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AWA legend Greg Gagne recently spoke about working with Ric Flair during their early days in the business.
Gagne and Flair worked together during their time in AWA. The latter was trained by WWE Hall of Famer Greg's father, Verne Gagne, in Minneapolis, MN. The wrestling camp also featured other greats such as the Iron Sheik, Jim Brunzell, and Ken Patera.
Speaking on this week's episode of the UnSKripted podcast, Gagne recalled an incident when he and Flair were wrestling their second match, and the ring collapsed. He mentioned they acted professionally and wrestled a 20-minute match in the broken ring.
Here's what Gagne had to say about Ric Flair:
"We had a match in Peoria, Illinois. High school gym with about three-four thousand people... We went out and we made a move early. I bodyslammed Ric and the ring collapsed in the middle and went down. And when he did, I tried to cover him there. The ref counted one, two and Ric kicked me off. And we wrestled to a 20-minute draw with a busted ring... When we came out all the guys in the dressing room said, 'Guys, that was unbelievable.' It was only our second match. (from 18:15 onwards)
You can watch the full interview here:
Greg Gagne regrets not working with Ric Flair when he became the NWA Champion
Gagne stated that he did not get the opportunity to work with Flair after the latter won the NWA Championship. He recounted Flair asking him a couple of times for a match in St. Louis, but the showdown never became a reality.
"I never got to wrestle Ric again when he became champion. He'd always ask me a couple of times, 'Why don't they give you a match with me at St. Louis?' I said, 'I don't know, talk to the promoters.' But they didn't want to push the AWA too much," Gagne added.
Ric Flair held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship a staggering ten times and put on some stellar matches with the likes of Harley Race, Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes, and Ricky Steamboat.
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