Just one month after finally putting an end to all the nonsense surrounding the World Heavyweight Championship, Flair was rewarded by being the first victim in Hulk Hogan‘s run through WCW. At Bash at the Beach 1994, he would drop the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Hogan, and the Hulkster’s era in WCW would officially be underway. With Hogan in WCW, Flair would unfortunately never be valued the same again. He didn’t have a creative control clause in his contract, he didn’t have Eric Bischoff wrapped around his finger, and more importantly he understood the need to create future stars. All things that made him an outcast in Hogan’s WCW. The irony of it all is that Ric Flair is solely responsible for bringing Hulk Hogan to WCW. He set up the meeting between Hogan and Bischoff and he’s the one whole told Hogan it would be a good idea. Makes you think what the wrestling world would look like now had he not done that. The next six plus years of Flair’s career can only be described as a roller coaster ride. He would win the World Heavyweight Championship a few more times, bringing his total to a record 16 reigns, 17 if you count the win over Steamboat. He would even have a run as on-screen President of WCW for a bit, but he continuously clashed with Eric Bischoff and was constantly under valued and disrespected. WCW never truly understood why Flair was so beloved, and they had absolutely no idea how to use him correctly during their final few years. It wasn’t that fans didn’t care about him, WCW just didn’t know how to present him. They were honestly too focused on recapturing the magic they once had with the NWO. Despite the initial boom that came from signing Hogan and forming the NWO, WCW would finally go out of business in 2001. The final match to air on WCW Nitro was fittingly Ric Flair vs. Sting. With the NWA/WCW chapter in his life finally over with, Flair probably thought his career was over, but “The Dirtiest Player in the Game” had one more long magical run left in him.
