Sober RAW Monday

Temperance is the word over here at HFR, and what better way to ring in our first sober New Year's Eve in quite a while than with a Ric Flair retirement match on RAW Is Charlotte???

Mixed feelings on this show, honestly....the crowd was white-hot throughout the main event, and up until the last minute or so, it was looking like one of the most memorable RAWs in quite a while. Then, a nonsensical and needless DQ finish (Regal does McMahon's bidding to keep HHH out of the Rumble, whereas if he punched Trips instead, he could've ENDED THE CAREER of fellow McMahon nemesis Flair) deflated Flair Country and kept the rest of us from witnessing what wouldve been a truly amazing moment if it had just ended clean, either way.

Really enjoyed Flair's work in this one, as well - it looks to the untrained eye as if he's literally exerting every ounce of energy his body possesses on routine hiptosses and chopblocks. Forget the Brett Favre parallels - the sports equivalent of this angle would be Terry Bradshaw coming back for one last Super Bowl run, only if Terry Bradshaw were as good in his prime as Tom Brady is right now.

My point is, this would be stretching the limits of even Pro Wrestling Believability were it not for Flair's knack for projecting vulnerability so well throughout his matches. I assume that Flair himself has blurred the distinction between real and fake to the point of negligibility, and seeing him get a final burst of recognition is actually touching in a way - only in wrestling can the '72 Dolphins come back for one last ride in 2008, rather than grouse about it no longer being 1972 between highballs on the links. The world looks much better if you invest in sequined robes, Mercury Morris.

The rest of the show was alright; Randy Orton would make for much more of a badass were he to wear a shirt from time to time. Also if he didn't stand panting over every downed opponent.