As workers, how would you rank these three from greatest to least?

Dave24

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the "he has the same match all the time" narrative for Flair is one of the most inaccurate in pro wrestling. Yes every wrestler has a formula they run & he came up in an era of more carny spots with spots to pop the crowd but to say his matches with Steamboat is the same as his w/ Funk, Sting, Luger, Vader, HHH is just false

Agreed. I don't know why Bret felt that way about Flair. He thought he was very overrated. Why couldn't he realize Flair was one of the best workers ever?
 

Hey_zeus

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The reason I put Bret 1 over these two is his work was always more believable and logical. He'd work a leg and it would lead some where. His offense was grounded and appropriate per his stature. None of this plucky underdog shyt no matter who he faced. Singles and tags were more enjoyable for me than the other two with that level of detail.

Hbk has no real offense. He just bumps off dudes until he can build to the comeback which hurt his ability to work with other great feed guys(Hennig). Flair has shallow depth as a worker. The Flair Formula is real and that's not to say it didn't work, but you can only watch so many Flair vs ______ before they become indistinguishable. Neither have the great tags or midcard catalog to go along with their single run on top as Bret. All while making his opponents look like a million bucks. Almost got Tom Mcgee a Hoegan push.
 

Reggie

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Flair used to be known for those Ironman matches that weren't even billed as such. I know many may have forgotten how much he could go at his best but the man was a workhorse out there in his prime. Bret and Sean could go too and have many classics between them and some against each other. This is the one time that i will pass on actually vote on a subject and just acknowledge all of them for how great they were.
 

TheGreatShowtime

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Flair ~ GOAT in ring performer, could wrestle any & everyone for 50+ mins at time many of times and make them look like a million bucks. Guy was having classics at the age of 57. The best catalog of matches as well IMO


Michaels
Hart

the "he has the same match all the time" narrative for Flair is one of the most inaccurate in pro wrestling. Yes every wrestler has a formula they run & he came up in an era of more carny spots with spots to pop the crowd but to say his matches with Steamboat is the same as his w/ Funk, Sting, Luger, Vader, HHH is just false

:dahell: @ The bolded. That's a flat out untrue statement. If you're trying to count the match with Shawn Michaels, that was a straight up carry job. Flair was washed by 1995/1996. Outside of the retirement match, nothing he did in the ring was worthy of being called a classic after maybe 1995/1996.

I think the narrative of Flair having the same match came after his original WWF run. At one point, it was clear that he was phoning it in (whether due to frustration or getting :flabbynsick:, hard to say). He was having the same telegraphed matches in the WWF / his return to WCW. There are a few outliers like his match with Mr. Perfect, Arn Anderson, Vader and his matches with Macho Man, but I think those are outliers because Flair decided to try for those outings.

Regarding the question at hand, my opinion is that it's Bret, Shawn and then Flair.
 

Slic Ric

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:dahell: @ The bolded. That's a flat out untrue statement. If you're trying to count the match with Shawn Michaels, that was a straight up carry job. Flair was washed by 1995/1996. Outside of the retirement match, nothing he did in the ring was worthy of being called a classic after maybe 1995/1996.

I think the narrative of Flair having the same match came after his original WWF run. At one point, it was clear that he was phoning it in (whether due to frustration or getting :flabbynsick:, hard to say). He was having the same telegraphed matches in the WWF / his return to WCW. There are a few outliers like his match with Mr. Perfect, Arn Anderson, Vader and his matches with Macho Man, but I think those are outliers because Flair decided to try for those outings.

Regarding the question at hand, my opinion is that it's Bret, Shawn and then Flair.
It's not a complete carry job clearly Michaels did the heavy lifting, but a match w/ storytelling that GOOD nah give flair credit and again man was 57. He also has match w/ Foley in TNA that had no right being as good as it was.

Vs Hunter CAGE
vs Taker Mania 18
vs Vince Rumble 02
vs Foley '06
vs Big Show '06
vs Michaels Mania

and many more, again had tons of stuff that ranged from very good to "classic". Macho, Perfect, Rumble, were literally his only main programs his first WWF stint and you just named all of them being good.
 

TheGreatShowtime

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It's not a complete carry job clearly Michaels did the heavy lifting, but a match w/ storytelling that GOOD nah give flair credit and again man was 57. He also has match w/ Foley in TNA that had no right being as good as it was.

Vs Hunter CAGE
vs Taker Mania 18
vs Vince Rumble 02
vs Foley '06
vs Big Show '06
vs Michaels Mania

and many more, again had tons of stuff that ranged from very good to "classic". Macho, Perfect, Rumble, were literally his only main programs his first WWF stint and you just named all of them being good.

I didn't say his original WWF run was bad, but outside of those guys that I listed, all of his other matches were formulaic because he was just going through the motions. His return to WCW was good with the feuds with Vader/Sting/Rick Rude/Arn, and it didn't really turn ugly until Hogan showed up. It's pretty clear that's when he phoned it in, and I can't blame him for it. I think Flair just got lazy towards the end, and then time caught up to him.

To me, none of the matches you listed were memorable. I think the feuds leading up to some of them were memorable though, but not the matches themselves.
 

Slic Ric

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I didn't say his original WWF run was bad, but outside of those guys that I listed, all of his other matches were formulaic because he was just going through the motions. His return to WCW was good with the feuds with Vader/Sting/Rick Rude/Arn, and it didn't really turn ugly until Hogan showed up. It's pretty clear that's when he phoned it in, and I can't blame him for it. I think Flair just got lazy towards the end, and then time caught up to him.

To me, none of the matches you listed were memorable. I think the feuds leading up to some of them were memorable though, but not the matches themselves.
I mean you are kinda steering to the weekly vs. PPV debate when "if you were going through the motions" on PPV vs all those guys he delivered and that were his few feuds of the first run. Yea his later WCW stuff match was probably isn't his top stuff but late WCW matches stuck for most part in general.
 
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dbp

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Bret
HBK
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Flair

I agree with Bret that Flair was overrated. HBK also had the better resume, but I think Bret was more talented overall. He just didn't have that post 2000 run with Shawn did.
 

White City Black

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I mean it’s arguable in ways but this really is too easy

Hart
Michaels
Flair

All 3 can definitely sell but Bret seemed the most tactical, dangerous. More of a threat in the ring. Michaels could take it to you at times and Flair could too, in his own way. As an opponent though, you could more easily work against Shawn and Ric’s weaknesses
 
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