Lex Luger has credited Ric Flair with carrying him through a 60-minute match when he was still only a few months into his professional wrestling career.
Lex Luger began wrestling in the mid-1980s and crossed paths with the already-established Ric Flair during his early years in Championship Wrestling From Florida and the National Wrestling Alliance.
One of their earliest encounters was a non-televised 60-minute time-limit draw, commonly known in wrestling as a Broadway. Speaking with Going Ringside, Luger recalled being concerned about how he would make it through an hour-long match with so little experience.
“I’d only been wrestling for a few months and they told me I had to wrestle for an hour. I go, ‘How am I going to do that?’” Luger said.
His inexperience quickly became apparent when Flair attempted to call a basic wrestling move during the match.
“Ric called a Sunset Flip, is a very basic move in wrestling during the match. I said, ‘What’s that?’ Ric went, ‘Oh my gosh.’”
Lex Luger Praises Ric Flair’s In-Ring Ability
Despite Lex Luger’s limited experience, Ric Flair successfully guided him through the entire match.
“But he got me through an hour. But yeah, an hour Broadway, that’s a lot of wrestling,” Luger said. “For a guy who didn’t know how to wrestle yet. That was a lot.”
Luger believes few wrestlers could have accomplished what Flair did that night.
“Only Flair could have gotten a guy like me through an hour match like that. Crazy. That’s how good he is in the ring.”
The match was only the beginning of what became a lengthy rivalry between Luger and Flair. In September 1986, Luger challenged Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship at NWA Battle of the Belts, with their televised match ending in another time-limit draw after 30 minutes.
The pair later met in several major championship matches, including their NWA World Heavyweight Championship encounter at Starrcade 1988. Flair and Luger battled again over the championship at WrestleWar 1990, making their rivalry one of the most prominent of Luger’s career.
