Armchair Bookers: What if Ric Flair Never Came...

[Zack Malibu 0]

Another Saturday at work, another one of these. This time, we go a little further back to when Ric Flair had a falling out with Jim Herd and high-tailed it out of WCW, taking the World Heavyweight Title with him and heading north to make waves for Vince and the WWF.

 

But what if he didn't? What if Herd wasn't as much of an idiot as we've been told? What if he didn't propose that Ric become Spartacus and cut his hair/get an earring?

 

What would have become of the main event scene in the WWF? Would Hogan have still lost to The Undertaker, only to then have the belt held up in the Royal Rumble '92? Who would co-headline 'Mania? On the WCW end of the spectrum, would Luger still get the huge push with Harley Race as his manager? Would Ron Simmons ever wind up becoming the first black World Heavyweight Champion? Would Flair have won the belt more than the 16 times that he did?

 

This one might bring more discussion than some past ones we've done, since you've got both major federations to consider as you rewrite history. So, fellow posters, what's your take if this scenario had ever happened?

[Diamonddust 0]

Another Saturday at work, another one of these. This time, we go a little further back to when Ric Flair had a falling out with Jim Herd and high-tailed it out of WCW, taking the World Heavyweight Title with him and heading north to make waves for Vince and the WWF.

 

But what if he didn't? What if Herd wasn't as much of an idiot as we've been told? What if he didn't propose that Ric become Spartacus and cut his hair/get an earring?

 

What would have become of the main event scene in the WWF? Would Hogan have still lost to The Undertaker, only to then have the belt held up in the Royal Rumble '92? Who would co-headline 'Mania? On the WCW end of the spectrum, would Luger still get the huge push with Harley Race as his manager? Would Ron Simmons ever wind up becoming the first black World Heavyweight Champion? Would Flair have won the belt more than the 16 times that he did?

 

This one might bring more discussion than some past ones we've done, since you've got both major federations to consider as you rewrite history. So, fellow posters, what's your take if this scenario had ever happened?

 

Good question...

 

Flair leaving in '91 forced WCW to at least push some new people (Namely the Dangerous Alliance). It let Rick Rude have the biggest push of his career, and it started to show everyone the talent Steve Austin had.

 

If Flair stayed, they were in a position of not having a lot of faces to work with him. Sting was damaged goods at the moment and Luger was considered a choker. They probably would have done the Flair/Windham feud, but in the long term, they would have had a problem.

[King Kamala 0]

I agree with Diamonddust, I think it would have hurt WCW more than it hurt WWF honestly. I think Hogan still would have feuded with 'Taker and Sid. Instead of Flair/Savage, maybe they'd have drawn out the Jake/Savage feud so it could be the co main-event at WrestleMania VIII.

[Diamonddust 0]

Great timing for this thread (Possibly intentional) as http://www.f4wonline has put up the issue highlighting Flair's departure.

 

Some of the gems from it include:

 

Late last week, a meeting was held with Turner Home Entertainment about changing the PPV main event to Luger vs. Windham. THE vetoed the idea, saying that all the publicity had already gone out, including an expensively produced rap video ad for the show.

 

But he's still Ric Flair, and one would think, he could at least be added to the mix in a way where he can be valuable to the WWF. The loss isn't going to be a crippling blow to WCW. That has already occured and it wasn't one blow, but a steady stream of shots to the joints that have results in an organization filled with stress fractures. While at one time, Ric Flair and NWA were synonymous, Ric Flair and WCW are not synonymous. WCW is synonymous with disaster. Ric Flair is synonymous with misused potential. I think McMahon will push him as one of the top singles attractions, but there is still that thing in the back of ones mind that wonders, does King Hoss Flair have a nice ring to it?

 

Some other gems:

 

Samu in this area is Ed Farhat's nephew Terry, who worked in the Detroit area for his uncle as Sabu, The Elephant Boy. Rob Zakowski worked in the Detroit area as Rob, The Polish Prince.

 

The original plan was for Luger to defend the title against Mr. Hughes as the headline match of Halloween Havoc.

[cabbageboy 0]

That Sabu and RVD comment is hysterical. Is that even true?

 

Anyway, in regards to Flair I don't think him leaving hurt WCW much at all. People jump to the conclusion that it hurt WCW, but Flair wasn't drawing shit by 1991 anyway so who cared? He didn't want to put over others and wasn't drawing, so why should Jim Herd bend over backwards to appease Flair? Herd came up with idiotic ideas and those goofy notions obscure the fact that his hypothesis was correct: Flair was stale and WCW needed to rebuild around younger guys.

 

The WWF would have been fine. At the end of the day, all it would mean is Flair wouldn't face Hogan at all on house shows and wouldn't feud with Savage in 1992. They would probably keep Hogan, Sid, and UT in the top mix and Macho/Jake would have been a bitter feud lasting until WM. Just not blow it off at SNME. Savage was toast by the end of 1992 anyway in terms of being a draw for the WWF, and with Hogan leaving they could still go with Warrior coming back as a top angle. Maybe forget the Warrior/Shango trash and have a serious feud with Macho culminating at SS. Or maybe just push Bret Hart a few months earlier. The WWF had plenty of options.

 

WCW with Flair? I don't think it would have been very good. Flair had simply exhausted all the feud possibilities. Sting, Luger, Windham, etc. He had already feuded at length with all of them and basically if he had stayed it would have been more of that. More Horsemen. Maybe he could have feuded with Rude earlier than he eventually did, maybe Vader. Of course maybe Herd wouldn't have gotten fired as well.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

If Flair had stuck around, he'd have got the World belt back when Luger flopped, and transitioned it to Sting. Other than that, Flair would have still been the guy to put heels over before they feud with the top babyface. In fact, I think he'd have wound up being the guy to put Vader over en route to Vader-Sting. That's in addition to being the fall back champion of record.

[Zack Malibu 0]

I could almost see a revitalization of Flair's career as a face if WCW still went ahead with the Dangerous Alliance angle. Maybe instead of Rude debuting to target Sting (since at the time heel Luger was World Champion), they could build to a Flair face turn by having Rude debut to target him. At the same time, keep Anderson and Zybysko together with Arn refusing to help/turning on Flair. Maybe have Austin feud with Sting for the US belt over Rude. If anything, I'd take Koloff's face turn out of the mix and have Flair, Sting, Steamboat, Windham and Rhodes feuding with the Alliance up to War Games. Have all four of the faces be wary of Flair at first (since he'd feuded with three and also feuded with Dustin's father).

 

As Vader rose, I would have Flair be the guy to put him over en route to Sting, but not simply to be a fall guy. Build up the story that Vader is looking to create his own legacy, and if a guy like Ric Flair can't stop him, what chance does Sting have?

[Richard 0]

This is what I wrote last time this came up:

 

What if Flair had stayed in WCW in '91?

 

I'd guess that Sid would be placed in his role, winning the title at the rumble and losing at mania to Savage. Meanwhile, Hogan would feud with Taker and Jake, leading to a tag match at WM. Hogan's mystery partner would be Warrior, who pins Roberts. The Savage-Warrior-Perfect angle still happens more or less, while the Undertaker, who's still a heel, feuds with a top face (let's say Bossman). Taker beats Savage soon after the ppv, leading to UT/Razor vs Savage/Perfect at Survivor Series. Taker probably jobs to Bret sometime before mania, though they could have UT beat Hart at the show and have Hogan get his cheap win.

 

As for WCW, who the hell knows. It would be cool if The Dangerous Alliance formed anyway, leading to Flair being betrayed by Arn and the other Horsemen (I'd switch the roles of Windham and Eaton) and having to crawl back to Sting and friends. Since Sting's an idiot, he takes him back and they become friends again. Of course after the DA is defeated, Flair returns to his old ways.

 

 

[cabbageboy 0]

See, the problem with that hypothetical booking is that I don't see WCW even bothering to do another heel faction if Flair was there. See what I mean? The Horsemen had become a booking crutch by 1991, constantly there feuding with the top faces. The sudden loss of Flair jolted WCW into trying something, anything different (even if it was another heel group).

 

In retrospect I quite like the Dangerous Alliance. They formed, beat some ass for a while, but ultimately were defeated and broke up. The only thing they really lacked was a true main event level guy...I guess the closest thing was Rude but he was US champ at that point.