Ric Flair has been entertaining the world for over four decades. But his career was almost cut short in the 1970s. Yes, Flair was in a well-documented plane crash in 1975, but that is not even what we are talking about today.
Appearing on the "Dan Le Batard Show" Thursday, Flair recounted a story from the late 1970s in which he was struck by lightning. Well, kind of. The scare took place in Richmond, Virginia, just before a match against Ricky Steamboat at the Richmond Coliseum.
"I got off the plane and was walking," Flair says. "I didn't go 10, 15 feet when all of a sudden I felt this pressure boom, and man, my umbrella shot 50 feet in the air.
"I thought, 'What the hell?' Lightning hit the top of my umbrella, bounced off and hit the guy in the eye five feet behind me and killed him. Right there. I just stood there looking at the guy and froze, it scared me to death. People were running out the door to get the guy."
For those keeping score at home, had Flair not grabbed an umbrella as he walked off the plane, he would likely be a short-lived pro wrestling memory from the 1970s.
Le Betard asked Flair how he survived the umbrella strike.
"I don't know," Flair says. "I've always wondered what kind of a lawsuit that was, because it was really a big deal, hence probably the steel tips coming off umbrellas at that point."
Remember, this is the same guy who wrote his own name in for president on Election Day.
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