NATURE BOY RIC FLAIR: DEFINITIVE COLLECTION

First of all I would like to get the matter of the title out of the way. This by far is not the definitve collection of matches, interviews and promos from The Nature Boy's career. The WWE have come up with the wrong title. By using this title they have set the bar far too high, I mean how can you produce a DVD set that shows the absolute best from a 36 year wrestling career that included 16 World titles as well as other singles titles and tag team titles? However, with the matter of the title set aside this is still an excellent DVD set.Thankfully the WWE have used the format that I think works best for their DVD sets. The first disc has a documentary which chronicles Naitch's early life and his career in wreslting. There are many insights from The Man himself as well as other popular WWE talking heads. I am disappointed that there are no comments from Vince McMahon (or Shane, Linda and Stephanie). There are some extra stories that aren't included in the main documentary included as special features on this disc as well as the WWE's tribute video.The second disc has some great matches, including a couple of matches that I don't have been released on any DVD before. These matches are against some of Space Mountain's most notable opponents including Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Sting and Terry Funk. My personal favourite of these matches is the one against Sting from Clash of the Champions '88. Flair really put over The Stinger in this match starting him on the road to become the wrestling icon that he is today.The third and final disc contains another four matches including two from more recent times. The steel cage match against HHH at Taboo Tuesday '05 clearly shows that Flair still deserved his spot as a major star over 30 years since his in ring debut. This match is also one of the bloodiest of his cage matches I have ever seen. The final of the four matches is his last match which was against Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24. The special features on this disc include Ric's Farewell Address on Raw, the day after Wrestlemania 24 and shows footage that didn't air on the programme. There are also a number of promos from 1985 and 1987.So, why I have given this only 4 stars out of 5? Is it because of the poorly chosen name? No. There are some great moments on this disc, the documnetary (although it covers a lot of ground already covered on The Ultimate Collection and Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen) is throughly enjoyable and gives some great insights. The matches are great but I don't think that there are quite enough of them. I seem to remember that The Ultimate Collection had a running time of over 11 hours and this 3 disc set only runs for just over 8 hours. There would have been a lot more room in this set for a few more matches. Especially from Ric's 7 years in WWE from his return in 2001. Naitch has often been critised in recent years for no longer being at the top of his game and has had his spot questionned. I think they could have included matches like his first ladder match against Edge, the first ladder he had competed in despite being over 30 years into his career, showing that he could step out of his usual moveset when needed.All in all this is a great set but could have been better. However, it is definate must for any fan of Flair as well as for any fan of the wrestling business.

awesome documentary and matches, the harley race one is a blinder id never seen before!

great product, fast delivery, very happy with my DVD and such a great film, great film for the money i paid for!!!!!!!

Very good documentary Rick is very open in it and doesn't hold back

This three disc DVD showcases the career of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. It's main feature is a two hour documentary that covers Flair's entire career. There are some bonus stories and Flair's farewell on RAW along with two discs of matches.The documentary is a very good one. It's informative and interesting. Ric Flair takes us through his career and covers things in a good amount of detail. He's joined by a load of different people who give their input when relevant. There are people from all stages of Flair's career who could give a good amount of insight. There's nothing major that I can think of that isn't covered in the biography; Anything that impacted his wrestling career is talked about such as the plane crash that nearly ended his career, becoming world champion, forming the Four Horsemen, moving to WWE and his retirement. They also cover some of his major rivalries with wrestlers like Sting, Ricky Steamboat and Terry Funk. It lasts for just under two hours and that goes by pretty quickly. Flair's had a great career so there's a lot to cover. It's a well made feature well worth watching to hear the story of the greatest wrestler of the 1980s.The rest of disc one is made up of extra stories that didn't make the main feature. The other two discs are full of some of Flair's greatest matches and promos along with his farewell celebration from the night after Wrestlemania 24.Ric Flair vs. Jack Briscoe - Ric Flair was already the NWA World Heavyweight Champion here in the first match. The title was not on the line though. It was a good, old school style grappling match. They wrestled back and forth on the mat with a technical style gaining a few near falls on the way to a clean and decisive finish. A lot of people might find this a bit slow because of the older style of wrestling but the action was good.Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich - This was a 2 out of 3 Falls match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It was another good match with an old school style. It was a good example of Flair going into a match as champion and making the challenger look like they were on his level. It was slow in parts but the action was still good, although the finish to the final fall wasn't that great. Unfortunately the match features prolonged use of the 'iron claw' manoeuvre which is such a bad wrestling move that I feel it hurts any match that it's in. Around that though this was a good wrestling match.Ric Flair vs. Harley Race - The NWA World Heavyweight Championship was on the line again here. It was a good back and forth match. Unfortunately the finish sucked and hurt the match a little. I also wasn't a fan of some of Harley Race's headbutt based offence. Other than that this was a decent, competitive match that was in some ways better than their more famous match at Starrcade '83. This one has it's problems too though so I'd say the two matches are about even.Ric Flair, Ole Anderson and Arn Anderson vs. Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A. and Manny Fernandez - This was a good six person tag match. It had a fast pace from the start and some really good teamwork on both sides. Rhodes' team seemed stronger individually but the Horsemen worked well as a team, trying to isolate their opponents. The match became pretty chaotic at times with the official struggling to keep the match under control. The finish was alright but the action leading up to it was some good, strong tag team wrestling. I would have liked it to have lasted longer though.Ric Flair vs. Sting - This was for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It's a very good match and a lot of people see it as the match that made Sting a star(along with his match with Flair at the Great American Bash). Sting controlled a lot of the first half of the match with his power advantage. Flair eventually went after Sting's leg to make it a competitive fight. The action was good, especially after they started building the drama around Sting's leg, that was when this match really started to stand out. It got more exciting as they approached the finish with a load of near-falls coming in the final five minutes, any of which could have ended things. The finish was unsatisfying but it was an important finish too in what it did for Sting so I can't really criticise that. This was probably the best match of Sting's career at this point.Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk - This was a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It was a very good back and forth match. You could feel the intensity of the rivalry all through out the action. They spent a lot of time fighting on the outside, both ended up bleeding and used a branding iron(behind the referee's back). Funk focused on the injured neck of Flair with neckbreakers and piledrivers. He even tried a piledriver on the concrete. I don't think it was as good as their "I Quit" match from later in the year but it was still very good with a decisive finish.Ric Flair vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - This was from Flair's brief time in the WWE. It was a decent back and forth match in which Flair made Piper look very strong. The action was slightly disappointing considering the talent of these two men but it was still an enjoyable match. The finish wasn't clean either but it worked well enough. Not a bad match but I was expecting more.Ric Flair vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat - This was a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match. It takes place five years after their famous trilogy of matches from 1989.It's not as good as the matches from that trilogy but I'm still glad this one was included instead as it's a lesser seen bout. It starts off a bit slowly but things do pick up. It might not be the quality you expect if you've seen the 1989 matches but there is still good action. They play off their previous matches a few times such as having Steamboat go for the double chicken-wing and diving crossbody, both of which he beat Flair with before. The finish was decent but could have been better too. It was a good but not great match.Ric Flair vs. Triple H - In this match the Intercontinental Championship was on the line in a Steel Cage. It was a great match that in many ways felt like a throwback to all the Steel Cage matches Flair was having in his prime in the NWA. It was a violent and bloody back and forth match with good storytelling and entertaining action. Weirdly the WWE chose to blur out Ric Flair sticking his middle finger up at Triple H during this match which seemed like a strange thing to have to protect us from considering both men were covered in their own blood at the time. A great, bloody, emotional and hard fought cage match.Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels - This was from Wrestlemania 24 and was Flair's final ever match with WWE. It was a great back and forth battle and one of the best matches Flair had had in some time at this point. It's a match mostly remembered for it's emotional ending but all the action leading up to that moment is pretty great too. There are some memorable moments and convincing near-falls and reversals as they build to the famous conclusion. A fantastic match and an appropriate way to end the Nature Boy's career.This is a very good DVD for any fan of Ric Flair. The documentary might not add anything you don't already know about the Nature Boy but it's a well made and enjoyable couple of hours. The matches that make up the rest of the set are worth watching too. It's pretty even with Flair's previous DVD in terms of quality. If I had to choose one I'd choose the definitive collection for the final couple of matches and the great documentary, however the ultimate collection does have two thirds of the Flair/Steamboat trilogy and the "I Quit" match with Terry Funk so they are incredibly close.

I agree that this may not be a definitive collection of Ric Flair moments but it truly is one of WWE's greatest DVD releases to date. The documentary is fantastic although you have to take what Flair says with a pinch of salt as he does tend to exxagerate. The matches are phenomenal. The best of the set would be Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat from Spring Stampede 1994. I do think that a couple more matches from 1989 would have made this set truly perfect but that is only a minor complaint. Overall this set does do Ric Flair justice and his farewell address is the most emotional piece of wrestling television ever produced.