Ric Flair in ECW in 1998

[The Rick Jericho]

With all that contract issues in 1998 with Flair and Bischoff. Was there any talk of Flair going to ECW instead?

Ric Flair vs. Tazz, Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, Bam Bam, the list goes on of guys he could draw money with.

[Natural Born Farmer]

Paul couldn’t have afforded to pay him for long, and Flair would have been out of there the moment the first check didn’t clear.

Only Flair is allowed to pass bad checks.

[Wieners=$$$]

I will admit, I am not a fan of Flair in ring, and I believe his fame largely comes from the babyfaces he's wrestled and built. I cannot deny how much Steamboat and Sting's popularity comes from wrestling Flair. His charisma at "100% give-a-damn," could've been amazing in ECW in the 90s. I also believe a Flair vs. Dreamer feud, and possibly a Taz feud would've been incredible.

[Paul]

Flair would have totally clashed with the ECW hardcore style. The matches would have been awful.

[Viking Hall]

I think the only slight glimmer of ever seeing Flair in ECW would have been a one off to answer one of Shane Douglas' promos/challenges.

[Deleted]

Dec 21, 2019 12:47:00 GMT -5 Paul said:

Flair would have totally clashed with the ECW hardcore style. The matches would have been awful.

He would have been fine. Flair would have been so ridiculously over that it wouldn't have mattered. The ECW fans once chanted "Flair is Dead!", so he would have gotten enormous heel heat the second he showed up and then would have gotten incredible baby face pops whenever it was decided to turn him.

[Wieners=$$$]

Dec 21, 2019 14:05:07 GMT -5 @irontyger said:

Dec 21, 2019 12:47:00 GMT -5 Paul said:

Flair would have totally clashed with the ECW hardcore style. The matches would have been awful.

He would have been fine. Flair would have been so ridiculously over that it wouldn't have mattered. The ECW fans once chanted "Flair is Dead!", so he would have gotten enormous heel heat the second he showed up and then would have gotten incredible baby face pops whenever it was decided to turn him.

I agree. The ECW loyalists would've loved to have booed Flair to his face in the 90s. How surreal to think that there could've been an alternative timeline where Shane Douglas might have been viewed as a conquering hero against Ric Flair?

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

They tried to bring him in years earlier when he was fired by Jim Herd but they couldn’t afford him.

[BlackoutCreature]

Dec 21, 2019 14:42:47 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

They tried to bring him in years earlier when he was fired by Jim Herd but they couldn’t afford him.

Herd fired Ric Flair in 1991, ECW didn't exist until 1992. Are you talking about Tri-States or is there another incident you're thinking of?

From what I understand Heyman made a token effort to get Flair in ECW during their short talent exchange they had with WCW in 1994 that got Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton on some ECW shows. But even Heyman admitted that he never expected that to actually go anywhere.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Dec 22, 2019 9:15:55 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

Dec 21, 2019 14:42:47 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

They tried to bring him in years earlier when he was fired by Jim Herd but they couldn’t afford him.

Herd fired Ric Flair in 1991, ECW didn't exist until 1992. Are you talking about Tri-States or is there another incident you're thinking of?

Then Shane Douglas f***ed up his timeline or is lying haha.

[cjh]

Dec 22, 2019 9:19:31 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Dec 22, 2019 9:15:55 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

Herd fired Ric Flair in 1991, ECW didn't exist until 1992. Are you talking about Tri-States or is there another incident you're thinking of?

Then Shane Douglas f***ed up his timeline or is lying haha.

He was talking about 1994 when ECW was allowed to use some WCW guys.  ECW apparently wanted them to do 3 matches, with the last one being held at the Spectrum.

[timelimitdraw]

The '94 stuff was around the same time WCW botched the Hogan-Flair feud that was supposed to see them trade the title back and forth because it didn't work for somebody, brother. That's why they booked the retirement match at Halloween Havoc, but Flair didn't want to do it without a new contract in place. Flair wanted options and as unlikely as it was, ECW could've at least been a brief stopover en route to the WWF or New Japan, kind of like Marty Scurll taking dates in the NWA today.

[jason1980s]

I don't know why ECW fans would hate on Flair and chant "Flair is dead." He may not have been a death match, chair head shot guy but his style could be a more sophisticated type of hardcore. Same for Hogan. Flair was a guy who could write his own ticket in any big promotion, he could phone in every match and do the bare minimum but he chose to bleed if it made that match even a bit more memorable. Hogan and Macho and Dusty were other ones, meaning top of the game guys who would bleed and go a little hardcore to tell a story. I wonder how the mega ECW fans feel about their hero Paul Heyman now with him leeching on to the biggest new star in wrestling and becoming a "WWE guy" in the process.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Dec 22, 2019 14:17:18 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

I don't know why ECW fans would hate on Flair and chant "Flair is dead." He may not have been a death match, chair head shot guy but his style could be a more sophisticated type of hardcore. Same for Hogan. Flair was a guy who could write his own ticket in any big promotion, he could phone in every match and do the bare minimum but he chose to bleed if it made that match even a bit more memorable. Hogan and Macho and Dusty were other ones, meaning top of the game guys who would bleed and go a little hardcore to tell a story. I wonder how the mega ECW fans feel about their hero Paul Heyman now with him leeching on to the biggest new star in wrestling and becoming a "WWE guy" in the process.

I don't think Flair would had an issue since Flair had workrate which ECW fans did respect and Flair never has issues bleeding which is another plus. A program with answering Shane Douglas could been money for ECW, but would Flair be willing to lose to Shane who was ECW "guy". I mean hell Dusty Rhodes came in and was over. Flair could done it, I think guys like Hogan wouldn't have because Hogan was the legit poster child of what ECW fans hated.

[Wieners=$$$]

Dec 22, 2019 14:17:18 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

I don't know why ECW fans would hate on Flair and chant "Flair is dead." He may not have been a death match, chair head shot guy but his style could be a more sophisticated type of hardcore. Same for Hogan. Flair was a guy who could write his own ticket in any big promotion, he could phone in every match and do the bare minimum but he chose to bleed if it made that match even a bit more memorable. Hogan and Macho and Dusty were other ones, meaning top of the game guys who would bleed and go a little hardcore to tell a story. I wonder how the mega ECW fans feel about their hero Paul Heyman now with him leeching on to the biggest new star in wrestling and becoming a "WWE guy" in the process.

I think Flair, like Hogan, Macho, etc., represented the old guard that fans were turning away from in the 90s in favor of alternative wrestling. That being said, Flair would've been over as he always is, wherever he goes.

The fans would've hated him, at first, but if he brought his A-game, he would've won them over as heel or face. If Terry Funk could do it, so could Flair, and I wouldn't have been surprised if Flair v. Funk, based on their history, was a premiere match/feud ECW would've tried to get over at the time.