WWE RAW Results (05/12/08) Jim Ross welcomes us to the Joe Louis Arena as we go into the show with the lights out in the arena. The lights come back on and William Regal is in the ring...
As a wrestling and WWE fan I feel that not only did I get my moneys worth with Wrestlemania, but also the last 15 minutes of Raw was icing on the cake. Sunday night and last night had to be two of the best nights that WWE has given us in a long time. Listen I have SO much to talk about that if you don’t mind I would like to spend today’s column on Ric Flair, his match and last night’s tribute and then tomorrow go over the Wrestlemania matches and talk a little bit about Raw. If I did that all today I think my webmasters would FIRE me for taking up so much space. No they wouldn’t because each and every one of them are very cool, but I hate to make this super long. So let me just get right to Ric and Shawn Michaels match, and then I can’t wait to talk about that outstanding tribute Raw gave Flair last night.
Three weeks ago when the HBK/Flair match became official for Wrestlemania, I knew that this would be the match that would steal the show. And I was right, well at least in my opinion I was 100 percent right. Having an opponent like Shawn Michaels was the best opponent Flair could have had for his last match. I knew that Michaels would bring out the VERY best in Flair and that’s just what he did Sunday night. This match was my match of the night and maybe my match of the year. And I say this not only for the emotional part of the match but because I saw two guys in that ring working their assess off. This was my match of the night because there was no cutting corners this match was booked to wow the crowd and that’s exactly what it did. For a while now many have called for Flair to stop wrestling because of his age. You can include me in that group. As I said a while back I have worried for sometime that while Flair was wrestling God for bid he would get hit with a stroke or heart attack. That’s because the always gives 110 percent. And that’s just what he gave on Sunday night maybe even 150 percent. I was in awe of this man Sunday night, hey Flair isn’t much older than I am, although I do look like I’m 25, HA HA, but he makes 59 look like a breeze.
I seem to be giving Flair all the credit, but just as much credit has to go to Shawn Michaels. I really believe Shawn in his mind thought, this is going to be the last match for Ric Flair and I want the fans to see Ric Flair at his very best, and that’s just what Shawn brought out in him. I’ll tell you watching these two go at it was amazing and I could not get over how long this match went on, and I say that in a very positive way. The match wasn’t rushed at all. It flowed absolutely beautifully and what a story this baby told. Shawn Michaels proved again Sunday night that he still HAS IT and that he is definitely Mr. Wrestlemania and the Showstopper. Okay I’m now going to use a word my dad loved using to describe Shawn. He was magnificent Sunday night. This was a match that I will never forget and a match that I will rewatch for a long long time. Now let me tell you when it finally hit me that this was it for Flair, and when I lost it. It was when Shawn Michaels was standing at the corner tuning up the band, as JR would say and said to Flair “ I’m sorry, I love you.” Michaels looked like a defeated man even though he was seconds away from winning. My God that was a moment and that was A FIVE STAR MATCH.
Now from there I want to hit Ric Flair’s tribute on Raw. Okay if Flair and Michaels match had me in tears at Wrestlemania, then I think its fair to say that last night’s tribute had me in hysterics. I have to be honest with you I did not know what to expect when WWE.com started advertising that we would get Flair’s farewell speech. I had this feeling that Vince in character would maybe do a Lita farewell and make this a bad joke, I really was concerned about the way Flair’s farewell appearance would go. Well I was way off because Ric’s farewell segment was a first class send off. Vince might piss me off a lot but there are times when this guy just knows how to do the right thing and man he did it so well last night. The main event of Raw last night was a main event that will be with me forever. Ric’s tribute was off the charts and listen if it didn’t bring a tear to your eye then I would say that you are a Hogan fan, wait that was a joke really it was. Okay seriously this tribute was just beautiful. It started with a fairly upbeat Ric Flair thanking the fans and the fans thanking him right back. And then the fanfare started with Hunter coming out, thanking his idol and bowing down to him. Watching Flair break down and hearing Hunter’s voice crack of course was the start of my tears. The tears started falling when some of Flair’s best friends came out and joined him in the ring. We got star after star, guys like Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham, and J.J. Dillon, Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, Batista, Chris Jericho, John Cena and many more. And each time one if these wrestlers came out Ric got very emotional. By the time his family joined him he was crying like I was. This was just fantastic to see and along with the stars in the ring. How lucky was that Orlando crowd to be a part of this terrific segment?
This was a main event like no other and it was in the last few minutes of this that things got even more emotional and even better. It was when Shawn Michaels the man that retired Flair the night before made his way out and the two hugged and hugged. And right after that Hunter then invited the guys and girls from the back to come out and they did. I think it’s safe to say that the entire WWE roster came out stood in front of the ring and applauded Ric Flair. They also chanted thank you Ric. And what a way to end it all with Big Show standing on the apron and hugging Ric and tears streaming down the big guy’s eyes. Well I’ve watched this twice and I know I will be watching this a lot more. It’s so nice to have such a fabulous tribute to a guy that is still here and not for one of the wrestlers that has passed away. My weekend with Flair was one of the best weekends of my life. And lets not forget his induction into the Hall of Fame. I wasn’t happy that the USA network only gave us about 15 minutes of his speech, but even in that short time he was a pleasure to watch. I know I will definitely buy the Wrestlemania DVD just so I can see Ric’s complete speech.
Okay I will return tomorrow and give you my thoughts on Wrestlemania and Raw minus all the things that I talked about today. And really it’s going to be a very favorable column. And as I said at the beginning, WWE really came through Sunday and Monday night. I will leave you now because I have to get ready for ECW and the new ECW champion Kane. It’s about time Kane has the title. Let’s see how long he gets to keep it. By the way I got all my predictions right. APRIL FOOLS
