Tonight's Top Stop: Ric Flair & WWE Raw

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SYLVESTER STALLONE WILL BE ON HAND for tonight's WWE Raw event at the Verizon Center. But we have it on good authority that "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, having taken care of some legal issues surrounding his divorce, will be taking part in the action. Tonight's three-hour show is being billed as "the biggest Battle Royal in Raw history," and the winner will face WWE Champion John Cena for his title. Wrestling fans are already speculating that, if Stallone's latest "Rocky" film does well at the box office, the WWE will likely trot out Flair, 57 — or "Rocky III" star Hulk Hogan, 53 — for one more title run.
The Hogan vs. Flair argument is the Beatles vs. Stones debate of farcical fisticuffs.

Reasons why Ric Flair — whose ring persona has been, for most of his career, that of a cocky lady's man and party machine — is considered the greatest professional wrestler in history: he's been winning championships since the '70s, while Hogan didn't ascend until the '80s; he's generally considered a better actual grappler than the Hulk; he's won 29 different championships (the Hulk's only won 13, according to Wikipedia); he wrestled in front of the biggest live audience ever (in front of 100,000 in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 1995); he became known for repeatedly triumphing in grueling hour-long matches; he still wrestles frequently (unlike the Hulk); and he never participated in an embarrassing VH1 reality show.

But in a recent interview, Flair said that Hogan is the greatest "wrestler" ever. While this demonstrates that God-fearing grandpa Richard Morgan Fliehr is not the same person as the hubris-engorged, pimp-dressing "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, don't tell your eight-year-old son that. Just buy him a ticket to the Verizon Center to see the man who calls himself "Space Mountain" (as in: the oldest ride with the longest line) square off in the squared circle against the current generation of "rasslers."
»Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW; 7:30 p.m., $20-$60; 202-628-3200. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)

Photo courtesy WWE