Ric Flair and Rip Hawk promo

[Bigdizzle0005]

According to an interview on the origins of his infamous WOOOOOOO, he said he started using the phrase in 1974 in Charlotte, North Carolina. This must be around that time.

[13Kwaman]

beggin for ya mammy

[Wayneman117]

I guess around this time was the intro to "NATURE BOY"....Ric Flair? / For me, it was probably another 3 years before I knew who he was.

[pajmf]

Damn...I was waiting for Flair to say, "Tiger Conway, we comin' for you ni66a!!!" :)

[ryu289]

Wow I hate to say it, but flair was better at promos even before the 80's

[mdhotstuff]

Are they the Mid Atlantic Tag Champs or the NWA Tag Champs ?

[mdhotstuff]

who is the announcer ?

[DJBLAKMAGIC]

He was doing the "Wooooo" even in his early days!!!!....Cool!

[reygato]

SOunds like he is  copying Billy Graham......

[thaatsright]

Ric Flair is F'ing awesome.....Wooooo

[jdbankshot]

wow, pre plane crash.... i only realized when the announcer mentioned johnny valentine for an upcoming card.

[Wyant1]

I don't know where they got it from, maybe it was just a 70's thing, but Flair sounds an awful lot like Dusty Rhodes in that promo. Lot of the mannerisms are similar as well. Even funnier because the two guys don't hardly play off each other at all, two totally different styles of cutting a promo. Cool to see Flair breaking in though.

[jdbankshot]

@Wyant1 flair wanted to be "ramblin" ricky rhodes, dusty's "brother", & even had dustys' blessing but gene anderson wouldn't go for it....true story.

[Gh0sTeR1969]

Rip Hawk looks like Flairs grandfather.

[HOC666]

He doesn't look all fat like he does in the other 1974 video.

[raiderldp]

Rip Hawk sounds like Kevin Sullivan

[rickman125]

Now a days Rev Al and Jesse Jackson would be leading protest against Ric Flair for saying mammy.

[ElZappata]

Flair sounds like Sylvester the Cat on roids!

[TheLizardKing1967]

The BIG brown box !!!! Greenville South Carolina. Woooooooooooooo

[ElZappata]

Is it just me or was Ric trying to channel his inner "Dusty"?

[donaldc5166]

@ElZappata Maybe a little. Good call!

[Buckeyecat2002]

@ElZappata -More like Superstar Billy Graham.

[TheGeniemaster100]

I believe at this time they were saying Ric was Rip's nephew. Later they were saying he was a cousin to the Anderson Brothers.

[odinsragess]

What a trip to see him dressed in 70s clothes and glasses. I dont like his promo though, nothing like the 80's ones.

[PeeboTyson]

I hate those ugly sunglasses he's wearing.

[xCeRTiFiieDx]

40 Years later.. Still Stylin, Profilin, kiss Stealin, Wheelin dealin, Nature boy! WOOO!

[xCeRTiFiieDx]

LMAO "Begging for your mammy"

[Moredread25]

Natch needs a little work, but you can see that enthusiasm that he's still got, that he still projects every time he gives a promo.

[SpoilerNumberOne1978]

lol! ahhh the 70's....when 50 and 60 year old wrestlers still were in the main events! hah!

[arsenalcobain]

flair was a good speaker back then....then he got slurred

[kurtangle83]

Flair looks like an alien with those glasses and that smile.

[54HUTCHmister54]

Flair has a groovy shirt on.

[greatestgoalie25]

The first time Flair said, "Wooo!!!" Legendary.

[mkl62]

In his book, Flair says that he got the idea to do the "wooo" from listening to Jerry Lee Lewis's hit, Great Balls o' Fire. Jerry does a "wooo" during the song.

[xSamHuntx]

if thats not trying to sound like Dusty I don't know what is.

[86lenny]

@xSamHuntx Back then Dusty was sounding like Thunderbolt Patterson. Dusty at that time still wasn't just Dusty yet .

[Lurvy1963]

Very early in Ric Flair's career. So early he didn't have his battle cry of WHOOOO up to perfection. He sounded like a deranged coo coo bird when he delivered it back then. WOO HOO!!

[steburton]

That has got to be the worst promo I've ever heard Ric Flair do. He was really green then, but went on the be the best.

[miamimagicians]

Wow Ric Flair was always prime!

[pqh32]

he sound like a mixture of dustin rhodes and the rock even though it way before their career

[rand9234]

didnt this promo sound just a little bit like dusty

[Rayla840]

Rip Hawk sounds like Robert Blake

[Hypodermic1]

Rep that G-VEGAS!!! WOOOO!!!

[BradNC11175]

I don't think that Flair had gotten the WOOO down to perfection at this point in his career... kinda a weak WOOO for Flair lol.

[JasonL77]

You can definitely see the "Superstar" Billy Graham influence in Flair's interview.

[flairfan101]

WOW! That was something you wouldn't hear a wrestler of today say! Great Stuff!

[Nezhy]

I wish I grew up in the South so I coulda had this.. this is awesome. Flair is the King

[unleashthestars]

@Nezhy you wish you grew up in the south so youcan have orgies with your sisters and marry your cousins

[melbz1266]

@unleashthestars ITS CALLED KISSIN COUSINS!

[burgundyhbk]

this was 3-4 months after flair arrived in mid atlantic...at this point he still acted like a cross between dusty rhodes & superstar graham...it wasnt til after the plane crash that he devolped the nature boy character....great clip here!!!!

[xavier512]

think he putting on his superstar billy graham act.

[elchessman]

flair looked gay back then still does but thats beside the point

[timj2008md]

Is your pussy feelin better yet?

[Lovelygal71]

mine is, ha ha. Woooooooooooo! :D

[WWEVideoGamez]

Flair sounds just like Dusty Rhodes lol

[CtopherDee]

Plane crash was in 1976.

[donnyaldridge]

@CtopherDee

Wrong it was in 75.......

[theknightrain]

and so the legend was born

[burgundyhbk]

just the beginining....WOOOOOO!!!!!

[eslubin]

A true class act, "The Profile" of wrestling. Rip Hawk

[Baltimoreman78]

That Ric Flair looked and acted like a future Austin Idol.

[dickdeluxe]

Big Bill Ward! crazy racist crap Ric!

[CadillacL]

When was the plane crash? Cause I heard Johnny Valentine going to wrestle.

[ReneO93V2]

This was the first time he said "WOOO!"

[ReneO93V2]

In a promo, that is.

[thefriendsociety]

RIC FLAIR IS MOTHMAN

[scoe804]

In Ric flairs book he wrote how he wanted be like dusty rhodes. if u listen to the interview u can hear how he sounds like the "American Dream"

[napalmman420]

The most overrated "wrestler" ever.

[ReneO93V2]

The most retarded comment ever. Napalmman420, stfu.

[0zwaldcoblepot]

ric flair is the man. igot to meet him in kingsport tn.i had a copy of this picture made of silver moon aks ric and rip hawk.ric isthe nicest guy i ever meet,thank u ric

[cjzzzzz]

dam flair was wrestling as far back as 1974.

[cupocity303]

Damn, he was still a unfinished product at this point. Years away from the prime Slick Rick persona that he had in the 80's.

LOL@ his accent.

[jpthug4lyf]

I believe he started in 72.

[xxpandamidknightxx]

@cjzzzzz Yes, he did. There is a video of his match with Chris Taylor before he dyed his hair platnium blonde.

[bjohns1975]

Flair's such a cutie.

[thefriendsociety]

WOW ric flair looks like he'd be some kind of bug with those glasses

[liltd87]

lmao. Flair looks like a damn alien with those bug-eyed glasses

[thefriendsociety]

martian manhunter

[smoke126857]

So does anybody today wearing them

[MrDeray5]

After the interview he went to a disco club and did the"bump".

[mathproof]

Hey, it was the '70s and he was still perfecting is promo persona.

[misterio2K]

The expression on Rip Hawk's and the commentator's face was too funny. And Ric Flair looked like he was tired after all the jaw jabbing...LOL!! I think Flair was over weighed during the time he did that promo but later slimmed down very good. Mike Graham and

Austin Idol were also fat but lost weight and moved better in the ring.

[loufloyou]

If you look closely, you can see Flair was a lot bigger then...did he just never get bored with that interview? It's not that much different than today but he is always the man!

[IKEEICHOLTZ]

That was bizarre.

[marathonriverrat]

flair never wrestle blacks? what the hell he wrestled everyonr and anyone just read the book.

[Buckeyecat2002]

Rick Flair is about as non-Black as Jimmy Swaggart or Hugh Hefner: They all have soul, lots of hoes and charisma.

[lasprince]

According to legend, this is the first interview he uses WOOOOOO! He said first used it in 1974. Oh and about Flair and JYD, JYD was injured once and Flair wrestled him. Flair made him look so good, JYD barely took 10 steps the entire match!

[mkl62]

As for the racist remarks, yes, Flair did say Mammi here. He also called Rufus R. Jones a big ol' ugly bear, along with Tony Atlas. He also called Jones Kunta Kinte (Roots) one time. I wonder how that would go over today. In Flair's book, though, he says the real racists were The Missouri Mauler and Brute Bernard. Interesting that the Mauler would later manage Cyclone Negro.

[malfoy2]

I heard that Ric Flair refused to wrestle blacks, I have never known him to be in the ring with one. Sad if it is true.

[bjohns1975]

He wrestled JYD and Rufus R Jones.

[NTaF]

Yeah, and Tony Atlas, Sonny King,

Thunderbolt Patterson, Bobo Brazil, Rocky Johnson, Butch Reed, Koko B. Ware, Ron Simmons, Virgil, Too Cold Scorpio, Booker T, The Rock, Maven, D-Von Dudley...

[bjohns1975]

I remembered him wrestling JYD because I remember seeing it on Clash of Champions as a kid. I never saw him wrestle Rufus but I read about it in his book.

Damn, how could I forget about he and Arn against Doom or he and Batista against the Dudleys? Or even Evolution vs the Rock n Sock connection? Must be early Alzheiemers.

[shizzle5150]

No way dude. The only thing you might give him little flack about was making teddy long drive his limo one time. Teddy proceeded to take him to the hood and have his boys work flair over. So all in all I think they came out even.

[donbuster1]

what about the racist remarks of "boy" and "mammy" wow

[Lovelygal71]

eventhough this was just for a promo. Ric's a nice guy. It's Tiger Conway Jr. that's the racist in real life.

[JonesMediaMan]

This is a fantastic example of the time it takes to really develop a character. He didn't just pop in one day and say "I'm Ric Flair!" He had to take some time developing. Some people I talk with who are younger and are fans of Vince's current product really seem to have a hard time understanding that aspect of the business. They seem really surprised when they see someone like Mark Callaway as himself and not the Undertaker.

[Veyro]

@JonesMediaMan I think that may be because in the old days, even the nineties, there were more promotions that were easy to access on TV. Even when it was just ECW/WCW/WWF you'd see wrestlers changing names and gimmicks when they jump ship. Now that pro-wrestling is largely dominated in the US by WWE and wrestlers get contracts through reality TV shows, it's hard for young fans to catch on to the underbelly of the business.

[iRockFreshhh]

@JonesMediaMan I agree. Kind of like Dolph Ziggler. He thinks just by saying "I'm Dolph Ziggler" he has already made a name for himself. Intercontinental champion or not he is garbage to me.

[danteras23]

@JonesMediaMan yup. he was very green here. he learned from a lot of great guys too. he always says that.

[Lfdjake91]

Early Flair promo showing a strong Superstar Billy Graham influence. Ric was still trying to find himself here.

[VolumedMusicMan]

Hey Ric even said whoo then.He sounded like Dusty, Thunderbolt Patterson, and Superstar Graham.Priceless!

[mkl62]

@VolumedMusicMan Flair wanted to become Dusty's brother, Ramblin' Ricky Rhodes.

[scstxr]

Wow, that is very early Flair, maybe his first year. Wow what greatness we were going to be treated to in years to come.

[RevDarkehorse]

Flair had already been wrestling for a couple of years by then. He started out in Verne Gagne's AWA. Yeah, he will still in his Dusty Rhodes/ Superstar Graham phase, but you can see that he was destined for greatness, even back then.

[allie70611]

southernpurewrestling . com has launched

[gvader]

Those glasses rock! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Lovelygal71]

yeah, i have a pair just like 'em. Wooooooooooo!

[jamminjohn]

if you will...

[mismooth]

wow ric must have been 21!!

[sinfonian39]

Ric was 25.

[mismooth]

cool!

[americandiablo]

Christ, I was 1 year old at this time. God Damn I feel old...

[Uhate2likeme]

I was 7 years old at that time and I used to go to the Greenville memorial auditorium to see Ric Flair Blackjack Mulligahan Wahoo Mcdanials Paul Jones Ole and Gene Anderson and Tiger Conway Jr..It was an awesome time for wrestling back then and the nature boy was incredible..I saw him numerous times back then in the old Mid-Alantic area back then they put on a show every monday night at the Greenville audutorium the cost for kids $1 dollar and I watched it saturday morning on wyff tv4

[mkl62]

@Uhate2likeme On WSPA, they would show the sports, then move to the wrestling at Greenville, calling it "important sports news." In Dec. 1983, Greg Valentine and Dick Slater were fighting and Greg put one of the orange cones over Dick's head, prompting the sportscaster to call it "Conehead Wrestling." Funny.

[burgundyhbk]

those were the good ol days at gville mem auditorium on mondays...went a lot in the late '70s early '80s...great great great wrestling

[osidehooligan]

What is up with those sunglasses? Too funny! WOOOO!!!

[DJYUNGTHUG]

i heard this was the first time ric flair did the "whoooo!"

[wyldebuzz]

great early promo of Ric Flair

[burgundy2008]

u can see Flair imitating Dusty at this point in his career. Flair had been in the sport less than 2 yrs. at this time.

[ngmm]

Rip Hawk was a great one.

[86pimp3]

Ric Flair is fat here.

[slawson619]

I think that he's sexy here, of course I think he's sexy period. WOOOOOOOOO! ;)

[Lovelygal71]

He's hot here, man. WOOOOOOOOO!

[darthchaosofrspw]

"Begging for your mammy." Wow. Only Flair could pull that off.

[tihogi420]

wow...thanks for posting!

[hotzpizza10]

Ric sounded like a Dusty Rhoades Promo here.

[dvynedirector]

I was just thinkn the same thing!!!

[Grunt6869]

what year is this?

[Lovelygal71]

this was in 1974.

[xxpandamidknightxx]

@Lovelygal71 The Wooo came in 1974. He didn't perfect it yet. :( But, I love this interview though. He was awesome.

[Lovelygal71]

@xxpandamidknightxx Yeah he was(is), love the promo.

[Daddio67]

How many folks can remember anything before the age of three let alone 1 month old!!!! Ric is definetly the man.......

[tir1066]

Now that's a classic, I'm still getting over those glasses Flair is sporting.

[daveyork0]

Ric Flair could have been successful if he'd have learned to be flamboyant.

[prairiesix]

Yes, I remember watching this. I was about a month old and..oh yea..that was something else I saw in 1984. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

[bigwilly711]

Flair fan for life

[mightybk]

Awesome clip. I've watched a good portion of Flair's career, but this predates my time watching wrestling.  Wooooo. Flair forever!!!!

[MaxeyBoy]

Wow. I just watched this a few minutes after Ric retired at WM24...what a career...

[Junkay2]

Even as a young man, Ric Flair looked like the biggest star in this promo, even over the veteran Rip Hawk!

[geepea77]

Truly the "Nature Boy," he was a natural. He always had it. Damn, that was 34 years ago!

[misterio2K]

NTaF, I showed this promo to my friend DP a (diehard Nature Boy Ric Flair fan) and he was like OMG!!! WOW!!! It was s-oo--oo-o fun to watch. We had a good laugh. Man that was awesome! Thanks NTaF for that classic.

[Reg197844]

Was this before or afer the infamous plane crash that almost ended Ric's career?

[AlexDCl]

Before.

[WHOMPUSS]

flair wigging before wigging was famous

[Freebird79]

oh my god i am sure this wont be on the next ric flair ulitmate collection dvd

[STACKOLA31]

Look at Flair sounding like he was raised amongst black people tryin to sound hip.

[cream11]

I can hear a hint of Superstar Billy Graham and Dusty Rhodes in Flair's young voice. Even his patented WOOOOO had yet to mature.

[bratrat]

I agree, cream11. Talk about your trip down Memory Lane....

[misterio2K]

LOL! Rip Hawk sounds loud a mob boss getting ready to get even.

[mysticx0]

i was 2 months and 8 days old :P

anyone notice the dusty rhodes influence in the cadence of Rics voice in this promo? its awesome to see things like this, good find!

[yogachela]

Wow!

I was about to be born when this was taped.

How long has ric flair been in the game?

[lameroger]

since '72

[FreshGalaxy]

LOL

The promos they have now are sooooo much cooler.

[baliw33]

Michael Jackson and DJ Bruce Jefferson would destroy those 2 and take those Mid-Atlantic tag team belts.

[misterwookas]

that is some crazy shit there.

[osidehooligan]

Only one word describes this. Classic. The Man as he was growing into the man! You have to admit, it sounded like Slick Ric was running out of breath towards the end there.

[OnTheRun167]

I was 2 yrs old when this was taped...

[sinfonian39]

I was -10 years old when this was taped...

[RagingRambo]

Beggin' for your mammy!!!

[rsinghny]

Even in his early days he knew how to handle the mic. His promo puts Rip Hawk's to shame.

[eslubin]

They aren't competing with each other. Hawk is more measured and credible. Flair got way better than this as time went on

[LeighBargeld]

Strange, Ric baby. That's just out there. LOL

[joethecabdriver]

You have to start somewhere, and ric flair started by copying Dusty and Superstar. Embryonic.

[RayNDeere]

This is when Ric was still in the 260-270 pound range. He dropped a lot of weight after the plane crash.

[VolumedMusicMan]

Flair as Dusty or Superstar Graham. It boggles the mind!

[larrystarstruck]

While we are talking how close this was to Dusty's promo style, he had said he admired Dusty before he was wrestling and it's interesting how they really worked up a good program years later.

[speedbuggy]

I read somewhere that early in his career, Flair actually went by the name Ricky Rhodes & was billed as a cousin of Dusty's or something.

[derekstellar]

Actually, he asked to be called "Ramblin'" Ricky Rhodes in the AWA and be billed as Dusty's brother. Verne Gagne told him he was nuts, and he's going to call him "Ric Flair" since "Fliehr" is so close to that.

[classichost]

very rare!

[RealVerdad]

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. When I was kid it came on Saturday nights at 11:30pm. Whooo!! That was wrestling.