What happens when you take one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and you pit him against arguably the greatest big man in wrestling history? Well, that's the situation WCW backed themselves into in late 1993. The original plan was for Sid to be the one who challenged Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1993. But after the famed scissors incident with Arn Anderson that resulted in Sid's firing, Ric Flair assumed the position as the new #1 Contender to Vader's championship at Starrcade 1993. This would take place in front of Flair's hometown crowd of Charlotte, NC. Also, Flair would proclaim that he would walk away from wrestling if he would lose. Keep in mind that Flair is wrestling against Vader, a man managed by the guy who Flair defeated at the first Starrcade 10 years prior: Harley Race. And Vader is the unstoppable monster of WCW, having decimated many other great wrestlers like Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Cactus Jack, and "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. So there is a lot of history and drama in this match, which makes it a perfect main event.
Let's Do This!!!!
WCW Starrcade 1993
12/27/1993
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Title vs. Career
Vader (c) (w/Harley Race) vs. "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair
**If Flair loses, he must retire.
Vader comes out first with Harley Race in front of Ric Flair's hometown crowd of Charlotte, NC. Vader yells down at Tony and Jesse on commentary that he's going to hurt Flair slowly. "Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30" starts playing, and the crowd erupts. Flair comes out in a absolutely amazing, shining purple robe. Michael Buffer does the introductions for us, first introducing Vader (the champion) which is a bit unusual. Ric Flair gets a great ovation. Buffer gets in his catchphrase, and the bell rings!
Vader and Flair start this one off slowly, letting the crowd get hyped up more and more. Tie up finally. And Vader just pushes off Flair who does a flip on the mat to sell the strength. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat again. Vader chases him outside. But Vader stops himself, seeing Flair trying to catch him and wear him out. Both men are back in the ring. Flair does a masterful job selling an arm-wrench by Vader. A lot of pounding by Vader early on while focusing on Flair's arm. Chops by Flair in the corner, but they have no effect as Vader just tosses Flair off. Flair steps out and takes a breather.
Flair comes back in. Vader just assaults him in the corner as Flair screams in pain. Big press slam by Vader on Flair who rolls out to the floor afterwards. Vader follows him out and does the same thing to Flair only this time dropping him throat first on the rail. ( We're only about 5 minutes into this thing, and the narrative is clear: Vader is too strong and too powerful for Flair to go straight at. Flair is selling the moves of Vader with a great amount of credibility. The story being told is that Flair will have to chop Vader down and use his technical skills in order to have a fighting chance.)
Vader misses a splash into the railing, and Flair just UNLOADS with chops and strikes. He throws Vader into the ring post, but Race catches Flair behind the referee's back with an attack and rolls him into the ring. Big suplex throw on Flair back into the ring. Flair: "OH GOD!" (Again, great selling here.) Another big suplex throw by Vader back into the ring. Vader just pummels Flair in the corner with the trademark strikes. Flair does his upside down flip over the corner, but he just collapses on the runway. Back in the ring now, Vader just continues to assault Flair with punches, headbutts, lariats, and other body blows. Flair's chops have no effect on Vader. Vader just continues the assault.
Big jumping lariat off the middle rope by Vader to Flair who sells a possible broken jaw.
A big dive off the middle rope misses for Vader. Now, Flair goes on the top rope. He hits a big judo chop on Vader. He grazes him with a second one when he miscalculates the jump, but he continues the chopping. He goes up a third time and connects fully, knocking Vader down. Knee drop by Flair. But Vader just clotheslines him back down. Flair is bleeding from his mouth now. Vader puts him on the corner. Vader goes up the corner. MIDDLE ROPE SUPERPLEX on Flair. Vader attacks the leg of Flair, who screams in bloody mouth agony! A Vader splash misses, but Vader just shoulder tackles him down. (Again, the story is being reinforced here: Flair just cannot get anything going against Vader. Vader just shrugs off whatever Flair does to him and continues the assault with just that much more intensity.)
Vader dumps Flair outside to get assaulted by Harley Race. (Race is adding even more to the match by being a great heel manager attacking the wrestler behind the referee's back.) Flair's back in the ring. Chops mean nothing to Vader. Vader misses a splash into the corner, but he gets Flair on a second attempt. Flair grabs his back screaming in pain and crumbles face first to the mat (and not in the typical Flair Flop manner. Flair's really putting on a selling masterpiece in this match.). Vader just continues the assault.
Vader attacks with more arm-wrenching now. Flair starts striking at Vader with multiple chops and punches. He drops Vader! The crowd reacts warmly to this. He grabs Vader's knee and wraps it against the ring post. He's starting to chop the big man down. Race is arguing with the referee, while Flair just whacks Vader's knee with a open metal chair!!! (As in this wasn't a steel chair.) Flair is going mental on Vader with punches. Now, he uses another metal chair on Vader behind the ref's back! Vader is knocked out on the floor!
Vader and Flair are back in the ring. Flair presses the attack with multiple punches and ... BITING! Flair gets the leg of Vader and hits a sitting jump on the knee. More punches. Flair goes for the Figure Four, but Vader kicks him off. He puts Flair in the corner lying down. FLAIR AVOIDS THE VADER BOMB! FIGURE FOUR ON VADER! THE CROWD IS GOING NUTS!!! Race gets to the apron to distract the referee. Race points out that Vader got to the ropes. Flair runs into Vader's boot in the corner. Big elbow drop to the midsection of Flair followed by more strikes.
Vader goes up for the Vader... VADERSAULT!!!! FLAIR ROLLS UNDER AND AVOIDS IT! Flair covers. 1-2-Race hits Vader with the diving headbutt! The referee pushes Race out! The crowd is going nuts. Flair goes mental on Vader with punches and chops. Flair runs into a Vader splash. But Vader's still hurt. Flair uses Vader's leg to flip the big man down for a roll up. 1-2-3!!!! The arena just goes insane!!!! Flair's hand is raised in victory as the fireworks go off, and the crowd pop just continues to grow!!! Confetti is falling from the ceiling as Flair goes to the back thanking the crowd again for their applause.
Winner: Ric Flair (NEW WCW World Heavyweight Champion)
Match Grade: A-. This may be high, but hear me out. The match succeeded in what it set out to do: give Ric Flair a big world title win in front of his hometown crowd. Also, this is one of the best jobs I've ever seen in making a monster heel look like a monster still even in defeat. Vader just pummeled and assaulted Flair for most of the match. And it was a couple costly mistakes on Vader's part that cost him the match and the title. Then you have to consider the fact that they kept the crowd emotionally invested in the match from beginning to end, with the match being in Ric Flair's hometown undoubtedly playing a big part in that feat. There were a couple awkward moments in there, but the emotion of the crowd and the story being told push this match from a B+ in any other building to an A- in Charlotte, NC. (Imagine if it were in the Tokyo Dome. Lol.)
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I hope you enjoyed this latest edition of UnWrest Focus REWIND. Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness. WOOOOOOOO!
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