A Career Gamble?

WWE's No Way Out will take place this Sunday night from the greatest place I've never been to: Las Vegas, Nevada. Those in attendance at the Thomas & Mack Center and the millions watching around the world on pay-per-view will witness a stacked card featuring a RAW and Smackdown version of the Elimination Chamber, 3 Championship matches, and career threatening match. Yes, the magnificent 35 year career of 16 times World Heavyweight Champion "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair could come to an end this Sunday at the hands of one of the more entertaining superstars of this era- Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Keeeennnnneeeeeeeedddddyyyyyyyyyy...............(pause)..................... Keeeennnneeeeddddyy!!!!!!!!

From WWE.com:

One night after stylin’ and profilin’ his way to victory over United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter at Royal Rumble, Ric Flair accepted a challenge from Mr. Kennedy – and his seventh consecutive Career Threatening Match – at No Way Out.

As per WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’ s mandate last November, the legendary "Nature Boy" must retire following the next match he loses. Since then, however, Flair has defeated an array of Superstars, including WWE Champion Randy Orton, Umaga, Triple H, RAW GM William Regal, and most recently the loudmouthed MVP. Although Flair took care of business against the Franchise Playa, can he do the same against another competitor with a similar penchant for talking a big game?

But this Career Threatening Match against Kennedy is different than the others; Flair is coming into No Way Out wounded. MVP injured the 16-time World Champion's knee in a Royal Rumble rematch on SmackDown. Kennedy offered "Naitch" the opportunity to forfeit the match and essentially his career, but Flair knows no quit.

Surely, Flair knows Mr. Kennedy is no slouch. The laundry list of former World Champions and future Hall of Famers he has defeated reads like a Who’s Who in WWE. Kane, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Batista and most recently Shawn Michaels, among others, have all tasted defeat at the hands of Raw’s outspoken Superstar. And now he is setting out to do what MVP couldn’t accomplish at Royal Rumble. After defeating Brian Kendrick on Raw, Mr. Kennedy proclaimed, "At No Way Out, I will do something historic, something that no one has been able to do – end the career of Ric Flair."

Now used to dealing with loudmouthed challengers looking to make a name for themselves, Flair interrupted Kennedy’s tirade, bluntly stating, "I’ll just leave it at this – at No Way Out, good luck! Woooooo!"

When "Naitch" defeated MVP at Royal Rumble, he kept his career alive and looked more than impressive doing so. In Las Vegas, can he keep his "Space Mountain" running? Or will Mr. Kennedy’s gamble to topple of WWE’s greats earn him the biggest windfall of his career?

So as you can see, this year's No Way Out could be historical if Slic' Ric has to hang up the wrestling boots forever. I'm confident he will win because Flair's a big match kind of guy and this one is huge. It is very appropriate that this event is taking place in Las Vegas because I would say all the chips are on the table for Naitch.

Mr Kennedy
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If you cannot be their live at the Thomas & Mack Center or watch it on pay-per-view, ProWrestling.com will have live results streaming on the web at: http://prowrestling.com/ .