@TheMashwatcher585 Ric owned the belt because he had to put up a 25,000 deposit, WCW refused to give to give it back. When WCW gave the Money back Flair gave the belt back
@Cmpunkmark101 Flair claims he was never given the money back, so he kept the championship, which resulted in WCW creating a new world title. He also said he gave the original belt to Triple H, but years later he said Hulk Hogan actually has it.
Unfortunate choice of words from the Brain there... Then again, being the Brain, he probably meant something by that: since Flair is the leader of the Horsemen, he spoke of horse manure because he knew that Hogan, having this huge ego PLUS creative control over his character, would not lose to Flair. Thus Hogan's cotton candy crap (that the fans gobbled up in those years) was the true ice cream here. And Flair? HE SIMPLY SHOULD HAVE NEVER COME TO THE DAMN WWF!
John, you should upload the rest of the Hulk who? video, I still have my copy but it would be good to see it on here. I know that the concept of the Hulk who? video would be lost on a lot of fans today that can see any video at any time Hulk who? was a great tape. Shamelessly pirated aswell of course.
@Joobs0917 Well, Flair had defended that belt for over a decade. In WWF, they just showed it on several occasions. Then a court forbid them to treat it badly and finally NWA/WCW paid back the 25000 USD deposit plus 11 years of interest and the belt was returned.
Those two were the Abbot and Costello of announcers. I loved every time Heenan would get on a roll, Gorilla would always shut him down with, "Will you stop?"
ABSOLUTELY!! I have this vision when Bobby Heenan dies, and goes to the Pearly Gates (which he called "The Gorilla position" after his friend Gorilla Monsoon,) Heenan will still be ranting about Hulk Hogan, the "humanoids," etc. -- And Gorilla will be right there, standing with St. Peter, and shout, "**Oh, for God's sake, Brain....WILL YOU STOP??**"
I still rank this as one of the greatest moments in wrestling history. in an age before the internet provided spoilers for everything, I was truly shocked watching this back in the day. Thanks for sharing.
I like the Real World Heavyweight Title. Everyone from Harley Race, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes to Triple H, Batista and The Undertaker. Thank You Weesal.
Shortly after this, you had the birth of Eastern Championship Wrestling which was NWA affiliated and run by Tod Gordon. When Gordon had a dispute with Eddie Gilbert (his booker) a couple years later, Gilbert left and Gordon brought in Paul Heyman who concocted the Shane Douglas incident which occurred after Douglas won the NWA belt vs Too Cold Scorpio. Douglas gave his famous speech where he pissed off on NWA and announced he wanted to be called ECW world champ. Thus, the birth of ECW.
This was a great flashback. Looking back it shows Vince McMahon is such a hypocrite. He didn't want Bret Hart going to WCW with the WWF title but it was fine for Ric Flair and Bobby Heenan to showcase the NWA title in the WWF.
@cottontalk.... gotta disagree... VKM did nothing to disrespect the NWA title. When Madusa showed up on WCW TV with the WWF Womens title she threw it in the trash. Vince could have easily had Flair lose the NWA title to Hogan or declare the NWA Worthless but he didnt.
@cottontalk Here's the difference. Ric literally owned the NWA belt at the time and Vince pretty much gave the title a verbal blowjob everytime it was mentioned on the air. Bischoff already had one of Vince's belts tossed in a trash can on live tv. I think we can let Vince slide this time.
@JamalTheTitan Your timeline is WAY off here. Madusa didn't throw the belt in the trash until years later. Jim Herd was running WCW at the time, not Bischoff. I wouldn't say Flair "literally owned" the title either. He was the champ, and he hadn't received his deposit back yet, but he didn't own it.
@JamalTheTitan Vince gives them the structure and the point to hit on a shoot but him saying Ice cream to Manuer was what had him outside on the 1st ever RAW in NYC(heenan) LLS
I was 10 years old when this happened and was STUNNED when Bobby brought the Big Gold out on WWF tv....the big feds NEVER mentioned the existence of their main competitor, and certainly didn't mention the top talent in their competitor's company...I was absolutely floored when he said "Ric Flair."....such a great build-up!
I remember watching this I was only 9 years old at that time and when I saw Bobby Heenan with that belt my reaction was what is he doing with the NWA/WCW belt. Than when he said Ric Flair I was utterly shocked. If this happened today it would not be as shocking because this stuff would have easily been leaked on the internet and you knew it was coming.
Kind of the first shoot by the WWE (F.) I had the same reaction as everyone else. My second thought was what was going to happen to WCW. They held on a little bit with the Dangerous Alliance, but with Flair, the emergence ofthe Undertaker and Hart and Michaels starting their singles run (and memorable feud,) the WWE (F) had clearly lapped WCW.
During the NWA era, any champion had to pay a deposit of 25,000 for the belt, given back when he lost the title. Flair never received his deposit back before leaving to the WWF, so he brought the title with him.
Not only did they get the money back, they also got any interest that accumulated during the length of their reign as champion. By the time Flair went to WWF, he had about $100,000 in the title (including interest), which was never paid back to him. Therefore, he took the belt to WWE with him.
The reason for the deposit was to ensure that the champion would commit to his dates and not screw a promoter by laying down for someone who was not approved as a succesor as voted by the NWA board of directors. The promoters back then really had problems with trust and this assured them that if a wrestler did something that would hurt the NWA they would lose the deposit.
Hi, do you have a date on when this originally aired. I'd love to track down a copy of this footage? Was it WWF Superstars or Wrestling Challenge? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
Flair was & is better than Hogan. Flair was the better talker, the better worker, & totally unselfish. He was & is a class act. He put his ego aside for the good of business. He made his opponents look good & he was for helping the young guys out. Unfortunately, Flair didn't always get treated well. At times he gave more than he got which is why I was glad to see him get that great sendoff. Nobody deserves it more. I'm sure it killed Hogan to see everyone making a fuss over Flair.
Nothing could have prepared me for this moment. Imagine the shockwaves if Rush Limbaugh announced one day he was no longer a right-winger, but a Democrat and a far left one at that. That's how big this was. The looks on Monsoon and Neidhart said it all, this wasn't in the script. I heard at the time that McMahon was actually furious at Heenan for making the annoucement on-air before it was official; on the other hand it made the WWF a national promotion which is what Vince had wanted.
That was a landmark moment and the deathknell for the NWA as far as it being a national promotion. Name a single major event in the states since that day in which the NWA was heavily involved in; I dare you to.
Too bad the steroid scandal and Hogan's ego got in the way of what should've been the main event of the ages in WM8. If that scandal had broken six months later, we may not have gotten to see the Monday Night Wars.
Absolutely ... and just to reply to the comment to my previous comment, the talk on USENET at that time (that goes way back!) was that definitely this was an off-the-cuff remark but Vince gave it a pass and let it air because he wanted to shove it in the NWA / WCW's face. Set aside Hogan's ego, too bad what followed after; with the right promoters WCW could have been long term competition for the WWF. Instead, the latter bought the former and we now have these stupid "brands." Ugh.
You have to understand that at the time this was huge! Prior to this the WWF never acknowledged the existance of other wrestling promotions. When I saw this back in 1991 I was like "Isn't that the NWA belt?" but I wasn't convinced until Bobby actually said the words Ric Flair.
And up here in Canada you didn't get NWA programming (TBS only came in a couple of years later) as easily as the WWF. You had the buy Apter mags (which were distributed 4-6 weeks later) or stay up until 4 AM on a Saturday night to watch WCW Wordwide to know what was going on in the NWA. No internet back then either.
yehaa, I'm in Canada too (Toronto) and never saw the NWA or their belt on tv, they only had AWA up here for awhile, but I was quite sure it was that NWA belt courtesy of those ol school mags and always seeing Ric with that belt. I soo wanted to see it, but they always distorted it.
Having been through that, I find it werid to see clips where there is no distortion.
They only distorted it later after the NWA threatened legal action.
When we got cable I always watched the AWA on TSN Wednesdays at 5 PM until Jerry Lawler was stripped, I lost hope for them afterwards. The only reason I have ESPN Classic is to watch these shows again.
There was this NBC affiliate that showed Worldwide at 4 AM Saturday Nights. Our VCR was faulty, so when I could I watched it. Then TSN started showing WCW so all was good, even better when TBS came along.
Damn, that was a trip down memory lane. I remember being like 13 or 14 and seeing that promo. I almost pissed myself. Finally, another real wrestler coming to WWF. My buddies didn't have cable back in the day, so they didn't understand NWA/wCw. I told them "The Man" was coming to destroy Hulk Has-been. Too bad Hogan dodged Flair. Hogan's a classless piece of sh*t.
@JPPlatinum Hogan got beat at some house shows but wouldnt let Flair beat him at a major event. He did the same thing shortly after when they were grooming Hart to take over Hogan's place. (at the time it was thought of that Hart hated Hogan)
Back then you either had to be Hogan's friend or meet his criteria in order to beat him.
@romans52345 You're right. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. To be forced to try and pull off a halfway decent match with that talentless, egomaniacal piece of orange trash is a horrible cross to bear.
@JPPlatinum the WWE probably wouldn't have been able to contain the obvious babyface reaction Flair would get if he faced Hulk Hogan... Remember Rock/Hogan at Wrestlemania X-8? (I do, i was there in the SkyDome). Well, that kind double Face/Heel turn that is forced upon by the fans themselves would have happened between Hogan and Flair. The black Hollywood Hogan would have come 3.5 years early. hahahaha.
fuck hulk hogan his gimick is a scam and now us former hulkamaniacs are seeing just what him and his family are really about. Hogan knows shit. fuck nick hogan too little fag bastard.
Hogan didn't want to do the job to Flaie, so he did what he could do in his power to avoid it, he should of done that vs. the Ultimate Warrior instead... retirement was his out for that and for the steroid scandal so it worked for Hogan at the time. Then Hogan and Flair meat in WCW a few years later and in the end WCW ruined what could of been the greatest wrestling feud in history and turned it into a joke, making Flair look oh so sad and pathetic...
Hogan was going over Flair at WM8 for the title.... They wanted Hogan out because of the steroid scandle. This was one match McMahon screwed up. He should have had Flair going into the match as the challenger with the NWA Title, an undefeated record, and a Royal Rumble win under his belt in a Title Unification match. Have Hogan win the match and unify the title at WM8 giving the WWE the win and then have a rematch with Justice turning on Hogan giving Flair the title.
i love the very end of the segment...when monsoon and the anvil look at each other in shock, instead of just dismissing the brain like they usually would...it gave flair credibility with the probably younger wwf fans.
If back then you had told me Flair's name would be mentioned on a WWF program, let alone him joining the company, I would have said 'no way'! But I saw this for myself, and it was a shock!
Yes...I remember seeing this and my jaw dropping too....then I started getting the Observer and reading about all the behind the scenes stuff that led to this.
I think Nwa was in a transitional period when Flair came in with the title cause im sure WCW was up and running before he left and the WCW title replaced the old Nwa title for legal reasons.
That's what sucks about WWE essentially "owning" wrestling. When there were two major leagues, an audience could be shocked! But while I enjoy TNA, they are second rate compared to WWE, therefore a wrestler jumping from one promotion to another isn't as important.
I remember when Bobby Heenan said this every kid at school was talking about it!! Too bad WWE dropped the ball and never aired a Hogan/Flair match during 91/92!!
Flair would not have been put over Hogan at WrestleMania VIII. The main event was changed because Hogan announced his retirement, and they couldn't have him retire with the belt. The steroid scandal probably had something to do with Hulk briefly leaving the wrestling world.
Jim Herd was a wanker.This was never done before and i waas shocked when Flair came in and they pushed the WCW title as hard as they did at that time.Thats the closest youll ever see to a proper interpromotional feud.And the WWE actually got this one right.
It wasn't the WCW title it was the NWA title Flair had. That's why he could bring it with him because Flair was still considered the NWA World champion AND the WCW champion. So WCW stripped him of their belt and Flair was still the NWA champion.
He kept the belt because Herd never returned the deposit Flair was owed after stripping him of the belt, thus, Flair was within his legal rights to take it with him to the WWF. They were forced by the courts to pay Flair back with interest to get it back.
The problem was that 99.9999% of WCW/NWA's fans still recognized Flair as the champ because he never lost the title in the ring as was the 'time honored tradition' (remember Bret Hart?) when someone leaves the company to go elsewhere.
flair didn't want to do the job to lex lugar... there was no actual wcw belt (since the nwa belt was used) so for the lugar vs. windham match they used an old missouri title belt or a six-man tag belt... until a world title could be made... and after flair gave the belt back to wcw, he still paraded around claiming to be the 'real' world champion but used a wwf tag belt and they just blurred over it...
Thank u so much for posting this! I remember watching this in Puerto Rico in the summer of 1991 and my fuckin jaw dropping when Heenan uttered the name "Ric Flair!"
i remember seeing this for the first time and jumping in the living room going "AAAHHHHH... AHHHH... RIC FLAIR!! AHHHH..." then getting hit by my mom.
I remember watching this when it aired, screaming "OH SHIT!!" at the dropping of Flair's name. Flair in the WWF?! It was like god had answered my prayers.
Look at Gorilla and the Anvil no-selling Ric's NWA World Title belt like they don't know what it is, LOL! At least they sold the name "Ric Flair." WHOOOOOOO! R.I.P. Gorilla Monsoon and his son Joey Marella.
he also used it at clash of the champions in 1994. he was supposed to drop the belt back to flair, then beat flair in the halloween havoc retirement match. but he re-nigged just days after winning the belt at the bash.
remember, this was the 80s when no other companies or other wrestlers were mentioned. (i.e.) if carlito was in the 80s, they wouldn't mention carlos colon, etc. they wouldn't mention the nwa, wccw, or uwf.
Exactly. You never, EVER, heard the NWA or AWA's name even mentioned on WWF-TV. Even former world champions like Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Harley Race, Kerry Von Erich, Jerry Lawler, and Curt Hennig would come show up having 'tremendous credentials' as their announcers would call it.
that may be true. hogan definitely beat flair almost everytime they met..but we found out why that happens when he was fired on television by vince russo later on for not wanting to lose to jeff jarrett. same story same ending. hogan won jarrett lost. again. but even in a loss, flair still outshined hogan every single time. every time!
Did you see the expressions on Gorilla Monsoon's and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart's faces when Bobby Heenan dropped Ric Flair's name?!...Hilarious shit! HaHaHa
I remember that Jack Tunney started censoring that belt in future broadcasts so that you couldn't see that Ric Flair was actually carrying around one of the wwf tag belts. Hopefully someone has uploaded one of those clips somewhere....
Technically speaking, no. He was striped of the title after WCW-exec Jim Herd fired him over a contract dispute. The problem was that back then, NWA world titlists had to put down a $10K deposit before getting the gold, which they got back with interest after losing it. Flair asked for his and Herd refused, giving him the right to keep it and take it to the WWF.
Jim Herd stipped Flair of the WCW title on July 1, 1991, but the NWA still considered Flair as its champ until September 8, 1991, more than a month after he signed with the WWF. This is where the split between the WCW and NWA World Heavyweight Championships occurred. WCW awarded its title to Lex Luger after he defeated Barry Windham in a cage match at the Great American Bash. The NWA crowned Masahiro Chono as its champion on August 12, 1992 when he beat Rick Rude in a tournament final in Japan.
Not the exact date but remembering it from memory it was between summerslam and survivor series 1991 Flair didnt make his apperance until Heenan unveiled him on susperstars.Heenan was building Flair up a few weeks before.
Let me give you guys a little help, this was actually before Summerslam 91 since Warrior was still there as he was about to have his 3rd "trust session/final into darkness" with Jake the Snake (room filled w/ snakes vignette) the following week then...now if my memory serves me correctly this was on Wresting Challenge...duh of course (as it states after it goes off the air LOL) this was on 8/10/91!
Actually, Flair's first appearance was on Prime Time Wrestling (which seems silly when you watch it now). As soon as we saw the belt, my best friend and me were like, "Holy shit! Ric Flair is coming to the WWF!" But this was a landmark moment...the idea of Ric Flair, the standard bearer for the NWA for damn near 12 years, coming to the WWF...it was awesome. I just wish Vinnie Mac would have sold Flair's arrival better. The build up could've worked for a good couple of months.
Classic.Why cant they do Stuff like this anymore?If they bought kurt Angle into Tna like that as a cocky heel after winning all the wwe trophys it would have been a better set up then slagging wwe off.I think Angle acting like he was bigger then Tna and wwe would have worked personally
That's EXACTLY why Vince did everything he could to get the belt from Bret Hart before leaving for WCW. The NWA was never the same after Flair arrived on WWF TV with their world title still around his waist.
Looking back at this, you really couldn't blame Vince for screwing Bret in 1997 to keep the world title in WWF hands. Could you imagine the damage Bischoff would've done to their reputation if he had gotten a hold of that belt on Nitro back then? The NWA was instantly relegated to backyard status after this and haven't recovered since.
Actually, it was the whole Madusa/ Alundra Blayze incident where she abruptly left the WWF and took the Women's title belt with her to WCW and threw it in the trash can live on Monday Nitro that Vince McMahon was worried about happeing again with Bret Hart.
You're 100% right. PPL tend to forget about that incident. At the time, I didn't know whether that was scripted, or not. I was in total amazement when I saw that.
Ric Flair Owned the belt he put a 25,000 bucks deposit on it to keep him from jumping tom another company, he got fired by I think Bill watts flair said he wanted his money back Watts told him to go to hell ,so flair was free to do what he wanted with his belt some stuff happened flair got his money back and sent the belt back
But Brain, you don't understand, Gorilla enjoys his horse manure very much.
PeeboTyson 5 months ago
I'm confused. Did Ric Flair really give that belt to HHH, or was it returned to WCW?
aed7161989 6 months ago
@aed7161989 wrestling belts are not wrestlers personal belts. they belong to the organization
TheMashwatcher585 3 months ago
@TheMashwatcher585 Ric owned the belt because he had to put up a 25,000 deposit, WCW refused to give to give it back. When WCW gave the Money back Flair gave the belt back
Cmpunkmark101 2 months ago
@Cmpunkmark101 Flair claims he was never given the money back, so he kept the championship, which resulted in WCW creating a new world title. He also said he gave the original belt to Triple H, but years later he said Hulk Hogan actually has it.
SuperMoss15 1 week ago
Unfortunate choice of words from the Brain there... Then again, being the Brain, he probably meant something by that: since Flair is the leader of the Horsemen, he spoke of horse manure because he knew that Hogan, having this huge ego PLUS creative control over his character, would not lose to Flair. Thus Hogan's cotton candy crap (that the fans gobbled up in those years) was the true ice cream here. And Flair? HE SIMPLY SHOULD HAVE NEVER COME TO THE DAMN WWF!
ladsk 7 months ago
John, you should upload the rest of the Hulk who? video, I still have my copy but it would be good to see it on here. I know that the concept of the Hulk who? video would be lost on a lot of fans today that can see any video at any time Hulk who? was a great tape. Shamelessly pirated aswell of course.
Taylorslade123 7 months ago
Absolute pure wrestling gold - Monsoon, Heenan and Neidhart were all brilliant! This still gets the hairs on the back of my neck going!!
mightymj1 7 months ago
i danced around naked with a nasty butt when this announcement was made
fearthewrath2000 8 months ago
So what did they do with the Big Gold Belt? Did Flair ever defend it or did it just get phased out?
Joobs0917 8 months ago
@Joobs0917 Well, Flair had defended that belt for over a decade. In WWF, they just showed it on several occasions. Then a court forbid them to treat it badly and finally NWA/WCW paid back the 25000 USD deposit plus 11 years of interest and the belt was returned.
kdessler 7 months ago
@kdessler But did he ever defend it in the WWF?
Joobs0917 7 months ago
@Joobs0917 According to Flair's book, no.
kdessler 7 months ago
@Joobs0917 It was returned to WCW, as it was their property.
TrevorSteven 6 months ago
I LOVE THIS!!!
traviedawg 8 months ago in playlist 0 HEENAN
Neidhart's reaction reall sold it at the end. Great way to fade out the show and get fans waiting for next week.
peterp21 8 months ago
Those two were the Abbot and Costello of announcers. I loved every time Heenan would get on a roll, Gorilla would always shut him down with, "Will you stop?"
Supervillain725 9 months ago
@Supervillain725,
ABSOLUTELY!! I have this vision when Bobby Heenan dies, and goes to the Pearly Gates (which he called "The Gorilla position" after his friend Gorilla Monsoon,) Heenan will still be ranting about Hulk Hogan, the "humanoids," etc. -- And Gorilla will be right there, standing with St. Peter, and shout, "**Oh, for God's sake, Brain....WILL YOU STOP??**"
knightryderrwn 9 months ago
I remember Bobby Heenan saying the, "Ice cream to horse manure" quote when he brought Lex Luger against Mr. Perfect. Hilarious even to this day! XD
solja19k 9 months ago
Ahh, when Jim Neidhart was part of a great tag team...
dexterholland916 9 months ago
I still rank this as one of the greatest moments in wrestling history. in an age before the internet provided spoilers for everything, I was truly shocked watching this back in the day. Thanks for sharing.
My123Cents 11 months ago
LOL @ Monsoon no-selling the NWA belt. "What's that?"
cbpointblank 11 months ago 2
I loved bobby heenan's smart ass mouth. especially when he used the term " ham & eggers" lol
MsL0vie 1 year ago 5
One of the most shocking moments in wrestling
buffalowhat11 1 year ago
wow they dont make em like they used to. I remember watching this and how epic it was.
maxhazard 1 year ago
I like the Real World Heavyweight Title. Everyone from Harley Race, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes to Triple H, Batista and The Undertaker. Thank You Weesal.
marshallsimon 1 year ago
LOL at Gorilla and the Anvil's reactions
mm123 1 year ago
The Anvil was stroking his beard like it was his dick... he must of pulled on it 86 times in the space of a minute!
MrBadger24 1 year ago
sadly gorilla wearing the hat with his head down reminds me of the recent bobby heenen pic seen with Bundy
NuhTorEus 1 year ago
Think the Anvil is wondering how many oxi pill he could get for that belt?
BusinessEdgeRadio 1 year ago
I remember watching this as a kid and being in shock
Cmpunkmark101 1 year ago
Shortly after this, you had the birth of Eastern Championship Wrestling which was NWA affiliated and run by Tod Gordon. When Gordon had a dispute with Eddie Gilbert (his booker) a couple years later, Gilbert left and Gordon brought in Paul Heyman who concocted the Shane Douglas incident which occurred after Douglas won the NWA belt vs Too Cold Scorpio. Douglas gave his famous speech where he pissed off on NWA and announced he wanted to be called ECW world champ. Thus, the birth of ECW.
elc1960 1 year ago
wrestling has lost its magic now. this was truly shocking back in the days
watanabehefuml 1 year ago
This was a great flashback. Looking back it shows Vince McMahon is such a hypocrite. He didn't want Bret Hart going to WCW with the WWF title but it was fine for Ric Flair and Bobby Heenan to showcase the NWA title in the WWF.
cottontalk 1 year ago
@cottontalk.... gotta disagree... VKM did nothing to disrespect the NWA title. When Madusa showed up on WCW TV with the WWF Womens title she threw it in the trash. Vince could have easily had Flair lose the NWA title to Hogan or declare the NWA Worthless but he didnt.
BCrawl78 1 year ago
@cottontalk Vince is a hypocrite for allowing heenan to show the nwa belt on tv and describe just how much better it was than the WWF belt???
JamalTheTitan 1 year ago
@JamalTheTitan Vince didn't want Bret to show up on WCW with the WWF title.
cottontalk 1 year ago
@cottontalk Here's the difference. Ric literally owned the NWA belt at the time and Vince pretty much gave the title a verbal blowjob everytime it was mentioned on the air. Bischoff already had one of Vince's belts tossed in a trash can on live tv. I think we can let Vince slide this time.
JamalTheTitan 1 year ago 2
@JamalTheTitan Your timeline is WAY off here. Madusa didn't throw the belt in the trash until years later. Jim Herd was running WCW at the time, not Bischoff. I wouldn't say Flair "literally owned" the title either. He was the champ, and he hadn't received his deposit back yet, but he didn't own it.
fundyspokerblog 1 year ago
@JamalTheTitan Vince gives them the structure and the point to hit on a shoot but him saying Ice cream to Manuer was what had him outside on the 1st ever RAW in NYC(heenan) LLS
vince always gets the last laugh!
FOR3FOWTY 1 year ago
one word.....EPIC
I was 10 years old when this happened and was STUNNED when Bobby brought the Big Gold out on WWF tv....the big feds NEVER mentioned the existence of their main competitor, and certainly didn't mention the top talent in their competitor's company...I was absolutely floored when he said "Ric Flair."....such a great build-up!
miggy25 1 year ago
00:50; the point where Hogan was scared shitless when that name was uttered
willfucker 1 year ago 6
Then let's compare John Cena to Samoa Joe
willfucker 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
This was WAY TOO COOL!!!
steviebreech 1 year ago
This was WAT TOO COOL!!!
steviebreech 1 year ago
There's ---NO BODY ON THE MIC LIKE GORILLA MONSOON--r.i.p
Djteedoe420 1 year ago
lets get it straight jack, one mac attack witha pussy flashback jack 2 up.
drewey07 2 years ago
I remember watching this I was only 9 years old at that time and when I saw Bobby Heenan with that belt my reaction was what is he doing with the NWA/WCW belt. Than when he said Ric Flair I was utterly shocked. If this happened today it would not be as shocking because this stuff would have easily been leaked on the internet and you knew it was coming.
MrHrana1 2 years ago
Fuck You Vince for all the build up for nothing. Even though the Macho Man vs Flair at WM8 was pretty good. Hogan sucks dick anyway.
FrancisTaylor253 2 years ago
I wish my belt was that floppy,,,,I got a real belt with a real leather strap and its not as floppy as that
joejoefireguy 2 years ago
@joejoefireguy lol funny comment
classicfreeze72 1 year ago
Kind of the first shoot by the WWE (F.) I had the same reaction as everyone else. My second thought was what was going to happen to WCW. They held on a little bit with the Dangerous Alliance, but with Flair, the emergence ofthe Undertaker and Hart and Michaels starting their singles run (and memorable feud,) the WWE (F) had clearly lapped WCW.
salanh 2 years ago
Haha so funny how Gorilla and the Anvil have to act like they don't know who he's talking about. At the end, they suddenly remember.
aznprincess0310 2 years ago 2
lol at Neidhart
misterl0gic 2 years ago
Go fuck yourself pee brain
megaman2160 2 years ago
Wow about time Flair goes to WWF. I want to see him fight Hogan for the title.
FrancisTaylor253 2 years ago 2
Me too but Vince screwed it all up.
landinmycourt 2 years ago
love it. i was a big fan of challenge and superstars growing up. saturday and sunday mornings will never be the same.
FlyswatterOne 2 years ago
why would flair bring the wcw belt to wwf?
megaman2160 2 years ago
During the NWA era, any champion had to pay a deposit of 25,000 for the belt, given back when he lost the title. Flair never received his deposit back before leaving to the WWF, so he brought the title with him.
CanadianGuitarist 2 years ago 3
so if i here you right, if any wrestler becomes a champion. they must pay a deposit?
megaman2160 2 years ago
Not any longer, but in the NWA era, yes, that was the case.
CanadianGuitarist 2 years ago
ric flair most definitely could afford it and he worked as hard to keep it
stali28 2 years ago
Not only did they get the money back, they also got any interest that accumulated during the length of their reign as champion. By the time Flair went to WWF, he had about $100,000 in the title (including interest), which was never paid back to him. Therefore, he took the belt to WWE with him.
bendavis83 2 years ago
The reason for the deposit was to ensure that the champion would commit to his dates and not screw a promoter by laying down for someone who was not approved as a succesor as voted by the NWA board of directors. The promoters back then really had problems with trust and this assured them that if a wrestler did something that would hurt the NWA they would lose the deposit.
bauble24 2 years ago
Yeah I didn't pick up on it at first, I was distracted cause you mom was blowing me.
rockrims1 2 years ago
isnt bobby hennan putting the wwe down when he is saying how da belt is better then the wwe belt
latincupidd 2 years ago
Hi, do you have a date on when this originally aired. I'd love to track down a copy of this footage? Was it WWF Superstars or Wrestling Challenge? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
rockrims1 2 years ago
It says Wrestling Challenge on there dummy
bigd99999 2 years ago
And you wouldn't think he retired just about a year ago after an outstanding 36 year career in wrestling.
simonizer888 3 years ago
Flair was & is better than Hogan. Flair was the better talker, the better worker, & totally unselfish. He was & is a class act. He put his ego aside for the good of business. He made his opponents look good & he was for helping the young guys out. Unfortunately, Flair didn't always get treated well. At times he gave more than he got which is why I was glad to see him get that great sendoff. Nobody deserves it more. I'm sure it killed Hogan to see everyone making a fuss over Flair.
bjohns1975 3 years ago 3
Hogan was far better for business than Flair ever was.
MrDemolitionMan 2 years ago
Comment removed
megaman2160 2 years ago
thumbs down but it's true.
spewintothis 2 years ago
6 times Gorilla looks over at Anvil. I don't know why but him constantly doing that is just funny as hell to me.
metalcoffie 3 years ago
Agreed that was hilarious. He knew exactly who Flair was and I like how he was like WHOA. Hilarious.
bigd99999 3 years ago
Nothing could have prepared me for this moment. Imagine the shockwaves if Rush Limbaugh announced one day he was no longer a right-winger, but a Democrat and a far left one at that. That's how big this was. The looks on Monsoon and Neidhart said it all, this wasn't in the script. I heard at the time that McMahon was actually furious at Heenan for making the annoucement on-air before it was official; on the other hand it made the WWF a national promotion which is what Vince had wanted.
BlastFurnaceCanada 3 years ago
no bobby was doing it scripted those shows did not air live, if he had went off script vince would have edited out
Cmpunkmark101 3 years ago
That was a landmark moment and the deathknell for the NWA as far as it being a national promotion. Name a single major event in the states since that day in which the NWA was heavily involved in; I dare you to.
Too bad the steroid scandal and Hogan's ego got in the way of what should've been the main event of the ages in WM8. If that scandal had broken six months later, we may not have gotten to see the Monday Night Wars.
ratesforless 3 years ago
Absolutely ... and just to reply to the comment to my previous comment, the talk on USENET at that time (that goes way back!) was that definitely this was an off-the-cuff remark but Vince gave it a pass and let it air because he wanted to shove it in the NWA / WCW's face. Set aside Hogan's ego, too bad what followed after; with the right promoters WCW could have been long term competition for the WWF. Instead, the latter bought the former and we now have these stupid "brands." Ugh.
BlastFurnaceCanada 3 years ago
Gorilla and The Anvil just pulled a Waynes World at the end.LOL
wherethepowerlies 3 years ago
You have to understand that at the time this was huge! Prior to this the WWF never acknowledged the existance of other wrestling promotions. When I saw this back in 1991 I was like "Isn't that the NWA belt?" but I wasn't convinced until Bobby actually said the words Ric Flair.
bauble24 3 years ago 3
I remember they used to distort it all the time. But yeaa, that was crazy BIG news back!
at1212b 2 years ago
And up here in Canada you didn't get NWA programming (TBS only came in a couple of years later) as easily as the WWF. You had the buy Apter mags (which were distributed 4-6 weeks later) or stay up until 4 AM on a Saturday night to watch WCW Wordwide to know what was going on in the NWA. No internet back then either.
bauble24 2 years ago 2
yehaa, I'm in Canada too (Toronto) and never saw the NWA or their belt on tv, they only had AWA up here for awhile, but I was quite sure it was that NWA belt courtesy of those ol school mags and always seeing Ric with that belt. I soo wanted to see it, but they always distorted it.
Having been through that, I find it werid to see clips where there is no distortion.
Hah, mann, I didn't know it was on at 4am.
at1212b 2 years ago
They only distorted it later after the NWA threatened legal action.
When we got cable I always watched the AWA on TSN Wednesdays at 5 PM until Jerry Lawler was stripped, I lost hope for them afterwards. The only reason I have ESPN Classic is to watch these shows again.
There was this NBC affiliate that showed Worldwide at 4 AM Saturday Nights. Our VCR was faulty, so when I could I watched it. Then TSN started showing WCW so all was good, even better when TBS came along.
bauble24 2 years ago
Monsoon's and Neidhart's reaction at 0:50 is freakin' priceless.
OH MY GOD!!!!! hahaha
CenterOpposite 3 years ago 2
Damn, that was a trip down memory lane. I remember being like 13 or 14 and seeing that promo. I almost pissed myself. Finally, another real wrestler coming to WWF. My buddies didn't have cable back in the day, so they didn't understand NWA/wCw. I told them "The Man" was coming to destroy Hulk Has-been. Too bad Hogan dodged Flair. Hogan's a classless piece of sh*t.
JPPlatinum 3 years ago 11
@JPPlatinum Hogan got beat at some house shows but wouldnt let Flair beat him at a major event. He did the same thing shortly after when they were grooming Hart to take over Hogan's place. (at the time it was thought of that Hart hated Hogan)
Back then you either had to be Hogan's friend or meet his criteria in order to beat him.
VisionofOrion 1 year ago
@JPPlatinum flair doesn't deserve to be in the same ring with hogan
romans52345 1 year ago
@romans52345 You're right. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. To be forced to try and pull off a halfway decent match with that talentless, egomaniacal piece of orange trash is a horrible cross to bear.
PeeboTyson 5 months ago
Comment removed
PeeboTyson 5 months ago
@JPPlatinum the WWE probably wouldn't have been able to contain the obvious babyface reaction Flair would get if he faced Hulk Hogan... Remember Rock/Hogan at Wrestlemania X-8? (I do, i was there in the SkyDome). Well, that kind double Face/Heel turn that is forced upon by the fans themselves would have happened between Hogan and Flair. The black Hollywood Hogan would have come 3.5 years early. hahahaha.
squeezetoy1984 9 months ago
@JPPlatinum lol i did the same @my school i was 14 too ,
TheMarkc 8 months ago
yeah theres a very heroic man standing to the right of the screen and his name is mr neidhart.
OwenStillLives 3 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Why is Gorilla Monsoon wearing Jim Ross's hat?
Pluffton 3 years ago
why is jim ross wearing gorilla monsoon's hat? O_O
pJslimco 3 years ago 19
Indeed! ^_^
HoldBackTheDay22 3 years ago 4
JR learnt everything from people like Gorilla, Monsoon was a founding ring annoucer
Swampdog36 3 years ago
fuck hulk hogan his gimick is a scam and now us former hulkamaniacs are seeing just what him and his family are really about. Hogan knows shit. fuck nick hogan too little fag bastard.
TheFnNatural 3 years ago 6
Hogan didn't want to do the job to Flaie, so he did what he could do in his power to avoid it, he should of done that vs. the Ultimate Warrior instead... retirement was his out for that and for the steroid scandal so it worked for Hogan at the time. Then Hogan and Flair meat in WCW a few years later and in the end WCW ruined what could of been the greatest wrestling feud in history and turned it into a joke, making Flair look oh so sad and pathetic...
ITConsultantDave 3 years ago 3
Hogan was going over Flair at WM8 for the title.... They wanted Hogan out because of the steroid scandle. This was one match McMahon screwed up. He should have had Flair going into the match as the challenger with the NWA Title, an undefeated record, and a Royal Rumble win under his belt in a Title Unification match. Have Hogan win the match and unify the title at WM8 giving the WWE the win and then have a rematch with Justice turning on Hogan giving Flair the title.
BigBri1978 3 years ago
I didn't see this clip when it 1st aired, but I remember when I 1st that Ric Flair was coming to the WWF, I was SHOCKED:-O
ckendall67 3 years ago
WHOOOOOOOOOO
Steve1460 3 years ago 2
any know where to find flairs wwe debut.
KING9Christopher 3 years ago
i love the very end of the segment...when monsoon and the anvil look at each other in shock, instead of just dismissing the brain like they usually would...it gave flair credibility with the probably younger wwf fans.
MaxeyBoy 3 years ago 3
Goosebumps Promo from back then! Awesome!
keijimuto 4 years ago
If back then you had told me Flair's name would be mentioned on a WWF program, let alone him joining the company, I would have said 'no way'! But I saw this for myself, and it was a shock!
MeAndMyRC 3 years ago
Seeing the belt on a WWF show was shocking enough, let alone hearing the name of Ric Flair on that same show!
xStarscreamx666x 3 years ago 2
Yes...I remember seeing this and my jaw dropping too....then I started getting the Observer and reading about all the behind the scenes stuff that led to this.
jpez123 4 years ago
I think Nwa was in a transitional period when Flair came in with the title cause im sure WCW was up and running before he left and the WCW title replaced the old Nwa title for legal reasons.
Branewbie 4 years ago
That's what sucks about WWE essentially "owning" wrestling. When there were two major leagues, an audience could be shocked! But while I enjoy TNA, they are second rate compared to WWE, therefore a wrestler jumping from one promotion to another isn't as important.
theinstantvincent 4 years ago 3
I remember when Bobby Heenan said this every kid at school was talking about it!! Too bad WWE dropped the ball and never aired a Hogan/Flair match during 91/92!!
UltMitSinner78 4 years ago
i blame hogan for it Vince was going to put flair over him so he desided he was not into it and face sid at mania
dagme1 4 years ago
Flair would not have been put over Hogan at WrestleMania VIII. The main event was changed because Hogan announced his retirement, and they couldn't have him retire with the belt. The steroid scandal probably had something to do with Hulk briefly leaving the wrestling world.
Edgehead10057 3 years ago
Hogan was supposed to fight Flair at WM VIII, but the reasons have already been established why that didn't happen.
Edgehead10057 3 years ago
Jim Herd was a wanker.This was never done before and i waas shocked when Flair came in and they pushed the WCW title as hard as they did at that time.Thats the closest youll ever see to a proper interpromotional feud.And the WWE actually got this one right.
Branewbie 4 years ago 4
It wasn't the WCW title it was the NWA title Flair had. That's why he could bring it with him because Flair was still considered the NWA World champion AND the WCW champion. So WCW stripped him of their belt and Flair was still the NWA champion.
Lannis32 4 years ago
He kept the belt because Herd never returned the deposit Flair was owed after stripping him of the belt, thus, Flair was within his legal rights to take it with him to the WWF. They were forced by the courts to pay Flair back with interest to get it back.
The problem was that 99.9999% of WCW/NWA's fans still recognized Flair as the champ because he never lost the title in the ring as was the 'time honored tradition' (remember Bret Hart?) when someone leaves the company to go elsewhere.
ratesforless 4 years ago
flair didn't want to do the job to lex lugar... there was no actual wcw belt (since the nwa belt was used) so for the lugar vs. windham match they used an old missouri title belt or a six-man tag belt... until a world title could be made... and after flair gave the belt back to wcw, he still paraded around claiming to be the 'real' world champion but used a wwf tag belt and they just blurred over it...
nbvwes 4 years ago
Thank u so much for posting this! I remember watching this in Puerto Rico in the summer of 1991 and my fuckin jaw dropping when Heenan uttered the name "Ric Flair!"
bigalsns 4 years ago
The NWA belt was so much cooler looking. It wasn't cartoony.
theinstantvincent 3 years ago 2
The eagle belt wasn't cartoony.
Edgehead10057 3 years ago 6
i remember seeing this for the first time and jumping in the living room going "AAAHHHHH... AHHHH... RIC FLAIR!! AHHHH..." then getting hit by my mom.
azeron112 4 years ago
wow ure mom must have really hated rick flair!
suthes 4 years ago 3
I remember watching this when it aired, screaming "OH SHIT!!" at the dropping of Flair's name. Flair in the WWF?! It was like god had answered my prayers.
BigTMan1 4 years ago
Nobody can say things with the conviction that Bobby Heenan did.
HAHAHAH.. I love how Anvil strokes his goatee wondering what that Belt is.
at1212b 4 years ago 5
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
lawrence142002 4 years ago
Look at Gorilla and the Anvil no-selling Ric's NWA World Title belt like they don't know what it is, LOL! At least they sold the name "Ric Flair." WHOOOOOOO! R.I.P. Gorilla Monsoon and his son Joey Marella.
ThunderwingMatrix 4 years ago 4
lol I know
Gorilla: "What is that?"
dkoch2 4 years ago
he also used it at clash of the champions in 1994. he was supposed to drop the belt back to flair, then beat flair in the halloween havoc retirement match. but he re-nigged just days after winning the belt at the bash.
jg45042 4 years ago
Let's compare Hulk Hogan to Ric Flair.
estudien 4 years ago
Hogan's the bigger name. Flair's the better wrestler.
homshabom 4 years ago 4
remember, this was the 80s when no other companies or other wrestlers were mentioned. (i.e.) if carlito was in the 80s, they wouldn't mention carlos colon, etc. they wouldn't mention the nwa, wccw, or uwf.
mkrny12 4 years ago
This was 1991, otherwise you're right.
sephjnr 4 years ago
Exactly. You never, EVER, heard the NWA or AWA's name even mentioned on WWF-TV. Even former world champions like Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Harley Race, Kerry Von Erich, Jerry Lawler, and Curt Hennig would come show up having 'tremendous credentials' as their announcers would call it.
ratesforless 4 years ago
that may be true. hogan definitely beat flair almost everytime they met..but we found out why that happens when he was fired on television by vince russo later on for not wanting to lose to jeff jarrett. same story same ending. hogan won jarrett lost. again. but even in a loss, flair still outshined hogan every single time. every time!
jg45042 4 years ago 2
It would have been really great if Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan had met at Wrestlemania 7.
estudien 4 years ago
lol you ric flair fans.. hogan beat his ass almost everytime they fought
ricanlinkxxx 4 years ago
Agreed.
UmpireGuy 4 years ago
Did you see the expressions on Gorilla Monsoon's and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart's faces when Bobby Heenan dropped Ric Flair's name?!...Hilarious shit! HaHaHa
MSH786 4 years ago 5
I thinj thats funny i like the awful acting of both Anvil and Gorrilla looking at each other waiting for Bobby to say Ric Flair!!
ha ha
russelltrigger 4 years ago
I remember that Jack Tunney started censoring that belt in future broadcasts so that you couldn't see that Ric Flair was actually carrying around one of the wwf tag belts. Hopefully someone has uploaded one of those clips somewhere....
BishopAP 4 years ago
bobby heenan is the best icon mic ever
mkeywork 4 years ago 3
Groundbreaking moment
estudien 4 years ago 2
Let's compare Hulk Hogan to Ric Flair.
estudien 4 years ago
I know Flair bought the belt for NWA's company use but was he still the champion when he left the company?
mrgoodvar 4 years ago
Technically speaking, no. He was striped of the title after WCW-exec Jim Herd fired him over a contract dispute. The problem was that back then, NWA world titlists had to put down a $10K deposit before getting the gold, which they got back with interest after losing it. Flair asked for his and Herd refused, giving him the right to keep it and take it to the WWF.
ratesforless 4 years ago
IIRC, Ric was the NWA World Champ until 9/6/91, 2 days before Ric wrestled his first contracted WWE match on 9/8/91.
ThunderwingMatrix 4 years ago
Jim Herd stipped Flair of the WCW title on July 1, 1991, but the NWA still considered Flair as its champ until September 8, 1991, more than a month after he signed with the WWF. This is where the split between the WCW and NWA World Heavyweight Championships occurred. WCW awarded its title to Lex Luger after he defeated Barry Windham in a cage match at the Great American Bash. The NWA crowned Masahiro Chono as its champion on August 12, 1992 when he beat Rick Rude in a tournament final in Japan.
UmpireGuy 4 years ago
Not the exact date but remembering it from memory it was between summerslam and survivor series 1991 Flair didnt make his apperance until Heenan unveiled him on susperstars.Heenan was building Flair up a few weeks before.
Branewbie 4 years ago
Let me give you guys a little help, this was actually before Summerslam 91 since Warrior was still there as he was about to have his 3rd "trust session/final into darkness" with Jake the Snake (room filled w/ snakes vignette) the following week then...now if my memory serves me correctly this was on Wresting Challenge...duh of course (as it states after it goes off the air LOL) this was on 8/10/91!
MaxL214 4 years ago
Actually, Flair's first appearance was on Prime Time Wrestling (which seems silly when you watch it now). As soon as we saw the belt, my best friend and me were like, "Holy shit! Ric Flair is coming to the WWF!" But this was a landmark moment...the idea of Ric Flair, the standard bearer for the NWA for damn near 12 years, coming to the WWF...it was awesome. I just wish Vinnie Mac would have sold Flair's arrival better. The build up could've worked for a good couple of months.
cbaldwinjr 2 years ago
The build up was fine. It was not taking advantage of Hogan vs Flair storyline that bombed.
landinmycourt 2 years ago 2
Classic.Why cant they do Stuff like this anymore?If they bought kurt Angle into Tna like that as a cocky heel after winning all the wwe trophys it would have been a better set up then slagging wwe off.I think Angle acting like he was bigger then Tna and wwe would have worked personally
Branewbie 4 years ago
I can guarantee you that if you poll the WWE locker room, you'll have more guys who became wrestlers because of Ric Flair than because of Hulk Hogan.
RonMotta1972 4 years ago
On top of that, Ric Flair is more universally respected. Hogan is not.
RonMotta1972 4 years ago 4
So they are both commercial failures???
Dylan0008 4 years ago
most shoccin moment of time. i guess this is why vince was scared that hart would show up in WCW with the belt. krama is a bitch
GhostNgVI 4 years ago
That's EXACTLY why Vince did everything he could to get the belt from Bret Hart before leaving for WCW. The NWA was never the same after Flair arrived on WWF TV with their world title still around his waist.
ratesforless 4 years ago 2
exactly
GhostNgVI 4 years ago
Looking back at this, you really couldn't blame Vince for screwing Bret in 1997 to keep the world title in WWF hands. Could you imagine the damage Bischoff would've done to their reputation if he had gotten a hold of that belt on Nitro back then? The NWA was instantly relegated to backyard status after this and haven't recovered since.
ratesforless 4 years ago
Actually, it was the whole Madusa/ Alundra Blayze incident where she abruptly left the WWF and took the Women's title belt with her to WCW and threw it in the trash can live on Monday Nitro that Vince McMahon was worried about happeing again with Bret Hart.
MSH786 4 years ago
You're 100% right. PPL tend to forget about that incident. At the time, I didn't know whether that was scripted, or not. I was in total amazement when I saw that.
Hizzoner21 4 years ago 2
Ric Flair Owned the belt he put a 25,000 bucks deposit on it to keep him from jumping tom another company, he got fired by I think Bill watts flair said he wanted his money back Watts told him to go to hell ,so flair was free to do what he wanted with his belt some stuff happened flair got his money back and sent the belt back
dagme1 4 years ago
It was actually Jim Herd. Watts came in sometime after Herd was gone.
MaxK18 4 years ago
ya i could no rember witch one so i picked the one i hated more lol
dagme1 4 years ago
I've been looking for this clip for a long time.
DukeFan1000 4 years ago
Flair's broke, Hogan's a millionaire.
holidayrap 4 years ago
Now Hogan's getting a divo