When you are the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, you have got story after story in your pocket about all of the experiences you’ve had. The most recent story he told on “The Dan Le Batard Show” may take the absolute cake, though.
Flair’s career almost ended back in 1975 due to a very serious plane crash he was involved in and shortly afterwards, he had another incident that was tempting fate as well. He was in Richmond, Virginia for a match and stepped off the plane, taking a couple of steps before he was struck by lightning.
“I got off the plane and was walking,” he said. “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 5 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.”
Flair later said that he wondered how many lawsuits had been filed by people who encountered lightning because of umbrellas having steel tips.
Witnessing such an occurrence sounds surreal all by itself, having it happen only a short while after he almost died in a plane crash is otherworldly. Flair is one of the few personalities still standing from a bygone generation that knew how to entertain. The fact that he is still entertaining the masses after all these years is amazing.
