WWE: Nature Boy Ric Flair - The Definitive Collection DVD
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 Rating: - To Be The Man, You Have To Beat The Man...And I'm The Man!!!
The Ultimate Collection went into Flair's famous feuds, The 4 Horsemen went into the history of the legendary group, but now...we get the story on the man himself in Ric Flair.

The documentary begins with Flair being a "black market baby" & growing up playing football before going into how he met Verne Gagne through Ken Patera & eventually go into the NWA though Wahoo McDaniels. The story behind the plane crash that forever effected his life was gone into before the story of how he became "The Nature Boy" was heavily discussed & the importance of his United States Championship run. Flair's first NWA Championship run, all the politics surrounding it, the responsibility of behind the WORLD champion, and how it effected his family was heavily discussed here before going into the buildup for Starrcade & how his second NWA Title reign was different from the first one. Flair's "stylin' & profilin'" image & lifestyle along with stories behind his memorable catchphrases is talked about next before going into a brief story behind the formation of the Horsemen & their feud with Dusty Rhodes. Flair's classic matches with Sting, Ricky Steamboat, and Terry Funk are talked about next before all the problems Jim Crockett Promotions encountered leading to Turner buying the company & Flair eventually leaving. Flair's run as the "Real World's Champion" is discussed along with why the feud with Hogan didn't really happen before Flair's return to WCW & how there was problems from day one is also touched upon. Flair's involvement with Hogan & Savage coming to WCW, the misuse of his character, and problems regarding Eric Bischoff was discussed next followed by Flair reflecting on the last Nitro & WCW going out of business. Flair's return to the WWE & all the confidence issues he had for months were dove into before talking about his importance in the group of Evolution with Orton & Batista giving their favorite Flair moments before briefly talking about his feud with Mick Foley. The documentary wraps up with comments about Flair's WrestleMania weekend by going into the Hall Of Fame, his match with Shawn Michaels, and his farewell on RAW.

DVD Extras spread across all the disc are bonus stories regarding Superstar Billy Graham helping Flair bleach his hair, tales of hanging out with Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdock, how Flair buying wrestling boots foreshadowed his future "Nature Boy" lifestyle, Flair's current wife talking about his relationship with Shawn Michaels & Evolution members Triple H & Batista, and two hidden stories about Flair hitchhiking from Minnesota to Florida & a story regarding the plane crash. Along with the bonus stories come 9 Flair promos (1 was a hidden extra on Flair's first DVD), the tribute music video, highlights of Flair receiving a key to the city of Columbia, SC, and the farewell on RAW with bonus footage of what happened off the air with Undertaker & Vince McMahon making their appearances.

Matches include:
vs. Jack Brisco - This was during Flair's first run as NWA Champion & nothing more past a short encounter that showcased some good old school wrestling & great storytelling by both men.
"Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" Aug. '82

2 Out Of 3 Falls vs. Kerry Von Erich - This match is very much like a lot of the matches on this disc in that it's a "lost classic" that gets overshadowed by their more popular encounters. While everyone remembers their cage match & the match were Kerry won the title, this was better than both of them. They went hard for 45 mins. with the first fall not even happening until half way into the match...this was a wrestling war.
"World Class Championship Wrestling" Aug. '82

vs. NWA Champion Harley Race - This was more of a preview for the upcoming cage match at Starrcade as they went back & forth here in a good wrestling encounter that gets overshadowed by the ending of Bob Orton & Dick Slater collecting the bounty for injuring Flair. As a side note, you can see why they call Harley one of the toughest men in wrestling as he just kept using head butts throughout the match to hurt Flair knowing those got to hurt himself.
(The conclusion of his match can be seen on Ultimate Ric Flair Collection)
"Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" Aug. '83

w/Arn & Ole Anderson vs. Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A., Manny Fernandez - This match didn't last long (around 10 mins.) but from bell to bell between all 6 men, this was a fun match to watch. It wasn't a classic wrestling match by any means but just each man doing what they do best as far as being entertaining & being able to hold the hot crowd in the psalms of their hands.
"World Wide Wrestling" Dec. '85

NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match vs. Sting - This was the match that made Sting a household name overnight. James J. Dillion was suspended over the ring in the cage to prevent interference in what has gone down as a classic encounter that has stood the test of time today. They went to a time limit draw & had a split decision with judges (which defeats the purpose of the judges in the first place but whatever). When Flair said on the Horsemen DVD that "we made a career making guys...", this was the best example possible that fits that statement.
(The conclusion of this match can be seen on the Ultimate Ric Flair collection)
Clash of the Champions I

NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match vs. Terry Funk - This match gets heavily overshadowed by their "I Quit" match later in the year or even by the infamous Thunderdome Cage Match with Sting & Muta at Halloween Havoc the month before that but this match was the one that kicked the whole feud off after Funk attacked Flair at WrestleWar. Just classic Funk in that the match was wild with them beginning the fight on the floor for keeping it on the outside for various parts of the bout. The rest of the match was Flair & Funk one upping each other by focusing on each other's necks & even using the branding iron against each other at one point or another. I consider this a lost classic & a different type of match than what you would see from Flair before this feud. And keep watching afterwards as they show one of the wildest post-match brawls in wrestling.
Great American Bash '89

vs Roddy Piper - Flair's MSG debut for this WWE run (his original MSG debut is on the "Ultimate Ric Flair Collection"). I made the note on Piper's set that he was missing a Flair match so Im glad a match from their feud is here. While this wasn't a great wrestling match, it was very entertaining as Flair tried to play Piper's game of brawling along with both men pulling off their comedic spots just made you chuckle a time or two.
"MSG" Dec. '91

vs. Ricky Steamboat - They meet in same city that started their famous trilogy 5 years earlier. The match was a nice back & forth encounter between the two that features various "deja vu" moments. However, Steamboat & Flair had 5 years worth of hype & a legacy of their previous trilogy to live up to which they couldn't top in this match.
Spring Stampede '94

Steel Cage Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship vs. Triple H - Without a doubt, match of the night for this PPV & one of the best matches of this year that's heavily forgotten about. Both guys bleed hard (Flair gets busted over in the opening minutes) with Triple H being just vicious & even using a steel chain while on Flair just never gave up & kept fighting back. Great match with the bonus of Joey Styles doing his old fashioned style of commentary which added to the storytelling of the match...even to the point where Joey pointed out at the beginning just how important the Intercontinental Championship meant in this match.
Taboo Tuesday '05

Career Threatening Match vs. Shawn Michaels - Shawn gave Ric the best match he's had since the 2005 series of matches with Triple H. This match was an emotional rollercoaster as you saw Ric Flair pulling out some of his old "dirtiest player in the game" tricks on HBK throughout the match while HBK was conflicted with "putting 'Old Yeller' out of his misery" & even held back from taking Flair out with sweet chin music early in the match. During one point, HBK returned Flair's slap from RAW & drew "first blood" on Flair by making his mouth bleed while later, Flair looked like he was fighting for his life in HBK's figure four & even ripped off the bottom turnbuckle post in the process of trying to get out of it. However, Flair's career was ended with the words "I'm sorry, I love you" & the third sweet chin music. This was the type of performance that Ric Flair needed to end his career on...and he got it.
WrestleMania 24

In the end, the documentary covered what wasn't already covered in Flair's previous sets without repeating the a lot of the information & heard from people that we don't normally hear from like David Crockett, Jack Brisco, and Harley Race. As for the matches, people are going to have varied opinions about this set since Flair had over 30 years of matches to choose from but I felt that all the matches showcased things that either weren't acknowledged in his previous sets like feuds (Von Erich & Piper) or time periods in his career (first NWA title run, WCW run, last WWE run), lost classic matches (Sting), or Flair wrestling different types of styles that were rarely seen from him (Terry Funk). So in the end, I'm still saying this is a 5 star release from WWE that I highly recommend.

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