#3 Ric Flair (RAW - November 19, 2001)
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The horrifyingly bad Invasion storyline ended the night before at Survivor Series when The Rock and the WWF defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin and the WCW/ECW Alliance. Yes, that made a lot of sense.
Vince McMahon claimed to be the sole proprietor of the WWF once again without opposition and wielded significant power throughout the night.
As the show was coming to a close, Vince was in the ring to attempt to award Kurt Angle with the WWF Championship that became vacant when Stone Cold, the incumbent Champion, lost the match for the bad guys.
He was never able to get it done, however, because they were in Charlotte, North Carolina and somebody from that neck of the woods happened to buy half of the stake in the company when Vince’s kids lost it.
Out walks the Nature Boy himself, Ric Flair, to a split-second of stunned silence, followed immediately by raucous cheers from the audience in Charlotte.
He was about six months late, as it would have been far more amazing to have him as a major player in the Invasion storyline, but it was better late than never, with Flair making his return to the WWF for the first time in almost eight years. Seemed like a lot longer, but a lot changed between the end of 1993 and the end of 2001.
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