WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan teams with "The Macho Man" Randy Savage to reform The Mega Powers and battle The Dungeon of Doom; Kevin Sullivan & The Butcher. Sting takes on Avalanche with The Guardian Angel as the special guest referee. Harlem Heat defends the WCW World Tag Team Championship against Stars & Stripes. Johnny B. Badd challenges "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson for the WCW World Television Championship and more.
01-25-1995
1h 32m
THIS
HELLA
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Eric Bischoff
Writers:
Mike Gossett, Tony Schiavone, Kevin Sullivan, Virgil Runnels
Production:
World Championship Wrestling
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Randy Poffo
Randy Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Savage was described by sportswriter Bill Simmons as "one of the greatest pro wrestlers who ever lived"—a statement echoed by multiple industry performers. He was recognizable by wrestling fans for his distinctively flamboyant ring attire and raspy voice, intensity exhibited in and out of the ring, use of the finale from "Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1" by Elgar as his entrance music, and signature catchphrase, "Oooh yeah!" For most of his tenures in the WWF and WCW, Savage was managed by his real-life wife, Miss Elizabeth Hulette.
Savage had six world championship reigns during his 32-year career, including two as WWF World Heavyweight Champion and four as WCW World Heavyweight Champion. As WWF Champion, he held similar drawing power as Hulk Hogan. A one-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion, he was named by WWE as the greatest titleholder of all time and credited for bringing "a higher level of credibility to the title through his amazing in-ring performances".
Savage was the 1987 WWF King of the Ring and the 1995 WCW World War 3 winner. He headlined many pay-per-view events throughout his career, including WrestleManias IV, V, and VIII (being part of a double main event at VIII), two of the first five SummerSlam shows, and 1995 Starrcade. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame upon its inception in 1996, with a posthumous WWE Hall of Fame induction following in 2015.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Randy Savage, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Terry Gene Bollea, known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician best known for his time working for WWE. Hogan enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1980s and 90s as the all-American character Hulk Hogan in WWE, and as Hollywood Hogan, the villainous leader of the New World Order, in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. He was signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2010 until 2013, where he was the on-screen General Manager. He is a 12-time world champion being a six-time WWE Champion, six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and a former WWE World Tag Team Champion with Edge. His six combined reigns make him the second longest-reigning WWE Champion of all time (after Bruno Sammartino) and the longest-reigning of the 1980s, having held the title for 1,474 days from 1984-1988. His six combined reigns in WCW make him the longest-reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion of all time as well, with a 469-day reign from 1994-1995. Hogan won the Royal Rumble in 1990 and 1991, making him the first man to win two consecutive Royal Rumbles.
Edward Harrison Leslie is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, best known for his work in WWE under the ring name Brutus The Barber Beefcake. He later worked for World Championship Wrestling under a variety of names, mainly as "The Disciple" of real-life best friend Hulk Hogan. He is a former WWE World Tag Team Champion. Edward Leslie began his career at the side of Hulk Hogan in the 1976-1977 time frame. At the time, the two were billed as brothers; Ed was known as either Ed Boulder or Dizzy Hogan, to match Terry's Terry Boulder and Hulk Hogan. Leslie entered the WWF as a heel under the ring name Brutus Beefcake in late 1984 with manager "Luscious" Johnny Valiant. Beefcake debuted as a vain individual who dressed in outlandish outfits. As a singles competitor, he feuded with David Sammartino and Hulk Hogan, the latter who sought revenge on Beefcake after he and Valiant injured Hogan's protege Hillbilly Jim. Brutus got some "cheap heat" when he would come uninvited to ringside during Tony Atlas's matches. During the summer of 1985, Beefcake began teaming with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, and became known as "The Dream Team". The Dream Team began challenging The US Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) for the Tag Team Championship. Initially, the US Express fought off their challengers, but the Dream Team soon gained momentum, and at an August 24, 1985, show at the Philadelphia Spectrum, the Dream Team won the tag team titles from the U.S. Express when Beefcake rubbed Valiant’s lit cigar in Windham’s eye. The Dream Team held the titles for eight months, with their primary challengers being a reformed US Express (with Dan Spivey replacing the departed Windham) and British Bulldogs. At WrestleMania 2 in Rosemont, Illinois, the British Bulldogs defeated the Dream Team to win the tag team titles. The Dream Team failed to regain the titles and soon reverted to mid-card status. Leslie made news headlines on February 8, 2004 for causing an anthrax scare at one of Boston's MBTA stations, Downtown Crossing, where he was working at the time. He had been found to be in possession of a white powder, which turned out to be cocaine. He promptly checked into a drug rehabilitation facility after admitting that the cocaine found at the station was his. As a result, no charges were filed against him. Leslie married Kirsten Georgi on July 1, 1987; the couple divorced in 1991. His second marriage was to Barbara McGondel on October 1, 1994. Together, they have one daughter named Alana. Leslie also worked as a manager at Planet Fitness in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. He became a born again Christian.
Steve Borden, better known by the ring name Sting, is an American professional wrestler and former bodybuilder, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as the mentor of Darby Allin. He is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, having cultivated a legacy over a career spanning five decades. Throughout his career, he won a total of fifteen world championships.
Sting is widely known for his time spent as the public face of two major American professional wrestling promotions: the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which was bought by the WWE in 2001, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now Impact Wrestling). Although the WWF had purchased WCW, Sting did not sign with them at that time. Prior to WCW, he also wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and Mid South.
Sting's 14-year association with WCW and its predecessor, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), began in 1987. He quickly rose to main event status and has been described as the WCW counterpart to the WWF's Hulk Hogan. Dubbed "The Franchise of WCW", he held a total of 14 championships in the promotion – including the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on six occasions, the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions, and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on one occasion – and made more pay-per-view (PPV) appearances for the company than any other wrestler. Against Hogan, Sting headlined the highest-grossing PPV event in WCW history, Starrcade, in December 1997. Upon the acquisition of WCW by the WWF in March 2001, Sting and his long-term rival Ric Flair were chosen to perform in the main event of the final episode of Nitro. Sting would later face Hogan and Flair in their last televised matches, defeating both.
Following the expiration of his contract with WCW's parent company, AOL Time Warner, in March 2002, Borden held talks with the WWF, but ultimately did not join the promotion and instead toured internationally with World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) – winning the WWA World Heavyweight Championship – before joining the then-upstart TNA in 2003.[1] Over the following 11 years, he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on one further occasion and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship four times. As a result, he became the only wrestler to have won the NWA, WCW, and TNA World Titles in a career. He was also the inaugural inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2012.
John Anthony Tenta, Jr. was a Canadian sumōtori and professional wrestler best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation as Earthquake. After a promising start to his sumo career, using the nameKototenzan, Tenta switched to professional wrestling and became a high-profile star for the WWF, feuding with Hulk Hogan and winning the WWF Tag Team Championship with partner, and personal friend, Typhoon. His professional wrestling career also encompassed runs in World Championship Wrestling, where he was known as Avalanche and The Shark, All Japan Pro Wrestling and a return to WWF as Golga. Tenta died in 2006 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Tenta retired from wrestling in 2004 after it was revealed that he had developed bladder cancer and was told he was given a 20% chance to live, assuming he continued with his chemotherapy treatments. During his November 18, 2005 interview on WrestleCrap Radio, Tenta announced that a recent radiation dosage did not go as planned, and had no effect on the tumor. He also announced that multiple tumors had spread to his lungs.
The first public notice of Tenta's death was posted on WWE.com on June 7, 2006. On the June 9, 2006, edition of SmackDown, and the June 12, 2006, edition of Raw, WWE showed a bumper that read "RIP 'Earthquake' John Tenta" before each show began.
Other media
John Tenta's professional wrestling career garnered him appearances in several video games. In 1991, Tenta as Earthquake was portrayed as a feature character in Technos' popular arcade video game WWF WrestleFest. He was also included in the 1992 home video game WWF Super WrestleMania by LJN for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (he wasn't in the Sega Genesis version). In 2004, the Japanese video game developer Spike released King of Colosseum II, a puroresu-wrestling game for PlayStation 2 that featured Tenta as a playable character; it was a Japan-only release. On April 14, 2009, Tenta was announced as downloadable content for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 which was released April 16, 2009. On February 23, 2016, he along with Typhoon appeared as downloadable content for WWE 2K16. He also appeared in WWE 2K17 as well as WWE 2K18 along with Typhoon.
Raymond "Ray" Washington Traylor, Jr. was an American professional wrestler. Traylor was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name Big Boss Man, as well as for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling as The Boss, Guardian Angel and Big Bubba Rogers. During his appearances with the WWF, Big Boss Man held the WWF World Tag Team Championshiponce and the WWF Hardcore Championship four times. In the summer of 2000, Boss Man disappeared from the WWF's primary television shows, wrestling mainly on Jakked and Heat, where he had a minor feud with Crash Holly until suffering a legit injury in January 2001. When he returned on the December 20, 2001 of SmackDown, he formed a team with Booker T, after Vince McMahon ordered him to be Booker's enforcer. on the December 27 episode of Smackdown, Bossman and Booker T defeated Stone Cold in a handicap match. on the January 7, 2002 episode of Raw, Bossman and Booker T was defeated by Stone Cold & The Rock. on the January 17 episode of Smackdown, Bossman lost to Diamond Dallas Page. At the Royal Rumble (2002), Bossman competed in the Royal Rumble match where he was eliminated by Rikishi. On the January 24 episode of Smackdown, Bossman lost to Rikishi. The team quietly split in late January 2002, and Boss Man returned to Jakked/Metal and Heat. On the February 2 episode of Metal, Bossman defeated The Hurricane. On the February 2 episode of Metal, Bossman defeated Perry Saturn. In April, he formed a short-lived tag team with Mr. Perfect after both were drafted to the Raw brand. On the March 23 episode of WWF Jakked, Bossman and Mr. Perfect lost to The APA. On the April 1 episode of Raw, Bossman and Mr. Perfect lost to The Hardy Boyz. On the April 14 episode of Heat, Bossman lost to Bradshaw. On the April 28 episode of Heat, Bossman defeated Crash Holly. On the May 6 episode of Heat. Bossman lost to D'Lo Brown. On the May 20, 2002 Heat taping, he lost his final WWE match to Tommy Dreamer.
Traylor was assigned to train developmental wrestlers in Ohio Valley Wrestling, before being released from WWE in 2003.
International Wrestling Association of Japan (2004)
Traylor's final matches were in the International Wrestling Association of Japan, where he competed in a tournament for the vacant IWA World Heavyweight Championship. He made it to the final by defeating Freddie Krueger before losing to Jim Duggan.
Traylor had two daughters, Lacy Abilene Traylor and Megan Chyanne Traylor, and was married to Angela, his childhood sweetheart.
In July 2004, Traylor ran for Commission Chairman for Paulding County, Georgia. He was the owner of a Dallas, Georgia storage company called RWT Enterprises.
Traylor died of a heart attack on September 22, 2004, aged 41 at his home in Dallas, Georgia. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016, with his wife and daughters accepting the award on his behalf.
Booker Tio Huffman, Jr. is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and commentator currently signed with WWE. He is better known by his ring names Booker T and King Booker. Booker is best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), WWE, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), holding 35 championships between those organizations. Regarded as one of the greatest stars in WCW's history, he is also the most decorated wrestler in that company's history, having held 21 titles including a record six WCW World Television Championships, and a record ten WCW World Tag Team Championships as one half of Harlem Heat with his brother, Lash "Stevie Ray" Huffman and an eleventh reign in the WWF with Test. Booker headlined many pay-per-view events in WCW, the WWF/E and TNA from the early 1990s to the late 2000s and is a six-time world champion, having won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship five times (four in WCW and once in the WWF) and a World Heavyweight Championship in WWE. He has also gained notable success as a tag team wrestler, being a fifteen-time World Tag Team Champion between WCW (eleven times), WWE (three times), and TNA (once). Additionally, he was the winner of the WWE King of the Ring tournament in 2006, the sixteenth WWE Triple Crown Champion and the tenth WWE Grand Slam Champion. As the ninth (and final) WCW Triple Crown Champion, Booker is the most recent of four men in history to achieve both the WWE and WCW Triple Crown Championships. Booker was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2013, by his brother, Lash Huffman, better known by his ring name Stevie Ray.
Lash Rushay Huffman is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Stevie Ray. Stevie Ray is best known for his seven year tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1993 to 2000, where he was one-half of the tag team Harlem Heat, with his younger brother Booker Huffman ("Booker T"), winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship a record ten times.
Sherri Martel was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri.
Martel began her professional wrestling career in the Mid South after training in Columbia, South Carolina. She joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the mid-1980s and held its AWA World Women's Championship three times. In the late 1980s, she joined WWE, where she held the WWE Women's Championship. Also in WWE, Martel continued to act as a manager to wrestlers such as Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, and Shawn Michaels. She appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the 1990s. In the latter, Martel acted as the manager for the tag team Harlem Heat. After leaving WCW, she made few wrestling related appearances until her death in 2007. She also appeared in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in September 2006 as a manager for Bobby Roode which ended up being her last televised wrestling appearance. By 2003, she and her husband Robert Schrull lived in Tennessee, where she helped him renovate homes. She was married and divorced at least twice during her life, and Booker T gave her away at one of her weddings. She had one son.
Death
On June 15, 2007, Martel died at her mother's residence in McCalla, Alabama, near Birmingham. She was 49 years old. On September 11, 2007, homicide investigators in Tuscaloosa, Alabama released the toxicology report stating that she died of an overdose with multiple drugs in her system, including high amounts of oxycodone. She was cremated after her death
Delbert Alexander "Del" Wilkes, Jr. was an American professional wrestler and college football player, better known by his ring names, The Trooper and The Patriot. Over the course of his nine-year career, Wilkes wrestled for the American Wrestling Association, the Global Wrestling Federation, All Japan Pro Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and WWE.
Marcus Alexander Bagwell is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is best known under the ring name Buff Bagwell and for his tenure in World Championship Wrestling between 1991 and 2001, where he was a five time World Tag Team Champion.
Alexander "Alex" Wright is a German-British former professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. He wrestled professionally in Germany and Japan before signing with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994. He became known for his distinctive pre-match dancing as well as his technical in-ring ability that would ultimately lead him to WCW championship gold. He remained a prominent mid-card performer during his seven-year tenure with WCW, including reigns as a one time Cruiserweight Champion, a one time World Television Champion and a one time World Tag Team Champion with Disco Inferno. He was the Owner, Founder and CEO of New Sport Entertainment GmbH which is the company that owns New European Championship Wrestling.
Robert Lee "Bobby" Eaton is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, who made his debut in 1976. Eaton is most famous for his work in tag teams, especially his days as one-half of the team 'The Midnight Express' with the ring name "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton. Under the management of Jim Cornette, Eaton originally teamed with "Lover Boy" Dennis Condrey and, later on, with "Sweet" Stan Lane. He has also worked with a number of other tag team partners, including Koko B. Ware, Steve Keirn, Chris Benoit and "Lord" Steven Regal. In his career, Eaton wrestled for extended periods of time for various wrestling promotions: Mid-America Wrestling, Continental Wrestling Association, Mid-South Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling, and Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He has also made brief guest appearances for Extreme Championship Wrestling and NWA Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, in addition to appearances for a considerable number of independent wrestling promotions over the years. He currently performs part-time, teaming with either Lane and/or Condrey under the Midnight Express name.
Martin Anthony Lunde better known by his ring name Arn Anderson, is a former American professional wrestler and author. His career has been highlighted by his alliances with Ric Flair and various members of the wrestling stable, The Four Horsemen, in the NWA/WCW. He currently serves as the senior producer for WWE's Raw brand. On March 31, 2012, Anderson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fameas a member of the Four Horsemen.
Robert Welch is a professional wrestler and manager better known by his ring names Robert Fuller and Col. Robert Parker. Robert and his brother Ron co-owned Continental Championship Wrestling for a time. Fuller started wrestling in 1970 in the Alabama and Tennessee regions. He often teamed with his cousin Jimmy Golden and they won many tag team titles.
He spent some time in the American Wrestling Association with Golden in 1988, and they feuded with The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson). He also wrestled in the Texas area where he teamed with Jeff Jarrett.
In 1993, Fuller went to World Championship Wrestling as manager Col. Robert Parker, a takeoff of Col. Tom Parker of Elvis Presley fame. He managed Sid Vicious and teamed with manager Harley Race and his protege, Vader to form "The Masters of the Powerbomb". They feuded with Sting and Davey Boy Smith. In 1994, he managed "Stunning Steve" Austin before reforming his "Stud Stable" with Golden as "Bunkhouse Buck", Meng, Dick Slater, Terry Funk and Arn Anderson.They feuded heavily with Dusty and Dustin Rhodes. In 1995, Col. Parker courted Sherri Martel to the dismay of both the Stud Stable and Sherri's charges, Harlem Heat. Parker and Sherri went to get married and Sherri was attacked by Madusa, who was supposed to be Parker's wife. Parker and Sherri split and feuded and then made up again, with Parker leaving the Stud Stable to help Sherri manage Harlem Heat. While with Harlem Heat, Parker's official title was "promoter", while Sherri retained the "manager" designation. One trademark of Parker's managing would be his fanning himself during matches. In October 1996, Harlem Heat fired Parker after he cost them the WCW World Tag Team Championships. He quickly started to manage The Amazing French Canadians (Jacques Rougeau and Carl Ouellet), trading in his gray suit for a French Foreign Legion uniform.[1] Harlem Heat and The Amazing French On June 2, 2006 in Irondale, Alabama, Fuller managed Shannon Spruill against El Mexico for the NWA Wrestle Birmingham Junior Heavyweight Championship. With the help of Fuller (who referred to Spruill as his "Million Dollar Baby"), Spruill defeated El Mexico to win her third wrestling title.
On September 14, 2006, Fuller was seen, once again as Col. Parker, being interviewed by Robert Roode on TNA Impact!.
On February 8, 2018, Fuller made a return to professional wrestling as Col. Robert Parker, a manager for Major League Wrestling. He reactivated The Stud Stable with the Dirty Blondes as his first signees.
Personal life
Robert Fuller comes from a wrestling family: his father Buddy Fuller and his grandfather Roy Welch were wrestlers, as were his brother Ron Fuller[3] and his cousin Jimmy Golden ("Bunkhouse Buck").
He has been married four times: Joyce Logan, who he has his oldest daughter Kimberly by; Sylvia Wilson (Miss Sylvia), who he has Katie and Charlotte by; Susan Lostraglio, who he had no children with; and his current wife Laverne Stewart. He has 7 grandchildren. Fuller currently resides in Seminole, Florida.
Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifita is a Tongan professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in WWE and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as Haku. He is also known for his time in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he wrestled under the name Meng. In WWE, he also wrestled under the names King Tonga and King Haku. Fifita headlined multiple pay-per-view events for WWE and WCW and is a former WWE World Tag Team Champion along with Andre the Giant as one-half of The Colossal Connection.
Marc Mero is an American former amateur boxer and professional wrestler, as well as a motivational speaker. He is best known for his appearances with WWE under his real name and with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name Johnny B. Badd. Today, Marc Mero contributes much of his time to the nonprofit organization he founded in 2007, Champion of Choices.
Mero was heavily pushed as a mid-carder as "Johnny B. Badd" in WCW during the early 1990s. He won the promotion's World Television Championship three times during the course of his career before departing the company due to creative differences in 1996. He would then compete in WWE under his real name, making his debut at WrestleMania XII and going on to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. He would then feud with his wife Sable before departing in 1998. Mero's last mainstream appearance was in TNA, where he wrestled sporadically in the mid-2000s.
Leon Allen White better known by his ring names Big Van Vader or Vader, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. White is best known for his time with New Japan Pro Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, WWE and All Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1990s. A super-heavyweight wrestler capable of aerial maneuvers such as the moonsault and the dropkick, White was both a face and a heel in several professional wrestling promotions. During his career, he became an eight time world champion, having won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship three times, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship three times and the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship twice. Vader returned to Japan, wrestling at a NJPW Wrestle Land show. He also worked in the independent circuit as Big Van Vader, including a tag match against Samoa Joe and Dan Maff in Jersey All Pro Wrestling with Mike Awesome as his tag team partner. On May 12, 2007, Vader faced Brutus Beefcake at Spartan Slamfest, a World Wrestling Coalition charity show. The match was held at the Kingston Armory in Kingston, Pennsylvania. After wrestling his last match in 2007, White began working as a high school football coach.
O April 29, 2010, White made a return to wrestling under his Vader ring name at the event Vader Time 5 Return of the Emperor. At the event, he teamed with his son Jesse and former tag team partner 2 Cold Scorpio to successfully defeat Makoto Hashi, Tamon Honda and Tatsumi Fujinami in the main event.
In May 2016, Will Opsreay and Ricochet faced each other during the NJPW tournament Best of the Super Juniors. During the match, both wrestlers performed a high flying, fast paced sequence. When Vader saw the sequence, he complained in social media about the current direction pro wrestling is taking. During the following weeks, Vader and Ospreay feuded in Twitter, so England-based promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) booked a match between them. The match took place on August 12, 2016, where Vader defeated Ospreay. Two days later, he made an appearance in Colchester, England for the XWA Wrestling (XWA) promotion, where he defeated "Savvy" Sid Scala.
On April 20, 2017, Vader made an appearance in Japan at Korakuen Hall as part of the Dradition show to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the debut of Tatsumi Fujinami. Following a six-man tag team match, Vader collapsed due to being dropped on his head during the match, but he was able to walk backstage under his own power and he remained in Japan as he was scheduled to work two more shows in Fukuoka and Osaka.[On April 22, Vader, Takuma Sano, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara lost a six man tag team match to Koji Kanemoto, Shiro Koshinaka and Tatsumi Fujinami. On April 23, Vader, Riki Choshu, and Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Shiro Koshinaka, Takuma Sano, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. The final match of his career took place May 25, 2017 at WrestleJam V, where Vader defeated The Ironman.
Return to AJPW (2011–2012)
In the aftermath of the 2011 natural disasters in Japan, Vader and his son Jesse wrestled on special tribute cards for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Zero1. On December 7, 2012, Vader returned to AAJPW, teaming with Keiji Mutoh and Kenso to defeat Bambi Killer, Franz Dynamite and Mazada in a six-man tag team match.
Richard Morgan Fliehr, known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career that has spanned almost 50 years. He is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Much of his career was spent in JCP and WCW, where he won numerous titles. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the monikers "The Nature Boy" and "Slick Ric". Flair is also a founding member of the original Four Horsemen stable alongside Tully Blanchard and The Andersons, managed by JJ Dillon. A major pay-per-view attraction throughout his career, Flair headlined the premier annual NWA/WCW event, Starrcade, on ten occasions, while also co-headlining its WWE counterpart, WrestleMania VIII (8), in 1992, after winning that year's Royal Rumble. PWI awarded him their Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the Wrestler of the Year (an award named after him and Lou Thesz) a record eight times. The first 2-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, first inducted with the class of 2008 for his individual career and again with the class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen, he is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Flair is officially recognized by WWE as a 16-time world champion (8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, 6-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and 2-time WWE Champion), although the number of his world championship reigns varies by source, ranging from 16 to 25. He has claimed to be a 21-time champion. He was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (which he also held last). As the inaugural WCW World Heavyweight Champion, he became the first person to complete WCW's Triple Crown, having already held the NWA\WCW United States Heavyweight and NWA\WCW World Tag Team Championships. He then completed WWE's version of the Triple Crown when he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, after already holding the WWE Championship and the WWE World Tag Team Championship on previous occasions.
