The 5 best Harley Race matches

#2 Harley Race vs. Ric Flair - 1983

Harley Race and Ric Flair are two of the greatest wrestlers of all time and their 1983 match at the first-ever Starrcade will go down in history as one of the greatest matches of all time. The buildup of the match began on June 10th, 1983 when Harley Race beat Ric Flair to become a 7-time World Champion.

After winning the title, Race was reluctant to face Flair again as he was afraid he would lose his title. Race’s fear made him put a $25,000 bounty on Ric Flair. Dick Slater and Cowboy Bob Orton and Dick Slater decided to take advantage of the bounty and attacked Ric Flair, hitting him with an aided piledriver that reportedly injured Flair’s neck.

After the attack, Orton and Slater collected their bounty while Flair announced his retirement. For a while, Harley Race thought that his biggest challenger had been neutralized but Flair reappeared on September 21 and he took out Orton and Slater. The feud culminated at Starrcade where Harley and Flair fought in a Steel Cage match.

The match was an instant classic and it cemented the place of Ric Flair as the flag bearer of the next generation of wrestlers. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter and Pro Wrestling Illustrated awarded this match Match of the Year 1983.