For all the Shawn Michaels haters out there.

[Guest Paranoid]

On October 4, 1975, shortly before arrival in Wilmington, North Carolina, his private plane crashed due to a lack of fuel. Times truly looked dire for Ric, as his back was broken in three places. Besides Flair, two other occupants, John Valentine and Bob Bruggers, suffered permanent, life-altering injuries, while another two occupants, Tim Woods and David Crockett, emerged from the aircraft with relatively minor cuts and scratches; the pilot was killed. After the crash, the doctors informed him with the wrenching news that he would most likely never wrestle again and would need at least an entire year to recover fully. Exceedingly even the most liberal estimates, Ric miraculously not only fully recovered in less than a year but also returned to the squared circle less than four months later on February 1st of the following year. In defeating Wahoo McDaniel again, the victory became not only a comeback for the ages but also the beginning of a scintillating rivalry between the two accomplished grapplers.

 

I think that Falir accomplished tons after a doctor telling him his back injury was career ending. Granted Michaels doesn't have the heart for the business that Flair did, but to count this man out as a major player is just ignorant.

[Guest Dillon Likes Bossman]

hahaha ...the best part is when the plane crashed...tell it agian!

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Yes, everyone knows about Flair's injury. But let's face it, Michaels is no Ric Flair.

[Guest Breetai]

Let's just hope Flair doesn't teach HHH how to no-sell death like that.

[Guest buffybeast]

You are also assuming that Flair's injury was similar to HBK, which no one at this board knows for sure. So it is unwise to compare the two injuries as they could be totally different.

[Guest Brian]

Well, I guess you could draw comparisons to the fact that Michaels thought he would be back in a year since it was one of only two things that got him to job. But then it took Michaels 13 times as long to wrestle again in a ring.

[Guest El Satanico]

Flair was also much younger when he injured his back. You heal better and faster when you're young. Also since Flair returned in 4 months while it took Michaels 5 years it's fairly obvious that Flair's injury was far less severe.

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

Flair is a wuss. HHH got dropped in a car upside down from 200 feet and came back the next show.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Also, Flair had a far less punishing style than Michaels.

[Guest DeputyHawk]

shawn just didn't heal properly until he found god. let's only hope the big man never saw 'wrestling with shadows'.

 

the scece: backstage immediately after the montreal screwjob

bret hart: "you weren't in on that?"

shawn michaels: "i had no fucking idea. as god is my fucking witness, my hands are clean of this one. i swear to god."

 

woopsy!

[Guest godthedog]

flair after the plane crash was roughly 20,000 times the worker post-injury shawn michaels proved to be in the elimination chamber.

 

michaels also knows he's not the worker he used to be, and isn't nearly as motivated as he was before. the fire in him is gone: he's already got his legacy and he has nothing left to prove.

[Guest The Hamburglar]

Let's just hope Flair doesn't teach HHH how to no-sell death like that.

As someone else already mentioned, HHH has no-sold death when Austin dropped his car. Others to no-sell death that spring to mind - Taker(obviously) and Rock when Hogan laid the smackdown on his crippled ass. I'm pretty sure Austin's done it at one point also. Didn't Rock once throw him off a bridge? I mark for the no-selling of death.

[Guest alfdogg]

Indeed. No-selling death=RATINGS~!

[Guest Slapnuts00]

Our beloved WWE champion was thrown off the roof at Cobo Hall and returned unscathed later to win his first world championship!

[LaParkaYourCar]

My problem with HBK's title run right now is that he was given a title to further a storyline with HHH that was never about the title in the first place. They could have easily put the title on someone else and continued the HHH/HBK feud all in the Chamber match.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

i can't deny shawn's skill at being a drugged up to the teeth occasional wrestler. Or being a twat.

[Guest Rob Edwards]

Different injuries (possibly) but at completley different times of their lives. i think we should also take into account that Ric's was an impact injury wheras Shawns was caused mainly by wear and tear

[Guest dreamer420]

it's not fair to flair to compare him to michaels. flair never too many problems putting people over and he put the business ahead of himself, unlile michaels who is only out for one person in this world.

[Guest The Metal Maniac]

flair never too many problems putting people over

 

Assuming I understand what this sentence is supposed to mean (And I may well not) then I have 2 words: Lex Luger.

 

Hey, it's only one, but still, don't say he'd put anyone over.

[Guest Brian]

Then again, they pretty much had to get a gun to Michaels head for WrestleMania XIV.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I'm not going to go into the logistics of discussing Flair wanting to put Sting over instead of Luger...and Michaels not wanting to put over the man who became the biggest draw ever.

 

At least Flair gave an alternative...a better one at that

[Guest DeputyHawk]

plus, flair wanted to put austin over in wcw before hulkalove showed up. conclusion: flair is a more selfless wrestler who has more love for the business than shawn does. and a better back. shocker.

 

EDIT: so put flair over shawn for the big gold belt. you just know hhh would love to pin flair on ppv, so it's all good. it's not like the ratings matter anymore, anyway.

[Guest Brian]

And Flair wanted to put Steiner over, but I don't know the full story behind either that and the Austin case.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

The most I ever got of the Austin WCW story was that Flair had picked Austin (like he did Sting) to be the guy he would put over. At the time Flair was a face, and he would make Austin the top heel, passing the torch and all that.

 

Then Eric opened up Turner's pocketbook, signed Hogan and his friends and they turned Flair heel and had him drop the belt to Hogan.

 

Ratings and Buyrates eventually went up...but they ironically let go of the man who would single handedly overtake them later. Plus...the move set them on the course to implode anyway.

[Guest evlpurpose]

Screw coming back the next show, big show did it on the same card, and beat hogan for the title on the too, at halloween havoc 95.

[TheFranchise]

Let's just hope Flair doesn't teach HHH how to no-sell death like that.

LOL

 

nice one