Who do you prefer: week 1 - Austin or Flair?

Gerard.C

I was discussing this with a friend the other day, said I'd post it up here for a bit of discussion - who do ye prefer, Stone Cold or Slic Ric? Flair, arguably the best wrestler of all time and Austin, arguably the best entertainer of all time.

For me it's Austin. As much as I love Flair and watching his matches, there's something about Austin that nobody else has, he's truely fantastic. Maybe it's cos I grew up with him, I dunno.

What's the vedict anyway?

Handsome Bob

Austin hands down, he made my teenage years worth while.

Sirsok

tough one.i was a big nitro fan so only seen flair in his heyday and i got to see austin in his prime so maybe it would be unfair as im more familiar with austins great work as oppose to flair...the rock i think edges them both though!!!!

ShawnRaven

Tough one to call really, Flair's 90s stuff, good as it was paled by comparison to his 80s stuff.

Austin on the other hand, by the time 2000 had rolled around, would have more than likely surpassed Flair regards technical skills and ability had he not suffered his neck injury in 1997 which in turn, slowly destroyed his body.

Who do I prefer? I can answer this two different ways.
Character wise - Flair, sorry but i loved the arrogant, cocky ladies man who got what he always wanted as opposed to beer drinking redneck who threw up a finger now and then and beat up his boss.

Ring ability wise. When both were in their prime, Austin was definitely better in the ring. If you want a demonstration, check out the matches he had with Marc Mero and Bret Hart in 1996, and the scarier thing was, he was STILL only hitting his stride then. Had the injury not occoured, christ knows where his ability would have taken him.

Edit: Gerard, you think it might be worth adding a poll for this?

Gerard.C

Yeah do, I didn't know how to

ShawnRaven

Gerard.C wrote: »

Yeah do, I didn't know how to

No worries. I'll sort it.
For future reference, if you create a new thread, there should be a button under it to say "add a poll" or something like that, when you put a tick in it, it'll bring you to the poll options screen.

chopperbyrne

Austin.

Flair was good, very good, but his character rarely changed, nor did his ring work.

I watched Austin since his early WCW stuff back when it used to be shown on ITV on Saturdays and he was great in the Hollywood Blondes then and just kept getting better, especially his promo work. He could do so many different types of promo which is what makes him better for me.

Max Power1

Austin!

But i would be biased, in that i saw all of Austin's career in WWE on TV at the time, but have been forced to rely on DVDs/youtube for Flairs highlights.

bigeasyeah

ahhh-not fair!

Bounty Hunter

yep i doubt flair will get many votes just cos most wouldent have seen his best stuff when it happened

flahavaj

Hogan.:pac:

But seriously, Naitch all the way for me. Greatest ever all rounder.

Ruu_Old

IF YOU WANNA BE FAIR TO FLAIR YOU GOTTA BE FAIR AND SAY THATS A HECK OF A ROBE!:D

I'm going for Austin here, seen some WCW work on ITV Saturday afternoons also as mentioned and then into his WWE stuff, which fit well with me as I was an angry young man at the time.

grames_bond

my vote went for austin, i mean even after a terrible neck injury he had more moves than flair (even though he was very limited), and i always prefered austins promos.....son!

orestes

Ruu wrote: »

IF YOU WANNA BE FAIR TO FLAIR YOU GOTTA BE FAIR AND SAY THATS A HECK OF A ROBE!:D

I'm going for Austin here, seen some WCW work on ITV Saturday afternoons also as mentioned and then into his WWE stuff, which fit well with me as I was an angry young man at the time.

An angry Ruu?! Impossible! :eek:

I'm going with Austin on this one, but it's a thoughie

Diabhal Beag

Flair was around longer and I enjoyed his stuff more than SCSA. I was just one of those guys who couldn't get into a mean in jean shorts as much as the rest of the fans

ShawnRaven

Lets be honest here, ANY Poll with Austin in it usually wins by a landslide. Austin became the Hogan of the 1990s in terms of main event drawing, merch selling and in general, reason for tuning in.

gimmick

Whle I am a big fan of both, I will also go for Austin. he single handedly kept WWF afloat when the promotion was circling the drain. No one got pops like him. He was also involved in probably one of the greatest feuds in WWF history with McMahon, all the while feuding with others like Trips and Rock as well.

orestes

Myself and the Raven have just had a chat about this and we're gonna make this "who do you prefer" idea a regular runner. Once a week we will post a new pairing with a poll and people can debate the merits, maybe stickify the one we're doing each week but we haven't decided that quite yet

Cheers for the idea Ger C

Mr.Nice Guy

I went with Austin too although I thought the poll would be closer.

Both great performers but I'd give the nod to Austin. I was at the show when Austin came to Dublin (Summer Bash I think?) and the place went absolutely crazy when he made his entrance. I could hardly hear his theme at the time.

chopperbyrne

orestes wrote: »

Myself and the Raven have just had a chat about this and we're gonna make this "who do you prefer" idea a regular runner. Once a week we will post a new pairing with a poll and people can debate the merits, maybe stickify the one we're doing each week but we haven't decided that quite yet

Cheers for the idea Ger C

As long as the Bret/Shawn one has an instant permaban for mentioning Montreal.

ShawnRaven

chopperbyrne wrote: »

As long as the Bret/Shawn one has an instant permaban for mentioning Montreal.

If we can pass it by the Admins, a siteban would suffice.

orestes

chopperbyrne wrote: »

As long as the Bret/Shawn one has an instant permaban for mentioning Montreal.

You better believe it dude

deanodrummer

Austin by a mile. The most exciting wrestler of all time. When he was around you knew **** was going down. Never heard crowd pops like I heard for him, not even for Hogan.

Flair's great and a legend, but gotta go with Austin.

Rjd2

Max Power1 wrote: »

Austin!

But i would be biased, in that i saw all of Austin's career in WWE on TV at the time, but have been forced to rely on DVDs/youtube for Flairs highlights.

Same here. I was watching some of the stuff Stonecold did when he turned heel in 2001, it may not have drawn much, but that part of his career is hugely underestimated.

grames_bond

Rjd2 wrote: »

Same here. I was watching some of the stuff Stonecold did when he turned heel in 2001, it may not have drawn much, but that part of his career is hugely underestimated.

what?!

(sorry i know that was a different heel turn but i loved those promos)

Handsome Bob

The only promos I have a beef with in regards to Austin is those damn Invasion promos. Not only did Austin become jealous of Vince's love for Angle, but they also made him out to be a puss bag. I don't care how good his promos were. It was totally and utterly uncharacteristic and nonsensical, it spat in the face of a gimmick they had bult up for years.

SlickRic

has to be austin...and this is from 'SlickRic'

he just entertained me that much in my teenage years. he made wrestling the thing to watch. i still remember glass shattering and jumping out of my seat every week.

i then was fortunate enough to be able to catch up on his earlier stuff, much of which SR touched on, and the man was so talented it's frightening. His tag stuff along with Pillman would make a decent enough resumé for most.

that he could become as big as he did, while unable to put on the matches he would have been able to because of the neck, is a testament to his greatness.

i love Flair. that persona of the 80s was gold. and some of his matches, particularly against Steamboat, Rhodes and Funk were just awesome. you won't find much better anywhere. also, as Trips said at HOF, he could talk with the best of them. you'd want someone to kick his ass so bad and he wouldn't have to touch you.

But it's gotta be Austin. i have to be loyal to my teenage years.

Degag

Gerard.C wrote: »

I was discussing this with a friend the other day, said I'd post it up here for a bit of discussion - who do ye prefer, Stone Cold or Slic Ric? Flair, arguably the best wrestler of all time and Austin, arguably the best entertainer of all time.



What's the vedict anyway?

Perhaps i'm taking this slightly off topic but when was Flair considered the best wrestler of all time? (technically, as your post alluded to)

orestes

Degag wrote: »

Perhaps i'm taking this slightly off topic but when was Flair considered the best wrestler of all time? (technically, as your post alluded to)

In general Flair is regarded as the best all-round wrestler of all time, just one of those things

Minto

I feel sorry for Flair, because him and Austin really are apples and oranges, but I gotta go with my heart and vote for the guy who got me into wrestling bigtime back around '98! Stone Cold all the way!

pingu_girl

Austin by a mile I am a fan of Flair also but Austin has been my favourite ever in terms of entertainment Flair needed to give it up a long time ago.

ShawnRaven

Pft, close the poll already, Flair stands about the same chance as a snowballs survival in hell of winning this.

SlickRic

as has been said, Austin v anyone will be landslide.

only Rock and maybe, just maybe, Hogan would stand a chance of getting to double figures against him.

Hogan would depend on the age of many of the voters.

ShawnRaven

SlickRic wrote: »

as has been said, Austin v anyone will be landslide.

only Rock and maybe, just maybe, Hogan would stand a chance of getting to double figures against him.

Hogan would depend on the age of many of the voters.

Hrm, hey oresticles! I think it's gonna be Rock/Hogan next week

JP Liz

Stone Cold Steve Austin - he was entertaining as hell

Gerard.C

Do I get to do this every week so?

Edit: How about doing this for 8 weeks, as in quarter finals, then semis, then the final? If It gets the okay I'll draw up brackets and all that malarky. I'd nearly do it for 16 weeks and have a right competition out of it if it gets the all clear? Let us know anyway lads

savemejebus

Austin based on him vs Steamboat for the TV title in WCW. Oh Glory days

Bounty Hunter

going with only WWE/F/WCW wrestlers and not going too far back through the years so that everyone recognises the wrestlers thus giving wrestlers a fair chance in the vote here is my suggestion for a pre quater final round of 16:

Austin vs Flair (done)
Sting vs The Undertaker
Chris Jericho vs Mick Foley
Eddie Guerreo vs Ricky Steamboat
Kurt Angle vs HHH
Hogan vs Rock
HBK vs Bret Hart
Randy Savage vs Andre the Giant
Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Roddy Piper
Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar
Mr Perfect vs Owen Hart
Edge vs Chris Benoit
Jimmy Snuka vs Jeff Hardy
Terry Funk vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Ultimate Warrior vs Ted Dibiase
Cena vs Randy Orton

Gerard.C

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

going with only WWE/F/WCW wrestlers and not going too far back through the years so that everyone recognises the wrestlers thus giving wrestlers a fair chance in the vote here is my suggestion for a pre quater final round of 16:

Austin vs Flair (done)
Sting vs The Undertaker
Chris Jericho vs Mick Foley
Eddie Guerreo vs Ricky Steamboat
Kurt Angle vs HHH
Hogan vs Rock
HBK vs Bret Hart
Randy Savage vs Andre the Giant
Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Roddy Piper
Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar
Mr Perfect vs Owen Hart
Edge vs Chris Benoit
Jimmy Snuka vs Jeff Hardy
Terry Funk vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Ultimate Warrior vs Ted Dibiase
Cena vs Randy Orton

I was thinking about going down a different road meself, we'll see what the mods think I suppose.

Bounty Hunter

Gerard.C wrote: »

I was thinking about going down a different road meself, we'll see what the mods think I suppose.

dont worry i aint hijacking your thread :pac: just suggesting some match ups that i think would def get some discussion going between some linked/similar wrestlers who arent too old or obscure for the majority to know well enough to vote on.

Marko_Man

Back to the main question, for me its Austin all the way

ShawnRaven

Gerard.C wrote: »

I was thinking about going down a different road meself, we'll see what the mods think I suppose.

Gerard's brainchild, therefore his rules. BH, you're gonna be busy enough yourself when your roster thread kicks off anyway. Myself and orestes were gonna keep this going anyway but only on the grounds that Gerard wasn't interested. He has since shown interest, so obviously the ball is going to be his.

As long as it doesn't completely take the piss and everyone has fun with it, I can't see a problem with it.

Otis Driftwood

To be fair I dont think Austin Vs Flair was ever going to have any other outcome.

Austin Vs Rock would (probably) be a fairer fight.

On topic,has to be Austin.

ShawnRaven

nedtheshed wrote: »

Austin Vs Rock would (probably) be a fairer fight.

Austin would probably still have won out with a larger gap. Austin just gripped you on the mic, while Rock had to resort to cheesy comedy to get your attention. Rock's dumbed down ring work still paled in comparison to Austins brawls. And the fact that Austin still worked for the guts of six years with a deteriorating body only ads to his determination. While Rock half-assed it in his later years because he wanted to be a movie star.

Gerard.C

Grandest, I'll do a bit of thinking and see what way to go with it and have my mind made up by week two

ShawnRaven

Gerard.C wrote: »

Grandest, I'll do a bit of thinking and see what way to go with it and have my mind made up by week two

Sounds good, and if ya need anything edited, deleted, or a general hand, let one of us know.

Rjd2

nedtheshed wrote: »

To be fair I dont think Austin Vs Flair was ever going to have any other outcome.

Austin Vs Rock would (probably) be a fairer fight.

37-2!!
The Rock v Stonecold would be much more interesting, the Rock had some classic promo's was nearly as good in the ring and actually done the job for lots of people unlike Debra's ex husband.

DM_7

Make that 37-3

I voted for Flair as, well it felt right. I hope he gets 11 more votes....

orestes

Gerard.C wrote: »

Grandest, I'll do a bit of thinking and see what way to go with it and have my mind made up by week two

Cool, I'm looking forward to this one, let one of the mod-squad know if there is anything you need help with. Same rules as normal competition type things apply, you're effectively the mod of the threads when they're running so like SR said give one of us a shout if you need any mod work done. On the flip side though, if it all goes tits up, you're held accountable to a certain degree, so keep it nice and clean and we can all play for a long time

Gerard.C

Not a bother lads, I'll try to keep it clean and interesting!

flahavaj

Gerard.C wrote: »

Grandest, I'll do a bit of thinking and see what way to go with it and have my mind made up by week two

I'm very proud of you Ger and I think you're going to do a brilliant job. If I can help you in any way please don't hesitate to ask. As always I'm here for you.:D