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MORNING THOUGHTS: THREE FANTASTIC RIC FLAIR BOUTS THAT DESERVE DVD IMMORTALITY, KEN KENNEDY'S RETURN, THE ABYSMAL RAW ENDING & MORE

THE WORST ENDING TO RAW EVER?

I'm sure there was probably a Monday Night Raw episode that ended at some point with a moment that was far worse than William Regal demanding that WWE go to black last night in the midst of a WWE championship match (and then subsequently stopping the bout live in the IZOD Center in New Jersey), but I am truly hard-pressed to think of one that would have left such a bitter taste in the mouths of viewers that invested two hours of their evening to get there.

Part of that reason is my complete lack of understanding of how this was supposed to move storylines forward or add heel heat to any of the characters involved:

*How does giving away a PPV quality rematch, then going off the air with no finish somehow entice viewers to want to part with their $39.99 (or more, if they are watching via HD TV) on Pay-Per-View?

*How does that finish build to a Steel Cage match between Randy Orton and Triple H?

*How does this make William Regal a more hated character, since all the heat is on the company for not delivering what they advertised?

I cannot fathom anyone sitting there is a creative staff meeting with Vince McMahon and absolutely loving this idea.  I don't know who birthed the idea or how it changed once it went through the inevitable dilution process that happens with all ideas that have to be approved by the higher-ups on the creative team, but all last night's Raw did was reinforce that you won't get what you expect for free....so why should you pay to get it?

A really bad move in my opinion and one I hope we never see repeated by any promotion.

OH, AND, UM....

When did Ken Kennedy become a babyface and why, anyway?  

To review, the last time we saw Kennedy on Raw, he was more or less getting walloped by Finley.  He competes and loses the Money in the Bank match at Wrestlemania, disappears from TV (to make a movie, but that's not part of the storyline, so we ignore that), and returns a babyface confronting William Regal?

Huhbuhwhat? 

Ever read a book and somehow skip a page, leaving you questioning how you jumped from point A to point B and backtracking to figure out what you missed?   That's how I felt watching Kennedy's return last night and that's not something that's going to endear the average viewer to get behind Kennedy as a character. 

THE DEFINITIVE FLAIR: PART TWO

Every day this week in Morning Thoughts, I am suggesting matches I would like to see included in the upcoming WWE DVD, The Definitive Ric Flair Collection, set for a 7/8 release nationally.

Ric Flair & Barry Windham vs. The Midnight Express - Clash of the Champions IV: Season's Beating (12/7/88) - I don't believe you'll ever find a more perfect tag team bout than this one.  At the time, Flair and Windham were the last remnants of the greatest Four Horsemen combination of all time (take that Sid, Luger and Mongo) and were the NWA World and United States Heavyweight champions, respectively.  Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane were the best tag team in the world at that point and had recently unseated Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson for the NWA World Tag Team belts, sending them packing to the WWF.  Headlining a live Clash of the Champions, four of the best wrestlers of that era got to do their thing, with JJ Dillon and Jim Cornette, the top managers of the promotion, in opposite corners.  I don't think you'll find a better textbook example of the type of wrestling that exemplified Jim Crockett Promotions and the NWA than you would right here.  Back and forth synchronized tag moves, the heels getting the heat on the babyfaces, colorful athletes as opposed to caricatures.  This is the type of match everyone in pro wrestling should be studying if they have any serious notion of being truly great workers. 

Ric Flair vs. Sting - Clash of the Champions I (3/27/88) - The match that was so good, everyone forgave the absolutely horrible finish, immediately decreeing the bout a classic and to this day, is considered the match that took Sting from young upstart to a legitimate bonafide superstar.  For 45 minutes on live national cable TV, Ric Flair did for Sting what the traveling NWA World champion did for countless challengers in countless territories through the years.  They started slow on the mat and wrestled back and forth.  The heel champion took control, but couldn't - even with his cheapshot tactics - get one over on the fiery youngster.  The challenger comes back, faces all the odds against him, and takes the veteran champion to the very brink of extinction, to the limit.  Sting was the man who would be king, if only - IF ONLY - there had been another 30 seconds, another minute to go before the bell rang for the time limit, because you knew in your heart of hearts that Flair would have submitted to the Scorpion Deathlock.  As I noted, the finish was terrible, because it was promoted on television building to the bout that if it went to a time limit decision, ringside judges would decide a victor.  In the end, judge Gary Juster ruled the bout a draw, defeating the very idea of why judges were installed in the first place.  Truly a horrible idea, but a 45 minute match that was so good at doing what it was designed to do - taking the young Steve Borden and transforming him into the star that he is to this very day, 20 years later, that the finish was immediately forgiven for the most part.  This was Nature Boy Ric Flair, the NWA World champion, at his very best and you all knew that this match was somehow going to end up on my list, didn't you?

Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk - Great American Bash '89 (7/23/89) - If there were two opponents that truly pushed Flair as a performer outside of his comfort level, they would be Ricky Steamboat and Terry Funk.  The Steamboat bouts have been well documented on DVD, but the Funk-Flair classics of 1989 have only been immortalized on DVD with the bout that ended the feud, the infamous Troy, NY I Quit match.  However, the match that topped what many (OK, well at least me and no one can argue otherwise to me) feel was the greatest top to bottom wrestling PPV of all time, Great American Bash 1989, has yet to get some DVD loving.  Two months prior, a then-retired Terry Funk attacked Ric Flair, who had just wrestled a legitimate 40 minute bout against Rick Steamboat en route to winning back the NWA title, piledriving the new champ on a table and "injuring" his neck.  They did a big build back to Flair's return for revenge and this war was on as Flair and Funk beat the living hell out of each other, chopping their chests to mince meat, tearing apart the Baltimore Arena and driving the crowd crazy.  What's even more insane than the never-to-be surpassed quality of this match is that Terry Funk did it all on a broken tailbone, yet another notch on his belt proving why he's the man.  Add in Gary Hart as Funk's surprise second.  The Great Muta hitting the ring after the finish, Flair's long-time rival Sting making the save and one of the all-time wildest post match brawls I've ever seen and you have the centerpiece of any Flair compilation.  In fact, if this match isn't on the DVD, the producer deserves to be fired.  Period.

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

 

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