18 Years Ago Today (2/20/1989)

[hydrophonic]

Ricky Steamboat defeated Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the Chi Town Rumble in Chicago.  This match and both rematches were rated 5 Star matches by the Wrestling Observer - that's half of Flair's 6 WO 5 Star matches.  The final match in the series was 1989's Match of the Year by the Observer and Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

All three are GREAT matches that I can't recommend strongly enough.

Match 1 - Chi Town Rumble - on WWE's "Greatest Wrestling Stars Of The 80s"
Match 2 - Clash of the Champions VI - on WWE's "Ultimate Ric Flair Collection"
Match 3 - Wrestle War - On WWE's "Ultimate Ric Flair Collection"

[Supermark101]

I always thought the 2/3 clash match was the best.

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I always thought the 2/3 clash match was the best.

Since it's a 2 out of 3 falls match it wins by weight if nothing else.  The Super Dome crowd is really into it.  Even more into it IMO than the other two audiences, who are also way into the match.  Part of what sets the 2nd match apart is that the audience is SOLIDLY behind Steamboat, while the other matches have pretty split reactions.  The Chicago crowd even boos Steamboat a few times - which should have been a clue to WWE bookers heading into last years WrestleMania at Chicago where John Cena and even Trish Stratus were heavily booed in favor of performers with more wrestling skill.

There is a great Flair promo following the second match that I'll type out tomorrow if I can't find it on youtube.  I looked for these matches but was unable to find any of them.

[hydrophonic]

I couldn't find this on youtube, but I bet most of us have heard enough Flair promos that we can read the text and "hear" what it sounded like.

This is after the 2nd match of this series.

"You know, there's a lot of people, as I've said so many times in my GREAT career that have never liked or understood the Nature Boy's role in the greatest sport in the world.  The bottom line is, I was born to be the Champ. ::laughs::  That's right.  And on FIVE different occasions I have been the Champ.  The greatest career EVER of any wrestler in the history of this sport belongs to ME.  And here I am at the top of my game with one thing gone - the World Title.

Now Steamboat, we've already established the fact, you didn't beat me in New Orleans.  I had to bring my lawyers in.  I had to tell almighty Jim Herd in that golden tower that I had to have "one more chance", as he puts it.  So TBS says "we'll tell you what Ric Flair, you got a shot in Nashville, but it is, Nature Boy, your last chance."  Can you imagine telling me that my last opportunity to become the World Champion is in Nashville, May 7th?

Well, let me explain something to you.  When you take everything in the world away from me, and let's face it: when you're Slick Ric and you got cars, money, WOMEN, anything in the WORLD you want because you're the champ, then you got to have back the fuel that feeds the fire, baby.  That means I got to be the Champion for the 6th time.  Think about it.

May 7th.  Nashville TN.  Ric Flair ::WOOOOOOO!:: is coming back.  I'm going to walk that aisle and I'm going to prove to the world one more time...  To be the man, you've got to beat the man, and God knows I'm the man.  ::WOOOOOOOO!::"