How Good Was Ric Flair Actually?

Ric Flair can lay claim to being arguably the most influential professional wrestler to ever walk the planet. "The dirtiest player in the game" wrote the book on being a heel, with every dastardly trick you've ever seen in a wrestling ring being popularized by The Nature Boy. There are little-to-no holes in his game, and the biggest names in wrestling today, from Oba Femi to MJF to Dirty Dom to Trick Williams, all have noticeable elements of Slick Ric's array of gimmicks as part of their character.

He leaves behind promos, matches, moments, and rivalries that are all of the highest standard imaginable. If Flair vs. Steamboat in their prime were on the last two WrestleMania cards, they'd have been the talk of the weekend. When people talk about all-time Royal Rumble performances, Flair is the first name on any respectable historian's lips. His final moment in a WrestleMania match is one of the most dramatic moments in WWE's long and illustrious history. Heck, fans themselves will be "wooing" long after all of us alive right now have left the Earth.

If Ric Flair had been booked to headline WrestleMania with Hulk Hogan and been featured more prominently in the main event scene during the Monday Night Wars, he would have left an almost perfect legacy. As it is, these reasons, as well as ignoring his perfect sendoff at WrestleMania 24 to continue wrestling, and some very questionable elements about his personal life, mean his career isn't bulletproof.

Nevertheless, any conversation worth its salt when it comes to the Mount Rushmore of pro wrestling will always have to include the name Ric Flair.

9/10