Is Shawn Michaels this generation's Ric Flair?

[Guest JoeJoe]

You know, as far as flamboyance, oozing charisma, heel mic work, great matches, longevity, ability to get a good performance outta just about anybody, overness, fan connectivity etc is concerned.

 

Oh, and how can I forget the strut-o-doom.

 

What d'ya think?

[Guest XxMariaSantosxX]

I think you should stop watching wrestling. You'll find it's very liberating. Your cognitive capacity will double in just a few months.

[SamoaRowe 0]

I think you should stop watching wrestling. You'll find it's very liberating. Your cognitive capacity will double in just a few months.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Sounds like you're posting on the wrong board.

[Guest XxMariaSantosxX]

Someone has to make you realize you're being mega dummies.

[Guest JoeJoe]

Not when we've had pussies 7939583983086306 times better than thou...

[Dark Age 0]

This thread was done only a month or so ago.

[Dark Age 0]

The answer is no, btw.

[Guest thebigjig]

double post

[Guest thebigjig]

Not when we've had pussies 7939583983086306 times better than thou...

 

 

riiiiiiiight...

[Slayer 0]

I think you should stop watching wrestling. You'll find it's very liberating. Your cognitive capacity will double in just a few months.

This gimmick inconsistent it is

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

No.

 

Flair was a better wrestler than Shawn. Flair's matchlist in 1989 is better than Shawn's entire career.

Flair was a much better face than Shawn.

Flair was more over than Shawn.

Flair was around a lot longer than Shawn. Flair was a top guy from about 1982-1995. Shawn was a top guy from about 1995-1998.

Flair was/is popular everywhere. Shawn is hated in the Northeast United States and Canada.

 

No, the second coming of Ric Flair was not Shawn Michaels. It was Steve Austin. Everything except for the longevity was true for both Flair & Austin.

[Epic Reine 0]

Someone has to make you realize you're being mega dummies.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You go from using cognitive capacity to mega dummies.

 

Broken.

[Guest slmon]

I can't think of anyone who is more of an "heir" to Flair than Shawn - not even Trips, although he'd certainly like to be.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Perhaps Foley, only Foley knew when to call it a career. Plus, that'd be an insult to Flair if he ever heard people call Foley this generation's version of him (since Flair hates the hardcore brawling style).

[The Mandarin 0]

No.

 

Flair was a better wrestler than Shawn.  Flair's matchlist in 1989 is better than Shawn's entire career. 

Flair was a much better face than Shawn.

Flair was more over than Shawn.

Flair was around a lot longer than Shawn.  Flair was a top guy from about 1982-1995.  Shawn was a top guy from about 1995-1998. 

Flair was/is popular everywhere.  Shawn is hated in the Northeast United States and Canada.

 

No, the second coming of Ric Flair was not Shawn Michaels.  It was Steve Austin.  Everything except for the longevity was true for both Flair & Austin.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I agree completely. Even Austin's run in 1992 draws a better comparison to Flair than Shawn Michaels' 1996 does.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

People like to forget that Austin was probably the best technical wrestler in WCW from about 1991 to 1994, with the possible exception of Steamboat, who was missing for part of that period. Pre-injury Austin was fantastic and probably the closest thing out there to an heir for Flair. Even in 1998 & 2001 he managed some great stuff.

[strummer 0]

Austin was a much much better draw than Flair. Flair's drawing ability started to stall around 1987 due to Dusty's booking. The Flair/Steamboat program in 89 didn't draw at all. He did have some successful programs with Funk, Luger, etc, and later on in the 96-98 boom years but he wasn't a consistent draw after 87/88.

 

 

I always saw Austin as the heir apparent to Hogan because of the main stream exposure and incredibly drawing power

[MikeJordan23 0]

Flair's significantly better than Shawn Michaels at everything minus in ring work. In that department they are about equal, though Ric Flair has a much better catalogue of classic matches. Much better.

[Guest *KNK*]

Flair's significantly better than Shawn Michaels at everything minus in ring work. In that department they are about equal, though Ric Flair has a much better catalogue of classic matches. Much better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Shawn is nowhere near "EQUAL" with ring work.

 

He might be equal only in promo skills and that's a long shot to say Shawn was at Flair's level.

 

Flair could cut a face and heel promo, Shawn's promo ability as a face was severely limited.

 

Shawn's only advantage over Flair is Bump taking.

[Guest JMA]

I have to agree that Steve Austin is the "heir" to Ric Flair (even though I don't think Flair was the best). Austin had a drawing ability greater than Hogan's and could actually wrestle. More than that, he was great at several different styles of wrestling: brawling, technical, chain wrestling, ect. The only thing he wasn't really good at was high-flying, but he didn't NEED to be good at that. He's surpassed all his predecessors in my eyes.

 

Personally, I think it would be more interesting to speculate on who the next Austin will be--perhaps what the successor will be like, instead of who exactly it'll be.

[Guest Brian]

It'll be years before we can even begin to speculate about an heir to Austin, because the wrestling environment isn't conducive to bringing up that kind of star. Austin had the ability to develop early on in WCW at a time when they were putting on awesome wrestling and had a large audience to work in front of. He had the ability to develop his promo skills under the relaxed constraints of ECW, and had enough room in the WWE to actually do things his own way. Not to mention Austin also came up in a territory-like environment. I can't imagine an Austin'like figure developing under a WWE environment with their constraints and such.

[Guest JMA]

It'll be years before we can even begin to speculate about an heir to Austin, because the wrestling environment isn't conducive to bringing up that kind of star. Austin had the ability to develop early on in WCW at a time when they were putting on awesome wrestling and had a large audience to work in front of. He had the ability to develop his promo skills under the relaxed constraints of ECW, and had enough room in the WWE to actually do things his own way. Not to mention Austin also came up in a territory-like environment. I can't imagine an Austin'like figure developing under a WWE environment with their constraints and such.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly. That's why I put the second part in there. It'd be easier to speculate what his successor will be like rather than who it'll be.

[MikeJordan23 0]

Flair's significantly better than Shawn Michaels at everything minus in ring work. In that department they are about equal, though Ric Flair has a much better catalogue of classic matches. Much better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Shawn is nowhere near "EQUAL" with ring work.

 

He might be equal only in promo skills and that's a long shot to say Shawn was at Flair's level.

 

Flair could cut a face and heel promo, Shawn's promo ability as a face was severely limited.

 

Shawn's only advantage over Flair is Bump taking.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Shawn Michaels is notwhere near Ric Flair in promos. WTF? Shawn rarely ever cut a good promo in his entire career. Ric Flair is one of the best ever on the mic.

 

And they are indeed equal or close to in the ring.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Austin is Hogan's heir in terms of being the big WWF draw, but his abilities were a lot closer to Flair. Rock is the one that seems to be more similar to Hogan, right down to the mainstream interest. Rock is known by more non-wrestling fans than Austin is, just like Hogan was known by more non-wrestling fans than Flair. Yet wrestling fans tend to like Flair & Austin better.

[MikeJordan23 0]

Austin is Hogan's heir in terms of being the big WWF draw, but his abilities were a lot closer to Flair.  Rock is the one that seems to be more similar to Hogan, right down to the mainstream interest.  Rock is known by more non-wrestling fans than Austin is, just like Hogan was known by more non-wrestling fans than Flair.  Yet wrestling fans tend to like Flair & Austin better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Eh. Really it's not that cut and dry. Every wrestling fan I know, personally, likes The Rock more than Austin.

[Guest Catcher8C]

You people who say Shawn's ringwork wasn't at the level of Flair's are nuts. If we're talking about televised + pay-per-view great matches, which really are the only ones that count, they are about on par with one another....and that's being generous to Flair.

 

Shawn's had at least one great match with all of these people:

 

Janetty

Mr. Perfect

Bret Hart

Vader

Jeff Jarrett

Razor Ramon

Diesel

Undertaker

Sid

Davey Boy Smith

Owen Hart

Mankind

HHH

Benoit

Angle

Hogan (memorable if nothing else)

Jericho

Austin

Shelton Benjamin

Edge

 

I challenge anyone to name more than 20 people Ric Flair had great matches with. And this isn't counting the hundreds of **+ matches Shawn has had with other opponents throughout his career (Batista, Orton, Flair, Goldust, RVD, the list goes on..) or anything he tagged in.

 

And anyone questioning Michaels' charisma or ability to work a crowd need to find a tape of Raw in Montreal four weeks ago.

[CanadianChris 0]

You people who say Shawn's ringwork wasn't at the level of Flair's are nuts. If we're talking about televised + pay-per-view great matches, which really are the only ones that count, they are about on par with one another....and that's being generous to Flair.

 

Shawn's had at least one great match with all of these people:

 

Janetty

Mr. Perfect

Bret Hart

Vader

Jeff Jarrett

Razor Ramon

Diesel

Undertaker

Sid

Davey Boy Smith

Owen Hart

Mankind

HHH

Benoit

Angle

Hogan (memorable if nothing else)

Jericho

Austin

Shelton Benjamin

Edge

 

I challenge anyone to name more than 20 people Ric Flair had great matches with. And this isn't counting the hundreds of **+ matches Shawn has had with other opponents throughout his career (Batista, Orton, Flair, Goldust, RVD, the list goes on..) or anything he tagged in.

 

And anyone questioning Michaels' charisma or ability to work a crowd need to find a tape of Raw in Montreal four weeks ago.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Let's see...

 

Luger

Sting

Savage

Hennig

Von Erich

Vader

Anderson

Hogan

Undertaker

Steamboat

Funk

Race

Rhodes

Koloff

Windham

Brody

Piper

Tsuruta

Guerrero

Hart

 

I'm sure others could name at least 10 more.

[chaosrage 0]

You people who say Shawn's ringwork wasn't at the level of Flair's are nuts. If we're talking about televised + pay-per-view great matches, which really are the only ones that count, they are about on par with one another....and that's being generous to Flair.

 

Shawn's had at least one great match with all of these people:

 

Janetty

Mr. Perfect

Bret Hart

Vader

Jeff Jarrett

Razor Ramon

Diesel

Undertaker

Sid

Davey Boy Smith

Owen Hart

Mankind

HHH

Benoit

Angle

Hogan (memorable if nothing else)

Jericho

Austin

Shelton Benjamin

Edge

 

I challenge anyone to name more than 20 people Ric Flair had great matches with. And this isn't counting the hundreds of **+ matches Shawn has had with other opponents throughout his career (Batista, Orton, Flair, Goldust, RVD, the list goes on..) or anything he tagged in.

 

And anyone questioning Michaels' charisma or ability to work a crowd need to find a tape of Raw in Montreal four weeks ago.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Shawn is everything Ric was in the ring and then a lot more. Even in his prime, could Flair have a match as good against 52 year old Hogan? Or how's about Sid? I doubt it. This board really hates Shawn however.

[MikeJordan23 0]

You people who say Shawn's ringwork wasn't at the level of Flair's are nuts. If we're talking about televised + pay-per-view great matches, which really are the only ones that count, they are about on par with one another....and that's being generous to Flair.

 

Shawn's had at least one great match with all of these people:

 

Janetty

Mr. Perfect

Bret Hart

Vader

Jeff Jarrett

Razor Ramon

Diesel

Undertaker

Sid

Davey Boy Smith

Owen Hart

Mankind

HHH

Benoit

Angle

Hogan (memorable if nothing else)

Jericho

Austin

Shelton Benjamin

Edge

 

I challenge anyone to name more than 20 people Ric Flair had great matches with. And this isn't counting the hundreds of **+ matches Shawn has had with other opponents throughout his career (Batista, Orton, Flair, Goldust, RVD, the list goes on..) or anything he tagged in.

 

And anyone questioning Michaels' charisma or ability to work a crowd need to find a tape of Raw in Montreal four weeks ago.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Shawn is everything Ric was in the ring and then a lot more. Even in his prime, could Flair have a match as good against 52 year old Hogan? Or how's about Sid? I doubt it. This board really hates Shawn however.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Slow down. I think they are about equal too, but Ric Flair would get the edge if there was a gun to my head based on the fact he's had so many classic matches with a variety of opponents. And yes, Ric Flair in his prime could indeed have a good match with 52 year old Hogan.

 

For the record, that Shawn/Hogan match really wasn't that good...at all.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Where was that classic Shawn/Hennig match? All I remember is a couple of decent matches when Shawn was with the Rockers and a lousy match at Summerslam 1993. Certainly nothing as good as the Flair/Hennig Loser Leaves Town Match.