Couple of wrestling milestones have happened in the last couple of weeks – neither one of them terribly good.
(I am obliged to issue the standard disclaimer here that no, dumbasses – I don’t  believe that pro wrestling’s real.  The outcomes are determined in advance, and most of the punches are pulled – but there are some of what the industry calls “spots” that are all too real, and these performers do truly get hurt in the process of entertaining their fans.  Up your ass if you’re too stupid to realize that.)
Okay, back to the post at hand –
As many of you may know by now, “Nature Boy” Ric Flair wrestled in his last match last night at Wrestlemania 24.  The stipulation of the match was the same one under which he’d been performing for about the last three months – lose, and be “forced” into retirement, per the edict of one Vincent Kennedy McMahon.  (Now, of course we all know that that doesn’t mean shit, as Flair could jump to TNA Wrestling at any time after “retiring” from WWE – but we’ll invoke the trademark Hillary Clinton “willing suspension of disbelief” and just ignore TNA for the moment.)  Flair wrestled against Shawn Michaels and, in what is reported to have been a five-star match, faced defeat bravely, if a bit teary-eyed.
The “retirement ceremony”, if you will, was at the end of tonight’s RAW – and if it ever gets YouTubed and you didn’t see it live tonight, try and catch it later.  It was a helluva tear-jerker, at least for those who’ve followed Flair’s career from his days in the old National Wrestling Alliance.
The other milestone, speaking of the old NWA, was the death of one of the best wrestling “managers” ever to grace wrestling’s stage.  “Playboy” Gary Hart (not to be confused with “Monkey Business” Gary Hartpence) died eleven days ago at age 66.
Those of you who got the opportunity to follow World Class Championship Wrestling knew of the long-running feud between Fritz Von Erich (and later his boys David, Kevin, Kerry, Chris & Mike) and the Hart stable, which included (at times) the Masked Spoiler (Don Jardine), the Bushman, the Missouri Mauler, “Brute” Bernard, Bugsy McGraw, the Great Kabuki, the Great Muta (Kabuki’s real-life son, if I’m not mistaken), King Kong Bundy and the One Man Gang.  Hart was also the main booker of the feud between the Von Erich boys and the Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy and Buddy Roberts).
Today’s wrestlers could have learned a lesson or three from Gary Hart – the man knew psychology, both in-ring and on the microphone, like nobody’s business.  No one, and I mean no one, ever cut a better promo than Gary Hart.  Because of his work, he was one of the most hated (by the fans) in the industry – which means that he was a master at his job.
In either case, we won’t see performers like these gentlemen again.  Both Flair’s career, and Hart, will be sorely missed by this scribe.