FLAIR Still Rules

[Professor S]

It never ceases to amaze me what Ric Flair can still do at his age. His match with Austin last night was fantastic, and it had a HOT crowd with only ONE punch thrown. This shows that the wrestling audience is still just that... a WRESTLING audience.

And did you notice that just by making a closed fist illegal, it auto maticall made 2 things happen:

1) The punch became a SLEDGEHAMMER. When you put as much value on a closed fisted punch the way that Flair and Austin did last night, it makes the effect of it to the audince that much more. Did you see how Austin sold Flair's punch? It was like he got hit with a car! And we all bought into it.

2) It makes for a more entertaining match. A closed fist is a CRUTCH. Closed fists aare used by many to hide poor ring skills. Notice how much more Flair and Austin did last night when they couldn't use a punch? They actually WRESTLED and used ring psychology. When Flair worked on Austin's knee, Austin sold it for the whole match and made it lok real. When you can't throw fifty punches in match, it makes the wrestlers work harder and do more.

I also have to say the booking of the match was great, also. It kept Austin's heat, since he had basically 2 wins over the much older Flair in the same night, but also let Flair look like he could still hang with the big boys in HIS STYLE MATCH. It was classic Flair with numerous eye gouges, working over of the legs, stiff chops and even the infamous Flair Flop (I popped huge for it). ustin was great also, even though I think he is aacting like a baby now behind the scenes.

In other words, GREAT MATCH!!! Made me want to watch wrestling again.