NWA World Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair © vs. "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes (11/28/85)

 

This is maybe the most historic matchup in this feud and one of those matches that even though it wasn't the greatest match, it was a polarizing match of the era. These two had already met at Starrcade 84 with a shitty finish there so this a rematch and unlike that one there was an actual blood feud going here. I was at the Omni that night although being 6 years old I still remember how heated this was and how just about everyone wanted to see Dusty kill Flair. The work of the match was the basic Dusty/Flair stuff except no blood from Dusty although Flair would juice of course. The main focus of the work was on Dusty's left leg of course and Flair did a good job working on it. The ref bump was par for the course for this series and the Andersons interfering was pretty much a lock but Dusty coming back and beating the odds to pin Flair was great. The fans live left thinking Dusty won the title and the Omni was jumping then of course the decision was announced on TV two days later but it didn't stop the people from coming because IIRC their first rematch at the Omni which was on Christmas Day another show I was at, had more people and was even more heated. This wasn't the best match on this show as for as in the ring work but it was in a different world as far as historic significance. I know Will didn't nominate this but there is enough in the match to warrant the nomination and the historic significance demands a nomination.

Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes

- I liked this one better than Starrcade 1984 for some reason. It just seemed to go by faster. The ending would be reversed on TV after the show in one of Dusty's favorite bullshit booking decisions. This is like my 6th favorite match of the show so I won't nominate it. As for historical significance, I don't really know what historical significance you are talking about except that their was a Dusty finish and was one of many matches that would piss fans off and eventually turn them away from the product altogether.

Being from Atlanta and everything that built up to this went down in the city so the Omni was a buzz for that match and the feud in general. In fact I think I've watched that match more than just about any match ever in my collection because my brother bought the Starrcade 85 tape when it came out and I watched it so many times in my youth. This match built up the Dusty chase to finally win the title 8 months down the road and there are many people that when you say what is your favorite Flair/Dusty match, this is the one that gets mentioned.

I liked the match and would give this a solid nomination. We get a charisma off to start. Then both guys show off some of their biggest weapons. Flair the chop, and Dusty the Bionic elbow. Dusty has a bad wheel going into it. Flair gets his foot and looks like we are going into a heat segment to start. Though it's a tease and we go with Rhodes going after Flair's leg as a revenge for them fucking up his leg. We get some basic work here, but the crowd is hot so the presentation is great. I loved how Dusty missed a kick with his bad foot and allowed Flair to transition into a good heat segment. We build to a finish that was pretty great. The drama during this match was amazing. Plus it had some hard hitting and I liked it.