Lightsaber =/= Staff. Beating up random junkers =/= trained force user.
Biggs talks about him being the best bush pilot he has ever seen, Luke says he is a great pilot, bullseye womprats in his T-16 back home and they aren't much more than 2 meters etc. The movie sets up Luke as being a competent pilot, turns out Luke is an above average pilot, but not even the best in the OT from what we see - Wedge seems to pull a lot more off. Luke needed a ton of help to take out the Death Star, Vader was about to blow him out of the sky, Wedge saved his bacon and Obi-Wan had to help him out so he didn't miss like the other dude. Why? Cause he was at the start of his journey, he was still an underdog character. People like the underdog characters. Rey isn't an underdog, she has crushed everything and everyone in her path so far, all within the space of two movies that seemingly take place over 3 or 4 days.
And showed very latent force abilities, more like reflexes than anything. Which sets up later in the movie when he does the same thing. I don't know the time differences between movies, but by the time of Empire, Luke still isn't proficient with a lightsaber or the usage of the force, he has matured and clearly practicing, but we see him struggling to use the force to pull his lightsaber to him a short distance. Even after an unspecified time on Dagobah, which I assume to be a month or two, he gets his shit absolutely pushed in by Vader, falls into his trap and needs his ass saving by Lando.
The first time we see Luke doing anything impressive with a lightsaber is Jedi and the Barge, 4-5 years after he first learns of the force.