NWO Wolfpac Elite: Why did Hollywood Hogan act as a willing ally to Lex Luger?

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

Let's take us back to the second half of 1995 where Lex Luger made an unannounced return from the WWF to his old stomping grounds in WCW, where Monday Nitro became an instant hit at the Mall of America as a tweener. Hogan hated Luger for the Total Package demanding a title shot against face Hogan's WCW World Heavyweight Championship Belt until Luger joined The Alliance To End Hulkamania. Luger's only ally around 95-96 was Surfer Sting. Even the still-colorful Randy Savage didn't trust Luger. Hogan, Savage and Sting were established as faces while Luger was a tweener in heel mode.

But from 1996 to 1998, Hogan was the top heel as the leader of the original nWo while Luger was the top face as the leader of Team WCW, until nWo Wolfpac eventually overtook Team WCW as the top face faction, despite being naturally tweeners. Luger remained a face as he changed sides while Hogan remained the top heel of nWo Hollywood.

Come 1999 and you'd be surprised to see Hogan and Luger in the heel nWo Wolfpac Elite faction being buddies despite their history as opponents, yet Sting was also a member of the Wolfpac. Couldn't he have followed suit and be heel with his friend, or would he have been better off seeking help from Randy Savage and Konnan since all three were left off the Wolfpac Elite roster.

But when Hogan did a double-turn with Ric Flair at Uncensored 1999 where Hogan turned tweener to face while Flair was an outright top heel for The Four Horsemen soon after, it was obvious that only Hogan, Nash and Steiner were automatically getting face pops because Hogan was screwed, Nash avenged Hogan's knee injury at Spring Stampede 99 and Steiner was getting cheered because he made DDP look like a dweeb regarding Kimberly.

Since Hall, Luger and Elizabeth were on hiatus due to injuries (with Hall getting a broken foot, Luger getting a torn bicep and Elizabeth getting breast augmentation surgery), it would've been likely that Hall would've had a face turn since he's a beloved fan favorite if it wasnt for his foot injury while Nash had another face turn.

I don't see how Luger or Elizabeth would've returned to The Four Horsemen since they had double-crossed Flair at different points.

So if you are a WCW fan who only watched to see Hogan and Luger, why did they act like allies in the Wolfpac Elite despite their blood feud in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998, especially when Luger looked like he brought back the WCW World Heavyweight Championship Belt vs a heel Hogan on the 100th Episode of WCW Nitro in 1997?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Depending on the storyline, wrestlers shift allegiances all the time. For instance, during the Tribute to the Troops taping this year, there was a backstage segment featuring New Day, the Club & the Shield sort of arguing over who was the best team in WWE history, with each of them, of course, touting themselves. Given that Rollins is now more of a face/tweener, Ambrose & Reigns didn't rip his head off even though he spent quite a bit of the past few years essentially screwing them over in one way or another and, of course, having betrayed them. Lately, Reigns & Rollins have sort of been helping each other out, but they're not being all buddy buddy with one another as they've been in an alliance of convenience due to both of them having to deal with Jericho & Owens.

The biggest problem, in my mind, with the whole thing is that the nWo was losing a lot of its luster and that only continued through 1999. The "Fingerpoke of Doom", in my opinion, was the first step to a major decrease in quality in WCW that would only get worse come October 1999 when Vince Russo came to WCW. By this time, the nWo had been THE force for WCW for the better part of 3 years and it's not at all uncommon for even the most entertaining, fresh and relevant storylines & angles to become stale. They also tried to make the nWo too big, it pretty much encompassed just about every relevant talent on the WCW roster at one point or another and the whole warring factions within the faction just really watered down the concept altogether.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I always assumed Luger's character overheard Hogan's character backstage making sweeping generalizations about races of people based on his shallow ego and self entitled attitude and it gave Luger a funny feeling in his mostly numb steroid riddled testicles. Later that year Linda Hogan accidentally sent Luger a X-Mas card and Luger took it as an opportunity to let bygones be bygones. A little wife swapping and cocaine fueled benders later and the two made an agreement.

Otherwise I just accept that life is a delicate balance of progression and change and professional wrestling tries to do the same without the delicacy.

 

[sikkbones]

Booking in wcw 1999?

Think about who was head Booker.

And he was buddies with Nash from wwe let's not forget.

 

[relentless1]

Storyline wise Luger joined for the money obviously. Steiner was recruiting him in December 1998 for nWo Hollywood which turned out to be the nWo Elite. Sting should've joined as well, then you could've had a much more natural "Old vs Young" feud happen a year earlier than the shitty one that Russo tried in 2000. Hollywood, Outsiders, Luger, Sting, Steiner even Flair could've represented the old guard and Goldberg, Konnan, Bagwell, Benoit, Booker T, Malekno as the young guys being held down by the establishment.