Nathan Boom-Ba-Ye 2022: Ric Flair's Last Match, the Biggest Global Force Wrestling Summer Night Fever Marquee in Nashville is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and supershow that will take place on July 31, 2022, at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, airing on FITE and In Demand. The event will be produced and promoted by Conrad Thompson and David Crockett under the banner of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) as part of the Starrcast V convention, and is the first card promoted under the JCP banner since 1988. Ric Flair will headline the event in the final match of his 50-year career, teaming with son-in-law Andrade El Idolo against Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett.
Wrestlers from Global Force Wrestling, K-1, PRIDE Fighting Championships, Backyard Wrestling Inc. All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Black Label Pro (BLP), DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), Future Stars of Wrestling (FSW), Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), Impact Wrestling, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), Major League Wrestling (MLW), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Ohio Valley Wrestling, Progress Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Revolver (PWR), Ring of Honor (ROH), Terminus: Modern Age Grappling, and WWE are scheduled to perform. It will be the first event to feature cooperation from all major American professional wrestling promotions since the 3rd Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show in 2000.
The pre-show will begin at 6:05pm EST, a nod to the traditional timeslot JCP's World Championship Wrestling program aired on TBS throughout the 1980s.
Production[]
Background[]
Ric Flair, who will headline the event in the final match of his 50-year career. Ric Flair debuted as a professional wrestler on December 10, 1972. Flair lost his first retirement match against Shawn Michaels at WWE's WrestleMania XXIV in March 2008. He later wrestled on the Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin tour in 2009 and for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2010–2011. Flair has said he only came back to wrestle after the match with Michaels because he was significantly in debt, and regrets having done so.
Footage surfaced of Flair training with former TNA rival Jay Lethal in April 2022. It was then announced in May 2022 that Flair would wrestle one final match at Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena on July 31, 2022, as part of his son-in-law Conrad Thompson's Starrcast convention. The convention is being held the same weekend as WWE's SummerSlam, which is taking place at nearby Nissan Stadium on July 30.
The wrestling card, titled Ric Flair's Final Match, was later moved to the larger Nashville Municipal Auditorium due to high demand. Flair previously headlined events at Nashville Municipal Auditorium including WrestleWar '89: Music City Showdown against Ricky Steamboat, and Starrcade '95: World Cup of Wrestling against Randy Savage.
Nashville mayor John Cooper has declared July 31 "Ric Flair Day" in honor of the occasion.
Storylines[]
The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Storylines were produced in a three-part weekly web series titled Ric Flair: The Last Match that aired between July 11, 2022 and July 25, 2022 on the show's official website. Narrated by Darius Rucker, the first episode detailed Flair's battle with alcoholism and subsequent health problems following the death of his son Reid Flair in 2013. The second episode saw Flair get attacked by training partner Jay Lethal and WWE executive Jeff Jarrett outside of Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena following the event's press conference on June 23, 2022. Lethal was insulted that Flair couldn't get him booked on the card, and Jarrett was insulted that Flair disrespected his father, Jerry Jarrett. Flair was left bloodied in a parking lot following the attack. It was then announced that Flair would team with son-in-law Andrade El Idolo to face Jarrett and Lethal in the main event. The third and final episode featured a contract signing between the main event teams, brokered by promoter David Crockett.
An angle was filmed during Game Changer Wrestling's The People vs. GCW event at Starrcast on July 29, 2022. Nick Gage told Conrad Thompson that since he didn't book any GCW wrestlers for Ric Flair's Final Match, they would have to invade the show.
Matches[]
| No. | Matches* | Stipulations | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nigel Scantelbury Vs. Drill Sergent Davey Player One | Inoki vs GFW match 1 | |||
| Hiromi Amada vs Lei D Tapa | Inoki vs GFW match 2 | |||
| Allan Goes vs Eric Young | Inoki vs GFW match 3 | |||
| Musashi vs Seiya Sanada | Inoki vs GFW match 4 | |||
| Larry Holmes vs Robert Roode | Inoki vs GFW match 5 | |||
| Tasis Pertridis vs Alberto El Patron | Inoki vs GFW match 6 | |||
| Dan Henderson vs Gorgeous George | Inoki vs GFW match 7 | |||
| Ricardo Arona vs Tommy Nitro | Light Heavyweight Chaos Rules match | |||
| Nobuaki Kakuda vs Sting Jr. | Cruiserweight Chaos Rules Match | |||
| Jerome LeBanner Vs. Joe Chan | Heavyweight Chaos Rules match | |||
| Michael Spinks vs Thomas Hearns | 9 3 minute Round K-1 Stand-up rules match
Brawl-For-All points system in effect |
|||
| Bart Gunn vs Mark Hunt | 10 3-minute rounds K-1 Stand-up rules match
Brawl-For-All points system in effect |
|||
| Emmanuel Yarborough vs Roman Reigns | 12 5-minute Round Chaos Rules match | |||
| Crane Valego vs Francisco Filho | 9-round Shidokan Triathlon Rules match | |||
| Roxanne Perez vs Ernesto Hoost | 12 5-minute round Chaos Rules match | |||
| 1 | Adam Priest vs. Big Damo vs. Brian Myers vs. Bully Ray vs. Crimson vs. Crowbar vs. Gringo Loco vs. James Storm vs. Kal Herro vs. Komander vs. Rickey Shane Page vs. Sinn Bodhi vs. Wolfie D vs. TBA | Bunkhouse Battle Royale | ||
| 2 | Ren Narita vs. Yuya Uemura | Singles match | ||
| 3 | Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Killer Kross | Singles match | ||
| 4 | The Von Erichs (Marshall Von Erich and Ross Von Erich) vs. The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) | Tag team match | ||
| 5 | The Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) | Tag team match | ||
| 6 | Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Kerry Morton) vs. The Four Horsemen (Brian Pillman Jr. and Brock Anderson) | Tag team match | ||
| 7 | Alan Angels vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Nick Wayne | Four Corners Match | ||
| 8 | Bandido vs. Laredo Kid vs. Rey Fénix vs. Taurus | Four-way match | ||
| 9 | Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Rachael Ellering | Three-way match for the Impact Knockouts World Championship | ||
| 10 | Josh Alexander (c) vs. Jacob Fatu | Singles match for the Impact World Championship | ||
| 11 | Ric Flair and Andrade El Idolo vs. Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett | Tag team match | ||
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