This is the last one involving Ric Flair, I promise you. In 1989, a babyface Flair was embroiled in a sporting rivalry with one of his greatest foes: Ricky The Dragon Steamboat. They had traded the belt back and forth over a series of long, excellent matches. Their previous encounter, a two out of three falls match at Clash of the Champions VI, which had gone head to head with WrestleMania V, saw Steamboat retain, but Flairs foot had been on the bottom rope for the final fall. At Wrestle War 89, WCWs first ever pay-per-view event, the two were to meet again. However, in the event of the one hour time limit being met, three legendary judges, all former World Heavyweight Champions, would declare a winner. Those judges were Pat OConnor, Lou Thesz and Terry Funk. Flair won an epic 40 minute contest. After the match, commentator Jim Ross entered the ring to conduct a post-match interview with the new champion, only for Funk to interrupt them to offer his congratulations. He then said that he would like to challenge Flair for the belt. Flair and Ross clearly felt this wasnt the best time to do this and the situation felt very awkward indeed. Flair refused Funks challenge, saying that he had been away in Hollywood for five years. Funk had indeed been inactive since 1986 and had been making movies, including Over the Top, starring Sylvester Stallone. Funk then tried to cool the situation by claiming that he was only joking, before punching Flair with his left hand as he shook hands with his right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrd2mkHyaMM#t=39m30s Funk then threw an exhausted Flair to the outside and climbed on top of the table that the judges had been using, before piledriving Flair onto the table. Bear in mind that this was well before tables were commonly used in wrestling. The table didnt break (it wasnt a wrestling table designed to break) and Flair was said to have suffered severe neck damage. This angle set up Funks return to active wrestling as a main event heel, and set the scene for two extremely lucrative pay-per-views featuring matches between the two, not to mention their classic I Quit match at Clash of the Champions IX at the end of 1989.
Dean Ayass is a well known name to British wrestling fans. A commentator, manager, booker and ring announcer who has been involved in the business since 1993, Dean's insight into the business is second to none.
