The Inside Cradle (#4) - Seamlessly Moving From Heidenreich to Flair

Reported by Charles Ludwig of WrestleView.com
On Friday, January 20, 2006 at 3:59 PM EST

Tuesday was a very sad day. A sad day for me, at least.

That’s because Tuesday morning I awoke to find that everyone’s favorite wrestler, Jon Heidenreich, was officially released by WWE. How are we going to survive without our weekly dose of horrible face paint? Hell, nevermind that, how are we going to be able to live without dreadful and appalling tag-team wrestling?

Oh, I forgot, we still have Animal.

Obviously, I am not truly dismayed by the sensible decision to release Heidenreich, but it did strike me as a little upsetting, if only because I was saving my favorite Big Jon story for a column at some point in the future. But since he just couldn’t stand being on the road any longer, I guess I will waste it now.

Like most wrestling fans my age, I was totally enamored with The Road Warriors as I was growing up in Louisiana. They were widely regarded as the best tag-team in the world, or in the very least, the most devastating. Everything from their move set (a term I learned much later in life) to their face paint and spike-covered shoulder pads just oozed intimidation.

How bad ass were they? The fact that Hawk and Animal were willing to team with Paul Ellering, their manager for many years, made me actually believe he could kick the crap out of anyone, up to and including the “immortal” Hulk Hogan. Remember now, I was like 10 or 11 at this time.

Flash forward about 17 years or so, to this past October. I was at a buddy’s house (no, not the infamous Rob) for the last time as I prepared for my latest move (this one from Washington, D.C., to Oklahoma City). I always enjoyed going to this friend’s house to watch PPVs and what not, mainly because I could watch his kids (ages 5 and 6 and about the biggest wrestling fans I had ever seen at that age) wrestle each other and actually cut promos on each other (how I wish I had a video camera for those).

I felt compelled to give them a present before I left, so I stopped in to the local K-Mart and purchased them each a plastic tag team title. And this is where our story, which no doubt you’ve stopped reading by this point, goes south. When I gave them the belts, this was the gasp-inducing exchange I had to witness. (I’ll boldface and underline the most important part)

Unnamed kid #1: “Thanks, Chuck!!! Now we can be the LOD!! I’m Animal!”

Unnamed kid #2: “YEAH!! AND I CAN BE HEIDENREICH!!”

OH. MY. GAWD!!!! Are you freaking kidding me? I instantly realized that buying those belts wasn’t the best thing for my sanity. To these two kiddos, the Legion of Doom, or the Road Warriors, or whatever you prefer to call them, consisted of Animal and Jon F. Heidenreich. HEIDENREICH!!

I truly think a part of me died that day.

But I shouldn’t have been all that surprised I guess. This kind of thing has been happening for years now, especially with wrestlers feeling the need to tarnish their legacy by holding on for waaay too long. It happened with me (I never knew Stu Hart as anything other than a old coot that looked as if his legs would snap when he walked, not the man so sinister that he created the legend of the Dungeon that lives in memories to this day), just as it later happened with my younger brother (for him, Jake Roberts was that drunk, born-again Christian that was unceremoniously crushed by Steve Austin at the King of the Ring).

And now, another name I adored as a kid has been ruined. They didn’t even know who Hawk was!! I’m all of 28 years old, but at that moment, I felt like Freddie Blassie on his last television appearance.

After taking a few days to think back to Monday’s RAW, I can say that And that, my friends, is what made Ric Flair’s performance Monday night in his TLC match with WWE Champion Edge. In that match, Flair gave an effort that reminded us ‘older’ fans that he can do more than grab people’s crotches and makes crude gestures toward women. Maybe he was a bit slower (ok, a lot slower) than he used to be, but he proved that he still has it.

As my colleague Hagan pointed out in his weekly column (you can read it here), the match wasn’t perfect. There was a missed spot on the missile dropkick, and there were a few other moments that may have seemed contrived and off a little. But hey, it’s professional wrestling, and in professional wrestling, what more can you expect. Edge completely made me forget about the debacle that was his first RAW as champion. He mentioned in the show’s excellent opening segment that everyone better get used to him, because he is here to stay. Then in the main event, he went out and showcased that attitude as well. To sum it up, you can say Edge has me convinced that he is a viable champion – something John Cena couldn’t make me think in is 10 months as the top guy.

And you better give a good chunk of that credit to Flair. He was out there doing things and taking bumps that no man his age should be even thinking about doing. I keep reading people say that if Edge retains his title at the Rumble we will look back on that night as the night that Flair made Edge.

That’s ridiculous. No matter what kind of ass-hatted storyline turns are in the works, Monday night IS the night that Flair MADE Edge. Not bad for a wrestler pushing 60, huh?

If I had taped or DVR’d this match, I would save it for awhile. It’s the classic example of what an older wrestler whose time has passed should be doing – busting his ass, putting on a great show for fans young and old, and putting over a young champion.

Of course, if you are into watching your childhood heroes slowly fall off the face of Planet Relevant, Animal is still on the WWE roster and is rumored to be teaming with Matt Hardy in the near future.

Damn Vince, everytime I think I can start liking you again, you have to do something to ruin it, don’t you?