Well, we agree that Flair's a shitty person.
We also agree that his last run in WWE was great. He is a master of psychology, but that had more to do with being the older guy and garnering sympathy, taking bumps and selling them like death, etc. Go back and watch Hogan/Rock; Hogan takes a powder and leaves his back open, Rock goes and hits him... and the crowd turns on Rock like he's the biggest piece of shit on Earth. Those old guys are geniuses.
But for the bulk of Flair's career, he was working non-televised for the majority of it, and he wound up doing the same shit every match. Same spots, same formula. I guess that's okay, but comparing that to someone like Bret who made everything look real and organic, it's not even comparable. The saying went, "Flair can carry a broomstick to a pretty good match." Fucking Bret got not just good matches, but absolute classics out of Davey Boy and Diesel. Flair never would have been able to get that much out of those guys.
I could argue that if Vince Sr. went with Billy Graham as champion over Backlund, people would be saying Graham is the GOAT, not Flair. Instead, they only had Billy run with it for a month or some shit. Sammartino gave Billy his blessing, and he thought Flair was an overrated bitch. That's not me saying it.
The UK style does indeed rule, I'll agree with you there, but it's way more physical than the old NWA stuff. I love Finlay to death, and he would tear Regal's cartilage out his nose just to make the match look good. I like when that stuff is slower and methodical... the Flair stuff with the headlocks and the same spots in every match, eh... he was great when he was in his 50s and acted like he was getting murdered, I'll give him that.
Bret also did make fun of Ric for his over-use of blading: "oh there's that wrestler guy, cutting his head again." Triple H relied on that one way too much.