The Return of Wrestling Wednesday - Ric Flair's Return to WWE

Wrestling Wednesday…

World Wrestling Entertainment – The Incredibly Sad Saga of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair a.k.a. Flair Returns to the WWE



I was suffering through the New York Jets – Tennessee Titans match-up on Monday Night Football this week when I saw social media explode with talk of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair on WWE RAW. As I read the comments celebrating the return of Ric Flair to World Wrestling Entertainment, I could not help but sigh and feel bad. I knew it was inevitable. Still, I did not want to hear it happen. Ric Flair finally crawled back to Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Coming off the announcement of his upcoming divorce (his fourth) and more troubles with the IRS (not Mike Rotunda), I knew it was only a matter of time before Ric Flair sucked up what little bit of pride he had left and rejoined World Wrestling Entertainment – the company that cast him aside in 2008. What? You don’t remember it that way? Let’s take a little stroll down memory lane, shall we?

In 2007, Ric Flair was one of the top faces in World Wrestling Entertainment. Despite being a 58-year-old well past his prime, Flair still brought out emotions unlike 95% of the roster. However, Ric Flair was not physically appealing to look at as he worked matches on television. In November 2007, Flair vowed he would never retire, only to have Vince McMahon announce that Flair would retire the next time he lost a match. This culminated at WrestleMania XXIV with a classic match where Flair lost to Shawn Michaels and subsequently retired from in-ring competition. Flair received an amazing send-off the following night on RAW and went off into the sunset. However, Vince McMahon still wanted to cash in on everything Ric Flair did. Therefore, Flair lost endorsement deals and public speaking engagements when the terms agreed upon by Flair and those companies were nullified by Vince McMahon and WWE. You see, Ric Flair was not good enough to wrestle on television or appear on television anymore. However, he was still important enough to Vince McMahon that McMahon had to get a cut of every check Flair earned. This ultimately led to Flair severing ties with WWE. Flair resumed wrestling again, including a stint in TNA Wrestling that ended when TNA released Flair after countless no-shows and other examples of unprofessional behavior. 

When I look back on Ric Flair’s retirement in 2008, I see a celebration of an amazing career. I also see a man forced into retirement against his will. As I said earlier, Vince McMahon looked at Ric Flair and saw an ugly old man performing in his ring. Flair, unlike Jerry Lawler – another legend performing well past his prime before his unexpected heart attack earlier this year, performed wearing less ring attire and did not have the many cosmetic procedures under his belt either to appear younger like Lawler. McMahon forced Flair out because of appearance during the same period when he moved Jim Ross from RAW to SmackDown because Ross did not have to facial appearance McMahon wanted the top broadcaster on the main show to have and McMahon himself limited his own appearances on television because he felt “too old” to appear on television. Ric Flair did not want to retire. That became more evident to me when Flair quickly jumped at the chances to work with Ring of Honor, perform on the Hulkamania Farewell Tour in late 2009, and join TNA Wrestling in 2010.

Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment may have saved Ric Flair after the final years of World Championship Wrestling tried to kill him. However, this same company also tried to kill Ric Flair with the retirement forced upon Flair. I was happy to watch Flair in 2010 and 2011 wrestle a handful of matches. Flair had an outstanding program with Mick Foley. Flair helped establish new talent like Jay Lethal and Douglas Williams and mentored guys like AJ Styles, James Storm, Robert Roode, and Gunner in TNA Wrestling. Flair may never say it while under contract to WWE again but TNA Wrestling saved Flair in 2010 the way WWE saved Flair in 2002.

Unprofessional behavior, a lot of which steamed from Flair’s drinking problems and issues with money, ultimately led to Flair’s termination from TNA Wrestling. His most recent separation and divorce from fourth wife Jackie added another major financial burden on Flair that only one thing could solve – a return to World Wrestling Entertainment. 

Ric Flair is back in WWE to make some money. I cannot blame him. I cannot hate on him for it. He has many financial burdens and a payday from WWE can help with that. It is the reason why Mick Foley prostitutes him to WWE repeatedly or why men like Matt Bloom and Shelton Benjamin leave the comforts and respectability of Japan and Ring of Honor respectively for goofy characters like Tensai and perpetual jobber duties within World Wrestling Entertainment. However, just like when I hear about the roles of these performers within the Vince McMahon cash machine, I feel the same way about Ric Flair as he returns to the machine – sadness.

I wish Ric Flair had the sense earlier in life not to waste as much money as he did. I wish Flair could have stopped with marriage at one or even two tries. Most of all, I wish Ric Flair, the man, had the same amount of self-respect as Ric Flair, the in-ring performer. Ric Flair, the in-ring performer, would never crawl back to the company that forced him into retirement because of his age regardless of how desperate for money he became because that Ric Flair had more respect for himself.

I know many who say they lost respect for Ric Flair when he tarnished the WrestleMania XXIV send-off by performing again. I never lost respect for Flair or felt that moment tarnished because Flair never wanted to retire in the first place. However, I lost respect for Ric Flair on Monday night. The legendary “Nature Boy” crawled back to the WWE because of financial desperation. It was the beginning entry on what will be a sad final chapter for a legendary career.

The Highlight Reel presents This Week's Recap for December 17th...

THIS WEEK’S RECAP…

Superstar of the Week: Anne Hathaway

Last week, actress Anne Hathaway received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Screen Actors Guild for her performance in Les Misérables. While at the New York premiere for the film, Hathaway definitely gave people something to talk about besides her performance in the film thanks to a little wardrobe malfunction.

What? You thought I'd post the uncensored version?  Google it, people.

Exiting her limousine, Hathaway’s dress shifted slightly with the slit in the gown reaching a position where she unknowingly flashed photographers as she exited the vehicle. Choosing to go “commando” for the event, Anne Hathaway gave everyone a nice tease. Instead of getting angry about paparazzi selling the image for tons of money, Hathaway took the paparazzi to task for their lack of respect and class by not deleting the embarrassing image. Then, she went on as if nothing happened. Anne Hathaway handled the situation with the class and dignity expected from one of the classiest ladies in Hollywood today. Congrats to Anne on the award nomination and the awesome candid image.

Jerk of the Week: Rob Parker 

Years ago, ESPN First Take was one of the premiere sports talk shows on television. Skip Bayless was the loud, brash, often controversial panelist who appeared frequently with other columnists, commentators, and analysts while hosts Jay Crawford and Dana Jacobson ran the show. However, like most every great ESPN show, someone higher up screwed with the successful format and ESPN First Take became the Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith Go Race Baiting Show. On the December 13th episode, Rob Parker joined Bayless and Smith for the broadcast and went on a rant that shook even Bayless and Smith.

A day earlier, Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III said that he wanted to be defined by his work ethic and not his skin color when asked about being an African-American quarterback in the NFL. Parker, an African-American in his own right, seemed to take offense to RGIII’s statement denouncing the issue of race with the following statements: 

“For me personally, just me, this throws up a red flag. What I keep hearing, and I don’t know who’s asking the questions, but we’ve heard a couple of times now of a black guy kind of distancing himself away from black people.” 

“I understand the whole story of I just want to be the best. Nobody’s out on the field saying to themselves ‘I want to be the best black quarterback.’ You’re just playing football, right? You want to be the best. You want to throw the most touchdowns and have the most yards and win the most games. But time and time we keep hearing this, so it just makes me wonder deeper about him.” 

“And I’ve talked to some people down in Washington D.C., friends of mine who are around and at some of the press conferences, people I’ve known for a long time. But my question, which is just a straight honest question. Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother?” 

After that last statement, Skip Bayless and show host Cari Champion both attempted to have Parker explain his comments in what essentially allowed Parker to dig himself into a deeper hole. Parker explained his “cornball brother” remark when he said, “He’s not real. Okay, he’s black. He kind of does the thing, but he’s not really down with the cause. He’s not one of us. He’s kind of black but he’s not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he’s off to something else.” When Champion, an African-American female asked why this mattered, Parker added, “Well because that’s just how I want to find out about him. I don’t know because I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancée. There was all this talk about how he’s a Republican, which, I don’t really care, there’s no information at all. I’m just trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue because we did find out with Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods was like, ‘I’ve got black skin but don’t call me black.’”

In the aftermath of this incredibly stupid and racist rant by Parker, ESPN suspended Parker indefinitely from all television broadcasts and online media publications. Personally, I believe Parker should lose his job for this. However, considering that this was just an ordinary day on the Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith Go Race Baiting Hour, I expect Parker to get his own show out of this matter. More importantly though, this matter made me look at how far ESPN has fallen in the last six months with regards to their television content and how racially motivated the discussions are now from the majority of their on-air commentators. Michael Wilbon turned me off Pardon the Interruption years ago because of his constant use of the race card. JA Adande lost credibility with me through his ignorance and racial bias on Around the Horn. However, that was two people out of a roster of dozens of hosts and analyst. Now, for every Michelle Beadle or Dana Jacobson who left or Jay Crawford who moved to a show (SportsCenter) where his opinion is not expressed, Michael Wilbon, Skip Bayless, and Stephen A. Smith gained more clout while Jemele Hill’s star rose as she played the race card as if she would get a free Quizno’s sub after every six uses. Unless you watch SportsCenter or an NFL or MLB broadcast, ESPN shows nothing but programming dedicated to racially-based debating about issues far from sports-related.

Rob Parker crossed the line last week. However, as much as I would like to blame Rob Parker alone for making such a racial-charged and hate-filled remark about a man trying to fight the notion that race matters, this is not his fault alone. It is as much ESPN’s fault for encouraging this behavior, as it is Parker’s for encouraging racism in the first place. It is horrible when you bash a persona of another race because of their skin color. However, to bash a member of your own race? That is beyond disgusting.

Babe of the Week: Jennifer Lawrence



A Melancholy Happy Trails to…
- Ravi Shankar, 92 - Indian musician (December 11th)
- Jenni Rivera, 43 - American-born Mexican banta and norteño singer (December 9th)
- Jerry Brown, 25 - American football player for the Dallas Cowboys (December 8th)
- Mike Boyette, 71 - American professional wrestling best known for a 197 match losing streak in Bill Watts’ UWF (December 6th)
- Dave Brubeck, 91 - American jazz pianist (December 5th)
- Rick Majerus, 64 - American college basketball coach best known for stints at the University of Utah and St. Louis University (December 1st)
- Buddy Roberts, 67 - American professional wrestler best known as one of the Fabulous Freebirds (November 29th)
- Hector Camacho, 50 - Puerto Rican boxer (November 24th)
- Larry Hagman, 81 - American actor best known as JR Ewing on Dallas and Major Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie (November 23rd)

The Gun Control Issue -- How Many More Have to Die?

After a frantic last month of the semester, I finally am able to write a new entry in The Highlight Reel. The semester ended nicely. I got A’s in my Special Education, Special Education fieldwork, and 21st Century Schools courses and a B+ in Educational Psychology. While I have been stuck writing on educational subjects only, the world has continued its downward decent into damnation with the biggest stories of my time away from the blog involving senseless tragedies.  

On December 1st, 25-year-old Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend, 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins, before turning the gun on himself in a murder-suicide that shook the sports world to its very core. While a motive will forever remain a mystery, many speculate the tragic events occurred because of arguments between Belcher and Perkins regarding their troubled relationship and the possibility that Belcher was not the father of their three-month-old daughter, Zoey. After an argument following Perkins’ return from a Trey Songz concert, Belcher murdered her in front of his mother and daughter. Then, he drove to the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice facility and, in front of Chiefs General Manager Scott Pioli and Head Coach Romeo Crennel, committed suicide as they pled for him to put the gun down.

On December 14th, the United States of America wept and the world mourned. Adam Lanza, a 20-year-old from Newton, Connecticut, entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire. In the aftermath of his rampage, 26 people died - 20 children between the ages of 6- and 7-years old and six teachers / staff members. Also in the rampage, Lanza committed suicide. It was later determined that Lanza murdered his mother before leaving for the elementary school. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was the second-deadliest mass shooting in United States history and the second-deadliest attack on an American public school.

In both instances, people used these senseless tragedies as the soapbox needed to stand on and preach their viewpoint on the gun control debate in America. It’s the same argument made in the wake of the July shooting in Aurora, Colorado in which 12 people died and 59 others injured during a shooting at the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. NBC Sports analyst Bob Costas spoke about gun control during halftime of the Sunday Night Football game the night after the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide. Hours after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, many political pundits were crying for gun control to become the top priority of President Barack Obama in the wake of this tragedy. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg cannot stop saying this in the aftermath of the shooting. 

I am not going to say that gun control is not an issue in America because it is an issue. My problem with people like Bob Costas, Michael Bloomberg, and others right now is that this is not the time to preach the gun control agenda. Costas at least waited 24 hours but many like Bloomberg did not wait for the bodies to get cold before using their deaths as part of pushing the gun control agenda. If gun control really was as important an issue as so many are saying now, in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting, it would not take the backburner to the issues beaten over our collective skulls throughout 2012 -- namely gay marriage and the taxation of the wealthy. Gay marriage does NOT affect every man, woman, and child in this country. The idea of wealthy people paying their fair share of taxes, considering many millionaire pay less taxes than people who make less than $25,000 annually, is a matter of common sense and equality. However, it too does NOT affect every man, woman, and child in this country. Gun control DOES affect every man, woman, and child in this country. Every time someone leaves his or her home, he or she is walking into the great unknown where a psychopath may be waiting with an assault riffle and a vendetta against the world. 

I am not saying that the Second Amendment should be repealed and that the right to own firearms should be taken away from the American public. People do have that right. However, that right should end with hunting rifles and other small caliber weapons useful for home protection and safety. Nobody deserves the right to own a high-powered automatic assault weapon unless he or she is a member of a police force or branch in the armed forces. At that point, they only have access to those weapons as part of their job and not for recreation or whatever term you want to use for the proverbial penis-measuring contest in which gun owners participate. There is no reason at all why a person should have a high-powered assault rifle at home that fires off 100 rounds a minute or some other ungodly amount.

I may lose respect from friends over that opinion. I may not. I do not care. What I do care about is that this country finally regains a sense of safety in places that should be safe havens. Children should be able to go to school without their lives being on the line. Men and women should be able to go to the movies without worrying about being a target. We should be able to go to the mall, a park, or a restaurant without having a bulls-eye on our backs reading, “Come shoot me, Psychopath!” 

We cannot forget that the lead contributor in the Colorado theater shooting, the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and so many other shootings is that the perpetrator of the crime was crazy. Outhouse rat, bat shit CRAZY! Their rage and inability to handle that rage led to the deaths of many innocent people. Removing guns from the equation does not eliminate their rage or insanity. However, it does take away the tool that each man used in his masterpiece of chaos. Maybe with a less-productive weapon, some of these innocent victims may be with us today because the opportunity to stop these rampaging murderers would be greater. Perhaps Kasandra Perkins could have avoided Jovan Belcher’s knife. Perhaps… perhaps a lot of tragic outcomes would be different.

I just hope that, as the gun control issue remains the hot-button topic for the remainder of this news cycle, people screaming for the outlawing of all guns and people screaming about their right to have the most high-powered gun known to man remember one thing - the most important thing about this most recent incident. 

• Charlotte Bacon – 2/22/2006
• Daniel Barden – 9/25/2005
• Rachel Davino – 7/17/1983
• Olivia Engel – 7/18/2006
• Josephine Gay – 12/11/2005
• Ana M. Marquez-Greene – 4/4/2006
• Dylan Hockley – 3/8/2006
• Dawn Hocksprung – 6/28/1965
• Madeleine F. Hsu – 7/10/2006
• Catherine V. Hubbard – 6/8/2006
• Chase Kowalski – 10/31/2005
• Jesse Lewis – 6/30/2006
• James Mattioli – 3/22/2006
• Grace McDonnell – 11/4/2005
• Anne Marie Murphy – 7/25/1960
• Emilie Parker – 5/12/2006
• Jack Pinto – 5/6/2006
• Noah Pozner – 11/20/2006
• Caroline Previdi – 9/7/2006
• Jessica Rekos – 5/10/2006
• Avielle Richman – 10/17/2006
• Lauren Russeau – 6/10/1982
• Mary Sherlach – 2/11/1956
• Victoria Soto – 11/04/1985
• Benjamin Wheeler – 9/12/2006
• Allison N. Wyatt – 7/3/2006

Their lives are over. They died at the hands of a lunatic who had guns, legally obtained, and a hatred for the world. In the case of 20 of these individuals, they will never have the chance to drive a car, become a parent, have a lover, or live life to their best efforts. Whatever happens in this gun control debate stemming from this shooting, I pray that everyone involved does not forget these people. This is not about taking away your rights -- it is about making sure your name does not end up on a list like this as the victim of another maniac’s rampage.