Hanley! wrote:On Flair, during his prime he always wrestled with loads of energy and passion and charisma. But I had trouble believing in his performances. I didn't like his selling much at all. I found him generally to be too over the top. He was a real pantomime wrestler. And that's not necessarily a bad thing: I definitely think that has its place. I would never say that Flair was a bad performer. But he has a reputation as the greatest wrestler ever and he'd be way down my list. I don't consider him within shouting distance of the top.
When I talk about wrestling psychology, I usually mean those little details that help you suspend your disbelief. The ability to find the reality in an over-the-top wrestling storyline. Flair's performances always stretched kayfabe too much for me. Which is why I couldn't consider him one of the best ever.
Fair enough. I agree that his pantomime style-performances within most of his matches aren't for everybody but like you said, it has it's place and I think that he's the best at it. Shawn Michaels adapted a similar approach and although his overall style is way different, the inspiration is glaring.
For me, Flair's style in the ring and on the stick actually helped me to understand how to suspend my disbelief as a more mature wresting fan. In the late 90s, after I accepted the fact that wrestling was scripted, I first started getting into the old NWA Mid-Atlantic, Florida Championship Wrestling and Georgia shit by renting old VHS bootleg tapes. I had only seen Flair's WWF work but I was very young and at the time was still under the impression that it was all real. Watching all this new material, I was in love with Flair and Dusty and they helped me to understand wrestling as a pure, cathartic art form and not just athletics mixed with theatrics. His classic "take a few steps and fall flat on his face" move and his turnbuckle flip are absolutely cartoonish but that's what I love about it. He's so confident in his character that it never bothered me one bit.
