As some of you may have seen around the net, Ric Flair is an official spokesman of the North Carolina Education Lottery. He’s more than a spokesman, really. They designed a scratch-off game based on his character.
Ric Flair Wooooooo! Scratch-off Game
The “Ric Flair Wooooooo! Scratch-off Game” (at least now we know the correct number of ‘o’s is exactly seven) went on sale Sept 22nd 2009. You can win up to 16 times on one ticket, which is in reference to Flair winning a World Heavyweight Championship belt that many times. There has already been a $100,000 winner as of last week.
Take a look at the snapshot of the lottery poster, and the commercial airing in North Carolina at this site.
The tagline is “More Fun Than a Figure-Four Leglock“. Of course, Flair’s signature hold for the 35+ years that he wrestled was the figure-four leglock, so that part makes sense. The part that confuses me, however, is that there are a long list of things that are more fun than a figure-four leglock. They haven’t exactly cornered that market. In fact, anything that doesn’t cause you pain is probably more fun than the figure-four leglock.
In the nearly five years that I was in professional wrestling (and even if you count my battle royal participation earlier this year), I remember being in a figure-four exactly once. I wrestled Dan Burdick, Jr. in a VFW or American Legion in Coon Rapids, MN, and he put me in one. Even though I’m not a fan of scratch-offs, I’m guessing it would be more fun than that.
During that same time period, I never put an opponent in a figure-four leglock that I recall. Probably in wrestling camp, but not in a public match as far as I know.
I used to like to use a figure-four headlock, though. It was something that not many people were using and I thought it was more interesting than just the standard reverse chinlock. It also didn’t trigger the “smart” marks to chant “rest hold”, like they would whenever they saw someone apply the chinlock.
Outside of professional wrestling matches, I have put several people in the figure-four leglock on several occasions. The last one I can think of was after a wedding reception. My friend Tim was the best man in the wedding and was wearing a white tux. I put him in a figure-four leglock in the parking lot outside a bar in Superior, WI. Good thing he paid the two bucks for the extra tux insurance– though he would have needed it anyway with all the barbecue sauce he got on the front of it.
Come to think of it, that was pretty fun. I think I might have changed my mind about scratch-offs after all. Wooooooo!
