Flair in 2002

> Hey Scott,
>
> I was watching some matches from 2002 WWE PPVs and, in the summer, Ric Flair was in great shape (probably the best shape he’d been in since the mid-80’s) and started a storyline about having "one last run" where he first beat Eddie Guerrero at one PPV and then made Jericho tap to the figure-four at Summerslam. However, at the next PPV he lost to Jericho in an I-C title match and turned heel later that night by helping HHH beat RVD. My question is whether there was a bigger plan for Flair at the time? That storyline was basically what they did a few years later for Flair’s retirement angle — win a string of matches in "one last run" and be forced to retire whenever he lost. They obviously weren’t going to put a world title on him again, but Flair was in fantastic shape aesthetically and seemed to be working towards something.
>
> Related: Summerslam 2002 is one of the top three WWEPPVs of all-time, right?

That might be a bit hyperbolic. It was really good tho.

As for Flair, no idea. I don’t recall any particular plan for him like that, as everything was pretty focused on getting Orton and Batista over with Flair as the setup guy.