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[2000-03-19-WCW-Uncensored] Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan (Yappapi Strap)


soup23

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We cut to the finish of Sid vs. Jarrett. Slick Johnson tries to make the count but Hogan prevents that. Hogan beats up everyone and Sid gets the pin to retain the title. Scott Steiner whacks Hogan with a guitar and they call him the insurance policy. That is interesting at least but why did he wait until NOW to interfere. This leads right into our main event. I have to question a strap and bullrope match booked on the same show. This was better than the previous stuff but that wasn’t a high bar to jump over. As far as these two together, this was still on the lower end for me and felt more like a tribute of them going through the motions of the glory days than an actual match. They bleed and do some stuff but nothing felt too authentic to me. Hogan wins to the surprise of no one. **1/4

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Flair is finally back to proper color coordination with purple trunks. Someone must have talked some sense into him. What's the point in Hogan getting laid out before a match if Hogan's not going to work from underneath to build drama? Ridiculous. When Jimmy Hart hits Flair with the strap, I start wishing he was the guy working the match. The action isn't bad and I always like Flair-Hogan matches that get violent, but this is probably the least of those, and Jimmy Hart interfering for Hogan is not very becoming of a babyface. I was disappointed in this, but there are still little things that these guys do better than anyone. Notice how Flair doesn't even attempt to drag Hogan to all four corners until just before the finish so he doesn't overdo the teases and people actually buy it when it starts, and notice how Hogan juices just before the finish because he knows it's a better visual if he wins a strap match with both guys bleeding instead of just Flair. There are parts of this that worked, but overall, it was flat because of the time and place.

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  • 4 weeks later...

These two go at it in a relatively pedestrian but crowd-pleasing brawl. Flair gets busted open to add a little pizzazz to the proceedings and he takes the bodyslam off the top for good measure. Jimmy Hart appears to be laying in much harder shots than either Flair or Hogan when he tees off on Flair.

 

I am shocked when Luger comes out for interference and hits Hogan right on the top of the head with a chair.

 

Predictably the rules become a forgotten mess and Hogan wins via a combo of pin touching one of the corners.

 

**1/4

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  • 3 months later...

I liked this for what it was and thought it was really well laid out until the very weird attempt and then the match actually ending in a pin fall. If I were to compare Hogan and Flair as to which one looks more past their prime here I'd have to go with Flair who really just looks like he is going through the motions in 2000 and also looks really flabby and out of shape. Hogan clearly had a knee issue that was kind of hobbling him but I felt like he was still trying hard at this point. He was also still pretty solidly over with the crowds in the arena which has surprised me as I didn't watch any 2000 WCW before this and only remember the online narrative about Hogan at this time period being pretty much 100% negative.

 

There are definitely issues with booking Hogan as pretty much THE top babyface at this point in his career and especially considering what WCW was having to compete with over in WWF but I feel like his work was still pretty good. I don't know how anyone in WCW could have thought this direction was the right path to try and regain all the ground they had lost to WWF in 99 thru this point in 2000 though.

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  • 1 month later...

Action begins at the end of the Jeff Jarrett vs Sid Vicious title match where, with the referee down, Hogan runs out to stop dodgy replacement official Slick Johnson, counting Jarrett’s cover. Big boot and legdrop to Jarrett from the Hulkster, before he pulls Sid on top and the official is back up right on cue to count the three. Scott Steiner is out and breaks a guitar over Hogan’s back before the Harris Twins put the boots to him. Sid sees off the brothers and with Hogan laid out in the ring, here’s Ric Flair, strap in hand, for their Yappapi strap match.

 

It’s explained that in order to get the win you have to drag your opponent around the ring and touch each turnbuckle. Flair attaches the strap to the Hulkster’s wrist and immediately starts whipping him with it. Ooh, Jimmy Hart is coming to ringside carrying Hogan’s weightlifting belt. Hogan, down and out only seconds ago, is now back to his feet and dragging the Naitch to the outside. Flair chops him, but just like against everyone else, those chops have no effect. Ever the pro though, Flair sells Hogan’s crappy chops that look like they wouldn’t even hurt my gran. Clothesline in the corner and Flair has to avoid getting tangled up in the strap before he can do his face first bump. Trusty eye poke from ‘the Naitch’ and he’s back to kicking the downed Hogan in the chest and whipping him with the strap. As Flair chokes him with it, Hogan with a back kick low blow, before taking the weightlifting belt from Jimmy Hart and using that on his opponent. Flair rolls to the floor, but Hulk is right on him and throws him into the guardrail before tossing him back inside. Ten punches in the corner spot. Hogan gives him a further ten for good measure and I like the way he’s shaking his fist out after. Those punches have opened Ric up and as he’s back on the outside trying to compose himself, Hulk pulls him rights back in. Another poke to the eye by ‘the Naitch’ and he heads up top. You know how that works out and Mark Madden even comments that the last time his going upstairs worked was at the very first Starcade when he pinned Harley Race. He again heads to the outside and Hogan with an axe bomber on the arena floor. Hulk calls over Jimmy Hart and hands him the strap so he can get a bit of retribution (and Jimmy shows plenty of aggression in getting those licks in). Flair retreats up the entrance way, but that’s just a ploy on his part, as with Hogan on top and raining down punches, out comes Lex Luger who cracks a chair over Hulk’s head and now he’s bleeding too. Ric drags him back to ringside and a low blow. He removes the strap to try and get his hands on Hart, however ‘the Mouth of the South’ is too quick for him. ‘The Naitch’ returns to the match in hand and targets that cut with piston like punches before blatantly choking ‘the Hulkster’. Hart enters the ring to try and pull him off, but Flair just decks him. A kick to Hogan’s knee and Ric makes his first attempt at trying to reach all four corners. He gets three-quarters of the way there, however Hogan grabs onto the bottom rope and hangs on to it for all he’s worth. Flair pulls some brass knux out of his boot and KO’s Hulk. He makes the cover (huh?) but Hogan kicks out at two (huh?). ‘Hulk up’, big boot and now its Hulk’s turn to try and touch all four turnbuckles. After he slaps the third, Luger is back out to try and help his partner. Hogan sees him coming though, ducks the clothesline and drops him with a big boot. Legdrop on Flair and the ref counts the three for the win. For good measure he then touches the fourth corner to avoid any complaints from his opponent.

 

I liked the way that the two of them were swinging that strap, but pinfall attempts by Flair and Hogan winning with a three count after we’d been constantly told that the only way to win the match is by dragging your opponent around the ring and touching all four corners in succession. I don’t know if Hogan had a brain freeze because he immediately slapped that fourth turnbuckle after the fall had been counted, or Flair attempting to pin him AND THE REFEREE COUNTING had just confused the situation, but not good. The official really should’ve had a quiet word in their ears, or better still just flat out not counted that first pin attempt.

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