WRESTLING MUSEUM: RIC FLAIR VS. STING

Happy New Year to all wrestling fans. To kick off 2004, I give you my monthly Wrestling Museum match. A look into the sport's past in hopes of inspiring us here in the present. Plus, it is a wonderful excuse for me to watch even more matches than I already do.

Before WWE, WCW, ECW, XPW, ROH, MLW, and various other three-letter wrestling companies, there was the NWA. The National Wrestling Alliance, born in 40's, pre-dates the old WWWF (no, that's not a typo) by over a decade. Its history in the 90's and today is a little obscured. The NWA didn't exactly "become" WCW. At least not the way it was portrayed on television. There is a lot of corporate hooha to sort through to explain that in detail, and frankly, I am not up to it. Suffice it to say, WCW was not the next step for the NWA. It was simply, in a manner of speaking, what replaced it. To make it more confusing, the WWE, during Confidential episodes and other references, insists that the World Championship (Raw title) has lineage that dates back to WCW and NWA. No, it doesn't. The World Championship is no more the NWA or WCW title than the ECW/WCW Alliance invasion was actually ECW and WCW. What's more head-scratching is that Jerry Jarrett, who bought the rights to the initials NWA a couple years ago, claims that NWA-TNA is the old NWA and the championship title of this upstart company has over half a century of history.

Confused? Don't feel bad. I am too, and I wrote the paragraph.

On March 27th 1988, about eight months before Jim Crockett sold his promotion that led to all the confusion I mentioned, the NWA created Clash of the Champions. Events which held huge matches with huge names in American wrestling. In the main event of the very first Clash, NWA Champion Ric Flair went one-on-one with a rising star at the time, Sting. Not the fifty-year-old Ric Flair we saw in the latter days of WCW and now the WWE. Ric Flair in better physical condition. Also, not the trenchcoat-wearing, Crow-impersonating Sting of the 90's and today. I'm talking about the younger Sting. The one with more colorful face paint and blonde hair. Ah, yes. That Sting.

Well, enough with the introductions and history lessons. Time for the match. Join me, won't you?

--THE MATCH--

NWA commentators Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone hype the match one last time and the main event begins. Flair and Sting start off with a series of technical manuevers. Wrist locks, reversals, and headlocks. Schiavone calls Sting a "folk hero," firmly placing him as the babyface. Of course, Flair, the ultimate bad guy, is the heel.

A couple minutes in, Sting and Flair lock hands for a test of strength. Sting has the clear advantage, but Flair manages to back his opponent into the corner for a trademark chop. Sting just takes it. "Didn't phase him," declares Schiavone. Flair backs away in perfect cowardly heel fashion. Sting catches up to him with a hip toss and a high drop kick. Flair crawls out of the ring to regroup and catch his breath. The referee counts to eight until Flair comes back through the ropes.

Another series of holds and reversals. Sting sends Flair into the ropes. Flair knocks him down. Sting gets up to leap frog over Flair. Sting lays down and when Flair comes back, he does it again. This time he stays on his feet, catches Flair as they collide and lifts him over his head. Sting, while not a power wrestler, holds Flair over his head for a gorilla slam. Sting presses the attack with a flying head scissors coupled with a headlock takedown. Sting latches on tight and keeps Flair on the mat and on his back, prompting the referee to make a pinfall count. One. Two. Flair gets a shoulder up.

Every time Flair weasels out of the strong headlock, Sting launches him into the ropes, knocks him down with a shoulderblock, and reapplies the lock. Flair flails his arms desperately, legitimizing the hold. Sting controls the pace, according to Ross. The camera pulls away from the action just for a few seconds to show, if you can believe this, J.J. Dillon hanging high above the arena in a cage. NWA fans of the 80's may remember him best as the manager of the Four Horsemen. Why he is in this cage, I believe has to do with keeping him out of the match.

Back to Flair vs. Sting, the hold is broken and they begin to exchange blows. Flair is struck and does his classic face-first fall into the mat. Sting positions Flair into the corner and punishes him with right hands. Reeling, Flair is launched into the center of the ring again for the side headlock. Flair tries to roll Sting over onto his shoulders several times to try for a sneaky pin. Sting doesn't allow it and grips on tight. It's a very clever move that I don't often see these days. Probably because a headlock is generally a rest hold now.

Flair wriggles free and begins a series of chops and hard right hands. Sting counters with a fist of his own, a boot, and a slam. Sting flings Flair into the ropes and catches him for a bear hug. Flair sells it like no other. "Oh, God! My back!" he screams. The reason for these long holds? Flair and Sting are doing the smart move and pacing themselves for what is scheduled to be a very long match. Suddenly, Sting leaps up and breaks the hold. The commentators tell us he is frustrated that Flair has lasted so long, and Sting begins to beat on his chest like Tarzan. Flair, on the ground, looks to be a tempting target for a heavy duty manuever rather than another hold. Sting bounces off the ropes, jumps up, sticks out his elbow, and gets...

...nothing! Flair moves out of the way. Sting looks enraged. He stalks Flair to the corner where the Champion is begging off. Sting goes for a splash into the corner, one of his signature moves, but Flair moves out of harm's way again. Both men, exhausted, are on the canvas trying to make it to their feet before the other. As they become vertical, Flair backs into a corner and Sting charges. He stands over the Champion on the second turnbuckle ready to beat his brains in, but Flair holds on tight and brings down Sting for an inverted atomic drop. "That one, I will promise you, will slow you to a snail's pace," claims Ross.

Flair drags Sting outside of the ring. Flair sends Sting into the railing with a Irish whip. Back in the ring, Flair whips Sting again. This time, into the turnbuckle. "That shook the ring," says Schiavone. He's not exaggerating. Flair takes advantage of the battered Sting and lands a knee drop and rakes him across the back. Ah, Flair you loveable heel. Ross reminds us that Ric Flair is the dirtiest player in the game. That much is clear. Flair throws Sting to the outside again. The Nature Boy grabs a chair but the referee pulls it away before he can do anything with it. Flair sails Sting into the steel railing once more.

Twenty minutes into the match, Sting and Flair are back in the squared circle. Flair chops and elbows Sting in the corner. Without warning, Sting "pumps up." He's getting his second wind. With a crazed look in his eye, Sting waffles Flair over the top rope and onto the floor. Not padding. Hard, cold, concrete floor. Sting sets Flair up against the ring post on the outside for a Stinger Splash, but at the last second, Flair ducks and Sting crashes against the metal post. "Not a good move. Not a sound move," instructs Ross. "Very, very high risk. If you hit it, you got him out on the floor, and you can't beat him there. If you miss it, you're in big, big trouble."

Back into the ring, Sting lands a few hard punches followed by a clothesline. The Stinger goes for the cover but only for a two-count. Flair tries to squirm away, but Sting catches him with a stiff vertical suplex. Prone, Flair's body is ripe and ready for the Scorpion Deathlock, Sting's finisher. Flair quickly scrambles under the ropes so that the referee must break the submission hold.

Both back on their feet, Sting levels the Champion with a hip toss. Flair, leaning against the ropes, looks like the perfect target. Sting lunges at him with a splash, and yet again, Flair moves out of the way. Sting soars over the top rope and lands hard on the concrete below. Incensed, Sting climbs to the top rope as Flair is looking the other way. He flies off the top and finally nails a splash. Flair is struck hard with a flying crossbody. Sting for the cover and a long two-count.

Now both standing, Sting fastens a headlock again, but Flair lifts his opponent and brings him down for a kneebreaker. Sting, hobbled, takes a breather on the outside. He'll need it. The match isn't even close to ending. Now inside the ring, Flair methodically picks apart Sting's knees. Boots. Kneebreakers. Followers of Flair know that this is a set-up for his finishing manuever, the Figure Four Leg-Lock. Excellent ring psychology. It makes the bout seem legit.

The ring announcer lets the arena audience know that thirty minutes have elapsed. Perhaps by cue, Flair knows it is time for the Leg-Lock. Flair positions Sting right in the center of the ring and locks it. Sting leans back, and the referee counts because his shoulders are down for a second. With the ref distracted, Flair pulls down on the ropes.

Sting, face paint now faded away, yells and beats his chest to get the crowd screaming. The arena ecstatic, Sting turns Flair over and reverses the submission. The referee asks if the Nature Boy wants to give it up. Flair refuses and reaches for the ropes. The hold is broken. The commentators speculate that Flair's leg could be broken. Flair, selling the injury, limps towards Sting. Flair attempts to suplex the Stinger to the outside, but it is reversed. The crowd goes crazy. Flair down, Sting bounds off the ropes and jumps up for a splash. Flair lifts his knees up and catches Sting in the abdomen.

About thirty-five minutes into the match, Flair ascends to the top turnbuckle. Anyone who has seen even a handful of good Ric Flair matches know how this is going to go for the Nature Boy. Sting lifts Flair and slams him from high risk district. Flair bumps hard onto the canvas. Referee Tommy Young slides into position and makes a count of two. Sting, desperate, goes to the outside and pulls Flair (still on the inside) to the corner and crotches him on the pole. Flair is screaming. J.J. Dillon looks like he wants a disqualification. Sting brings Flair back to the middle of the ring and gives Naitch a taste of his own Figure Four. Flair looks about to collapse, leans back, ref counts, Flair gets a shoulder up. Referee asks for the submission. Flair will not give it. Finally, Flair manages to find the ropes and break the Leg-Lock.

For some continuity, Sting stomps on Flair's knee for a while. The selling of the pain is extraordinary. Sting sends the Champion into the turnbuckle, and Flair flips over upside down, tumbles, and lands on the hard floor. His motion is more fluid seen here than we do in modern times when he performs this move. Of course, this match is almost sixteen years old. After trading a few punches on the outside, Flair leaps (yes, Flair can leap) over the top for a sunset flip, but Sting won't fall. With Flair on the mat trying to pull the challenger down, Sting brings down a right hand hard on the Nature Boy's forehead to break his grip.

In what has become a little repetitive, Sting misses another Stinger Splash in the corner and propels himself over the top rope and into the outside. The ring announcer explains that the match only has five minutes left on its time limit. Sting back in the ring, Flair into the ropes, shoulder takedown on Flair. Back up, Sting into the ropes, Flair locks in a sleeper, but the Stinger lurches forward and forces Flair's head into the turnbuckle. Spent and worn, both men find the strength to make it to their feet. Flair grabs Sting by the hair and tosses him through the ropes to the floor below. Sting makes his way back to the ring apron. Flair runs to stop him, but Sting shoulderblocks him through the ropes. Sunset flip! Their positions reversed from what they were only minutes ago. Flair lands forward and presses his knees against Sting's shoulders for the pin. Flair is holding the ropes! One! Two! The referee sees it and breaks it up.

Sting reverses the position for a two-count. Flair to the top ropes. This time he nails it! He lands hard with a crossbody on Sting, but the pin is reversed with Sting on top. A long two-count. "We're talking inches here! We're talking inches from having a new Heavyweight Champion of the World!" yells Ross.

Sting goes balistic! After so many attempts, he lands a Stinger Splash against Flair in the corner. The crowd eats it up. Sting tears apart Flair's legs with the Scorpion Deathlock. Ross and Schiavone tell us that Flair is about to give up. The ring announcer counts down what little time is left...and just as the Nature Boy looks about to give up his title...

...it's over. Time has expired.

J.J. Dillon is let out of his cage and joins Flair in the ring. The judges, including NWA officials and an 80's child star from the Wonder Years (really), prepare the results. The referee reads it: The first judge finds in favor of Flair. The second for Sting. The third says its a draw. The match is a draw. Still NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Ric Flair.

--CONCLUSION--

Few matches can end in a draw and not leave me feeling empty. Ric Flair vs. Sting for the NWA Championship, despite its ending, did not disappoint. My only serious complaint about this match would be its repetitive nature. So many attempted Stinger Splashes. So many mounted punches on the top ropes. Still, that doesn't take much away from this bout. Forty-five minutes. What endurance by both men. Great psychology by Flair. Sting showed a lot of charisma as well as in-ring skill. So quick. So agile.

Thus ends another Wrestling Museum match. Thank you for joining me on this monthly Beauty in Wrestling feature. Next month, I pay tribute to a fallen wrestler. In between now and then, a column about my upcoming wrestling road trip.

Until then, keep on reading, and I'll keep on writing.