. It wasn't even so much that Bobby's neck was bothering him too badly to bump (though he probably couldn't do it much anymore regardless), but that he didn't want to have to party with Flair on the road. In fairness, he'd just been arrested for drug possession at the beginning of the year (New Year's Day, in fact) so maybe he was trying to clean himself up. Still, if that was the state of affairs, they could have brought JJ Dillon out from the front office and put him at ringside while keeping Bobby as an advisor.

 

At any rate, that's way in the future for now. Here, we're just starting out, and Heenan's holding the belt and taunting Hogan, which is golden. He didn't have to use the ice cream/horse manure twice in fifteen seconds, but that's a nitpick. You really get the feeling that this is the man that Heenan's always wanted to use to end Hulkamania, and he's finally available. As Mean Gene points out, Flair doesn't really need a manager or advisor, but Bobby's rub immediately establishes Flair as a main eventer before he ever sets foot in the WWF, thus allowing him to hit the ground running and go straight to Hogan with as little preamble as possible.

 

Part of me wishes that they could have kept using the WCW belt, because once that was out of the equation the "REAL World Champion" stuff became about as relevant as DiBiase and the Million Dollar Championship. Still, this is a hell of a jumpstart to an angle every fan, regardless of favorite promotion, has wanted to see since 1984.

[dawho5]

Bobby puts over Flair's arrival big and I'm excited.