Scott Steiner vs Ric Flair (NWA, 9-22-1990)

NWA Pro Wrestling, Gainesville, GA

This is another of the short-lived “Running the Gauntlet” deals. Steiner is the runner. He beat Bobby Eaton on the Power Hour and name number two from the fish bowl draw is none other than the worlds heavyweights champs himself, the Nature Man.

Thunderbolt Patterson joins Jim Ross and Bob Caudle on commentary. Flair flexes his pecs early; he’s not exactly Lex Luger but that’s the point. This is first-time ever, basically; they might have done a one-on-one at a house show but Ross says it’s first-time ever one-on-one on national TV.

Patterson is really putting Steiner over effectively as a veteran analyst, putting over his tag team skills but also saying it’s clear he has the tools for singles stardom. That’s pretty much what everyone believed at the time.

Flair takes the tilt-a-whirl but doesn’t get around on it smoothly, time to retire, OLD FART. Steiner frustrating Flair at the break, hitting him with a Steinerline on the outside, where Flair consults with Arn Anderson. (Arn is in Ric’s corner, Rick Steiner is in Scott’s.)

Some of this does look awkward in a way, honestly. Not in a way that looks bad, really, but you notice the differences in their approaches. I think you can see why Scott Steiner was kind of grumpy about guys like Flair not “getting out of the way.” Flair has a totally different style, old school stuff, while Scott was very, very new school, lots of crazy athleticism and power, and Flair doesn’t take that stuff like younger guys do. So in Scott’s head, maybe he’s, like, “Wow, I’m a way better athlete than this guy, what the fuck,” but of course wrestling isn’t about how many cool moves you can do, and that’s a whole discussion that’s been gone over 12,000 times and some people will really just never get it, but it is what it is.

Rick decks Flair at ringside with a right hand which everyone loves but a risky move, if Scott gets DQ’d the gauntlet is over and the dream of 15,000 smackers dies. Flair takes over in the ring and the crowd are really rocking for this. They love the Steiners and Flair always gets people going.

Steiner comes back with a powerslam, then sets Flair up for a super DDT, but Anderson hits Scott from behind while the referee is dealing with Rick Steiner. Flair goes for the feet on the ropes pin, but Scott KICKS OUT. Flair got a lot of wins with the feet on the ropes, it’s an actual surprise and a solid fake-out.

Scott hits a Steinerline and the place is rocking. Scott sets for the Frankensteiner, but Arn holds Flair when he hits the ropes, so Scott just takes a bump. Rick chases Arn, referee again distracted by Rick. Anderson comes in and DDT’s Scott, but the referee sees Arn leaving and gets distracted by him. So Rick Steiner gets in, Steinerline on Flair from big brother, and SCOTT BEATS RIC FLAIR!

All the chaos works to this match’s advantage. They don’t get a ton of time (it’s 10:42 match time officially, but with a commercial break in there so what we see is less) but they work a lot of familiar Horsemen stuff in, things that win matches all the time, so the fake-out efforts work and the crowd go nuts when Steiner pins Flair. Didn’t wind up playing into a massive singles push — the idea was there, but it didn’t quite go through — but it was clear Scott Steiner was a star on the rise.

Rating: 3.5/5