Ric Flair: To Be the Man…Whoooooo!

Now that it’s all said and done, it’s hard to make a legitimate argument for anyone other than Flair being the greatest of all time. It’s cliche to say, but there truly will never be another Ric Flair. History has a tendency to repeat itself, and this is absolutely not a knock on some of the best wrestler’s of all time, but we’ve seen second comings of some of the best wrestler ever. John Cena and Hulk Hogan are essentially the same character at their core, with Hogan telling kids to say their prayers and take their vitamins, and Cena encouraging them to “Never Give Up!” Stone Cold Steve Austin and CM Punk were both rebellious anti-heroes, who got over with the WWE audience by being defiant and saying things others wouldn’t dare say. Even the great Bret Hart had a carbon copy. Another Canadian technical wrestler who was a submission expert and was deemed too small and not charismatic enough, Chris Benoit. Who’s the modern day Flair though? Show me where the World Champion is who’s defending the title night in and night out all across the world. Show me where the long limousine is parked and waiting to take the “The Man” to his private jet. Please point me in the direction of the World Champion who’s delivering the best promo’s of all time with no scripts or bullet points. That performer doesn’t exist right now because not just any man can fill those shoes. It’s more than the long fancy robes,the women, and the jewelry. The character was special because Flair really was that character. There was no tuning it off after the show, that’s who the man was 24/7, and that’s what made him special. He wasn’t playing a role, he was just turning his personality all the way up to 10 and making magic. Flair’s career is truly the stuff of legends. Whether he was losing his mind and dropping elbows on his sports coat, inviting women in the audience to “ride Space Mountain,” or putting on a 5 star match, there’s one thing he always made clear, and that was that “To be the man, whooo! You gotta beat the man,” and Ric Flair was most certainly “The Man.”