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Woo! Ric Flair Headlines Wrestling Show On Friday

Posted: Feb 27th 2014 By: CMBurnham

Professional wrestling fans can take a trip down memory lane on Friday.

Stars who used to make regular stops in Spartanburg ? including ?Nature Boy? Ric Flair, Vader, The Rock-N-Roll Express, Magnum T. A., The Patriot and Jimmy ?The Boogie Woogie Man? Valiant ? will be on-hand as Big Time Wrestling makes its debut to the area. Matt Hardy and the Hurricane also will appear.

The event begins with an autograph session from 6-8 p.m. Friday, followed by wrestling action at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. Wrestling is expected to last approximately two hours.

Flair, a 16-time world heavyweight champion, had many matches inside the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. Big Time Wrestling promoter Stephen Perkins said Flair came up with the idea to come into the area when looking for new venues.

?I told Ric I wanted to get back in the South,? Perkins said. ?Ric said the perfect place was in Spartanburg and Greenville. That is where the traditional fans are with real memories of professional wrestling in its heyday.?

Perkins said the event has something that will satisfy the expectations of all the fans in attendance.

?The great thing about us is the people get up close and personal and get to meet and greet the wrestlers,? he said. ?The grandfather who is taking the grandkid will get to see wrestlers that they know and watched, and the grandkid will see wrestlers that they know.?

Valiant is celebrating his 50th year of wrestling. He will promote the event by meeting fans from 1-4 p.m. today and Friday at Big Lots in Spartanburg.

Valiant, a WWE Hall of Famer and former two-time NWA world television champion, said coming back to Spartanburg rekindles his favorite memories.

?I?ve been all over the world, brother,? he said. ?I?ve been coast-to-coast like buttered toast, but I always say the best fans in the world are in the Mid-Atlantic. I worked with guys there like Wahoo McDaniel and Andre the Giant. In 1980 until it closed, I worked for (Jim) Crockett, and those were the best times. It just thrills me to come back to Spartanburg.?

Valiant added the thrill for him remains interacting with the fans.

?I love it,? he said. ?I?ve always been a real fan person and people person. In the ?60s and ?70s, I was a bad guy. I was ?Handsome? Jimmy Valiant and couldn?t show my appreciation for the fans. But I always admired them. Then, when I became the ?Boogie Woogie Man? and grew out the beard and danced all around, I hugged and kissed them all. Old, young, man, woman, black, white, green, purple, it didn?t matter. I hugged and kissed anybody.?

Ricky Morton, one half of the Rock ?N? Roll Express, also is no stranger to Spartanburg. He, along with longtime partner Robert Gibson, won multiple world tag team titles. Morton also is a former world heavyweight champion.

He said returning to Spartanburg is always something he looks forward to.

?Back in the NWA days, we always came there on Tuesdays and did a lot of our TV tapings,? Morton said. ?For us and the Midnight Express, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T. A., it?s where it all began. Robert and I have never forgotten where we came from. It?s going to be a pleasure to be back there.?

Morton added his appreciation for the fans and the Spartanburg area over the years.

?After all these years it goes to show you that you still have fans from those old times and the impact the NWA had,? he said. ?I take a lot of pride in what I do. I?m from the old school of professional wrestling. It?s what I do to make a living. We put a lot of energy in what we did when we were in Spartanburg.?

Hardy is known most notably for his days in the WWE. He?s also been involved in TNA and Ring of Honor. He and his brother, Jeff, were six-time world tag team champions as the Hardy Boyz.

Hardy said coming to Spartanburg is always a fun time.

?I would rather wrestle in front of a traditional-style audience than I would anywhere out there,? he said. ?When I was with the WWE, I wrestled in that building before and it was a blast. What the fans like there is when it just comes down to good guy versus bad guy. You enjoy wrestling for fans like that. It makes our job fun, and really we?re nothing without the fans.?