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Queen’s Park, Ontario/Victoria, British Columbia
Reg Hearsay/Canadian Press
A nationwide uproar has emerged over the monopolies provinces are creating around the impending legalization of cannabis.
Bill C-45, drafted by the federal Liberal government, will permit citizens to buy, possess, and grow their own marijuana. Passage is expected in late summer of 2018.
Many are accusing governments across the nation of rushing to cash in on a revenue opportunity few expect will be seen again in their lifetimes.
The Premiere of Ontario - Ms. Kathleen Wynne - hastily called a news conference to decry to the suggestion that the Ontario government was using the legalization of cannabis as a ‘major tax grab’.
What she described as ‘blatant partisanship’, she dismissed concerns about monopolizing cannabis distribution by the province.
“This is not simply about keeping children safe. Because we always keep children safe. Honest. This is about cannabis being treated the same as alcohol and gambling. Making profits from people choosing to pursue individual activities is in the interest of public policy. And the most profitable of those activities are in our interests. So, we will keep those revenues, and keep ensuring your children are safe.”
She bristled at the suggestion that cannabis - and by extension, that ‘sin’ taxes on alcohol and gambling - are viewed as a cash cow by governments.
“If it wasn’t for us delivering the services that Ontarian’s demand, we’d have to raise taxes, or let the people do it themselves. How in the world do you expect us to balance a budget without those revenues?”
“Why would you want your grandmother doing her own dialysis? Why do you suggest that?” Premiere Wynne added before leaving the podium, holding up a triacta ticket she’d purchased on the way to the news conference.
On the West coast, British Columbia's Premier John Horgan faced his own line of questioning in the lobby of the Legislative Assembly in Victoria. When asked about the low payout rates of the BCLCB (Liquor and Gaming Commission) on games of chance and how cannabis sales are expected to follow the same trajectory, Horgan said “It’s in the interests of all British Columbians to come together and support the government, whether through voluntary or involuntary means.”
“Our monopolies create jobs in Victoria and allow us to pay licensing fees to foreign corporations that would otherwise be paid by businesses. There’s no need for that. We do it all. And you’re welcome.”
A reporter who stated that if the current payout ratios from Keno and the province wide poker game - available in convenience stores and gas stations across the province - were offered in Nevada, a casino license holder would be subject to racketeering laws and felony charges of gangsterism - was blackjacked and forcibly removed by security.
Our fact checkers have verified these claims .
This reporter attempted to query the Alberta government on their reliance on liquor and gaming revenues - but was unsuccessful in obtaining a response by press time.
Alberta’s notorious ‘VLT’s’ (video lottery terminals) have an average payout of 92%, 4 percentage points lower than Nevada’s minimum for acquiring a casino license on slot machines.
Premier Rachel Notley’s office did not reply to questions from reporters, but she was spotted drinking a tequila Cesear in Nixx Pub on Edmonton Trail in Calgary. Ms. Notley had spent spent several hours playing ’Magic Sparkle Moonbeams’ on a VLT machine for $0.20 a spin, selecting 4 lines. Ms. Notley constantly encouraged the lady next to her to ‘go for broke’ and ‘hit it big’ by betting the maximum $5 per spin - or $0.25 on all 20 lines available.
The VLT's have an average of 3 seconds per spin, and betting the maximum, one can gamble more than $6,000 per hour on these machines. That's the equivalent of betting $75 per hand on a blackjack table, with loss ratios almost twice that of the popular card game.
A representative of the bar refused to divulge any further information about Ms. Notley's visit other than to say ‘We’re out of pickled beans and celery"....paused, and then added: "We're out of tequila now too. But we have plenty of Worcestershire sauce left."
John Horgan walked away from the podium after the physical altercation with the journalist by encouraging attendees to visit the Parliamentary Gift Shop on the way out, which provides the only exit possible from the Assembly. Access to the back door is restricted to MLA's and their officials and delegates only.
Other premiers have not responded to our emails as of time of writing. The Irving family was asked about their plans and their instructions to the Premiers of Atlantic Canada, but simply issued a terse statement through a spokesperson that they had 'No comment on the size of the pie slices yet'. The spokesperson added: "We'll tell our people when they need to know".

Hi I've been using gaming laptops for the past 6-7 years, and this will be my first PC build.

What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.

• Most intensive thing will be gaming. Currently playing GuildWars 2, Destiny 2, World of Tanks, and various single player games that come along with sales, thinking of starting Witcher 3 sometime. Maybe do some programming projects, but nothing crazy.

What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?

• I'm looking for around $2,000 CAD PC. I have bought Sager gaming laptops at around this price in the past, 980m and 675m.

When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

• Within the next week or so, willing to wait for the 8700K though.

What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)

• Just the tower and stuff inside. I already have the accessories and monitors, will upgrade them over the next few months or so with some more research.

Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?

• I'm in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I can go to any store locations within the city or surrounding towns.

If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.

• Using Razer Hex mouse, Steelseries keyboard, and some generic Samsung monitor I bought 5 years ago using HDMI I will upgrade these over the next few months, so don't worry about them. If there's a good 144Hz IPS monitor deal upcoming, I would appreciate it (this is outside the budget). A 1TB Crucial M500 2.5" SSD.

Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?

• Never tried over clocking, but willing to see it in action down the line. If possible latest and greatest. i7 8700k (willing to wait if it's still out of stock) and 1080 or better within the budget.

Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

• 1 SSD: ~250 or 500 GB SSD for the OS and other programs such as Office, Visual Studios, and maybe some Virtual Machines. Some extra 2.5" slots for my laptop 1TB SSD and HDD Or if there's a good deal going on for 1TB SSD that's better performance than a 4 year old Crucial M500 SSD.

Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

• I really do not like LEDs and special designs. I prefer something sturdy, easy to maintain/build/clean, maybe rest my foot on. As silent as possible. No need for Disk/Blueray players

Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?

• Do not need any software included. Though I will be using Windows 10 if it will have any effect on hardware decisions.

Extra info or particulars:

• I like silence and maintainability. 16GB+ memory.

Thanks

STARRCADE '93 Thumbs up 130 (75.1%) Thumbs down 35 (20.2%) In the middle 8 (04.6%)
BEST MATCH POLL Ric Flair vs. Vader 172
No other match received even one vote
WORST MATCH POLL Shock Master vs. King Kong 92 Sting & Hawk vs. Nasty Boys 42
Ric Flair's 11th (or 10th, or 12th, depending on what you consider a world title and what you're willing to accept and ignore when it comes to wrestling history) world title victory was easily the most memorable of all his title wins, and created a unique emotional moment almost foreign to American wrestling.
In what was easily the best job of build-up for a single match in the five-year history of WCW, Starrcade '93, by virtue of a horrible situation that took place two months earlier in England, was switched from the planned Vader losing the WCW title to Sid Vicious, to Vader losing the title to Flair in a match where Flair put his career on the line. The result was what was announced as a sellout at the Charlotte Independence Arena (actually about 300 shy of capacity, probably with less papering than at any recent WCW major shows). The report we got was the house was $65,000, which is more than any WCW house in a long time, but still indicates they needed significant paper to fill the building even with all the hype nationally and in the local media because Flair is a major celebrity in town and friends with key writers and sportscasters. Most likely it also resulted in as good a PPV buy rate as WCW could be capable of getting at this stage or any stage in the foreseeable future, although based on our response as far as numbers of calls, it doesn't indicate the 0.8 that some people were hoping for. But in fairness to the company, once they were forced into changing the main event, they did everything possible to not only make it work, but did a unique promotional job using the media and pushing Flair like never before. Ironically, just days before the event, something happened in the build-up that just a few years earlier would have been regarded as an absolute disaster, but in today's wrestling world was almost not even worthy of a notice.
In a snafu the likes that seems to happen with alarming regularly with the company, a PPV ad that ran one week before the show in the trade magazine Multi Channel News, featured an ad not for Starrcade, but for SuperBrawl (2/20/94) listing the main event as Flair defending the title against Vader in a Thundercage match. Ad slicks for that match had been sent to cable companies around the country well before hand, so anyone within the cable industry with any interest in wrestling knew the result, but then again, any fan with a brain should have been able to easily figure it out as well. But the topper was three days later when the New York Daily News, which is I believe the largest circulated daily newspaper in the country, showed the ad for Super Brawl mentioning the snafu with the headline, "You Can Bet on it," saying the ad gave away that Flair was going to win the title four days later and said if you need some extra holiday cash, bet the ranch on Flair, if you can find someone to take the bet. Ironically, or perhaps not, the same newspaper ran a lengthy story on Flair the day before, treating Flair and pro wrestling as if it were a shoot. In addition, the ads in local newspaper TV Guides around the country for the show were still listing Vader defending against Vicious as the main event. If this was just one year ago and Bill Watts was still in charge of WCW, he'd have pulled out what little hair he had left, torn apart several sections of the office, and probably have to be heavily sedated in order to keep from changing the finish. But it's one year later and nobody cared, and quite frankly, I doubt if affected the number of buys for this show one iota.
In the weeks leading up to the show Flair delivered some of the best interviews of the decade, and WCW backed it up by getting footage of other sports stars, most notably Charles Barkley, plugging the match and building up Flair. The television, while giving some build-up to other matches, focused on the main event in a manner telling everyone that this match was not the typical PPV main event, thus making it not a typical PPV show, and effectively got the match and thus the show over as an extra special event. The show itself, sold as a one-match show, delivered because of that. There were no expectations for the undercard, which was fortunate, because nothing underneath delivered. Because of that, it was a $24.95 PPV show with only one good match out of eight, but was still a solid, in fact a major, thumbs up.
The undercard was made a backdrop for hyping the main event, similar to a boxing PPV. While the unique setting and uniqueness of the hype is something that neither WWF nor WCW could possibly duplicate more than once every few years (if even that, because how many enduring figures will this business produce that reach the level of Flair, let alone how many are capable of putting on the performance that created this emotion?), other aspects of building drama (showing the guys entering the arena, interviews with the main eventers interspersed throughout the card rather than just immediately before the match) for the main event to make it seem special could be done for the world title match on most PPV shows effectively. Once a year, for the big match, they could even build interest by having interviews with the other leading wrestling personalities in the group analyzing and predicting a winner. In this case, having the other faces and heels both talk about Flair and his legacy would have been a nice added touch. At this PPV, the maudlin approach to "what could have been" Flair's final match ever at one point bordered on being overdone.
The show opened with a series of photos of Flair from early childhood through what appeared to be college football, a newspaper clipping of the 1975 small airplane crash that he was in with Johnny Valentine and Bob Bruggers (both of whom never wrestled again) and some others where he broke his back, and then showed clips of him in the ring from previous Starrcade main events. They aired a clip of Vader arriving in the building and working out in the ring hours before the show started. They then went to Flair's house showing Flair, wife Beth and three of his four children in an emotional setting trying to get over the idea that this really could be his last ride to his final match. Flair was then shown getting into a limo with Gene Okerlund and they talked in a manner leading you to believe it was going to be his last match. After the opener, they showed another clip of them riding to the building with more last match talk (at this point it bordered on being overdone) and finally showed them arriving at the building.
The match itself was excellent when it came to drama and heat largely because of the Charlotte crowd/hometown Flair tie-in and the build-up. It would have been a great match in any case, but not one that would be remembered for years. The match never had the heart-stopping close calls that made nearly every nightly Flair match during the mid-80s, nor did it have the brutality that Vader's PPV matches with Sting or Cactus Jack had or the level of heat and action of every big show Kenta Kobashi match this year. But as a total performance, and by that I don't mean bell-to-bell performance but pre-match build-up to post-match interview performance, it probably was both the best and most memorable of Flair's entire career. This was also a night where Gene Okerlund to a lesser extent got over this as something special because he tried to act largely out of character, and a main event where Tony Schiavone did the best announcing job of his career. Whether this was the last real hurrah or a career rebirth, either for WCW and/or Ric Flair, will be answered by crowd reactions over the next few weeks. But no matter which it is and what the future of WCW is, Flair's role in wrestling history as its greatest all-around performer of all-time, which was solidified many years ago, was defined on this night. It was the night where his versatility, interview ability and obvious love for his sport took center stage above any wrestling match. If it seemed real at times, it probably was because with the exception of what actually went on in the ring (which was really brutal in its own right), an awful lot of it was.
RIC FLAIR'S CAREER RUNDOWN Real name - Richard Morgan Fliehr Birthday: February 25, 1949 Years Pro: 21 Total championship reigns: NWA world heavyweight title (between eight and ten depending on how you figure it--most ever in history), WCW world heavyweight title (two--one concurrent with NWA title reign), WWF world heavyweight title (two), United States heavyweight title (five--tied with Wahoo McDaniel for most in history of that version of the U.S. title), NWA world tag team title (three), Mid Atlantic title (two), Mid Atlantic tag team title (two), Mid Atlantic TV title (two), Missouri State title (one) Wrestling Observer Newsletter readers awards: Wrestler of the Year (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992--since 1981, no wrestler in North America has ever finished ahead of Flair in Wrestler of the Year balloting); Most Outstanding Wrestler (1986, 1987, 1989); Best Heel (1990); Feud of the Year (1989 vs. Terry Funk); Most Charismatic (1980, 1982); Match of the year (1983 vs. Harley Race, 1986 vs. Barry Windham, 1988 vs. Sting, 1989 vs. Rick Steamboat), Readers' Favorite Wrestler (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992), Wrestler of the Decade (1980s)
1967 - Minnesota high school state heavyweight wrestling champion
1969-70 - Played offensive guard at University of Minnesota
1971 - Attended Verne Gagne's training camp in Minnesota, but dropped out
1972 - Attended camp a second time, finishing, and made his pro debut on December 10, 1972 going to a draw with the late George "Scrap-Iron" Gadaski
1973 - Wrestled as undercard rookie in the AWA, mostly putting over another rookie, Greg Gagne
1974 - On the recommendation of Wahoo McDaniel, was brought in by Carolinas promoter Jim Crockett Jr. as a typical at the time cocky bleached blond heel to be tag team partner with veteran Rip Hawk.
Captured first championship, the old Mid Atlantic tag team titles with Hawk beating Paul Jones & Bob Bruggers. Lost titles to Jones & Tiger Conway Jr. in early 1975
1975 - Captured first singles title, the Mid Atlantic TV title from Paul Jones.
Was out of action for several months after suffering a broken back in a small airplane crash.
Returned to team with Greg Valentine to win the Mid Atlantic tag titles from Dino Bravo & Conway, the first of many tag titles held with Valentine
1976 - Captured the Mid Atlantic title for the first time from Wahoo McDaniel, beginning his most famous early career singles feud that lasted on-and-off for nearly ten years. By this time Flair was being considered by many as a future world champion when the NWA was a worldwide conglomerate and its title was considered the No. 1 title in the wrestling world. Some members of the NWA board, which was in charge of deciding who the group's standard bearer would be, began bringing up Flair's name as a possible successor to then-champion Terry Funk
1977 - Although Flair captured numerous titles in the Mid Atlantic region and established himself as the top wrestler in a talent-laden organization, this was the year of his first major disappointment. The NWA board decided to go with Harley Race, who had more international experience and more of an international name, to replace Funk as champion rather than Flair.
Flair held the Mid Atlantic TV title a second time, gaining it from Rufus Jones, won the U.S. title for the first time from Bobo Brazil, and captured the old NWA tag team title belts twice, both times from Gene & Ole Anderson in a heel vs. heel feud.
1978 - The legendary Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat feud started in an angle where "unknown" newcomer Steamboat pinned Flair in a television match. During this year an angle was run where Flair came out with two models and taunted Steamboat, and an enraged Steamboat came out and ripped Flair's clothes off and left him in his underwear. Ironically, one of the two models in the angle was the future Bonnie "Steamboat" Blood, although it was many years later before the two met again. Steamboat and Flair headlined throughout the year with Steamboat winning both the U.S. title and Mid Atlantic TV titles from Flair during this period. By August, Flair had regained the U.S. title for a second time, winning it from Tim Woods, but Steamboat regained the title in December.
Right about this time, Ch. 17 in Atlanta, then known as WTCG, started getting on satellite systems and Flair occasionally worked in Georgia on major Friday night cards, and would frequently stay over for the Saturday morning television tapings (which would in those days air that evening) and began to make a name for himself outside of the Carolinas/Virginia and Ontario/Buffalo, N.Y. area (which in those days ran the Mid Atlantic television show and used Crockett wrestlers as its headliners) and St. Louis, which was the NWA headquarters.
Although Flair actually debuted in Japan as a rookie for the old IWE in 1973, his first tour as a star for All Japan was in April and May where he gained what at the time was a rare pinfall win over Giant Baba, making him an instant star.
1979 - Flair turned full-fledged babyface shortly after regaining the U.S. title from Steamboat, and became undisputedly the top star in the promotion, after being turned on by Gene Anderson's stable which included Jimmy Snuka, Iron Sheik and Greg Valentine. Flair dropped the title to Snuka, but shortly thereafter gained the World tag title with Blackjack Mulligan as his partner, winning and losing the titles in a feud with Paul Jones & Baron Von Raschke. With the growing expansion of cable and more systems carrying Ch. 17 out of Atlanta, Flair was seen on a national basis
1980 - Continuing as a babyface, Flair worked mainly on top in U.S. title matches, first feuding with Snuka. After regaining the title for the fourth time on April 19 in Greensboro, his feud switched to Greg Valentine. Valentine won the title in July, before Flair regained it on Thanksgiving weekend in Charlotte, and immediately started feuding with the first wrestler who could give his mouth more than a run for its money, Roddy Piper. The Piper-Flair feud in those days was far more memorable for the interview confrontations going back-and-forth than the matches themselves. Flair continued to work in Georgia
1981 - On September 17, Flair captured the NWA title for the first time from Dusty Rhodes in Kansas City. He immediately became one of the most traveled champions in its history, going from circuit-to-circuit, mainly as a heel facing each promotion's top babyface, but remaining as a babyface in the Carolinas but also facing babyfaces as well as heels in title defenses.
At this point Georgia Championship Wrestling had peaked in the TV ratings, averaging a weekly 6.6 every Saturday afternoon making it the most-watched show on cable television.
1982 - Flair's matches with the Von Erichs began in Texas, with an August match with Kerry at Reunion Arena being the roots of a rebirth of the Dallas territory. His December 25, 1982 match with Kerry, which drew the first $100,000 gate in the history of Texas wrestling, literally set the stage for the biggest wrestling boom that part of the country had ever seen. Over the next three years, Flair's matches with Kerry not only sold out numerous shows in Texas, but also in as far away places as Hawaii, Japan and drew big crowds in the Mid South territory. By this point in time, with the exception of Hulk Hogan, who was a regional drawing card in the Midwest, Flair was the biggest drawing card in North America.
1983 - Flair lost the title for the first time on June 10 in St. Louis to Harley Race, largely to set up the first Starrcade on November 24 in Greensboro which drew a sellout 16,000 fans and drew an additional 30,000 more in a dozen closed-circuit sites. Billed as "A Flair for the Gold," Flair vowed he would retire from wrestling if he failed to win the title in a cage match against Race, the same vow that drew WCW's most interest in a main event ten years later. While closed-circuit was used in the early 70s during the heyday of Mil Mascaras in Los Angeles (several theaters were booked for closed-circuit telecasts of the sold out Olympic Auditorium matches) and later the Felt Forum (now Paramount) was used numerous times during a hot feud at Madison Square Garden, this was the most ambitious wrestling promotion since the Muhammad Ali-Antonio Inoki fiasco in 1976. The total overall gate for the show including closed-circuit was $650,000, which pales by comparison with the megagates of today, but was more than any show except Ali-Inoki had ever done in the history of U.S. wrestling.
Flair also drew baseball stadium crowds in excess of 30,000 fans for matches in Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo against the likes of Victor Jovica and Carlitos Colon.
1984 - In the "forgotten" world title change, Flair dropped the strap on March 21 in Wellington, New Zealand to Race, and regained it on March 23 in Kallang, Singapore. All the wrestlers on the tour were sworn to secrecy because nobody in the U.S. or Japan was supposed to know about the title change, however a Japanese publication reported it and for years it was recognized in Japan as a title change, although it was later erased from that country's NWA title history. It was never acknowledged in the United States.
On May 6, Flair dropped the title to Kerry Von Erich at Texas Stadium before 32,123 fans paying $402,000--at that time the second highest single-event gate in North American wrestling history (trailing only the Sammartino vs. Zbyszko Shea Stadium match in 1980).
Flair regained the title from Kerry on May 24 in Yokosuka, Japan.
The key event of this year was the media blitz the WWF received and its acquisition of the TBS time slot that made Flair a national name when McMahon bought out several partners in the old Georgia Championship Wrestling, Inc. company. After numerous complaints to TBS about the change, Ted Turner ordered an early Saturday morning show which a new Georgia group headed by Ole Anderson tried to hold together, and Flair still made as many tapings as his schedule would allow.
1985 - The year of the first Wrestlemania saw the media spotlight hit pro wrestling. Flair, in the wrong place, was usually ignored in all the stories or mentioned as a brief afterthought even though he traveled throughout the U.S. and the world and remained one of the two biggest drawing cards in the country behind only Hogan. At the end of this year, Flair had been in the main event on seven of the ten largest gates in North American pro wrestling history.
In April, Jim Crockett purchased the TBS time slot from Vince McMahon for a reported $1 million, who Ted Turner had ordered off the station, and immediately with the national vehicle, became the second most powerful promoter in the country, and set the stage for a national expansion that eventually killed a 50-year-old family sports promoting business.
The first Great American Bash took place on July 4, selling out Charlotte baseball stadium to the tune of 30,000 fans as Flair beat Nikita Koloff in the main event.
In a controversial move, booker Dusty Rhodes turned Flair heel on Rhodes. At first there were numerous problems because even though they did a hot angle in Atlanta where Flair and what later became known as the Four Horseman turned on Rhodes after a cage match where Flair and Rhodes had been partners, numerous fans wouldn't boo Flair, particularly in the home base. Still, no matter who was cheered or booed, Flair vs. Rhodes did $936,000 for the third Starrcade in their first grudge match after the angle, which was split between the Greensboro Coliseum and the Omni in Atlanta. What would have been a destroying of all previous records one year earlier, actually paled in comparison to the several million dollars WWF took in at the first Wrestlemania.
1986 - Flair and Rhodes, often with the Road Warriors and Russians in the semifinals, drew huge business nearly everywhere Crockett promotions ran.
While the NWA smaller promotions started their downward slide, the NWA became more-and-more simply Jim Crockett Promotions. With Flair as his biggest draw, Crockett made it more and more difficult for other promotions to use Flair, and without access to the world champion and the money he brought in, the smaller promotions started dying out although they inevitably would have only slightly slower anyway. Crockett himself started expanding and had a banner year. In another controversial move, Flair moved from being the centerpiece of the promotion to simply its top heel, as the Four Horseman were formed, with Flair being part of a group. Flair dropped the title on July 26 in Greensboro to Dusty Rhodes, but regained it on August 9 in St. Louis, for title win No. 4 (by U.S. records) or 5.
The final Starrcade ever at the Greensboro Coliseum, split with the Omni, plus the numerous closed-circuit sites, drew $980,000 with Flair vs. Nikita Koloff on top, even at this late date with WWF pretty well owning the media spotlight and the key major markets
1987 - The Crockett machine began faltering this year by attempting to become a national promotion and spending far more than it took in, much of the problem traced to buying out Bill Watts' Mid South promotion and its 100+ station syndicated network, many of which were deals that required the promotion to pay the station for air time. When ad sales for that same air time didn't come close to projections, and house shows started faltering, the company found itself in major financial trouble. With business on the downslide, the man on top, Flair, became a scapegoat in many's eyes. Flair's role as champion differed from most of the NWA champs of the past in that he rarely won his matches at the house shows after he became a heel everywhere. With Crockett using him on every show rather than him touring, among numerous reasons and this wasn't the main one but an important one, Flair's new role killed business in the Crockett strongholds through what became known years later as Dusty screw-job finishes. Actually this was hardly a Dusty invention, and champs of the past used them frequently, but the champs of the past never appeared on every house show in a city, and in the past the screw-jobs were used to set up return matches that would have conclusive finishes, thus the stories had a beginning, middle and end, and in the end the champion was the champion and hopefully the local star was protected enough that he'd still mean something. But it changed when the screw-jobs simply led to more screw-jobs and the champion never went over at the end. It was thought because of Flair's interviews that he was bullet-proof from being hurt by these finishes, but the arena business started its collapse because that wasn't the case. Crockett's expenditures were such that his company couldn't handle the decreasing revenues from the house shows faltering. Flair dropped the title on September 25 in Detroit to Ron Garvin, a very tough believable wrestler but one without a national main event reputation. Literally, Garvin wasn't even among the top five or six babyfaces in the promotion at this time, but he was the only one booker Rhodes was willing to sacrifice to have to a clean job at Starrcade for Flair, thus was given the short title reign. Crockett literally banked the whole company on the windfall he felt Starrcade, this time on PPV, marking the first NWA PPV show ever and only the fourth in history, would give him. The show was moved to Chicago because Greensboro didn't sound cosmopolitan enough. But Vince McMahon, coming off what would end up being his most show ever in Wrestlemania III, ran a counter PPV event and flexed his muscles earned as the King of PPV, saying no company that ran the Crockett event could run his event. With the WWF's track record, Starrcade was killed as only five companies in the entire country carried it, and thus was the beginning of the end for Jim Crockett Promotions. Flair regained the title in cage to end a horrendous Starrcade in Chicago, where babyface Garvin was literally booed out of the building.
1988 - As crowds continued to falter, the man at the top, Flair, started getting the rap of being stale, unable to draw, and old. Problems escalated with booker Rhodes. Although Flair retained the title all year, it was not without its share of problems. One of his crowning moments came on March 27, which was Crockett's revenge for McMahon's killing his Starrcade. Crockett and TBS put together the first Clash of Champions from Greensboro, head-to-head with Wrestlemania. While it's hard to ascertain just how many buys the free show cost Wrestlemania, the losses of potential revenue to McMahon were probably in the millions. At the first Clash, Flair went to a 45:00 draw and retained his title against a young wrestler named Sting, who literally was just another young wrestler with a little popularity coming into the match, and came out of the match as the hottest new wrestling star in the country. The show, which drew a 5.6 rating, was the highest rated wrestling show of the modern NWA/WCW era, a rating that likely will never be surpassed. With muscles and steroids in their height of prominence, it was Lex Luger that was being groomed as Flair's heir apparent, so Sting was quickly put on the back burner. All sorts of power plays were taking place at this time, as Flair and Luger did screw-job finish after screw-job finish, opening to the best houses the company did all year after the screw-jobs with other opponents had killed most of the cities. In rapid order, the big gates plummeted dramatically when the lessons of the past weren't learned. For most of the summer it became well-known that Crockett, in debt past his eardrums, would have to sell the company, and negotiations went on all year with Turner Broadcasting. In November, the deal was consummated for a reported $9 million price. Flair, Rhodes and Crockett had numerous problems, ego clashes and what have you as the crowds continually dropped and Rhodes constantly blamed the man on top and felt they needed a change. As it turned out, Flair nearly jumped to the WWF, as Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson had just a few months earlier. If that had happened, the wrestling world as we know it, for better or worse, would not exist. It is well-known TBS was going to pull out of the deal without Flair, and Crockett couldn't have survived in business with all the losses as he was already in debt. At that point, McMahon was the closest he ever would be to having a true wrestling monopoly in the United States. Finally irrationality took over, Rhodes booked a Starrcade where Flair would drop the title in 5:00 to Rick Steiner, which caused Flair to walk out. When orders came from above that Starrcade would be headlined by Flair vs. Lex Luger, with Flair getting an unheard of pinfall victory, it was clear it was near the end for Rhodes, who was dumped as booker at the end of the year.
1989 - At the age of 40, after being written off by some, Flair responded with what in many ways was the best year of his career, largely due to classic nationally televised matches against Rick Steamboat and Terry Funk. Flair dropped the strap to Steamboat on February 20 in Chicago in an all-time classic. The two followed it up with a 56:00 match in New Orleans, before Flair regained the title on May 7 in Nashville. Those three matches, and another in the Capital Centre, were widely touted as some of the greatest matches of the 1980s. Flair quickly segued into a feud with Funk, which resulted in the last $100,000 houses for regular house shows the promotion would ever see, and its highest buy rate in history (1.5), another record that will never be surpassed, for the Great American Bash against Funk. At this point, with bookers having come and gone in rapid order, Flair did a power play of his own and demanded the book. Flair's booking reign was memorable for several reasons. First, television ratings increased to their highest level in years. While house show attendance wasn't strong, it was far higher than it would ever get again. The downside was that Ric Flair, world champion wrestler, began showing the strains on his face of being booker and world champion at the same time and it even began showing in the ring. Even as perhaps his finest year as a pro was ending, he was being blamed more and more for the company's inability to draw, since he wore both hats as world champion and booker. Both Sting and Luger were mentioned as saviors of the company which supposedly needed a young face on top to draw its lacking kids audience and sell merchandise and simply survive.