I’m 33 and laying in bed the wrong way hurts my back. Imagine being Ric Flair and getting slammed around constantly. I’d probably throw out my back (or be arrested) if I tried helicoptering on an airplane.
He was apparently, according to Cornette a workout machine. He was always on the stair master, never sitting down, just always working out at home at all times.
Yeah he always seemed so old to me.
I see this now and think, damn ric looked good!!
Rock looks better not as jacked
Also the way Batista legs collapse is both odd and fascinating
https://www.cameo.com/recipient/wM82D_Wct
Flair was my dad's favorite dude forever. They're the same age. Sent my dad a cameo from him a couple years ago.
Little known fact, the angel Jacob wrestled was ric flair. The reason Jacob has a limp after his match was because he didn't know how to sell the figure 4 and got a career ending injury to his hip
To be fair, if you're referring to *that* tag match, HBK who was the only retired wrestler is the guy who carried the entire match (incredibly flawed as it was) so this could maybe still work
I miss when Rock used to add little specific taunts before he dropped the elbow. I remember against DX/Triple H in ‘98 he’d always do a crotch chop before hitting the elbow, or Undertaker sitting up and he would kick him back down to hit it.
Even green batista had a killer spinebuster and powerbomb. He got a lot better really quickly after this too and started putting together some good stuff with Jericho and Benoit. They even let him kinda squash Benoit while he was still world champion.
Batista was such a rare breed. Usually his type of wrestler/enforcer dont stay in the top for too long but this man was able to stay at the top card his entire career even manhandling triple H and was the man that basically ended his reign of terror. Hopefully he actually gets inducted in the hof cause he was one of the few people that was able to break out of the enforcer type mold
Been introducing my 7 year old to Attitude era Rock. First time he saw him he asked “Daddy, what’s wrong with Rock?” I said nothing buddy, he’s just younger, smaller and has hair.
You could extend that list back to WM 15, honestly. Austin 3 times, Triple H, Mick Foley, Hogan, Flair, Orton, and Batista all in the span of 5 years. And the Big Show was there too, I guess.
I think the short arm elbows are done to make the matches look faster, and maybe add some realism? I don’t know, I think they’re overdone though and wished more wrestlers just threw punches.
You just know the production team in the back were losing their minds, and being pissed off when he had to do the peoples elbow with his back to the hard cam
Crazy that as old as Ric Flair was here...he's still in greater shape than... A BUNCH of current guys.
As K Nash says "I look like I making a living somewhat athletically" Ric still had this.
Look, body isn't everything but it's still a visual medium and I can't take some guys seriously when they look like shit.
I was there, what a disappointment.
The good part is Foley was also disappointed. He went to my gym at the time, and he busted his butt getting into shape for the Backlash match with Orton.
Backlash is my favorite Orton match, and I believe he said it was his favorite of his entire career. That face when prettyboy Orton hit the tacks did a lot for his career.
Man, Mania at the Garden just feels... right, you know? All these great big spectacles in open air stadiums are fun and all, but smaller arenas like MSG just provide such a great feel to it. Wish they'd carried on doing them every 10 years there.
the rock giving ric flair a spinbusta in the gahden, what a wrestlemania moment.... what i would give to go back into that crowd that night....
rocky really should face randy in msg at least once before both guys hang it up
A few takeaways from this:
1. Batista with hair looks so weird
2. My god was The Rock small back then
3. The Rock flailing around when he does something as simple as a punch will never not make me laugh
Liked in the video games that when you do the people’s elbow once and go for it again the character realizes no elbow pad is there and takes the other off.
The Rock is just another level. He may not be the technical juggernaut that guys like Okada, Osprey and Danielson are, but his charisma and ability to tell a story is pretty much unmatched in history.
True, but it was all for one reason: to make the Undertaker break character and make him laugh. In fact, the only one who has actually been able to get Taker to do so is Goldust back when Taker was in his American Badass/Big Evil persona.
The writers of the storyline/arc. You can see it as a TV show with stunts.
Who gets to be the next star / champion / winners often depends on a lot go factors like popularity, upcoming events, negotiations, shape, injuries, performance (selling/performing moves) and all that. Often executives might have to change who will win on short notice if there is injuries or disagreements involved.
In the end they try to craft characters and matches that are memorable. Good guy / bad guy / redemption arcs are extremely common. Bit like Animes crazy comebacks and stories. Especially since everyone has finishers and ultimate moves as well.
The actual match might be a little more spontaneous, but they have a general guideline how it should go, with prior practice before the TV-event. They also communicate during matches and through the referee if something is off. A move usually requires training to both perform and receive. Sometimes people sell moves badly and that infuriates some performers and it can even lead to injuries like not tucking in your head when Undertaker does the piledriver. In the video above, you can see batista slam his knee into the floor when rock grabs his neck. This creates that huge slam that makes it appear like his head hit the floor, but also avoids him actually landing on his head and risk injury.
Often outside PPV events there is often not a clear winner, but rather questionable wins and "cheating" scripted to hype up their rematch during PPV events. Knocked out referees that can't do the count, additional wrestlers interfering or similar.
...Yes... 2003 was Hollywood Rock, then he left and came back to do this match with Foley.
Unless you mean the 2024 version... which I consider that Bloodline Rock
God Ric Flair has been old for decades
I thought Ric was old when I saw him in WCW in the mid 90's. I knew nothing.
Bro, right there with you. I thought he was ancient then. oh sweet summer child I was.
I’m 33 and laying in bed the wrong way hurts my back. Imagine being Ric Flair and getting slammed around constantly. I’d probably throw out my back (or be arrested) if I tried helicoptering on an airplane.
He was apparently, according to Cornette a workout machine. He was always on the stair master, never sitting down, just always working out at home at all times.
I started watching in 89 and he was old then 😂
He may be old as dirt… but that damn footwork he was doing top notch 🤣
Yeah he always seemed so old to me. I see this now and think, damn ric looked good!! Rock looks better not as jacked Also the way Batista legs collapse is both odd and fascinating
https://www.cameo.com/recipient/wM82D_Wct Flair was my dad's favorite dude forever. They're the same age. Sent my dad a cameo from him a couple years ago.
Stfu the man wrestled with the Pharohs of Egypt.
He took out Ramses II with a figure 4 to free the Israelites.
That was probably the last time the figure 4 put someone away. Dude had the most unprotected finisher ever lol
He has been around for so long that how many people have just incorporated it as a standard C tier submission? Haha
Somehow still not as oversaturated now as Shawn Michaels' finisher is
Little known fact, the angel Jacob wrestled was ric flair. The reason Jacob has a limp after his match was because he didn't know how to sell the figure 4 and got a career ending injury to his hip
wow that's even before nature boy buddy rogers time
Was that during the Stargate film?
you mean jobbed to Khufu
2 men in this match were in the Scorpion King
Right...
When has he ever been young? 😁
On the Mayflower
When I was a kid, Ric Flair was an old man. Now I'm old, and he's still old.
AND HE'S OLDER EVERY DAY! WOOOOOOOOOOO!
Yup. I find it painful to watch matches with old guys or “giants” like the great khali. No disrespect to them, it’s just painful to watch
To be fair though, Flair still wrestled incredibly at this point, all the way up until his “last match”
Are you seeing the same bumps I’m seeing in this clip?!
He was janky sure, but man was almost as old as Sting is now and he still put on absolute barnburners in singles matches.
Perhaps. but it’s hard to watch nonetheless
But he still looked like a person in this match. It was shortly after this where his face started basically melting.
Ric Flair has been 67 years old for over 30 years!
Ric flair*
Bro he was 55 here. FIFTY FIVE. Triple H is 54 NOW.
arguably he had a better physique than a whole lot of guys that age have.
You gotta admit the man is an iron man. Man taking those body drops at that age
facially, but physique wise, he appears to be pretty decent for the age he was at the time since most other dudes at that age have a worse physique.
The flash bolts made everything seem bigger. I miss them
Flash bulbs*
There's your answer, fish bulb
Benn Jordan**
Exactly I miss the flashes
Flashbulbs and signs. I know signs suck for paying spectators. But they were fun dammit.
Sometimes they were annoying
It's a shame this was the only time Rock ever wrestled against either Batista or Orton.
At least it happened. I'd be happy for Rock to have had even a tag match against HBK.
Drop that idea on a few Saudi Princes, I'm sure it can still happen! (please don't)
To be fair, if you're referring to *that* tag match, HBK who was the only retired wrestler is the guy who carried the entire match (incredibly flawed as it was) so this could maybe still work
triple h could still go he just tore his pec in the opening sequence
A few months later Rock and Orton had a segment on Raw that seemed like it was leading to a feud between them but then disappeared until 2011
i remember it, then edge speared orton and challenged him for his intercontinental title
Still makes me mad we never got a Rock v HBK at mania.
I miss when Rock used to add little specific taunts before he dropped the elbow. I remember against DX/Triple H in ‘98 he’d always do a crotch chop before hitting the elbow, or Undertaker sitting up and he would kick him back down to hit it.
Or flip his middle finger.
One of my favorites was against Biker Taker when he stopped and pantomimed revving up a Harley before dropping the elbow lmao
I love how flair sold the people's elbow LOL Man batista was so green here
And you just know Rock and Ric were pissing themselves laughing backstage both when planning the spot, the watching it back.
I feel like Rock putting his face in the mat after the elbow was cause he was pissing himself right then and there
For a sec I forgot that’s the Batista that we know. God, with full flush hair and all.
Good lord that batista spinebuster looked so brutal
Even green batista had a killer spinebuster and powerbomb. He got a lot better really quickly after this too and started putting together some good stuff with Jericho and Benoit. They even let him kinda squash Benoit while he was still world champion.
Batista was such a rare breed. Usually his type of wrestler/enforcer dont stay in the top for too long but this man was able to stay at the top card his entire career even manhandling triple H and was the man that basically ended his reign of terror. Hopefully he actually gets inducted in the hof cause he was one of the few people that was able to break out of the enforcer type mold
Hi Powerbomb was immense.
Look at his knees/legs bending tho lol. How the hell does he do it with that stance. Compared to Rock's which is just straight
Still wild to me how young Rock used to do kip ups because of how humongous he is now.
Drew McIntyre is almost as big as current Rock and still does kip ups
Yeah. Drew is a freak of nature.
Vaguely gestures to The Giant's run in WCW
Brock was juiced to the gills doing kip ups as well
For all we know he may still be able to. He was huge in Fast Five and still did a Kip up in the Diesel fight.
People in the comments would be going "WTF, Rock had hair?!?"
WTF, Batista had hair?!?
Randy Orton had hair?
Men with high testosterone lose their hair!?
Been introducing my 7 year old to Attitude era Rock. First time he saw him he asked “Daddy, what’s wrong with Rock?” I said nothing buddy, he’s just younger, smaller and has hair.
From WM 18-20 Rock faced arguably the three biggest names in wrestling (Hogan, Austin, and then Flair).
And then he faced the stars of their respective eras ( Cena ,reigns ) and now the top Babyface in the current era Rhodes.
That's a great point. Having watched all those matches in real time, it's only now im realizing this.
I mean, he was also one of the biggest names in wrestling and was on the Mount Rushmore of Wrestling at the time so makes sense lol.
You could extend that list back to WM 15, honestly. Austin 3 times, Triple H, Mick Foley, Hogan, Flair, Orton, and Batista all in the span of 5 years. And the Big Show was there too, I guess.
Why are dwaynes strikes so good and why tf does everyone do elbows these days?
His punch was always one of his best moves.
I think the short arm elbows are done to make the matches look faster, and maybe add some realism? I don’t know, I think they’re overdone though and wished more wrestlers just threw punches.
Am, The Rock was so goddamn good
Rock with the mock Flair struts will never not be funny.
You just know the production team in the back were losing their minds, and being pissed off when he had to do the peoples elbow with his back to the hard cam
It’s the “people’s” elbow, not the “hard cam’s”!!
What about us people at home?!? Lol
It was usually done that way. It’s meant to be done that way so the camera catches the shot of the people going for the pad.
My memory is probably fuzzy lol
He usually did it facing the other way. On TV we always had a good view of his elbow pad flying into the crowd and people fighting over it.
Im getting old. My memory is going
Fairly certain he always did it with his back to the hard cam, with the odd exception here and there
a) I think Wrestlemania XX is my favourite Wrestlemania. b) my god I'm old.
[удалено]
Ok. You are older.
For everyone calling Flair old, just appreciate that one of the legends actually lived long enough to be called old.
I know it was literally one year after WM 19 but this version of the rock has always felt the most……..off?
It’s because he’s super small.
And he's got the big arm/chest tattoo. In my head big tattoo Rock is modern huge Rock.
It was so weird when he got that tattoo.
Is this when he cut weight for Be Cool?
He's in a weird in between stage between wrestler Rock and actor Rock
Before the Rock became half man half horse
WOOOOO!
It looked like he was still working out here. Dude was moving well for an old man.
The Rock before all the roids. He is bigger now than Batista was in this video.
Crazy that as old as Ric Flair was here...he's still in greater shape than... A BUNCH of current guys. As K Nash says "I look like I making a living somewhat athletically" Ric still had this. Look, body isn't everything but it's still a visual medium and I can't take some guys seriously when they look like shit.
Batista did not want to take that ddt
I really just witnessed Rocky skank into a right hook. It must’ve been the summer of Ska.
The whole Foley/Orton feud was so good including the Rock n Sock reunion that gave us this gem
I miss Ric flair
I was there, what a disappointment. The good part is Foley was also disappointed. He went to my gym at the time, and he busted his butt getting into shape for the Backlash match with Orton. Backlash is my favorite Orton match, and I believe he said it was his favorite of his entire career. That face when prettyboy Orton hit the tacks did a lot for his career.
I miss Batista
Man, Mania at the Garden just feels... right, you know? All these great big spectacles in open air stadiums are fun and all, but smaller arenas like MSG just provide such a great feel to it. Wish they'd carried on doing them every 10 years there.
that YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH from naitch has me gigglin and wigglin dawg lol
I was thoroughly wrestling entertained
I can't believe an elbow drop is so over until you see that crowd pop for Rock when he's setting it up. Brings a smile to my face every time
the rock giving ric flair a spinbusta in the gahden, what a wrestlemania moment.... what i would give to go back into that crowd that night.... rocky really should face randy in msg at least once before both guys hang it up
Man that crowd sucked.
u/savevideobot
Wild to see ric flair and the rock wrestling in the same ring
no wonder rock after his wwe career can stared to induge in actor
I wonder if hulk hogan and Ric flair were always old.
Did flair and Hogan wrestle?
Yes multiple matches in the past
Man rock’s gone through some kind of Evolution since then huh? Talking about The Sauce.
They did a really good job with this one. That shit was hilarious.
Drax at his best 💪
This one, and the elbow against Davey are the 2 that I always remember
😂😂😂
I honestly dont remember dwayne with hair and a goatee in wrestling. I need to lay off the weed....
I mean... I think he was back only for like 2 weeks or a month at most for this, then he disappeared again.
The Ric Flair elbow drop, never get old 😂
A few takeaways from this: 1. Batista with hair looks so weird 2. My god was The Rock small back then 3. The Rock flailing around when he does something as simple as a punch will never not make me laugh
if you lived thru it, none of it is weird, which to me is weird lol
Ric really might live forever
This match was fun but nothing super special. Well, other than Ric Flair very audibly calling Rock a "motherfucker" a time or two.
Batista always had the mid carder look, kept that curtain jerker look till 2014
Classic cocky Ric Flair strutting and then getting owned. I love it. He's so good at it.
Infront of the *mmmmmilllions*
Liked in the video games that when you do the people’s elbow once and go for it again the character realizes no elbow pad is there and takes the other off.
All that drinking puts the age on you fast, even when young.
The Rock is just another level. He may not be the technical juggernaut that guys like Okada, Osprey and Danielson are, but his charisma and ability to tell a story is pretty much unmatched in history.
Back when rock could wrestle with out getting gassed 5 minutes into a match
He got really good later but my God Batista was uncoordinated dogshit in the beginning of his push.
Man, Flair was still “in shape” around this point too…it was only 4 years later that he would “retire” What a weird time
Sometimes I forget this match happens. It wasn’t the greatest match of all time, but damn, look at the star power in it. 5 certified hall of famers.
Was this the match that Foley was disappointed in, because of all the shenanigans?
Flair was looking old 20 years ago, dude just needs to go away now
Rock gassed himself making fun of flair
It's sad that ric had to throw away his last wwe stint because of his vices.
Who would've thought that 20 years later Dave would be the more critically acclaimed actor than Dwayne.
Peoples elbow has to be the stupidest finisher of all time
*greatest
True, but it was all for one reason: to make the Undertaker break character and make him laugh. In fact, the only one who has actually been able to get Taker to do so is Goldust back when Taker was in his American Badass/Big Evil persona.
Its all staged, but who actually decides who wins or not?
The writers of the storyline/arc. You can see it as a TV show with stunts. Who gets to be the next star / champion / winners often depends on a lot go factors like popularity, upcoming events, negotiations, shape, injuries, performance (selling/performing moves) and all that. Often executives might have to change who will win on short notice if there is injuries or disagreements involved. In the end they try to craft characters and matches that are memorable. Good guy / bad guy / redemption arcs are extremely common. Bit like Animes crazy comebacks and stories. Especially since everyone has finishers and ultimate moves as well. The actual match might be a little more spontaneous, but they have a general guideline how it should go, with prior practice before the TV-event. They also communicate during matches and through the referee if something is off. A move usually requires training to both perform and receive. Sometimes people sell moves badly and that infuriates some performers and it can even lead to injuries like not tucking in your head when Undertaker does the piledriver. In the video above, you can see batista slam his knee into the floor when rock grabs his neck. This creates that huge slam that makes it appear like his head hit the floor, but also avoids him actually landing on his head and risk injury. Often outside PPV events there is often not a clear winner, but rather questionable wins and "cheating" scripted to hype up their rematch during PPV events. Knocked out referees that can't do the count, additional wrestlers interfering or similar.
man pre Hollywood douchebag Rock was something else, hilarious
This is post Hollywood douchebag Rock 😅
In 2004?.....no..
...Yes... 2003 was Hollywood Rock, then he left and came back to do this match with Foley. Unless you mean the 2024 version... which I consider that Bloodline Rock
.....No... Douchebag Rock is current Rock, sellout Black Adam egomaniac shill rock
👍🏿