Lex Luger has recalled one of the greatest challenges of the early months of his professional wrestling career: facing off in a one-hour match against Ric Flair when he had little experience in the ring. The WWE Hall of Famer attributed practically all the credit to "The Nature Boy" for helping him overcome that test while he was still learning the fundamentals of wrestling.
During a recent interview with "Going Ringside", Luger remembered that he had been competing for about six months when he had to square off against Flair during his time in Championship Wrestling From Florida. The future "Total Package" had started his professional career in 1985 after being trained by Hiro Matsuda and had received a strong push from his very first appearances.
His inexperience was evident during the match itself. As Luger recalled, at one point in the bout Flair instructed him to perform a Sunset Flip, a basic move in professional wrestling, but the rookie didn't even know what his opponent was referring to.
I had only been wrestling for a few months and they told me I had to wrestle for an hour. I thought, "How am I going to do that?" Ric called for a Sunset Flip, a very basic move, during the match. I said, "What is that?" Ric replied, "Oh, my God." But he got me through that hour. A one-hour Broadway is a lot of wrestling, especially for a guy who still didn't know how to wrestle. Only Flair could have gotten a guy like me through a one-hour match like that. It's crazy. That shows how good he is in the ring.
Luger was referring to his showdown with Flair at Battle of the Belts III, held on September 1, 1986, at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. "The Nature Boy" put the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on the line against a Luger who had not even completed a year as a professional wrestler.
The match was contested under a best-of-three-falls format and ended in a time-limit draw, allowing Flair to retain the World Championship. Beyond the result, that opportunity showcased the immense confidence that Championship Wrestling From Florida had placed in Luger. His physique, presence, and previous experience as a football player had quickly positioned him as one of the company's top prospects.
Luger himself has acknowledged that he entered wrestling with very limited knowledge of the industry. During the same interview, he explained that he didn't even know who The Four Horsemen were when he later started working for Jim Crockett Promotions and was informed of plans to incorporate him into the legendary group. Flair, however, was already a reference for him precisely due to the experiences they had shared in Florida.
The professional relationship between the two would grow significantly over the following years. When Luger arrived at Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987, he joined The Four Horsemen alongside Flair, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard. However, his tenure in the faction would be relatively brief and would lead to a rivalry against his former teammates.
Those early encounters in Florida ended up being the prologue to a much more significant rivalry. Flair and Luger faced off numerous times for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship during the late '80s and early '90s, when "The Total Package" had already established himself as one of the top stars of Jim Crockett Promotions and later WCW.
One of their most memorable matches took place at Starrcade 1988. Luger entered the event as one of the top contenders for Flair's World Championship, but "The Nature Boy" managed to retain the title. They would meet again in a prominent position at WrestleWar 1990, once more with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on the line.
The shared history between them puts into perspective Luger's recollection. Before becoming regular rivals in some of NWA's major events, Flair had been one of the veterans tasked with helping develop a wrestler who was still unfamiliar with even some of the most basic wrestling moves.
Decades later, Luger continues to point to that experience as a demonstration of Ric Flair's ability to lead a match from inside the ring. For "The Total Package," getting a wrestler with just a few months of experience through a match of that caliber shows why he considers Flair one of the best workers in the ring of his generation.
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