I’m actually a few weeks ahead of myself with Nightmare Matches volumes, but how could I not review this match as a bonus? Ric Flair’s last match, after a weekend of festivities, building up to something everyone wanted to see because they knew it would be something they didn’t want to see. Let’s go – WOOOOO!
Ric Flair and Andrade el Idolo vs. Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal
Apologies in advance to anyone who watches the video, it’s short, but it’s recorded and commented on by some douche in Ultimate Warrior makeup. Ric has a retro white and purple robe, with purple gear and a t-shirt, like it’s the last Nitro with Sting. It looks like Flair and Jarrett to start, with Flair getting a little slap in first, but he tags out to Lethal. Lethal with a side headlock takedown into a Flair headscissors, but it’s slow back up the feet. The crowd chants “You’ve still got it!”, although obviously he doesn’t. Flair with his own side headlock takedown, which again is on quarter speed, but it’s not as bad as Dory Funk in Japan in his tracksuit. Some edits to the video as Andrade comes in to face off with Lethal, but it’s Jarrett instead when douchebag has stopped turning the camera onto himself. Jarrett doesn’t look bad, springing off the ropes when Flair goes for a hip toss, but doing his daft strut instead. Flair copies that by doing his own, then a crotch chop. Jeff ducks a chop, but gets caught on the other side with some more and some punches, which look decent. Lethal comes in to assist and gets mule kicked, so the heels decide to take a walk. They of course return and appear to get the advantage on Andrade, but he runs Lethal into a corner while a bloodthirsty fan at ringside shouts “Take his fucking eyes out, Flair!”, then goes for the classy angle by telling Karen Jarrett “You look like a crack whore in that dress!”. Flair instead stomps the fingers and goes with chops fifty to sixty of the match. Andrade tags back in, as he should do most of the match, but again gets caught by the heels with a rope straddle from Jarrett and Macho Man double axehandle from Lethal. Andrade counters a Jarrett back suplex, but can’t get out for the tag, so Flair just instead comes in anyway with his slow stuff. Lethal does a Flair flip off an Irish whip, then gets chopped as he comes off the top to set up the figure four leglock.
Jarrett breaks that up, allowing them to get him outside so he can blade in front of Bret Hart, Mick Foley and the Undertaker. Meghan Flair and Karen get into it in while Conrad Thompson stands bemused as ever, meaning Doug Dellinger has to come up to break it up, and twenty years of resting haven’t made him any better at it. Flair seemingly gets an eye poke and a kick to the balls to buy himself some time, but Jarrett rolls him back in and sets up for a superplex. Lethal thinks better of that and brings him down for a suplex. Not much snap to it, but it is on a guy who’s 73. Flair is pretty much out, so Jarrett applies his own figure four, drawing in Andrade off the top with an elbow to break that up. With Flair still down, Lethal goes for his other Randy Savage tribute, the elbow off the top (although he does it with the left, not the right), which misses and that gives Andrade the time to come in with elbows, clotheslines, a released gourdbuster and double knees in the corner to Jarrett. Flying DDT gets two, broken up by Lethal, and apparently giving them the chance to dispatch him and Mike Chioda. Lethal pins Flair’s arms back for a shot with the guitar, but Flair moves, Andrade knocks Jarrett down and out, and another referee scoots in to come in and count Double J’s shoulders down when he’s locked very gingerly into the figure four for the win.
The meltdown: About as much as you could ever expect, with everyone working around Flair and his health limitations. Nothing special, all by the numbers stuff. Granted, the version I looked at was clipped up, but Andrade should’ve been in there a lot more to carry the match, but then nobody came to see Andrade, they came to see Flair, who cut a sad figure with his try hard stuff and looking like your grandad in his robe and vest instead of the king he even looked like in his retirement match with Shawn Michaels. I guess the good news is he got out of there in one piece and hopefully this WILL be the last of it for him.