By James Caldwell, Torch columnist

For this week's Question of the Week, we asked Torch readers for their thoughts on the progression of the Ric Flair retirement program following last week's Raw where Flair was the centerpiece of the show. Well, this was prior to his disappearing act on Raw last night. Following are the best of the pre-Raw responses.

Kevin of Connecticut: The Ric Flair storyline is actually a well-played move that could have a few potentially meaningful possibilities. Although it's more than likely Flair's last match will be against Vince at WrestleMania 24, Flair's last match could possibly be against Triple H. This could be seen as a true "passing of the torch." Whether or not he wins is irrelevant because Flair will remain with WWE in some capacity, be it part-time performer or more realistically GM of Raw. If Flair does indeed retire at WrestleMania, then WWE has the unique opportunity to capitalize on a number of things. First, actually sending Flair out in a "blaze of glory." Ric Flair is one of the greatest to ever walk through the ropes, so to end his career in any other fashion would be a disservice and highly inappropriate. WWE also has the opportunity here to grab Sting. This is the perfect storyline to get Sting involved in a respectable fashion with WWE. More importantly is that Flair could battle Vince at WrestleMania, with this perhaps being the perfect place to bring in Sting and pit him against McMahon and the WWE. Regardless of ratings, WWE needs to properly let Ric Flair's full-time in-ring career end respectably, as well as seize the opportunity to bring in Sting.

Sean of Ohio, Torch VIP member: I think the Flair storyline has a lot of potential, but that assumes it gets a good reaction and WWE doesn't rush it. If WWE has Flair showing up on Smackdown/Raw/ECW just as a roaming legend and has a feud with a superstar leading to a PPV match for his retirement, it would be an awesome storyline. What I worry about is if they have Flair having a match every week. If they do this, the program will become boring very quickly. WWE needs to maintain the magic of what they captured last Raw - have Flair cut promos and get attacked backstage by someone like Santino or MVP. Have the promos and backstage segments build to a PPV match that Flair narrowly wins. If this happens, I could see Flair even winning the Rumble and taking on HBK, Triple H, Batista, Y2J, or any other number of top tier stars to send off Flair the right way with a big win at WrestleMania before he announces his retirement the next night on Raw.

Paul Greer of Ohio, Torch VIP member: I think the WWE will give the Flair angle a solid push leading into WrestleMania. One, because it is the right way to send off a legend like Flair and two, it will draw money and ratings. The story should play out with Vince being foiled by Flair at every attempt to retire him. This will involve clean wins and fluke wins. But, it should focus primarily on the relationship between Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. Vince will be fed up with both men and put them in a match against one another. HBK will at first refuse because he is too close with Flair and wouldn't want to retire him. Flair gets angry with HBK but never turns heel. To keep Flair happy, HBK takes the match and a dive in a television match-up. Vince, frustrated, forces both men into the match at WrestleMania with the stipulation that the loser (Flair or HBK) must retire if they lose. This will should give Flair a nice send-off and be a good showcase for both performers and their ability to pull at the audience's emotions.

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