"I'm Sorry, I Love You"-HBK vs. Ric Flair: 10 Years Later

[MrElijah]

Hard to that much time has passed, huh? Yes the match that was the "end" of the Nature Boy. A Hall of Fame induction and a heck of a sendoff.

And the start of Shawn's own arc that helped introduced SRS Jericho. So what's y'all thoughts about this great Wrestlemania moment.

[mattperiolat]

What can be said that hasn’t be said before? So much led to and came out of this moment. Flair had a match and a retirement most men can only dream of. He also paid for it too, I suppose. Shawn was two Manias away from his own career ending, but oh those matches are the stuff of legend. This also lead indirectly to Charlotte and her career and her moments yet to come.

Epic stuff. And sometimes... sometimes... WWE gets it right. Makes me proud to be a fan.

[Perfect Timing]

Great story. Makes you realise why your a fan and one of the most emotional matches ever.

[Nosnorb]

It was almost the total opposite of Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker last year.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

It's actually one of my favorite in match moments of all time.

[Nosnorb]

And of course, "Leave the Memories Alone".

[Chiral]

Michaels landing rib first on the edge of the announce table was a "HOLY SHIT" moment for me. It's interesting that WM24 and WM30 kind of have the same structure where there's a heartbreak in the middle that makes the triumphant end feel more triumphant.

[Beebs is the Final Girl]

One of my favorite moments ever. Broke my heart, but that was kinda the point.

[Ryushinku]

Despite the fact Flair just couldn't help himself (or was it alimony needed?) and wrestled a dozen more times in TNA, it still feels like a huge moment. Maybe because it was at least the last of Flair on the big league stage.

And hey, his actual last proper match ever was against Sting, so that's still a nice coda.

The match was good, the emotion very strong, HBK was selfless in helping Ric look good in there and Ric pulled out everything from his old bag of tricks and heel moves out there.

[Mid-Carder]

I guess I’ll be that one person who thinks this whole story was stupid. If you don’t want to retire Flair, don’t beat him.

[The Ichi]

Mar 30, 2018 15:09:16 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

I guess I’ll be that one person who thinks this whole story was stupid. If you don’t want to retire Flair, don’t beat him.

I think Flair made him promise to not hold back.

[Mid-Carder]

Mar 30, 2018 15:11:59 GMT -5 The Ichi said:

Mar 30, 2018 15:09:16 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

I guess I’ll be that one person who thinks this whole story was stupid. If you don’t want to retire Flair, don’t beat him.

I think Flair made him promise to not hold back.

So you lie and say you didn’t hold back

Edit: yes I’m trying to find logic in a wrestling story

[The Ichi]

Mar 30, 2018 15:13:19 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

Mar 30, 2018 15:11:59 GMT -5 The Ichi said:

I think Flair made him promise to not hold back.

So you lie and say you didn’t hold back

Edit: yes I’m trying to find logic in a wrestling story

I guess Flair would have known if he'd done that. Mr. Wrestlemania and all.

[Mozenrath]

That, and it's HBK. Even as a face, he's pretty self-serving, hence the beginning of the Jericho turn.

[DZ: WF Legacy]

I have this Wrestlemania on Blu-ray, and it looks absolutely fantastic. HD was brand new for WWE at the time in 2008, and seeing Flair come out that in that gorgeous blue robe with the fireworks will never leave my mind. He hadn't worn blue in many years, and it was easily one his most memorable looks. It felt like Wrestlemania top match going in, and it actually delivered at a time where Flair was kinda on-and-off with matches. Everyone knew going in it would be his last, so it was super emotional. I'm really glad they let him have that moment and he didn't just retire on Raw or something like that. Ignoring the Australia and TNA stuff (excluding the cool fact that he now wrestled Sting across 4 decades), this was still his last WWE match, and that counts for something.

[Hit Girl]

Flair's TNA matches don't count.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Didn't this Flair angle basically kick off a year of story?

- Flair is fired if he loses
- Shawn retires him
- Batista seeks to avenge his friend and HBK cheats to beat him
- Jericho takes exception to this and overhauls his entire gimmick

[Doctor No]

Mar 30, 2018 15:28:57 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Flair's TNA matches don't count.

They do and it means that HBK/Flair meant nothing.

[abjordans]

I was there in Orlando at the show, such an awesome memory. Flair wrestling again never bothered me or tarnished it either. It was his last WWE match and match on that kind of stage.

[ben:friendship frog]

Even though his best days were past him he was still a great performer at this point and he proved it with this match.
Say what you want but I struggle to think of Flair ever stinking up the joint in his 2002-2008 run. I do remember great matches he had against Edge, Foley, Triple H and HBK of course, how about at Wrestlemania 22 when he was superplexed off a ladder by Matt Hardy!?
So while it probably was the right time to retire, his performances were still so good it felt as if he was retiring at the top and he still had more to give, which made it all the more heartbreaking, it made the story perfect.

The less said about the TNA stuff the better.