Why didn’t Flair get a final title run?

haha that’s what I was thinking. They had that big celebration for him one night after the show when he wrestled HHH, where they put the belt on his shoulder and everything. Like, why didn’t they just give him the belt that night? It’s so odd that they didn’t, it would have been nothing to just have him lose it back to HHH

I swear it’s like they didn’t wanna ruin the 16 time thing but at that point he was only 16 time champ for 2 years, it’s not like now where it’s been a slogan for so long you almost can’t ruin it.

I thought it was all but a guarantee they would put the belt on him and I really felt like he came off lesser than having not won it. I feel like they gave him the runner up trophy that night, or the silver medal. We all know how wrestling works...would Hogan have really beaten somebody like HHH in ‘02...no. He won because it’s Hogan, they wanted to give him one more run. By reasoning that Flair wasn’t worth that same month reign, I never understood how they let that slip past them

ESPECIALLY because they had such a celebration for him in the Carolinas. That was the night I was specifically thinking about as them skipping on him where as with Hogan they went through with it

Oh exactly! I remember the whole build to that, it was perfect. I think the idea, thinking back on it, was he lost to HHH when everybody figured he’d win, and that was the catalyst of him turning heel. Basically, he is now not good enough so he’s subordinate to HHH now.

I feel like that same outcome could have been reached by having HHH beat him for the title a week later. Giving Flair the belt wouldn’t have been about driving story, it’s just that they give it to everybody...but they didn’t with him

haha. I do think at this time the HHH train was running over everybody in sight.
It’s a stupid thing, what Flair did was step aside and put over HHH, ideally that’s what veterans should do. Good on Flair for that. But they had just given Hulk the belt for a nostalgia run, and ‘02 and ‘03 aside...Flair NEVER got a world title run after his return in ‘02. They stuck the IC title on him so it’s not like he was against wining belts like HBK was.

The further they got from 2000 though, the longer he was being called 16 time world champion. Once that became a slogan, I feel like that’s why he truly never won another

I mean at that point you see where it goes. If merch is selling and the fans are into it, keep it going for however long it lasts and then have HHH get the heat by beating Flair.

In fairness Hulk is Hulk, I do think he’s on a tier above Flair. WWE goes so out of their way though to put him on the same level as Hogan but they didn’t hesitate to stick that belt back on Hogan.

With the way Flair talked at Stings HOF induction, you’d think Flair WAS a WWE guy

I would have loved to have seen Ric Flair defeat Hulk Hogan for the Undisputed WWE Championship Title Belt. At least he completed the Triple Crown.

I enjoyed Ric Flair's RA Era run from 2002-2008, but he was there mainly because he needed the money (he owed the IRS and got a divorce) and to put over younger talent. The guy was jobbing to friggin Rico back in 2002.