Ric Flair: To Be the Man (WWE) by Ric Flair

Author:Ric Flair [Flair, Ric]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: vl-wrestling
ISBN: 9780743491815
Amazon: 0743491815
Publisher: World Wrestling Entertainment
Published: 2005-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

After the Nassau Coliseum show, the boys ended up in Harry’s Bar, at the Helmsley Palace Hotel in Manhattan. Tully was complaining about the direction of the company; he walked right up to Jimmy and confronted him about some of Dusty’s decisions. “Dusty should book himself against Dusty,” he said.

Jimmy didn’t want to hear it, and walked away. Dusty had gotten so close with Jimmy that I couldn’t reason with him, either. Jimmy Crockett had been a very important part of my life, but I could see our relationship changing. Here was a person who meant so much to me that I had made him best man at my wedding. I couldn’t understand how Dusty could step in and con Jimmy out of that friendship.

Dusty also began telling stories that were too preposterous to believe. During a trip on one of Crockett’s private planes, Dusty notified a group of us that we were going to outclass Vince by making these big, Hollywood-style productions. Apparently, the first movie on the company’s list was the life story of Terry Allen, aka Magnum T. A., a handsome wrestler who suffered spinal cord damage when he drove his Porsche into a telephone pole one rainy night. We all agreed that Terry had an inspirational story that could make a decent film. Then Dusty added that Sylvester Stallone had agreed to play Magnum T. A., while Sally Field was committed to portraying his wife, Tamara. The only problem, Dusty said, was that he wasn’t sure if Sally Field was really right for the part.

Arn and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. If Jimmy was dubious, too, he wasn’t showing it to us.

Later, when his son Dustin started in the World Wrestling Federation as Goldust, Dusty said that Vince was arranging to put Dustin in a video with Madonna.

ON THE ROAD, fans were getting tired of seeing the same thing, over and over. The referee would get knocked down, and the challenger would toss me over the top rope. A second referee would run in, just in time to see me submit or get pinned. The fans would think that I had lost the championship—until the first ref woke up and announced that throwing your foe over the ropes was a violation of NWA rules. Therefore, the good guy was disqualified.

Among the boys, this ending—with a few variations here and there—was called the “Dusty finish.” It worked great in the days of the territories, when the fans in Charlotte knew nothing about the match results in Miami or Oklahoma City. But because of cable and Pay-Per-View, people became so familiar with the Dusty finish they could predict it ahead of time. And that wasn’t good for business.

JIM CORNETTE: Ric’s goal as the traveling champion had always been to escape by the skin of his teeth and make the local guy look good. But once national cable came in and Crockett emerged as the only major promotion in opposition to Vince, you couldn’t have that kind of champ anymore.

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