[2000-06-12-WCW-Nitro] Ric & Reid Flair vs Vince Russo & David Flair

[soup23]

Russo cuts another promo on Flair and I don’t buy a word he says or understand why he has such an impassioned hatred for Flair. This leads to the retirement and shaved head stipulation for later in the show. Reid comes out as Flair’s partner wearing an Ambercrombie shirt. Russo is in a NY Yankee sweatsuit and a baseball catcher chest protector. Flair rips that off and still chops Russo. Flair locks the figure four in but Russo slams the bat against Flair. No DQ for that because it is relaxed rules I guess. Russo tells Beth to bring her cute little ass into the ring. Russo pleads Beth to hit Ric with the stature of liberty but she refuses. Russo then chokes out Flair with Charlotte trying to interfere. Megan throws in the towel and we get Russo shaving Flair’s head. Once again, no fucking reaction from the crowd so great job getting all this heat. Fuck this angle. Really one of the most angering on screen feuds in wrestling history. Another DUD for Russo and Flair’s hair was honestly never the same again. DUD DUD DUD.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

Reading this just makes you so angry - the idea of Ric Flair getting his iconic hair shaved should have been one of the ultimate heel acts to garner huge heat and lead to the huge payoff of Flair returning and getting revenge on the dastardly heel that would have been able to milk the fact that they were the guy to shave Ric Flair's head for the rest of their career.

 

Instead you get this, a throw away match/stip that meant absolutely in the long term outside of the initial shock value during the moment in which it's happening. Which basically sums up Russo's entire booking philosophy.

[GSR]

Russo and David are in the ring and Vinnie Ru tells his ‘son’ that he’s very proud of his performance at the Great American Bash last night. He says that he came out here for one reason, and that’s that he is sick of being everyone’s punching bag and isn’t going to take it any more. It ends tonight, and it ends with the ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair. He claims that he’s going to retire him and tells him to get his ass out here. Flair steps out into the arena and he’s grinning like a Cheshire cat. He warns Russo that he better start jumping on someone else, because if he jumps on him again he’s going to get hurt. Russo breaks down after saying how much he hates Ric, and the Naitch states that they can put this to bed once and for all. If Russo wants, he can have him tonight, but if he wins, Russo retires, he becomes the boss of WCW and he will get to shave his head. Russo accepts “because a New Yorker doesn’t back down from anybody punk! Especially in front of these Richmond faggots!”, but with one condition, he wants it a handicap match with his ‘son’ David. Flair says that he’s going to get Reid and they’ll kick their ass like they did last time.

 

Ric is carrying a bag full of hair clippers and the like, as Beth, Megan and Ashley watch on from the crowd, and while Tony Schiavone reminds us that Ric’s career is also on the line tonight. ‘The Naitch’ starts off against his son and tears open his shirt so he can get a clear shot at his chest. Whip to the corner and David badly botches the bump over the turnbuckle and onto the apron, not even making it over them. Russo tries to help David, Ric sees him coming and Vinnie Ru sells a kick to the mid-section that missed by about a foot! Knife edge chop to Russo and he responds by posing like he’s Hulk Hogan. Just when I thought this cunt is now no selling Flair’s chops, Ric realises he’s wearing a chest protector (which to be fair now makes it seem pretty funny). Of course ‘the Naitch’ strips him off that and makes him pay for it with a couple more chops. Delayed vertical suplex on David and he locks on the Figure Four. Russo has grabbed his baseball bat and just unloads with shot after shot on Ric. Reid tackles Russo, but David pulls him off and Vinnie Ru is back to attacking Ric with it. He calls Beth into the ring and at the same time R&B Security rush out. Russo wants Beth to “jump on his bandwagon” and encourages her to break the Statue of Liberty figurine over her helpless husband. When she doesn’t, he does it himself, but the statue is so fragile that it breaks before he hits him! Russo is on top choking ‘the Naitch’ and Ashley hops the rails trying to save her father, however she’s held back by the Security. David with the Figure Four on his dad, some crappy looking stomps from Russo and Megan throws the towel in. What a way for Flair’s career ‘to end’? Russo and David then shave Ric’s head, and for good measure shave Reid’s too.

 

If the cage match was an ego trip then this was on another level altogether. Just pinning Flair wasn’t enough for him, he wanted to be the man to retire him and shave his head in the process! The match itself was fucking atrocious with botches and hideous looking work throughout. Russo’s baseball bat looks as though it’s made of rubber, the ‘lethal’ Statue of Liberty figurine breaks before impact and we have all three Flair women involved too. The ‘Human Torch’ match hurt my eyes physically, but this hurt them in another way altogether. The lowest of the low, just plain horrific from beginning to end.