Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson
As Flair makes his entrance and the two face off, the camera shows various talents from the WCW locker room in the crowd, ready to watch this one; from the likes of Brian Pillman, Eddy Guerrero, Alex Wright, Bubba Rogers and even Colonel Parker for some reason.
The two circle the ring, before Ric Flair does the Fargo strut for a huge pop. They run the ropes, Arn trips him, and Anderson slaps the back of Flair’s head, clearly disrespecting him. They lock up again, Anderson flattens Flair again with a vicious shoulder block, then slaps him when he gets up. There’s so much story here and the selling by Flair makes it absolutely phenomenal to watch. Anderson knocks Flair down, and starts nailing Flair’s forearm with his knee. Flair sounds off on him but Anderson slaps him again as Flair flips out.
Anderson continues with the great psychology, as he wears down the arms and elbow of flair keeping it extended, as the camera turns to Pillman for a reaction. Minutes later, Anderson still has the same armbar locked in, bringing Flair back down to the mat with his feet. Flair rolls out of it finally and chops Anderson down. He chops Anderson again, but can’t keep him down, as he counters an Irish Whip and takes to the top, and leaps with a kick to the ribs of Flair. He slams Flair down, as Flair does his patented ‘beg for mercy’ spot, but Anderson kicks him again.
Anderson pulls Flair down to the mat with an arm-drag, pinning him for several 2-counts, but Flair eventually gets to his feet. Heenan mentions that Arn should be working on the leg not the arm, as Flair’s main threat is the figure four leg lock, great commentating. Anderson’s still working away at Flair’s arm, he counters for a brief second to chop Arn, but Arn counters again with a sharp punch to Flair’s forehead. Arn whips Flair into the corner, Flair rolls over the top and stands on the apron, Arn charges at him, but Flair ducks sending Arn out to the floor! Great heel tactics by Flair.
With Anderson down on the outside, The Nature Boy goes to the top rope and hits an axehandle. Flair finally seems to have the momentum as he chops Arn against the barricade, but quickly runs back inside the ring. Ric capitalizes with a knee to the head and puts his legs on the ropes, but he can still only muster a 2-count. Flair tries to chop Arn in the corner, but Anderson counters with a series of punches. Flair hits a low-blow of Anderson and the ref catches it, but he lets it slide after questioning him. Flair dumps Arn out and floors him with another sharp chop.
Flair brings him in and shows he’s strong enough to hang with Flair by hitting a powerful delayed vertical suplex, as both men fall to the floor. Flair’s up first and he chops Arn straight back down before whipping him to the opposite corner, catching him with yet another chop. Anderson’s on the comeback again, as he whips Flair into the corner, as Ric does the classic over-the-top flip selling straight into a tree of woe spot. Arn stomps him in the corner and tells us he’s going for the DDT but flair grabs the ropes and avoids it, what a fantastic reversal.
Flair’s up on the top rope but Anderson rushes to cut him off, as he slams Flair off the top and gets a 2-count. Arn says it’s over and he goes to the rope, but Flair counters and locks in the figure four! Arn sells it fantastically before getting the slow reversal, as Flair’s forced to break the hold and crawl away. Flair rams the back of Arn’s knee, as Arn clutches it in pain and Ric goes for a second figure four, but Arn rolls him up for a 2.9 count. Flair’s got arn in the corner as he does some incredibly soft jabs on the jaw of Anderson, then knocks him down by kicking his knee.
Flair continues in pursuit after Anderson collapses, but Pillman jumps the crowd and onto the apron as he berates Flair. The Nature Boy tells him to ‘f*** off’ if my lip-reading skills are as good as I think they are. Brian decks him from behind, Flair hits him, Pillman kicks him again and Anderson hits the DDT out of nowhere for the 3-count!
Winner: Arn Anderson
A great match with a lot of heavy psychology and a great story. The finish seems to imply that Flair is the better man even though he lost the match, but clearly him losing via dirty tactics when he’s the heel in this match is just desserts. I would have liked to have seen Arn win clean, but this finish clearly protects both men and is likely the soft finish they were looking for so Arn and Flair can reform the horsemen? Or knowing WCW, it’ll continue anyway. Either way, this match is fantastic, go out of your way to watch it.
