"Nature Boy" Ric Flair Birthday Bash Results

[Dustin Salyers]

Proudly Presents...

NWA Reign ~ “Nature Boy” Ric Flair Birthday Bash
February 26th, 2022 [Saturday] @ Grady Cole Center in Charlotte, NC
2, 815 Spectators

~ The National Wrestling Alliance invaded the historic Grady Cole Center for the first time in over twenty years as the NWA Reign promotion celebrated the 73rd birthday of the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. The Grady Cole Center seemed to be near capacity, given the setup of the event and the overwhelming sound of the crowd singing “Happy Birthday” to Ric Flair for several minutes after the lights dimmed in the arena for the first time.

1. Wahoo McDaniel Memorial Block Match: Karl Anderson vs. PAC
> Winner: PAC (12:28) with a bridging German suplex
~ Anderson, who received a strong ovation when he was announced as being from Asheville, thanked the fans for coming out and promised a better result in two weeks.

2. Kazuchika Okada & Bandido vs. AJ Styles & Roderick Strong
> Winner: Styles (9:55) following the Phenomenal Blitz on Bandido
~ Okada and Strong had to be separated at ringside after the match ended

3. Wahoo McDaniel Memorial Block Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Rush
> Winner: Ibushi (15:24) following a standing corkscrew moonsault

4. Prince Devitt & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Adam Cole & Bobby Roode
> Winner: Roode (9:45) following the Northern Lariat on Sabre Jr.

~ “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair was honored at intermission and came to the ring with Charlotte Flair and Arn Anderson. The crowd sang “Happy Birthday” once more before Flair took the microphone and ushered in the biggest ovation of the night with his familiar “Whooo”. Flair acknowledged the legendary wrestlers sitting in the first row, giving a brief synopsis of his past with each. Tully Blanchard, James J. Dillon, Barry Windham, Ricky Steamboat, Greg Valentine and Sting each stood up and received great applause as Flair introduced them to the crowd. Flair also pointed out David Crockett and seemed to tear up as he added “I wish Jimmy were here”. Flair mentioned his history inside the Grady Cole Center as well, pointing out that he debuted here in 1974, defeated Wahoo McDaniel for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title in 1976, he and Valentine losing the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team straps to Steamboat & Paul Jones, successfully defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against John Studd in 1982 and finally watching his sons tag together in 2009.
Flair began thanking the fans just before Asuka, Hikaru Shida, Io Shirai & Mia Yim surprised everyone by interrupting the festivities and surrounding the ring. Charlotte welcomed Asuka to enter the ring by holding up the second rope, creating an opportunity for Yim to slide under the bottom rope and crotch Ric from behind to a chorus of boos. Shida took out Anderson’s knee and Charlotte was attacked by Shirai as she tried to help her father. Ric and Arn rolled out to the floor and it quickly became a four on one as the crowd roared in support of Charlotte. Natalya Neidhart, Britt Baker & Candice LeRae sprinted to the ring to assist and it took several minutes for NWA Reign personnel to separate them.

5. Asuka, Hikaru Shida, Io Shirai & Mia Yim vs. Charlotte Flair, Natalya Neidhart, Britt Baker & Candice LeRae
> Winner: Flair (10:11) with a figure-four leglock on Yim
~ Probably the biggest instantaneous pop of the night with several challenges being made after the match.

6. Wahoo McDaniel Memorial Block Match: Adam Page vs. Xavier Woods
> Winner: Page (13:58) with a bridging deadlift pumphandle half nelson suplex

7. Wahoo McDaniel Memorial Block Match: Johnny Gargano vs. Jay White
> Winner: White (18:42) following a half nelson choke suplex
~ White put the rest of the Block on notice and guaranteed a victory

8. NWA North Carolina Tag Team Championships Triple Threat Match: The Young Bucks vs. reDRagon vs. the Mechanics
> Winner: Harwood (27:37) following the Mindbreaker on Fish
~ The Mechanics become the 1st Champions.
~ Easily the best match of the night and tremendously helped by the crowd cheering for and eventually celebrating with the North Carolina natives.


Wahoo McDaniel Memorial Block

1. Kota Ibushi - 2 points (1-0)
1. PAC - 2 points (1-0)
1. Adam Page - 2 points (1-0)
1. Jay White - 2 points (1-0)
5. Karl Anderson - 0 points (0-1)
5. Johnny Gargano - 0 points (0-1)
5. Rush - 0 points (0-1)
5. Xavier Woods - 0 points (0-1)

[Dustin Salyers]

Sorry this took so long... I actually had about half of this written in much more match detail. I was ill over the weekend and when I came back to this I decided I wanted something different to make this feel more like a house show for when I progress to running streaming events or television.

[magnusd]

This was a good start, I especially enjoyed the Flair segment and I think this setup perfectly for a blood feud with Charlotte's group and the Japanese team. It would have been good to see more detail in the matches themselves, but its understandable for sure since you were ill. Hopefully you are feeling a bit better now. I also wanted to add that its awesome that you are paying homage to Wahoo McDaniel with this tournament, he's kind of a forgotten legend these days, likely because he wasn't a WWE mainstay, but he was as big a name as anyone in the 70's and into the 80's too. The tournament format you've gone for is excellent too, and will create some interesting matches and rivalries down the line.

[joe]

Well done for what it was. I can see where things are going to grow and blossom off ofbthis effort. The intermission segment was clearly the highlight, and I enjoyed the history lesson of it. This all feels very tied to the history and lineage of the territory, and seems to take the business seriously, which I appreciate. I like that you have opted to progress things slowly and naturally and look forward to witnessing the evolution of this promotion.

[jp1985]

Entertaining debut show for the promotion. The tournament really helped to carry things and keep the show moving. I'm guessing by the standings that the tournament is more G1 style, everybody wrestles everybody? Like the naming of the block after Wahoo McDaniel too to pay respect to wrestlers of the past and get a connection to more old school wrestling.

Hard to pick a favorite among the tournament matches. Kota Ibushi and Rush seems like it would be an interesting one! Johnny Gargano and Jay White was hard to pick a winner for at the same time. This should be fun to follow along with it.

Those two tag team matches towards the start would have been good as well. I like that they were kept a bit shorter so that they didn't burn fans out on the tournament stuff or the other matches.

The Ric Flair segment was very nicely done. Again, a really good job there of connecting to the past when it comes to North Carolina's rich wrestling history. My favorite part of the show was having that play into the women's match. Not only did it put a spotlight on Charlotte but the entire women's division as a whole. There is the potential for some great women's action there that gets to push the fantasy aspect of things with Charlotte & Asuka in the same division as Britt Baker & Hikaru Shida.

The main event is a nice preview of what we'll be getting tomorrow night on the AEW PPV with Jurassic Express there swapped out for The Mechanics (and most likely a better match here because of it!) It's hard to go wrong with any of those three teams as champions. The Mechanics might have taken down reDRagon but I hope The Young Bucks are able to get themselves a proper rematch since they were the odd team out in the decision.

[Smith]

This was a stacked card, great little show that was well booked. The intermission segment was a lot of fun. The first show is the hardest but now that you've got it locked in and rolling I'm excited to see whats next.