To be the man, you gotta beat the man

E1041101

"To be the man, you gotta beat the man" is a famous professional wrestling catchphrase popularized by Ric Flair, expressing that one must defeat the top competitor to become the best.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
To be the man, you gotta beat the man canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf catchphrase
professional wrestling catchphrase
quotation
associatedConcept number one contender
title defense
world champion
associatedWith "The Nature Boy" persona of Ric Flair NERFINISHED
NWA World Heavyweight Championship NERFINISHED
Ric Flair NERFINISHED
WCW World Heavyweight Championship NERFINISHED
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair NERFINISHED
audience professional wrestling fans
category pop culture quote
sports quote
culturalImpact used as a metaphor for defeating the top performer in any field
widely quoted beyond wrestling
firstPersonInQuote "the man" GENERATED
genre professional wrestling
hasCondition defeating the reigning top competitor
hasForm colloquial speech
hasSubject status as "the man"
language English
meaning one must defeat the top competitor to be recognized as the best
medium live wrestling events
televised wrestling promos
notableUseBy Ric Flair GENERATED
notableWord "beat"
"man"
originContext Ric Flair championship promos NERFINISHED
popularizedBy Ric Flair NERFINISHED
register informal
rhetoricalDevice boast
challenge
taunt
structure conditional statement
theme championship status
competition
supremacy
tone confident
confrontational
usedAs motivational phrase
slogan in sports contexts
usedIn National Wrestling Alliance NERFINISHED
World Championship Wrestling NERFINISHED
World Wrestling Federation NERFINISHED
professional wrestling promos

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Four Horsemen (professional wrestling stable) catchphrase To be the man, you gotta beat the man