The Nature Boy and the Road Warrior

Ric Flair v Road Warrior Hawk (JCP Great American Bash, 7/1/86)

For the first of Flair's 14 world title defences on the Great American Bash tour (could be legit, could be carny LIES), up steps the Road Warrior. This had actually been built really nicely on TV, especially the week leading up to it. Flair had been talking on interviews about how he was going to slap that big Road Warrior Hawk, then get him in the ring and stretch his neck until people would be calling him Big Bird. On the last episode of World Championship Wrestling the Horsemen put a beating on both Road Warriors, hitting a concrete spike piledriver on Animal before giving Hawk a borderline terrifying double gordbuster, one where he was nearly vertical before Arn managed to course correct at the last second. Then Arn and Ole held a motionless Hawk so Flair could make good on his promise and slap him across the face. Hawk cut a great promo after it, saying he forgot what it was like to truly feel PAIN, thanking Flair for reminding him, telling him that he would remind Flair of the same thing at the Bash by taking his belt, because the pain of that would hurt more than anything. Bell to bell they didn't reinvent the wheel. It was Flair versus a big fella who likes to do gorilla press slams and flying shoulder tackles, so at the very least Flair could plug Hawk into all of the usual Flair spots and Hawk wouldn't be stepping out of his comfort zone. They started with a couple tie-ups and Hawk flung Flair across the ring both times. Flair is not best pleased, comes back charging and Hawk puts him on his rump with a shoulder block, following with a "bring it" gesture that sends Flair off his rocker. Lots of what Flair did here was in service of making Hawk look like a brute, a powerhouse, an all around UNIT of a man. Flair hitting a big delayed vertical suplex looked really awesome, then he goes for the cover and Hawk positions his arms under Flair's torso and you know what's coming. Tommy Young counts 2 and Hawk throws Flair nearly out the ring on the kick out. Hawk must've hit a dozen press slams in this, or at least four, all of them with impressive ease. When Flair created his first big opening it was because he stepped out the way of a moving truck, Hawk going flying out the ring off a missed shoulder block. This was a great looking missed shoulder block too, lots of momentum behind it, Hawk being practically horizontal in mid-air, landing with a thud and rolling out to the floor. As soon as the ref' went down I could smell the Dusty Finish, but at least Hawk got his revenge slap on Flair and for that one glorious moment the Philly crowd thought they'd witnessed the crowning of a new champion. This was really good, and at sub-15 minutes a pretty breezy watch.