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Who would you have picked to retire Ric Flair?

2K views 26 replies 26 participants last post by  HomokHarcos 
#1 ·
Nothing against my personal favorite Shawn Michaels, but looking back I really wish Sting would have been signed to the WWE and retired Flair. I hate Sting with a passion, but his matches with Flair are a thing of beauty. They were a great rivalry and when I think of Sting, I think of Flair. As much as I hate Sting I would have enjoyed Flair retiring at the hands of Ric Flair. Did you like HBK as the one who retired Flair?
 
#4 · (Edited)
No way should it have been changed. Michaels was the perfect choice.

There was great storytelling and so much emotion in that match. Michaels grew up idolizing Flair and Flair pretty much forced him into taking the match when he didn't want to. It made perfect sense and you wouldn't have gotten that same kind of storytelling and emotion with Sting facing Flair instead. Sting wouldn't have had much of a problem with retiring Flair unlike Shawn.

The "I'm Sorry, I Love You" Sweet Chin Music still tears me up to this day :crying:

And that Flair match ended up leading into two brilliants feuds with Batista and Jericho for HBK.
 
#2 ·
Interesting, I'll share something in a minute in regards to this, which is why I felt this was interesting really, in regards to this, I'm really not sure, in an ideal world, Savage, Bret or someone like that would have been great, like prime Savage, Bret etc.. however I'm really not so sure about this, I'd have to think :)

I recorded this recently while with Flair, and someone asked him 'Why he chose Shawn Michaels to retire him' and then he was asked 'Who else would you have liked it to be' .... which you can listen here if you like :)

 
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#3 · (Edited)
Randy Orton.

Cena returns after the 08 Rumble to team with Floyd Mayweather against Big Show & Shane McMahon at WM 24, allowing Naitch to win the Royal Rumble one more time. The main event of Wrestlemania 24 is set as Orton defends the WWE Title against Flair in Ric's final match. I hated the whole "every match is a Career Threatening Match for Flair" storyline. Instead of doing that, just have Flair say in mid to late 2007 that WM 24 will be his last night as a wrestler, which leads to younger guys coming out of the woodwork leading up to WM 24 trying to beat Flair or even take him out in a bounty-like fashion so they can say they're the guy who killed the legend of Ric Flair. Of course, Ric survives and is able to make it to WM 24 in one piece before failing to beat Orton for a 17th World Title.

What Flair & Shawn had was excellent in every sense, but I believe Flair's last match was worth and should've been for the WWE Title in the main event of Wrestlemania.
 
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#19 ·
Given the circumstances and the story being told, I think Shawn was the best choice.

Going off memory, Flair made the challenge. Shawn wanted no part of it, saying he didn't want to be the guy to end Flair's career, as if it was a given that he was going to win. That paints the picture of a guy that knows he can beat Flair but doesn't want to, which comes off as condescending to Flair. That transitions into the respect factor. If you respect me like you say you do, give me this match.

And that's what made this special. One of Shawn's strongest attributes is his acting, specifically, his ability to play the role of a man conflicted. Not wanting that burden but not wanting to undermine his ability in order to avoid it. He did it in the build up and the match itself. And after that, confliction turned into borderline regret, as if to say "It didn't have to be this way, Ric, but you wanted this."

This didn't have to be about hatred. It was about respect for one's legacy and whether or not the respect for that legacy was worth tainting your own as either the guy that ended his idol's career or the guy that failed in the biggest match of his life up to that point.
 
#6 ·
HBK was the perfect choice at the time....but umm, just thinking... what WM did the retirement match take place???? What WM was it that Ricky Steamboat participated in that handicap tag match with Snuka and piper against Chris Jherico and everyone was very impressed with how well Steamboat could still go in the ring at his age..... This idea was prob never really fesiable but imagine the Flair/Steamboat rivalry coming full circle and Steamboat coming back for a one off match to retire his old adversarary???
 
#8 · (Edited)
Randy Orton

Here's how I would have booked it... Instead of Flair cutting his Promo about never retiring he would have said he'll retire after World Title #17 .

Vince comes out and says if Flair is too old to wrestle and needs to retire. But if he can make it to WrestleMania undefeated he'll give a title shot but the next match he loses will be his last.

Orton would defeat Flair and solidify himself as the legend killer.

So basically from that point forward you have a Ric Flair retirement tour knowing that WM24 would be his last
 
#10 ·
Randy Savage of course, with one scorted by Ashley Massaro and the other with Michelle McCool.
 
#21 ·
I'm fine with how he went out. I understand the argument for why he should have put a young guy over on his way out but I would rather him have a great match. I'm not sure if anyone could pull off a great match with him like Michaels did.






:taker
 
#12 ·
If it was up to me than Ric Flair would have retired back in 1994 after his match in Chicago against Ricky Steamboat, there was nothing he did after that match in the ring that truly mattered aside from his managing and on air authority roles. I've pretty much blacked out anything Flair did inside of the ring after 1994.
 
#22 ·
Steamboat I agree would've been a great alternative but HBK added extra emotion to the match which fitted Flair's legacy.
 
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