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"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair don't have a lot of things in common regarding their personalities. However, when discussing the best professional wrestlers of all time, Austin and Flair usually get listed at the top, even by modern professional wrestling fans. Because of this, Steve Austin vs. Ric Flair could've been a "dream match" if the two were to wrestle in their prime. However, the closest thing professional wrestling fans got to a Steve Austin vs. Ric Flair "dream rivalry" was in WWE in 2002 when Ric Flair was much older while Steve Austin was nearing the end of his professional wrestling career.
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Ric Flair Wrestling Out Of His Prime In WCW
"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair is among the best professional wrestlers in the history of the business. Someone who achieved stardom long before arriving in WWE in 1991, Flair made a name for himself in Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling. A sixteen-time World Champion, Ric Flair gets often cited as an influential figure for many top professional wrestlers in later generations.
Unfortunately for modern wrestling fans, these people never got to witness Ric Flair in his prime go toe-to-toe with the very best of the late 1990s to the new millennium. Even though Flair continued to wrestle long after WCW went out of business in 2001, it's clear that this wasn't the "Ric Flair" of old. And it's a shame considering the number of "dream" matches he could've had in the new millennium if he was in his prime.
The Rise Of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin In WWE
While Ric Flair continued to wrestle out of his prime during the late 1990s, Steve Austin broke out as a main-event superstar during that same time frame. Not long after making his WWE TV debut in January 1996, Austin developed the "Stone Cold" persona that launched him to superstardom during the height of the Attitude Era.
In that seven-year WWE run, Austin had many high-profile matches that many consider "dream" matches. Steve Austin wrestled classic bouts against Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, The Rock, Bret Hart, Mick Foley, and many more in the generation he wrestled for in WWE. Over in WCW during the Monday Night Wars, although he still maintained legendary name value in professional wrestling, some could argue that Ric Flair's wrestling career was declining.
Ric Flair could've wrestled Steve Austin in a "dream" match in 1998, and it wouldn't feel the same. It's worth noting during a 1998 interview with Michael Landsberg, even Austin himself felt that Flair overstayed his welcome.
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The Ric Flair Vs. Steve Austin WWE Rivalry In 2002
In late 2001, Ric Flair returned to WWE, wrestling a limited number of matches for the first few months of his comeback. However, that didn't stop Flair from becoming an active member of the WWE roster when the Ruthless Aggression Era began. Weirdly enough, when Flair became more physically active on WWE TV, Steve Austin's WWE career was on its last legs. But despite this, Austin andFlair engaged in an on-screen rivalry when Flair turned heel on Austin, one of Steve Austin's final feuds before departing from the company in mid-2002.
Upon turning heel, Ric Flair started an on-screen alliance with NWO's Big Show to get back at Steve Austin. Because of this, Flair's pairing with Big Show made him appear inferior to Austin. A case in point is Flair and Big Show losing to Austin in a Handicapped match at the Judgement Day 2002 PPV, as Flair couldn't even defeat Austin with a seven-foot giant on his side.
Ric Flair did have a chance to redeem himself in a singles match against Steve Austin on a June 2002 episode of Monday Night Raw, Austin's final match before walking out of WWE. However, Austin defeated Flair again, as it appeared Ric Flair was no match for Steve Austin.
If Flair wrestled in his prime against Austin, one would've expected WWE to empathize on booking the two in having a "dream" rivalry. However, because Ric Flair was much older, there was only so much WWE could do.
