Flair is Dead!     by Dave Scherer 
On August 27, 1994 an amazing thing happened at the ECW Arena\Bingo Parlor 
in South Philadelphia.  The setting: The final of the NWA Title tournament 
with Shane Douglas facing Too Cold Scorpio.  After a very good match, 
Shane, who had won the title, took the house microphone and, in essence, 
spat upon the NWA Title and declared himself the new Eastern Championship 
Wrestling World heavyweight Champion.  The around 1000 fans in attendance 
nearly unanimously, in spite of what a newsletter or two may lead you to 
believe, began chanting "Flair is Dead!"  Since I was the one who started 
the chant, and it was the brainchild of the ever brilliant Greg "The Rat" 
Angelucci, I thought I would do for you what the WON or the Torch didn't, 
and that is, explain it's significance to you and tell you how it all 
came about. 
A few weeks earlier, on their TV show, Shane Douglas did an interview 
where he ran down Ric Flair, calling him "dikk" Flair and a few other 
extremely unflattering adjectives.  He said that he had challenged the WCW 
booker to matches, which of course had fallen on deaf ears, and said that 
when he won the NWA title, he would fly to Atlanta or Disney world, in 
Flair's back yard, and wrestle him in a shoot.  Interviews like this are 
one of the reasons that ECW has become the hardcores darling promotion, 
surpassing the recently moribund SMW. 
As some unfortunate people reading this saw, Ric Flair booked the most 
boring Clash, from a hardcore perspective, of all time a week after the 
above interview aired on the ECW TV show.  This Clash took place three 
days before the NWA Title tournament in Philadelphia.  I don't feel the 
need to relive the agony that was that Clash, as I am sure some of you 
already have been subjected to it while the others who were smart, or 
lucky, enough to have missed it.  Suffice it to say, it was not the Mona 
Lisa of wr estling shows. 
This brings us to 8\27.  During Douglas' first tournament match, against 
the Tazmaniac, my section of psychotics, who Tod Gordon refers to, 
affectionately, as "my bleacher bums," started a chant of "dikk Flair 
Sucks."  We always start chants, so on the surface this was no big thing. 
Earlier in the evening, we started a "Kill the Clown" chant when Doink was 
announced as the wild card opponent for the incredibly over 911.  In a 
great bit of booking, 911 squashed Doink with three chokeslams and pinned 
him.  Paul E. then took the mic and said how this wasn't the circus, it 
was ECW!  Anyway, unlike our usual howls, very few people joined in on the 
dikk Flair jingle.  There was even a scary looking mutant behind me who 
seemed to be getting more than mildly a nnoyed at our making sport of one 
of the great wrestlers of all time.  Being offensive and being a wrestling 
fan seemingly go hand in hand though, so we didn't sweat it in the least. 
Before Shane's semi final match against Dean Malenko, the bleacher bums 
were talking about how pathetic we found the 8\24 Clash.  We ripped Flair 
for his creativity, or lack thereof, for lamely using the Black Scorpion's 
illegitimate baTonya weilding nephew to whack out the knee of the 
Anti-Christ, Hulk Hogan.  In spite of w hat Dave Meltzer wrote in his 
recap, I don't believe for one second that that angle is what made people 
tune into that Clash.  Ratings rose because Dusty fans knew he'd be on in 
the middle and Hogan fans knew he'd be on at the end.  Period.  Any angle 
for this free TV match would have ensured the same result. 
As the Title tournament continued, in the Arena, booker Paul E. 
Dangerously continued to show why ECW is the nation's best promotion, both 
in booking and actual wrestling.  Paul was faced with a decision.  Douglas 
had beaten Dean Malenko to get into the final.  During the match, we 
started the dikk Flair chant again, and it picked up considerable steam. 
Now, the winner of 911 vs Too Cold Scorpio, who had beaten Chris Benoit in 
a match at least 20 people described as 5 stars WON correspondent report 
notwith standing, would face Douglas for the title.  On the one hand, he 
had 911, who is incredibly over with the fans even though some would say 
inconsequential things like "He can't work" even though his character 
really doesn't need to, and on the other, he had Scorpio, who would give 
the fans a far better match, and one worthy of a title tournament final. 
Paul also wants to get over a 911 vs Douglas feud down the line, so the 
Flairlike way to book this match would have been for Mr. Hughes, who is 
Shane's bo dyguard, to come out and attack 911, possibly with a baTonya. 
Thank God that Flair doesn't book ECW.  Instead, after a few minutes of 
work, Doink comes and lays out Paul E., who is 911's manager.  So, of 
course, 911 has to come to his manager's rescue ri ght?  And now you are 
probably saying "real creative Dave."  Well, after 911 makes the save, 
Matt Borne, sans costume but still wearing the face paint, comes out and 
nails 911 with some nasty chairshots, which by the way barely faze the big 
man. As Borne and Doink leave, the Clown pulls off his mask and reveals 
himself to one......Shane Douglas.  So, Heyman: 1. Gets the two guys 
he wants in the final.  2. Keeps 911 as an undefeated monster.  3. He 
furthers his own storylines all the while getting ov er what he needs to, 
and doesn't take the easy way out doing so. 
So now we move onto the final with Douglas vs Scorpio.  Again, during a 
few slow spots, we start a few "dikk Flair sucks" chant.  As the match 
progresses, I say to the Rat that we need a killer chant at the end of the 
match.  He says, "I got it."  And he did.  We tell the rest of the great 
bleacher bums, and they agree it is fitting.  The match itself runs its 
course and Shane wins.  Scorpio takes the stick and congratulates Shane. 
We start the chant, "Flair is dead."  We do it three or four times, and the 
people pick up on it.  Shane takes the mic and does his now famous 
speech where he spits on the NWA Title, after he names all of the great 
former NWA Champions.  When he gets to Flair, we start the chant again. 
It is much louder than the first time.  Douglas then tells us that ECW is 
taking wrestling in a new direction.  At the end of this stirring 
soliliquy, the fans in unison chant "ECW!"  Scorpio then takes the mic 
again, saying he wants to challenge for the NWA Title.  We barely listen 
because, quite frankly, there is an explosion about to happen.  And it 
does.  As soon as Scorpio finishes, the monster chant starts.  "FLAIR IS 
DEAD!"  The way the WON reports it, it would seem like there were only a 
few people yelling.  In truth it was a deafening roar which, if anything, 
a few were not.  The chant got so loud that Douglas stood in the ring and 
said it with the fans. 
So what does all of this mean?  I can say without hesitation that I had no 
idea what Shane was going to do in the ring, and he surely had no idea 
what the bleacher bums had planned.  Does this mean that WCW and the WWF 
are destined go out of business or t hat ECW will be the next mega 
promotion?  Not in the least.  WCW has showed the world that there are 
still Hogan fans who will pay to see him wrestle, and watch his matches on 
TV.  All it really means that there is a group of fans that have had it 
with wh at the two promotions are feeding them week after week.  They have 
had enough of laser light shows during PPV's.  They have had enough of the 
pathetic booking-by-numbers that has come to exemplify Ric's Flair's 
stewardship at WCW.  They have had enough of watching guys work matches in 
a way that it makes it impossible for a fan to suspend their disbelief, 
even when they want to do so in the worst way. 
People have said for years that the wrestling business is cyclical.  There 
is a reason for that.  There is a large contingent of wrestling fans who 
are not going to simply watch whatever is put on by a promotion just 
because it's there. They want to see Pro Wrestling at it's best.  They 
want the management of the promotion and the wrestlers themselves to work 
hard at their jobs and repay the fans support of their efforts. 
I have read numerous sheet types rip Tod Gordon for many things.  "He's a 
mark who's willing to lose money to get his face on TV."  "He spends 
thousands of dollars just to get beat up at his house shows."  "He puts on 
the matches he wants to see, at his o wn expense."  Uh, excuse me sheet 
types, which can often be substituted with the phrase sheet-for-brains, 
but it IS his money right?  And the wrestling product IS great right?  And 
it IS the best booking this country has seen in a long time right?  So 
what's your point Sheetsters?  I am left wondering why these guys don't 
actually go to a show at the Arena and see what it's all about and enjoy 
the wrestling, especially those who continually rip the Big Two for their 
lousy product. I wish I had a dollar for every time a fan told me that if 
they hit the lottery, they'd promote the kind of wrestling shows they like 
to see.  And here, we are lucky enough to have a guy who can afford to do 
just that, and people rip him. 
ECW's motto is "It's not for everybody" and that is the truth.  There are 
a slew of people who enjoy watching dueling Undertakers.  There are a 
myriad of fans out there who would rather watch Hogan wrestle Flair for 
the Depends Championship of the world, all the while not even noticing 
that Flair is pathetically past his prime and in truth is a parody of what 
he once was.  They are the lucky ones.  WCW isn't going anywhere, and I 
can't see the WWF folding up their tents any time soon either. 
As I write this, ECW has just aired the TV show after this historic card. 
On this show, they aired the entire final match.  If you can get your 
hands on a tape of this show, which aired in Philly on 8\30, you will see 
the entire thing unfold.  You will s ee the bleacher bums, and me, 
yelling, screaming, chanting, and having the kind of fun that I had at 
wrestling shows when I was a kid watching the greats of the NWA.  How 
long will ECW last?  I don't know.  All I know is that even if ECW has 
alread y run their last show, one thing is crystal clear to me. 
Flair is Dead.