All things considered, The Iron Claw is receiving strong reviews — including here at Awful Announcing.
But when it comes to pro wrestling fans who have seen the film, one common criticism seems to standout: the movie’s portrayal of the legendary Ric Flair.
Without spoiling anything, Flair is only a minor character in the film. But as anyone who is even vaguely familiar with 1980s pro wrestling knows, he’s an integral part of the story as one of the primary rivals to the Von Erich family.
Flair — who is played by Aaron Dean Eisenberg — only has a couple of scenes in the movie. But he does get a big monologue in the form of one of Flair’s signature promos leading up to a match against Zac Efron’s Kevin Von Erich.
While Eisenberg looks enough like Flair (at least while wearing sunglasses) to make the appearance part of the performance passable, the promo itself missed the mark for many. Following the film’s release last week, the promo made its way to social media, with many wrestling fans weighing in on what they see as The Iron Claw‘s biggest flaw.
Warning: the scene, which contains some spoilers to The Iron Claw, is below.
Iron Claw RIC FLAIR SCENE #wrestling #ironclaw #ricflair pic.twitter.com/qJNVjdeJtI
— Bicks Flicks (@bicksflix) December 22, 2023
Giving ‘The Iron Claw’ a 9/10 and main reason why it’s not a 9.5/10 is because of that terrible portrayal of Ric Flair. If you’re not a wrestling fan it shouldn’t make much of a difference, but if you are one… well let’s just say I’ve heard drunk people do better impersonations. pic.twitter.com/axGSWV1G4W
— RJ Martinez (@RjMartinez_84) December 22, 2023
This is Ric Flair at his best. I'm not sure what that guy is doing in the Iron Claw movie, but it's not Ric Flair… pic.twitter.com/xwHI0HnM3O
— Kildzr (@kildzr) December 25, 2023
Saving a very involved review for iron claw, but I’m blown away by the fact that a major film could be made like this, and there is literally no mention that Chris Von Eric ever lived, and that the person playing Ric Flair didn’t know how to do the woo properly.
— Jon Draper (@iamjondraper) December 22, 2023
Almost every review I’ve seen about Iron Claw has pointed out the bad imitation the actor does of Flair in the 80’s and how cringe it comes off as.
To me it sounds he like he nailed Ric Flair for the past decade.
— Transfer Portal Wrestling Fan Justin WWF Commit (@WWFMeccaJustin) December 23, 2023
The Ric Flair actor in Iron Claw felt like he was doing an Irish Dusty Rhodes.
— Transfer Portal Wrestling Fan Justin WWF Commit (@WWFMeccaJustin) December 25, 2023
"Ric Flair" in The Iron Claw was based on this sign https://t.co/8VTypBzRF3
— Wiretaup (@wiretaup) December 22, 2023
The iron claw was pretty much flawless except for the ric flair portrayal that was so unbelievably horrendous it felt like a parody.
— Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations (@the_LVAC) December 23, 2023
Almost everyone in the world can do a Ric Flair impersonation, so the Iron Claw cast the one guy who cant
— Ben Kerr (@lastwordbkerr) December 27, 2023
There are two ways to look at Eisenberg’s portrayal of Flair.
On the one hand, he had the enviably task of playing arguably the most famous personality in pro wrestling history. Any performance imitating Flair was likely going to pale in comparison to Flair, himself, and thus, Eisenberg already had the odds stacked against him.
On the other, “The Nature Boy” was such a larger than life character in the 1980s that his promos have been the inspiration for impressions for more than four decades now. Especially considering the number of real-life pro wrestlers who have patterned their acts after Flair, it’s hard to imagine that this was the best that The Iron Claw could come up with when casting its most famous role.
In lieu of making a different casting choice, it’s hard to imagine that the movie wouldn’t have been better off leaving the Flair promo on the cutting room floor or going with archival footage. Then again, this only seems to be a minor criticism of the film among the most hardcore of wrestling fans, as The Iron Claw currently lays claim to an 88 percent score among critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 92 percent audience score.