Unfair to Flair

Hey, Scott:


Now that we’re there in the Observer recaps AND with more than 25 years of hindsight, I’m ​still fascinated by the Flair/Hogan feud that never was.

1.) At the time, Vince moved right in to make Flair v. Hogan a thing on the house show circuit, without ever really having an on-screen confrontation of any sort. Was this a mistake in hindsight? Did Vince (incorrectly) think his fanbase — groomed to believe WWF was the only game in town — would "know" Flair and/or take him as seriously as whatever passed for a "smark" in 1991?​

2.) Since the Undertaker was the hottest WWF heel in fall of 1991, would it have made more sense to, say, program Hogan with Taker around the house show circuit with Flair introduced by feuding with, say, Piper? The Flair/Piper beef was white-hot when they crossed paths in ’91 and Flair — theoretically — could’ve carried over that heat to face Hogan after Hulk was done vanquishing Taker. Seems like they could’ve built right to WrestleMania VIII with that?

3.) At the end of the day, with all of the turmoil at the top of the card (Warrior leaving, Hogan’s attempts to break into Hollywood, Savage’s personal problems) and the specter of the steroid trials, was the timing just not right for Vince to properly capitalize on Flair/Hogan or was it something else?

​1. Business was fine on the first go-around, the problem is that people saw it once and then didn’t want to see it again. Flair suffered from being on TV too much, I think, and became just another guy really quickly.

2. in retrospect, yes, I think would have booked Hogan with someone else first and just run with Flair-Piper. The Piper program did business on its own just fine. That being said, Vince was dead set on Hogan v. Sid for Wrestlemania, so that doesn’t leave room for Flair.

3. I think a lot of it was the shine being off Hogan due to all the steroid stuff, but it was also just too late for Flair v. Hogan as a "dream match" program because Flair was burned out by WCW. It’s all the more astonishing that WCW themselves managed to draw with the matchup, TWICE, just three years later. Timing in wrestling is a funny thing.​