5 Times Ric Flair Took WWE To The Extreme

Despite being embroiled in a bitter rivalry with Mick Foley in the summer of 2006, Flair would take a brief detour to ECW as he looked to add the newly revived ECW World Heavyweight Championship to his record-setting collection of World Titles. However, en route there was the small matter of a seven foot giant standing in his way.

Having won the belt on Independence Day, Big Show wouldn’t have to wait long to validate himself as champ; defending the belt against the “Nature Boy” just days later in his first televised title defence. Meanwhile, Flair was out to prove a point to his hardcore nemesis, Foley, and show the world just how extreme he could be.

Ironically, Flair had long been seen as the antithesis of what ECW stood for and had been verbally targeted by ECW’s “Franchise” player, Shane Douglas, ever since the inception of the title. Nevertheless, Flair would quickly prove he belonged in the “Land of Extreme”; when he brought the fight to his much larger foe in his first and only ECW appearance.

Perhaps the bloodiest match of ECW’s WWE tenancy, Flair and Big Show really went out of their way to try and help the revived ECW brand get off to a credible start. From steel chairs and trash cans to thumbtacks and barbed wire, this match had everything and was a genuine throwback to the ECW of old.

Unsurprisingly, Flair had tasted his own blood within minutes; wearing the crimson mask and once again dying his bleach blonde hair a dark shade of red. The extreme giant went on to hand out a vicious and unrelenting beating to the legendary “Nature Boy”; playing with his foe like wild animal toying with wounded prey.

Despite the punishment, a defiant Flair rallied back with lefts and rights before levelling the playing field with not one but FOUR monumental low blows, bringing the giant to his knees. Flair would follow up the assault with a violent attack that saw Big Show also busted open, as Ric brutalised his taller adversary with the ultimate equaliser – a barbed-wire baseball bat.

All of a sudden, Flair looked like a real giant killer and the prospect of a historic 17th World Title reign not only seemed like a genuine possibility but a beautiful inevitability. With both men bleeding profusely, Flair would make a fatal error when he knocked Big Show into the thumbtacks, enraging the giant further and ultimately killing his chances of victory.

A furious Big Show would respond by driving Flair into the canvas with a Chokeslam before capitalising on Flair’s weakened state by executing the Cobra Clutch Backbreaker submission, gaining victory via referee stoppage. Not content with the win, Show would follow up by rag-dolling Flair into the tacks for good measure; leaving the bloodied “Nature Boy” looking like an overused voodoo doll.

While Flair may have been used to custom made clothes throughout his career, the extreme rules of ECW seemed almost custom made for Naitch. Ten years later, the match still stands out as a rare highlight of the doomed ECW revival and is a hidden gem of the WWE archive.