NWA '89 - Ric Flair/Ricky Steamboat confrontation #1

[AngelusFitzgerald]

ricky steamboat got booed here when he raised the belt

[rah01kah1]

I miss wrestling on the Superstation!!!

[ChuckleHead96]

Flair was amazing on the mic and in the ring. He could get anybody over. And on top of all that he got more pussy than any wrestler in history combined. LEGEND.

[TheKestevon]

Jim Ross back then in WCW.LOL

[21richkid]

A Dolph Ziggler vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in his heyday would be a great matchup. The new Perfect One is a former Intercontinental Champion and has shown his greatness in the ring.

[77777johnnybravo]

Ric Flair was the best of all time. History proves that fact.

[swordsman6]

One of the absolute best rivalries in wrestling history. Steamboat was one of the few guys who spent their entire career as a face.

[TVfanfanatic]

JR worked for WCW???? I never knew that!

[zenitXXX]

WOOOOO

[MrThomassanders]

no one can cut a promo like the nature boy rick flair.... WOOOOO!

[JonathanVonErich]

Ok, here is my controversial "Top Ten Guys on the mic", aka the greatest talkers ever in wrestling: 1. Roddy Piper 2. Ric Flair 3. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan 4. Dusty Rhodes 5. SuperStar Billy Graham 6. Jake "The Snake" Roberts 7. Jesse "The Body" Ventura 8. The Rock 9. Michael "P.S." Hayes 10. Jerry "The King" Lawler What do you think about it ??? ;)

[northsider707]

@JonathanVonErich

Rocky @ 9? no way

[bull864]

@JonathanVonErich Not bad but Flair is ranked too low and Arn Anderson should be somewhere in there. Love the "Brain" at #4. He was awesome.

[robuzzel]

THAT'S RIGHT WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[punishmentya]

SuperStation TBS was a so good Channel

[YouCantStop85]

Why doesn't any wrestler out there today try as hard as Flair did to sell you a wrestling match? Naitch could talk you into watching him wrestle a fucking midcard man. The stuff he did with Jay Lethal a few weeks ago, was the funnest shit I've seen in a long time. This is what I watch now when it comes to wrestling. I see myself having to go further and further back in the wrestling timeline to find enjoyment in it. True wrestling today has great moves, and athletes but the promos fucking suck.

[perkoff]

Nassville, Tennessee.

[RichKnight2010]

I vote for the one in the black dress.

[crookhunter]

Where was this in a trailer park? ' Raslin is for hillbillies

[JPhill9990]

"I hope we don't have a confrontation here!" - Jim Ross. Haha.  Great.

[rocknrollgangsta81]

Man Ric Flair was such a pimp. I got to say, as his greatest fan, he was sooo gangsta.

[saygoon11]

nature boy in his prime.

[szewei85]

hahaha JR sounds so different in the young days unlike now...i dont believe it was the good old JR that i use 2 see in WWE today at first

[jorgejeronimov]

that`s because he hadnt that facial paralisis those years...

[JuliusC1973]

I guess you should have heard him in Mid-South Wrestling and The Universal Wrestling Federation. I've always thought he was the best.

[szewei85]

oh ic...nope i dont know really but yeah...he is n still the best...i hope he can return 2 commentary soon...WWE without JR is crap

[JuliusC1973]

Jim Ross has said in his blog that he hopes he can return and call matches at Wrestlemania XXVI, but there are no guarantees that he will be physically up to it.

[kaneohe47]

Ricky Steamboat sounded like a nerd.

[SouthyA]

This was 5 days before I was born haha

[bluethundershark]

man, what a crappy intro

[NWAfan]

@bluethundershark Yea after seeing the program of Flair/Steamboat 3 five star matches that intro is what I was thinking of.

[Scrabblerouser]

Part of what made Ric Flair great was that he always made his opponent seem like a challenge. He was confident, but he ALWAYS respected his opponent's abilities, as shown here.

[KevinTheReaper]

"Not interested at all." Are you sure Ricky the Dragon...at all? That sounded pretty bad.

[khiemvu88]

The Nature Boy Ric Flair know what he wanted to say every time he did an interview. So did Ricky Steamboat.

[jefehbk]

DAMN...good Ol J.R. back in the day. what a treat

[vertigo214]

Damn Crockett, spend a little more on the ladies.

[potomacbrave88]

As good a worker Steamboat was in his prime, he had a pretty bland personality and weak mike skills. If Steamboat had had one fifth of the charisma and mike skills that Flair had, he might've held the belt a little longer.

[NWAfan]

@potomacbrave88 I personally think thats what made he such a great baby face he was bland .

[jet32009]

all i can say is WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[MattFe]

makes you wonder if they yelled because the studios were loud with the hot crowds...

[DefLeppardVanHalen]

The Ric Flair-Ricky Steamboat feuds from 1978, 1989, and 1994 were full of awesome classics.

[Chargerchad]

Ric Flair looked old even back then. Amazing he kept going so long.

[mastermonarch]

Little known fact Ricky Steamboat is a life long friend of Rick Flair he also was one of four best men at all his weddings.

[franchiser2007]

Pisstakertytytytyt,you obviously aren't too bright yourself or you would realize that the commentator IS Jim Ross at a younger age... By the way 2+2=4 learn how to put your shit together before you run your mouth with such ignorance it's scary...

[mastermonarch]

Grow up already!

[natureboysealy]

steamboat was great. i wish he had more energy on the mic though

[ctw95]

this is almost dejavu from 1978 between steamboat & flair.

[pisstakertytytytytyt]

look at this dumb fukk comentator tryna act like jim ross from raw,tryna speak n look like him,get ya own style pal,theres only one jim ross,and he on raw

[spook2fast]

That IS Jim Ross, in his younger years. He used to work for WCW way before he ever came to the WWE.

[garethac81]

MAN, you're stupid. Accusing Jim Ross of ripping off Jim Ross! *lol*

[ebbowman]

Yeah, especially when he announces himself as Jim Ross and it say "Jim Ross" on the screen plain as day lol

[mononokehime316uk]

I think pisstakertytytyt is taking the piss because surely no one can be that stupid lol. As you say it says in big letters Jim Ross. JR was great in those days as he made it seem so real.

[jmmtlc]

you idiot that is jim ross. do a little research before going on a rant like that.

[ThundaLippz]

lil did we know a few short years after this all wrestling wood turn into the crap it is today.

[AlimG52]

The microphone was invented solely for the use of Ric Flair.

[garethac81]

Flair was good on the mic, but he got too loud too often, and wasn't always as coherent as he should be, especially in his later years. The three all-time greatest on the mic (in no particular order): Dusty Rhodes, Jake Roberts (when sober), The Rock. Based on charisma, coherence, spontaneity and memorable catchphrases, no one did it better than those three.

[cupocity303]

Those guys can't touch Ric Flair on the promos. Specially Dusty Rhodes???? Are you kiddin' me???

Forget about it.

[garethac81]

Flair wasn't bad at cutting promos, don't get me wrong...he just shouted too much (the true promo master doesn't need to shout), and wasn't as coherent as he could have been. Rhodes, Roberts, Rock...those guys delivered promos better than anyone in the game. Period.

[cupocity303]

Obviously you haven't seen all the promos that Flair cut in the 80's, back in his prime.

It's true that he started shouting more and more once the WCW days came but in the NWA days he was the Man.

You also forget that THE ROCk is directly influenced by Ric Flair, he said it so himself. Without Flair, there would be no Rock cutting promos like he did.

Flair is the originator and one of the best to ever done it........PERIOD.

[garethac81]

What are you talking about? THIS promo is from the 80's, and Flair shouts his head off from start to finish! Rock may have been influenced by Flair, but his promo style is totally different...you could never accuse Rock of copying Flair.

I respect Ric for doing his thing before a lot of other guys started doing theirs, but in my opinion - and the clips I've seen on YouTube support this - Rhodes and Roberts had more charisma and better one-liners, and Rock's delivery was much, much sharper.

[cupocity303]

YEs that's one of his promo's of the 80's but there are many more. Check this one out =/watch?v=HrXTVFx8DXs. Nobody touches Flair on playing a heel World Champion in his promos

I guess we're just gonna have to agree to disagree. It's all a matter of preferance anyway. To me Rock was too much of a character. He doesn't talk like that in real life. He started off as a boring good guy type. When you listen to Ric Flair talking about his lifestyle as champion, you feel like you get the Real thing

[NWAfan]

@cupocity303 He was the real thing outside the ring.

[NWAfan]

@cupocity303 The rock fell into the script promos wwf did .

[dua72]

Dusty was the man. He had one of the best personalities in the business! He was one of the best of all time! The best personalities on the mic were Flair,Rhodes ,Piper,Mulligan,Rock,Superstar Graham,Savage,Jimmy Valiant,Ted DiBiase and Ernie Ladd,Stone Cold Austin,and Freebird Micheal Hayes

[rockjohnson80]

Randy Savage was great too. How about Warrior?

[vivalafartknocker]

savage, yes! warrior...uh, no.

[NWAfan]

@dua72 Dusty top 10 on the mic ever not in top 1000 in workrate.

[JuliusC1973]

@dua72 You must not have spent enough time litning to Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard.

[dua72]

@JuliusC1973 you absolutely right. Ole never got the credit he deserve. I met him in Charlotte.I try not to be bias for the Mid- Atlantic but back in the day we had the best talent in a somewhat small market at the time.I try to give some love to the newer superstars but it is what it is. Ole should replace Austin on that list/ ol skool all the way babe!

[JustinJusticeTV]

@dua72 Your leaving out a KEY player in the Attitude Era along with Rock & Austin.....JERICHO!!!

[hbk2hhh]

@dua72 austin wasnt even that good on the mic all he did was swear a lot and give ma a hell ya and drink some beer

[dua72]

Flair has been influenced by Superstar Graham and Dusty Rhodes for the record. Just read the book "To Be The Man"

[ArioTelevision]

This was what pro wrestling was all about.

[arseface666]

Great mullet on Steamboat. WOOOOOOOOOOO!

[patrickthadude]

I'm gonna play arm chair booker 20 years later and say that I think they should have kept the belt on Steamer and had him feud vs Muta(who was red hot at the time) and then Luger(who was always better as a heel). Flair vs Funk was hot enough alone to draw money/pop a buyrate and rating... They didn't need the world title to generate heat. They could have ran double main events across the country and made more money that way.

[BriceKennedy]

Excellent idea. The Funk-Flair feud was way over and one of each competitor's top 5 feuds easily.

[TheArkansasTraveller]

Ricky Steamboat, the most underrated wrestler of ALL time!

[thehead619]

he was world champion hello

[text97]

It was great then.  It's great now. Damn. Who would've thought a 2-bit production like WCW was at the time could have such kickass feuds?

[treyboknows]

I miss WCW Saturday night.

[miggy25]

Classic...Flair and Steamboat the best pure wrestling feud EVER

[NWAfan]

Steamboat getting booed like the heel.

[RodPower78]

You don`t get much better than Slick Ric and the Dragon. I remember seeing their promos, which got me hyped up for their classic matches in `89.

[catdaddy2006]

It seems like this was yesterday! Where does the time go?

[NWAfan]

Flair is the man.