On July 4th, 1982, the champion of the NWA (Ric Flair) battled the champion of the WWF (Bob Backlund) to determine who was the toughest man and most dominant Alpha Male in the world. Now exactly 30 years later to the day, let’s take a closer look at this classic battle and what it represented.
Unfortunately, no film footage of this epic encounter is known to exist (they didn’t film most House Shows back then.) Today we have the advantage of being able to easily access every minute of wrestling filmed anywhere around the globe on-line or by ordering the DVD, but 30 years ago, wrestling fans just weren’t so fortunate!
A few photos exist which capture the drama and excitement of the encounter. The wrestling magazine editors evidently understood the importance (and the boner potential) of this encounter and covered it extensively in their pages.
The WWF and the NWA were the top two wrestling federations of the day. The winner of the match was to hold both belts and unify the two federations, which would have changed the course of wrestling history. For the Champ of one federation to even agree to wrestle the Champ of the other federation was a rare treat, a Clash of the Titans, an arousing face-off of manhood. The stakes were for nothing less than the title of Alpha Male of the World.
The contrast between the two men — the storyline of the match — was in their appearances and attitudes. Backlund was a Nice Kid, a Boy-Next-Door, a Regular Guy who earned his top spot through hard work and determination. In his bright blood-red gear, he was the object of our compassion and support.
Flair was a Sunuvabitch, a Spoiled One-Percenter, a cocky, nasty, cheating, arrogant Stud. He wore purple trunks, the color of wealth and royalty, with his initials printed on the hip in a fancy script.
His shocking (and flamboyant) blond hair was like a slap in the face to every regular guy and Joe Sixpack in the audience, humbly working hard and obeying the rules to barely scrape by. Fans were aching to see him punish Backlund as much as they ached for Flair to punish themselves.
What Ric Flair ass-kicking would be complete without the good old Figure 4 Leglock?!? The Natcher Boy locks it on Backlund’s legs and lets the torture begin. After squealing like a pig for a while, the fan favorite demonstrates his “intestinal fortitude” by bravely twisting out of the hold and reversing the agony onto the arrogant bastard’s legs. The struggle for mastery and domination continues…
Even though 30 years have passed since this epic encounter, many things remain the same in the Rasslin’ Ring. The cocky, rich pretty-boy still bends the rules to gain the advantage. The handsome hero still suffers over-whelming pain, but muddles through to pull out an inspiring victory once in a while.
Nobody won the match of course — it was a Double Disqualification as you perhaps guessed. After all, do we really want only one Pro Wrestling Undisputed Champion of the World? Isn’t it more fun to have multiple federations — multiple Champs — who can forever boast, challenge, threaten, and proposition one another, forever struggling to gain the top spot in the world?
Federations today barely acknowledge the existence of other federations and wrestlers, but it was much more exciting 30 years ago when the different organizations would vie for supremacy (even if there never was a definite outcome or undisputed winner…)