wrestling / Columns
High Road/Low Road 01.04.08: Ric Flair’s Retirement Angle
Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road! A brief explanation of the column: Uncle Trunx takes the Low Road (negative view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related “stuff” while Sat takes the High Road (positive view).
The Results for the Christmas Edition:
High Road: 0%
Low Road: 50%
Both Roads: 50%
E-Mails:
These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.
Bill Bumgarner Writes:
Taking Both Road here, because the TNA Christmas Special and the Mickie/Trish kiss were pure gold, but everything else was blech.
Sat: I agree with the Mickie/Trish kiss, but I think the TNA Christmas Special was a Both Roads. The Rock Twelve Days of Christmas was cool, but it was hurt by the fact that it was about Test.
Uncle Trunx: I still think the Mickie / Trish kiss was far too short to be a high road, myself. There were a number of things on the list which could easily have been seen as “both roads”, so on reflection you’re probably right.
The Ric Flair Retirement Angle
High Road:
As we all know, this is definitely going to be Ric Flair’s last hurrah, so it make sense to make it special. Ric Flair has not been involved in that many great feuds in the past few years and he needs to go out with a bang. This feud has the potential to be a very good feud and a fitting way for Ric Flair to retire.
Low Road:
I love Ric Flair and agree that he needs to go out with a bang, but this whole angle is insulting to our intelligence. We all know he’s planning to retire soon, that he’s going to get a big send off at WrestleMania – why can this not be acknowledged and the angle worked out in the light of this?
High Road:
One of the things about Ric Flair is that he can not just retire. This is a guy that has been wrestling for a long time and suddenly he is going to retire. That is not that believable for me. It makes sense for him to be forced to retire because the guy has been wrestling for so long and he has never mentioned retiring. It makes sense for a guy like Ric Flair, who is the ultimate wrestler, to be forced to retire.
Low Road:
Ric Flair is a legend, a veteran; putting it more bluntly, he’s old in wrestling terms, and his best days are behind, not ahead. Everyone can see that retirement would not be unexpected or unbelievable; after all, if the likes of Trish Stratus can suddenly decide to retire and have a huge fuss made about it, surely they can do the same for an absolute legend like Ric Flair?
High Road:
We keep seeing the same thing happening over and over in the WWE and finally we are seeing something that we have not seen. When was the last time, we saw a stipulation that meant that the next time a wrestler lost he was going to have to retire. We have not seen this awhile and that is what makes this a great angle.
Low Road:
It has been a while and it does have potential to be interesting, but not when everyone knows that the wrestler in question is building towards a big WrestleMania send off. Will he lose on Raw? No, we know he won’t and if he does, it just means that some storyline device will be found to allow him to carry on. It’s a potentially great storyline but I just don’t think it’s working here.
High Road:
The successful of every angle depends on the outcome. The question that should be asked after every angle is did this angle accomplish what it set out to do. The thing that we know for sure is that this angle is trying to do is give a proper send off to Ric Flair. The other thing that I think that this angle is trying to do is that it is trying to establish somebody as a top star. This angle can do that because whoever sends Ric Flair packing is going to be put over huge. We have seen many try to do this and they have been unsuccessful, but we are guaranteed that somebody will be successful at this.
Low Road:
Indeed, the outcome will determine the success or not of this angle and we don’t know that yet as it hasn’t happened; however, how the angle feels as it’s played out is also important and to me, this one feels like they’re spinning their wheels until they can get Flair moving towards WrestleMania. Now, if they give him the Rumble win, it might just take a turn for the better…
High Road:
One of my initial fears about this angle was that a lot of people are going to get hurt in this process. For this angle to work, Ric Flair is going to have to defeat some top wrestlers. Well, the WWE has managed to do a good job so far. First, Orton lost to Flair with outside interference. Then, Umaga lost by a count out and Triple H lost by DQ. So far, nobody has gotten damaged by this angle and I have faith that the WWE can continue to do a good job with this angle.
Low Road:
Surely for this angle to make any sense at all, it has to start playing to the old Ric Flair “dirtiest player in the game” persona; he’s the guy who made a career of beating guys by outsmarting them and by pulling out cheap wins. Having him do that would certainly beat all this nonsense with DQ and interference finishes, which are horrible.
High Road:
The other great thing about this angle is that we do not know when it is going to end. Sure, we have a sneaky suspicion when it is going to end, but we do not know for sure. What this does is that it gets the fans interested in Ric Flair and it makes sure that we are tuned in each week, so we do not miss Ric Flair’s last match.
Low Road:
I think we have more than just a sneaky suspicion when it’ll end. It’s going to be at WrestleMania. They’re not going to have Flair retire before then. Only small children and those who have their head firmly in the sand are anticipating Flair retiring before then, which means the angle feels false. A legend like Ric Flair deserves something more, in my opinion.
Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?
E-mail us your reasons for taking the High Road or the Low Road and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road at [email protected]. Your reply will be included in next week’s column.
