10 Times Famous Wrestlers Shared A Nickname
9. Ric Flair And Buddy Rogers
The best part of the whole Flair/Lynch saga is that Flair's most famous nickname was wholly borrowed from somebody else.
"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers was an extremely popular wrestler in the '50s and '60s. He won the NWA Championship from Pat O'Connor in 1961 as part of the "Match of the Century" and went on to become the first ever WWE Champion, starting the lineage of the most famous wrestling belt in the world.
Rogers was known for his blonde hair, his strut, and his use of the Figure-Four Leglock. Sound familiar?
Ric Flair first became "The Nature Boy" in 1978 to incite a feud with Rogers, who Flair would eventually lose to. Even after the feud was over, Flair carried on using the nickname and incorporated Rogers' mannerisms into his own character, slowly transforming into the Flair we know and love today.
This shift in Flair's appearance also coincided with a change in his wrestling style - Flair had been involved in a plane crash a few years before his feud with Rogers, which forced him to adopt a totally different way of working in the ring.
Flair had his fair share of unique traits, but it is astounding just how much of his trademark look comes from Buddy Rogers.