Perfection

I agree and on top of that, and although last night wasn't about this, I think it would have put orton over more with the fans. Orton is gradually getting face pops now despite being a heel because he has busted his ass and has done such a great job lately. Then again, maybe they don't want him as a face and that is why lol. It was interesting that Jericho was in the ring instead of big show, who obviously loves flair to death. I never knew flair was that close to him or that he had that big of an impact on jericho. Would love to know the back story to that. There is so much about last night, I want to find more about like the backstage emotions of the locker room. It was such a big deal and so emotional, its one of those things that I want to know every little detail about it. I sure hope we get to see the video of undertaker, mcmahon, and the parting of the sea for the greatest of all time after raw went off the air.

Austin won't ever get that type of send off and I don't think Hogan will either. Flair was respected and loved by the locker room...a lot more than Hogan has ever been, and I just can't see the wrestlers respecting hogan as much as flair. As far as Austin goes, not sure. Fans would love it but again the issue is whether the locker room appreciates him as much as flair and lets be real, no. So I don't think we will ever see anything like that again...or at least not for a very long time. I can't wait to see what the ratings are. One thing that many have tried to tell vince is the people love flair and have used that for a reason to push him more. Will be interesting to see what this show did, especially that last segment.

a little more detailed report from prowrestling.net After the show went off the air, Undertaker's music played and he walked to the ring in full gear. The wrestlers who were at ringside all spread apart so that he could get to the ring. Once in the ring, he got down on one knee and struck his usual pose to honor Flair. Vince McMahon came out with no music and joined Flair in the ring. Everyone who was in the ring filed out and left Flair to take a final bow. He took the mic, thanked the crowd, and then took off his jacket. The crowd cheered him on as he strutted and then bounced off the ropes and dropped an elbow. He stood up, bounced off the ropes again, and dropped a knee onto the jacket. Flair called his family back into the ring for a final bow. When they left the ring, the wrestlers all spread apart and bowed to Flair as he made his way toward the back. The entire arena joined the wrestlers, agents, and referees in bowing to Flair. Once he was at the top of the stage, he hugged Stephanie McMahon and a few other people before finally heading backstage.

Not much I can add to this that hasn't been said but jesus christ that was powerful stuff. I first saw flair wrestle in 1984 and have been a flair mark ever since and it just seems surreal that we now have an industry without ric flair wrestling nor will we ever have again. It's really hard to believe. It is so awesome to see the wrestlers break character and pay respects when it's deserved. The wrestlers chanting thank you ric with the crowd was just fucking incredible. You won't ever see something like that again I don't think.

If they have everyone come out to solute flair, wow is that going to be a hell of an emotional moment.

I'm so glad he says this. As much as I love Flair, I don't want to see him wrestle one more match for the very reason you mention....it would take something away from last night's match, and I don't want that. And how about when Flair was asked about whether he thinks his match should have been last and he said he strongly disagreed with that since the world titles/matches mean more than anything. Talk about pure class. As powell remarked over at prowrestling.net, you think Hogan would think and feel the same way if he was having his last match? lol

Well I lost it when I watched the Flair match/post match and I fully expect to again tonight. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who doesn't want to know what it is (although it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out (though part of the plan might be unexpected by a few), but is likely going to be one of the more emotional moments in Raw history. I can't wait to see Raw tonight.

Ric after the match. who knows how long wwe will let it stay up http://youtube.com/watch?v=iYgBmPxa-vU

I swear to god, I wish someone would beat the fucking shit out of those assholes who act so fucking childish. Wtf is wrong with people. It's absolutely embarrassing and disgusting that these pricks can't behave themselves for one fucking night. Next year and from now on, they should have strict dress requirements because chances are these trailer trash punks don't own any suits and wouldn't have enough class or money to rent one either. They should have a lot more security to instantly kick these fucking pieces of shit out of the building immediately as soon as they start their classless behavior. And people wonder why wrestling fans are less than intelligent.

Thanks for providing us with all these details. I'm dying to see the entire thing. WWE.com has a link to flair's speech, don't know if it's the entire thing but for some reason I can't get it to play. Is anyone having this problem?

That is pretty surprising. Would have figured that fans wouldn't be so forgiving that quick. I hope we get to see the full flair speech soon. Although I knew going in it would be edited for tv time, it sort of pissed me off they didn't show him mentioning AA. When you think of Ric flair you have to think of arn anderson and today's fans probably don't realize how important he was. It was hard not to get watery eyes watching it on tv, were the crowd as emotional about it as it came across on tv? Btw, Steph needs to watch those sagging tits of hers. Her entire right tit was just about hanging out when they panned over to her in the rock's speech.

Since everyone is assuming Flair loses this match, I'm wondering if he actually wins it but then announces that he is going to retire anyway. He could say something along the lines of even though he said he would never retire he gave it a lot of thought and there is no better way for him to go out than to have his final match at wrestlemania against Micheals. This way he goes out on his own terms and it would be a surprise to everyone that he wins. The wwe has changed match outcomes before when they get the feeling everyone knows how it will turn out. And someone mentioned earlier that during that segment last night, he didn't say anything about beating micheals and going on afterwards. He was acting like it was his last match for sure which makes me wonder if this is more of a possibility. I hope they do this because as I said earlier in the thread, I just don't like the idea that he is being forced to retire in the storyline. It should be his decision and this would make everyone happy I think and it gives him the respect he deserves going out.

I thought this was interesting, Micheals appeared to be in full heel mode after the show..even having words with flair's family. The crowd continued to heel Michaels, especially after preventing Flair from doing the Figure 4 the first time on Orton. The crowd erupted on their feet when Flair locked on the Figure 4 and Orton submitted. Not sure when the cameras went off, but Flair after the victory, Flair taunted Michaels on the outside then walked up the aisle. Then he went to the back for about ten seconds then came back out with a mic and said "THANK YOU SOUTH CAROLINA.... WHOOOOOOOOOOO" and then proceeded to exchange "Whoooos" with the crowd for about 2 minutes. Then he thanked South Carolina again and went to the back. Meanwhile, in the ring Orton started to recover, as was Michaels on the outside. Both were getting boos from the crowd and then HBK motioned flipping off the crowd (in a fist without the middle finger) then started up the ramp. Orton got to his feet and raised up the WWE title and Michaels "tip toed" back down the ramp and slid into the ring, and the crowd started to cheer. Orton thought the crowd was cheering him and then he turned around and caught Sweet Chin Music. Michaels then exited the ring and got in the face of Flair's family (who were ringside) and taunted them and then had some words with a female (I'm thinking Flair's daughter?) and then he left.

lol I've never seen anyone flap around like that in the figure four. Orton makes his opponents look like a million bucks the way he sells their offense.

good god ashley looks horrible. either she is on drugs or has anorexia..you could barely see her legs.

damn I'm going to miss stuff like this from Flair. You just don't see that type of intensity and drama from anyone else..anywhere, anymore. Just fantfuckingtastic stuff.

I wish he would do this so that it would be HIM deciding to retire and not being "forced" to by Mcmahon. Being forced to retire in the storyline because he loses sort of disrespects him I think. So him deciding to retire, win, lose, or draw, would allow him the respect of calling it quits on his own..the way it should be. Would expect this to be an emotional segment as Flair is probably going to lose it. They gave him the key to the city (columbia) and he got all teary eyed. It's hard to believe that we are less than a week away from the last Flair match. After watching him for 2 and a half decades, its going to be surreal to know it's over.

One thing that makes the show less enjoyable to me though is their announce crew. In every single match they claim they have "never seen anything like this!!" They make Tony schiavone screams of the biggest night in wrestling history look tame in comparison because they say it every 5 minutes. On top of that, they play up every little move as a huge huge deal. A simple back body drop is cause for an orgasm. Of course back then it was different and moves meant more than they do now but it's a bit over the top. But overall, it is certainly enjoyable seeing wrestling back when it was far more enjoyable to me.

One thing I hate with a passion in this world is any man who lays a finger on a woman so In general I don't like it because I don't think it's necessary. Even though it's fake and she agrees to it, Huge men inflicting pain on a tiny woman, even if her character "deserves it", is unsettling. Lita getting killed like she did was beyond the pale and pretty much disgusted me and I don't get offended very easily. But Kudos to her though for taking that abuse. True dedication to the business right there. But you know its one thing for someone like kane to chokeslam Trish but it's another when the man acts like he has done something impressive when he does it. For example, when in ecw they would attack women and then the wrestlers would act like they were some huge bad ass. Yes sir, beating up a 120 pound woman really makes you a big man Even though it's all just an act, including their pride and glee in doing what they did, I just thought it was stupid. It didn't make them look like they were bad asses, in fact I think it weakened their character..especially if they were supposed to be a babyface. This is one of those issues in wrestling though that people can come back with the argument that a) you shouldn't be offended by anything in wrestling, or b)if you are, you are a pussy and shouldn't watch. I can understand that philosophy and mostly agree with it because of its long history of doing stupid shit. I don't get bothered by anything else a promotion does in the least, but I guess I just can't overcome my distaste for women being abused to brush it off.

Drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs. Jeff Hardy does drugs. He snorts drugs. Smokes drugs. Ingests drugs. Drugs. He's immature because he could be a main eventer but insted he does drugs. He was sent home because he does drugs. Drugs. Is that clear enough for you? too bad he doesn't recognize sarcasm/joking when its right in front of him

Some more from powell Vince McMahon may not be as shaken up over Jeff Hardy’s suspension as one might imagine. “This is exactly what Vince has been waiting for,” one WWE source tells Prowrestling.net. The source explained that McMahon can now trumpet the fact that he suspended one of his biggest stars just weeks before his biggest event if Congress or anyone else questions the validity of WWE’s drug testing program. A second well-placed source believes Hardy cost himself a WWE Title run this spring and will now be branded a mid-card performer for life. The source also notes that Vince isn’t even willing to discuss future creative plans for Hardy at this time.

hell no...but then again those two probably can afford something that allows them to pass it anyway. But if anyone doesn't believe those two aren't on something, i have ocean front property in nebraska to sell you. not much i can add to this other than it's highly dissappointing. I was really looking forward to seeing jeff make a run for and finally getting the title. Of all the people over the years who have sacrificed their body for the business and the wwe, he deserves it...even if he fails a drug test a couple of times. just damn.

might not have been selling...i replayed it and he was holding his arm as soon as he hit the ground. looks like his elbow might have hit the concrete..not sure

agreed. He plays the roll perfectly. On top of that he sells everyone's offense like he was just shot, which makes his opponents look great. The man deserves more credit.

Finley could have done better there. Seems to me if they wanted to add some realism to this angle, they would have allowed finley to let the curse words fly.