Silent too long, Ric finally cuts a promo on the Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin! Australian tour. Naitch is looking a lot like Bea Arthur in a feathered robe these days.
Ric's right about one thing: He'll never be retired in his own mind.
This promo alone should sell out every arena on the tour. Damn good stuff, and yes, this passion and intensity is lacking from 95% of other wrestlers' promos.
Originally posted by CerebusDid I hear him correctly when he said he was World Champion 21 times?
What are we missing?
The 16 that WWE claimed was always a conservative figure used by WWE for consistency. There are multiple reigns that have been recognized off and on depending on who's counting. Off the top of my head, there's a switch in Puerto Rico where he lost in order to not be killed, a trip through somewhere South Pacific where he swapped with Harley Race as a favor to the promoter, a time that he lost the NWA title but not the WCW title in Japan, as well as one or two reigns with the WCW International title that came out when they quit the NWA for the second time.
It is the policy of the documentary crew to remain true observers and not interfere with its subjects.
Let's Go Riders! (9-7-1, 2nd West Division, 2nd or better clinched)
Originally posted by CerebusDid I hear him correctly when he said he was World Champion 21 times?
What are we missing?
All of the I-pin-you-in-Tokyo-you-pin-me-in-Osaka title switches he did with other folks when he toured Asia & Europe in the 80's. Those title switches werent recognized (or acknowledged) in the states. That's why he added that part about "The rest of them are my personal business... and countries I've been to".
Slight change of topic, just for clarification...when Flair came to the WWF/E for his first run, he had a title with him...was that the WCW or the NWA title? What was the story behind that?
I remember Bobby Heenan showing it on TV, saying the Real World's Champion was coming, but after Flair's debut, it was digitally altered and blurred when shown on TV. Surely someone knows the "inside" story behind this :)
Originally posted by OliverSlight change of topic, just for clarification...when Flair came to the WWF/E for his first run, he had a title with him...was that the WCW or the NWA title? What was the story behind that?
I remember Bobby Heenan showing it on TV, saying the Real World's Champion was coming, but after Flair's debut, it was digitally altered and blurred when shown on TV. Surely someone knows the "inside" story behind this :)
Flair had put a $25K deposit on the belt in the 80's, as all champions were expected to do. Since he was World Champion for roughly 98 years he just never bothered to get it back.
He wanted interest on his deposit, and when he didn't get it upon leaving he took the belt with him. As expected, WCW quickly sued, so the WWF used one of their old belts and blurred it on TV (using the excuse they weren't going to show you the competition's belt, when in fact it wasn't).
WCW sued over that, so the WWF just put their title on him and that was that.
Originally posted by OliverSlight change of topic, just for clarification...when Flair came to the WWF/E for his first run, he had a title with him...was that the WCW or the NWA title? What was the story behind that?
I remember Bobby Heenan showing it on TV, saying the Real World's Champion was coming, but after Flair's debut, it was digitally altered and blurred when shown on TV. Surely someone knows the "inside" story behind this :)
Originally posted by Wrestling-Titles.com Stripped on 91/09/08 when Flair signs with WWF, where he claims the "Real World Heavyweight Title"; NWA World Heavyweight Title is vacant for the first time in its history. Flair wins WWF World Heavyweight Title on 92/01/19 in Albany, NY; some reports say Lex Luger, who has won the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Title by defeating Barry Windham on 91/07/14 in Baltimore, MD, is briefly given recognition as NWA World champion by the NWA board, controlled by WCW Vice President Jim Herd; Luger is not recognized by NWA as a former champion.
Originally posted by cfgb Flair had put a $25K deposit on the belt in the 80's, as all champions were expected to do. Since he was World Champion for roughly 98 years he just never bothered to get it back.
He wanted interest on his deposit, and when he didn't get it upon leaving he took the belt with him. As expected, WCW quickly sued, so the WWF used one of their old belts and blurred it on TV (using the excuse they weren't going to show you the competition's belt, when in fact it wasn't).
WCW sued over that, so the WWF just put their title on him and that was that.
Correct, so he basically owned it. If you listen to Flair tell the story, he was basically told who he was going lose it to over a phone conversation and wasn't happy with the way things were going. A couple words later, he told off Herd I believe, he bolted.
somewhere, I have my Wrestling Observer where that story (the Real World's Champion) is covered in detail.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
You can make the case for 19 definitive World titles (10 NWA, 7 WCW, and 2 WWF), and if you can stretch it to include 2 WCW International championships (once when WCW broke away from the NWA in 1993, and once when he beat Sting to unify the WCW World and Int'l titles in 1994), there's 21 for you.
RAW ELIMINATION CHAMBER World Heavyweight Championship Triple H (c) v. HBK v. Goldberg v. Chris Jericho v. Kevin Nash v. Randy Orton ---> JERICHO EMERGES NEW WORLD CHAMPION! Shane McMahon v.