So I'm watching Ric Flair's farewell after WMXXIV...
 

and I'm wondering "how many of the WWE wrestlers think he's an over rated asshole?"
Don't get me wrong- I love The Naich. He has some of the best wrestling and some of the best promos in four decades. If I could emulate one guy's style it would be his.

But seriously, it looked like he had the entire Raw, SmackDown, ECW, TNA, RoH, PWG, AAA, AA, and NJPW rosters waiting to say thanks on the ramp. As a fan I can say anything because all I know is what's on tv and what's on the internet, but how many people on the current WWE roster was out there saying "This guy is over rated!"
I don't think any man can be that well respected by his peers when they're all trying to get the lime light.

On a side note- It's only bells that turn Festus into a monster, not The Undertaker's gong.

I can see it. I'm sure there's more than one guy that thinks that.

Carlito maybe? :shifty:

Apparently Triple H and Shawn Michaels are the only two that respect him. :kiss:

Shut the hell up, it is RIC FLAIR. The single greatest wrestler of all time.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The man can get over by elbow dropping his jacket FFS.

Slick Rick, the limosine RIDING JET FLYING KISS STEALING WHEELIN N DEALIN

SON OF A GUN

Well Sammartino wasn't there...

As a fan I also believe he's one of the best, however I'm just a fan who wants to be entertained. I'm sure there are people who'll say Ric Flair held them back, took up too much of the spotlight, or was over rated. However, with the boss' son-in-law having a bigger man crush on Ric Flair than I have on John Morrison's abs ya gotta wonder how many people feared for their jobs if they didn't show up.

A lot of them probably did fear for their jobs. And if anyone thought he was overrated, he or she most likely stayed quiet for just that reason. Like you said, Trips has a huge man crush on him and probably wanted everyone else to feel the same way. He'd probably bitch to Vince if someone said anything bad about him (Flair) and that person (or persons) would have been in hot water, or fired.

Are you people seriously saying that WWE only did a huge sendoff for Ric Flair because Triple H used his political card?

:wtf: There may be many that don't like flair, but considering how long he's been around and what he's contributed to the business, it's near impossible not to have respect for him. So I don't think the whole locker room was out there only out of fear of being fired.

Maybe Hogan doesn't respect him anymore after his WM24 idea got turned down. :lol:

I agree. If any wrestlers stayed in the back during all that, it wouldn't look good on them professionally. I mean, they may not like them but he did alot for the wrestling business.

:lol:

omg @ this

If they're not, I will.

Yes, Flair is the legend. The Man.

But when has WWE EVER given anyone a send off like that? (When they're still alive, at least?)

Vince was never the biggest Flair fan, either, from most accounts. If it wasn't for the influence of other people (not neccessarily just Trips) I don't think Vince would have seen Flair as being deserving of such a send off. After all, in all honesty, what did he ever really do for Vince? A critically acclaimed but low drawing run in the early 90s (from which Vince willingly let him walk away from the company just months removed from being World champion), and a few years as a midcard act/virtual jobber in his late 50s.

I wholeheartedly think Flair got what he deserved on WrestleMania weekend. However, I don't think it was Vince's idea at all, and I don't believe Flair would have been recognised as the legend he is OUTSIDE of The WWE Universe™ if it wasn't for Trips, HBK and the likes bigging him up to the boss.

When Flair came to the WWE in '92 he asked Vince what kind of gimmick he would have, to which Vince replied "what do you mean? You're Ric FLair."

Seriously.

Well, what is with people claiming Vince never rated Flair during his first run, that he had to stop matches at TV tapings and restart them because he was unhappy with Flair's performances, that he didn't want to push him during the last few years because he was "too 80s" and even Ric Flair himself admitting in his autobiography that Vince told him that "whenever you come close to actually being great, you fuck it up"?

And if Vince held Flair in such high regard, why did he let him walk away in early 1993? Even though his roster was perhaps the thinnest it had ever been, and the only top heels were the dead-in-the-water, completely unover 'Narcissist' Lex Luger, the abysmal Giant Gonzalez and lukewarm newcomer Yokozuna?

And before you say "Flair wanted to leave", he has always stated that his first run in the WWF was "the best 18 months of my life", and that he only left because Vince promised him he would be free to go if he was ever going to be moved out of a main event spot. Vince, despite having NO notable top heels, made a decision to move Flair to a midcard position. That's respect, huh?

Didn't London get bitchslapped down for not acting 'right' during this ceremony?

The political state of the WWE at that point was ludicris. Really. And no, I don't think it's disrespectful to not have a guy in the main event at all times. Flair isn't Vinces type of wrestler, but Vince respects him. Vince realizes what he did for the industry and acknowledge it. The only time in the history of ever he did that for someone who didn't blow up under his roof. And he did because it was Ric Flair. No other reason.

Haven't heard anything about that, but I did hear about him getting hell for having a smile on his face the night that the limo blew up.

Oh, really it was? How so?

Agreed. But to have Ric Flair on your roster and to start phasing him out at a time when you have a huge talent drought and barely any main eventers, and more importantly no credible top line heels, just shows how much faith Vince had in him. Yeah, a top guy doesn't have to always be the main event. But Vince wasn't putting Flair on a brief midcard excursion... Flair was slipping down the card for good. That's why he was allowed to leave.

Vince respects him? I would hope so. Realizes what he did for the industry? In the WWE Fishbowl, what goes on outside on the company barely registers on Vince McMahon's list of priorities. Half the time, he isn't even aware of what's going on on his own undercard.

You're entitled to your opinion, and it's not like I know for a fact either, but if the entire Ric Flair Retirement Weekend, on that scale, was Vince McMahon's idea, I would be very surprised. History has proven, that isn't how Vince operates.

(Of course, if it truly WAS his idea, it was probably more of a cynical money-making marketing scheme for DVD sales and the like than a genuinely heartfelt show of respect to Flair.)

I'm not saying the whole locker room was afraid of getting fired. I'm just saying there were probably people out there who didn't give a shit [about Ric] and only went because Vince told them to go.