Flair & The Horsemen

Ric Flair v Sam Houston (World Wide Wrestling, 11/16/85)

This whole thing was great, from Flair's pre-match interview to the post-match angle with Dusty. Crockett asks Flair if he hears footsteps, if he might be afraid of the returning Dusty Rhodes, and for a second there I thought Flair might actually smack the little goof. Who does he think he is? Flair's the world champion and he doesn't fear anybody, not Dusty Rhodes and especially not his protege Sam Houston. The match itself was a quality little nine minutes. Flair was at the absolute peak of his powers in '85, really made Houston look like a million bucks here, but he didn't give him seven of the nine minutes, there was no begging off in the corner, no pleading with God for a reprieve from the mighty Sam Houston. Houston obviously got his offence in, but most of it came off of reversals or when he played up his quickness, sort of catching Flair by surprise. You can even construct a narrative if you like that Flair was taking his challenger too lightly. Either way Houston was really snappy when grabbing a headlock, quick to catch Flair getting to his feet with a dropkick, dropping behind him off a suplex attempt for a roll-up, never afraid to lay into him when Flair would throw chops. There was a cool bit as well where he took Flair down with a really slick drop toe hold, and when you're thinking it's time for the spot where Flair's opponent puts him in the figure-four, Houston just dropped the knee across his leg a few times instead. It was a little thing, but one you appreciate when you've seen twelve thousand Flair matches. That Flair actually sold the leg right through til the end was a nice touch as well. For his part Flair was really fun getting annoyed and throwing Houston out the ring, treating him with a sort of disdain because Sam Houston shouldn't be giving the world champ this much trouble on TV. The finish ruled too. Flair had already gone for one suplex and almost got caught, but then Houston went for broke with a cross body and wound up crashing. Flair really soaked in the moment before hitting that big vertical suplex, shouting something at a fan before holding Houston up there for a few extra seconds. He was still limping a little, but he showed Houston how you really go after a guy's leg and it was somewhat of a rarity that the figure-four was applied with no build up. It was treated as a match-ender and Flair wielded it as a weapon. The post-match with Dusty coming out wearing his special boot was molten, too. He gave Arn a kick in the ribs and would've done the same to Flair if he hadn't hightailed it. Sam Houston is one thing, but maybe he's not quite ready for a pissed off son of a plumber. Crockett was red hot at this point and they were going through one of those periods where everything was clicking. They couldn't have built up the main matches for Starrcade any better.


Ric Flair, Arn & Ole Anderson v Terry Taylor, Ron Garvin & Pez Whatley (World Championship Wrestling, 11/16/85)

Super energetic six-man tag. It got lots of time and everyone was working a hundred miles an hour, but it didn't feel messy, we got two strong extended babyface heat segments, and the speed they were working at gave lots of it a sense of desperation. When Taylor tried to make that hot tag you knew Flair or Arn were going to have to get over there quickly to cut him off, or Ole would really have to trap his leg so he couldn't crawl away. The Flair opponent putting Flair in the figure-four moment also worked as a great hope spot here. Taylor could've and probably should've made the tag, but the opportunity was too good to pass up even if ultimately it cost him. Flair was a pretty awesome cheapshotting bastard, getting his licks in from the apron and dragging Taylor out to slam him on the floor. He and Garvin lit each other up more than once and I loved Garvin headbutting him clean in the face. Flair really made that finish work by holding Whatley's feet down as well. A simple trip from someone standing on the floor shouldn't really be enough to put a guy out, but it's way more difficult to kick out when Arn is pinning down your shoulders while Flair has a hold of your legs.


Ric Flair v Koko Ware (Memphis, 11/18/85)

This was my #10 on the Memphis set, became one of my favourite Flair matches ever and was maybe the best of Koko's career. I'm a broken record about watching lengthy Flair title defences against guys he matched up with regularly. I'd rather watch him work shorter studio matches (like the Houston match) at this point, but when it's a match against someone he rarely wrestled my interest will shoot up a bit. Koko is one of those guys and this was still a blast. Flair is in bully mode for the first ten minutes, breaking clean a couple times more because he doesn't take Koko all that seriously as opposed to being a good sport. He gets in Koko's face and shoves him around, throws some chops, doesn't really get anything rolling on offence but you never get the sense he's worried. It's Memphis and it's little Koko Ware, why SHOULD he be worried? Koko is having none of his shit though and controls things with the headlock, shoving Flair back and popping him in the mouth when Flair starts with the chops. Then you start to see Flair getting agitated and even gets into a shoving contest with the ref'. Koko peppers him with an awesome punch combo and Flair takes his first Flair Flop, then he comes right back for more, Koko gives him another awesome combo, and Flair takes his second Flair Flop. Flair tries to take him down and actually wrestle, but Koko is too slippery and Flair can't get a handle on him, eventually spilling out through the ropes. And now he's really pissed. The chop that gained him control looked like one of those you'd see in WAR and from there he ramped up the aggression. His armbar was super tight, really torquing it at the shoulder joint, sitting high up on Koko's back so he couldn't escape, even digging his face into the mat while he shit-talked Dusty at ringside (Dusty was out as Koko's second, which was a cool touch). Flair doing the nasty double stomp to the gut is something that he stopped using at some point, and I really wish he didn't because it always looked great. This time it had a little extra mustard behind it like he hadn't forgotten that early humiliation. As they head towards the finish the heat builds and builds, Koko gets to look good surviving the figure-four, gets to apply it himself, all that good stuff you get with the Flair Formula. There's an amusing spot as well where Flair tries to fight off a sunset flip by punching Koko in the head, but of course Koko, as a black man, has a brick solid cranium and Flair dings his knuckles. Finish is what it is, but the build to the dropkick before it was good stuff and if you're going to give me TWO motherfucking Koko Ware dropkicks then you can run whatever finish you damn well please! Also, Lance Russell was so good on commentary during this whole thing. He got over the story of Flair taking Koko lightly, added a bunch of neat little observations throughout, suggested that Koko using the headlock early was to ease his way into a rhythm because he was nervous about his first title shot (and that Dusty may have advised him to do so), put over Flair perfectly, just a great call all around. He was an absolute treasure of a commentator and the best there's ever been. This held up great.