WWE: Nature Boy Ric Flair - The Definitive Collection

This was a very well made dvd to me. A great story of Ric Flair's career. This dvd was not intended to give us a bunch of matches it is basically a tribute to the career of Ric Flair. This dvd does have some good matches however as said it is not many. They have the ultimate Ric flair dvd that has tons of matches on it this is not that dvd I would call this dvd more of a companion to the Ultimate Ric Flair dvd. If you want the story of Flair's career to go along with the other dvd set I defintely reccomend this dvd. I did not buy this dvd for matches I bought because of the documentary of Ric Flair. If you want to buy a dvd with lots of matches then you want the Ultimate Ric flair. To me you would be missing out by not picking up this dvd as well.

All i have to say this DVD was a great buy im happy to have it and im happy to see Ric Flair's Story Finally Told on DVD

Just picked up the new Flair DVD. The doc on Disc 1 is amazing along with the stories and tribute video. As for Discs 2 and 3, I want to try to squash a notion I've seen in these reviews.

People are complaining about the matches used for the DVD. The Sting and Funk matches aren't on any other DVD. The Michaels match is mandatory and you know they are going to put a Triple H match on there. The other Steamboat stuff is already on DVD. My only complaint about the DVD is I think they skimped him on the promos a bit for Disc 3 a bit.

This guy essentially has 8 discs devoted to his career which is unheard of and amazing. He's the man. Enjoy what you have folks!

I just bought this release yesterday and let me say that it gets four stars because of the documentary, the stories section, tribute video and for showing the RAW tribute segment in its entirety! Now, let's break this one down:

Disc 1 features a near 2 hour documentary on Ric Flair with comments from former NWA announcer David Crockett, Harley Race, Kevin Von Erich, Dusty Rhodes, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham, Arn Anderson, JJ Dillon and others. It covers his beginnings from his early life, the AWA, the Mid-Atlantic area (including that near fatal plane crash), his days at NWA champion, The Four Horsemen, his feuds with Dusty Rhodes, Rick Steamboat and Sting, his time in WWF/WWE, his problems in WCW, his WWE return (including Evolution, his Wrestlemania X-8 bout with The Undertaker and his final days as a wrestler).

Disc 1 also features some short stories from the man himself and a tribute video to Flair.

Disc 2 and 3 are just matches and promos. Let's go into Disc 2 for a bit:

Vs. Jack Brisco - Flair was in his first run as NWA champion as he took on former NWA champion Jack Brisco in a mostly scientific match. This wasn't for the title by the way, it was more of an impromptu match.

Vs. Kerry Von Erich (NWA World Title match/2 out of 3 falls) - If all you know of Kerry Von Erich is the "Texas Tornado" or just a member of the tragic Von Erich family, you really need to see this! I personally think he was better here than the day he won the title from Flair in 1984! This one felt like a war! This match also led to the infamous cage match that began the epic Von Erich/Freebird story.

Vs. Harley Race (NWA World Title Match) - This was notable because it happened on television and it was rare for a title match to be on TV. It gives you a glimpse of what was to come at Starrcade '83 later that year.

Ric Flair, Ole & Arn Anderson Vs. Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A. & Manny "Ragin' Bull" Fernandez - This was a wild six man tag that came on the heels of Dusty's injury at the hands of Flair and the Andersons. My problem with this one isn't the match itself, its great! It is because this entry was more appropriate for the Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen release than this set. I kind of felt the same way about Ric Flair's bout with Ricky Morton on the aforementioned set. That bout would've been a great entry on this one.

Vs. Sting (Clash Of The Champions) - I originally stated that this match was overused. That was an error on my part as I thought this bout was on Ultimate Ric Flair when in fact it was another Sting/Flair encounter. As for this match, I won't knock much because this match proved why Flair is a legend and this match made Sting a legend in his own right.

Vs. Terry Funk (The Great American Bash) - I personally like this bout better than their more famous "I Quit" match that took place later that year in 1989. The Flair neck injury angle added drama to the match up. I haven't looked at WWE's version of this match but I do know that afterwards was one of the wildest post match brawl I've ever seen with both Sting and Japanese star The Great Muta getting involved with Flair and Funk!

Disc 3

Vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - I will say that I wished they would've put one of Piper Vs. Flair matches from the Mid-Atlantic area on here. Still, its a rare match and it is pretty good. Nothing on the level of Flair/Steamboat or Flair/Sting but it doesn't suck either.

Vs. Ricky Steamboat (WCW World Title Match) - While a great matchup from 1994, it falls short of their classics in 1989. Still, when these two got together, you are hard pressed to find a bad match between "The Nature Boy" and "The Dragon."

Vs. HHH (Taboo Tuesday 2005) - One of the best cage matches ever! While I do think this could've been left off for another Flair classic from the 1980's, the match itself is great!

Vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania 24) - Another that could've been left off since this WM is now available. But the match itself is a classic so I have nothing bad to say about the match in itself.

This disc also has the Flair Farewell Address along with some promos from his NWA days.

Overall, it isn't a total waste of money in my view but it could've been better. Interesting to note that when discussing the Greenville reunion of the Horsemen, they actually show Chris Benoit (though he isn't mentioned directly). While my opinion of the man is low, I am glad WWE didn't alter the footage just to please people.

Anyway, WWE's latest release falls short on the matches but makes up for it with the documentary and the promos and, of course, the farewell address. On this one, you will have to decide if its worth the price. For myself, I was mostly pleased though I agree that the selections of matches could've been better or at least another disc which I would've gladly paid more money for.

Of the millions of classic matches that Flair had, why were we treated to the ones we saw, like the forever showed Clash 1 with him and Sting.....that was on volume 1. Where was the Starrcade 84 vs. Dusty Rhosed, Starrcade 86 vs. Nikita, July 11 1987 match against Jimmy Garvin? I only watched the Terry Funk match so far. I do have another complaint, but not about the DVD, but about Flair himself in the documentary. He was talking way too low, and at times, I had to turn the volume up to hear what he was saying. He was almost mumbling. Vince, this is another DVD that you didn't put together right.