Wishing a very, very happy 65th birthday to the greatest professional wrestler of all-time, and one of the most influential public figures of the last 30 years, Ric Flair, The Nature Boy. He jacked his gimmick from Buddy Rogers, the first WWWF champion, who got the name from the Eden Ahbez song popularized by Nat King Cole in that crucial pro-wrestling year of 1948. Other wrestlers made more money, got bigger mainstream recognition, but the reality is that it was Flairs charisma and work ethic that ultimately bridged the gap between the history of the business (stretching back to the Lou Thesz era) and its future (as typified by Flair leading the Yes! chants for Daniel Bryan - WWE Universe last night). How appropriate that the first full day of business for the WWE Network coincides with with a milestone occasion for the man who generated more of the networks content and personally made more of its greatest stars than anyone other than Vince McMahon himself. If youre a wrestling fan under the age of 40, the main reason you recognize the names and legacies of guys like Jack Brisco, Johnny Valentine, Buddy Rogers, Bruiser Brody, Dory Funk Jr., Harley Race, Dick the Bruiser, Siva Afi, Giant Baba and Chief Wahoo McDaniel is because of Flair being the crazy old man referencing them in promos on Nitro and Raw--and then consider the people hes made magic with: Arn Anderson, Gene Anderson, Ole Anderson, Steve Austin, Dave Batista, Chris Benoit, Big Show, Tully Blanchard, Carlos Colon, DDP, Edge, Mick Foley, Tatsumi Fujinami, Ronnie Garvin, Jimmy Garvin, Mike Graham, Eddy Guerrero, Road Warrior Hawk, Rip Hawk, HHH, Hulk Hogan, Mike Jackson, Nikita Koloff, Brock Lesnar, Jay Lethal, Lex Luger, Dean Malenko, Shawn Michaels, Miss Elizabeth, Terry Funk, Bobby Heenan,Ricky Morton, Rey Mysterio, Kevin Nash, Gene Okerlund, Bob Orton, Randy Orton, Brian Pillman, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, The Rock, Bobby Roode, Randy Savage, Dick Slater, Ricky Steamboat, Sting, AJ Styles, Kevin Sullivan, Jumbo Tsuruta, Undertaker, Vader, Kerry Von Erich, Barry Windham, Woman. Or consider the various celebs who rep him: LeBron James, Clay Matthews, Cinton Portis, Aaron Rodgers, CamRon, Killa Mike, various entire teams; even Ronda Rousey was throwing up the #FourHorsemen fingers after beating Sara McMann this weekend. When Ric Flair gives you the rub, you get paid off it for the rest of your life. His promos are their own self-contained philosophy; its amazing that WWE has never just put out a book of Flairs quotations, perhaps with accompanying DVD. Maybe theyll do that when hes 70. Either way, happy birthday, sir!
Posted on: Wed, 26 Feb 2014 00:30:30 +0000
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