Flair v Windham!

Ric Flair v Barry Windham (World Wide Wrestling, 1/24/87)

I wouldn't say this fell flat for me. Not by any stretch really, and if anything it was 30 minutes that flew by. But it also never rocked me like it did back whenever I last watched it, which to be honest was probably about 18 years ago now. The FIRST time I saw it was on the Ric Flair WWE DVD release back in like 2005, at which point I was pretty much just starting to venture into 80s territory footage. The Race and Dusty matches on that set didn't really do a ton for me, but this one felt like the embodiment of everything people had said about peak Flair. When I watched it a second time I'd become a big Windham fan dived deep down the territory rabbit hole and it stood out as one of the best matches of the era. The first 10 minutes were really awesome and I was all in on Windham being one step quicker than Flair, constantly going back to the headlock and eventually the headscissors. Dusty never shut up on commentary - I say with affection - but his point about Barry trying to squeeze Flair's head into a state of dizziness is a cool one to make, maybe even an ASTUTE one, although should we really be surprised that the Dream knows the ins and outs of wrestling a World Title match? Windham is also a really good opponent for Flair because his engine matches Flair's every step and he tends to read those cues well where Flair begs off but really wants the opponent to keep pressing forward. Windham has plenty of crisp and relatively varied offence as well so he won't quickly run out of ideas working from above. He's also elite tier when it comes to going flying through or over the ropes and crashing onto the ring apron or into the barricade and he did that several times here. His bumps have a real rubbery, reckless quality to them where it looks like he has no control over where he's going. I thought the match escalated well too, where they went from brief exchanges of strikes, usually instigated by Flair and his growing frustration, to laying into each other as it went on and Windham in particular was trying to close the match out before the bell. Flair working the arm aggressively after the first transition was good stuff but as always I wish we got a little more of it. I'm not at all a "the limbwork went nowhere!" guy at this stage of the game but it did feel a wee bit like filler to me on this occasion, even if Windham had some really great bits of selling. At one point Flair had him in an armbar and punched him in the nose as he tried to escape, and Windham going down selling both the arm and his face was a great touch. The final third was breezy and they did plenty of neat stuff. Flair pouncing on Windham to apply the figure-4 rather than soak in the moment or do it methodically put over the situation pretty well, then Windham reversed the second attempt into a cradle like we probably knew and then put on his own figure-4 like we DEFINITELY knew and the place went wild so there's nothing wrong with knowing what the payoff's going to be before it happens, I guess. If we're talking Flair vs anyone in a "sporting" contest then Windham is probably neck and neck with Steamboat for his best opponent. I do prefer Flair working Morton or Garvin or Funk where they try to rip the skin off each other now, though. A very good wrestling match and perhaps the best of a few very good wrestling matches these two had together.