WCW Region, Sydney Subregion, First Round: (16) Lex Luger vs. (17) Billy Graham

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the WCW Region, Sydney Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at the Kingdome in Sydney, Australia.

#16. Lex Luger

Vs.

#17. Billy Graham

​

Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[Brewski]

I absolutely hate Lex Luger. To me he is the most over rated wrestler of all time and should have never got the opportunities he got just from being in the right place in the right time. Any freak show body builder could have had a tour bus and ran around the country hitting guys in the head with a forearm and been as popular as Lex. Just a bad wrestler, I was never entertained by him. Cool bus, cool name. Thats all he is.

Superstar Billy Graham isn't some legendary character to me either but I do think he holds an important part in wrestling history. He had one really really good run in WWF where he beat Sammartino for the belt, held it for close to a year, lost to backlund, and had a string of awesome matches with Dusty Rhodes. Kinda fell off the map after that.

Lex is a two time WCW champion and he'll be better remembered with the benefit of being more visible on television, but that doesn't make him a good wrestler. Graham beats Lex in a count out.

 

[8thwotwATG]

Maybe I'm wrong for doing so, but I'm giving Graham the nod over Luger. Graham, while probably best known for his extended run as a heel champion in WWE, has probably left more of a legacy in that his look and his ability on the stick influenced an entire gaggle of bleached blond bodybuilders who weren't great technical wrestlers, but were able to entertain and draw fans none theless, albeit probably not quite as well as Graham did it(except, of course for Hogan). Everyone from Jesse Ventura, to Hulk Hogan, and yes, even Luger himself owes something to the Superstar. Luger was probably the better all around athlete, and might have had a bit more in his repetoire than Graham(maybe), but Graham was better on the mic, and at least equally as good, if not better than Luger at putting fans in the seats. I see this match as a lot of tests of strength, interspersed with a whole lot of brawling. Luger probably bloodies the Superstar, who, of course, graciously sells like a sonofabitch for him, but ultimately, Graham gets the pinfall victory, using the ropes for leverage out of the vision of the ref. I won't be very surprised, or even all that disappointed if Luger moves on instead of Graham, but I just think that due to his overall bigger impact on the wrestling business, Graham deserves to go over Luger.

 

[Con T.]

You know, I was scoping through Sex, Lies, and Headlocks the other day, which is a pretty good book. Somewhat inaccurate, but not bad at all. But I was reading through and I found this little nugget that seemed fitting here:

“Unfortunately, Flair had a clause in his contract giving him final say over how he dropped his title belt. Insisting that it was beneath him to lose to Luger, Flair demanded that Herd either scrap the idea or release Flair from his contract, freeing him to sign with the WWF.”

Excerpt From: Shaun Assael & Mike Mooneyham. “Sex, Lies, and Headlocks.” Three Rivers Press, 2010-11-03. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.1

A huh. Ric Flair refused to do the honors for Luger on the way out. Flair, of all people, refused to do the job.

This is the same guy that put Rugged Ronnie Garvin over. Who will do the job for anyone when the time's right. And he flat out refused, with Lex Luger.

Superstar Billy Graham at least was the prototype for Hulk Hogan, not a red and blue rip off of him. And he was a damn good heel, and made a lot of money. So give me Graham

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Similar guys, but one who was really good and created a mould for future wrestlers. The other one got plenty of push time and always floundered because he was, y'know, not that good. This is back when Billy Graham wasn't a mad old coot, which is good because anybody not a mad old coot has the wherewithal to put Luger in his place. I'll take Graham.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I was never a fan of Lex Luger and always thought he was hugely overrated. He was a strong NWA United States Heavyweight Champion but, to me, he was always someone elevated to a main event spot who never really belonged there. Luger got noticed first & foremost for his look and got his big push by Crockett in the hopes of making Luger the NWA's version of Hulk Hogan. He was paired up with the Horsemen, arguably the best & most over heels in wrestling at the time, and looked good because he was surrounded by great talent. The Horsemen garnered great heat so that when Luger turned on them, and they'd done such a good job of hiding his shortcomings, that he became huge with the fans.

I was also never a huge fan of Billy Graham inside the ring but the man was an innovator. Whether that was good or bad is a matter of debate among some. Graham's look and personality was something extremely unique during the 1970s. Let's face it, for all intents & purposes, Graham was Hulk Hogan a decade before Terry Bollea was.

In terms of strength, they're both about equal. I've seen old pictures showing Graham bench pressing 585 pounds. Luger was said to be able to bench well over 500 pounds himself in his prime. You wouldn't see a lot of high spots in this match or too much technical mastery. It'd be a decent powerhouse match I think but, all in all, hardly a classic.

I could see this match going either way but I'm leaning towards Graham at the moment.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Superstar Billy Graham opened the doors for Hulk Hogan, Scott Steiner, and other muscle-bound, stronger wrestlers in my generation. Lex Luger didn't even like being a wrestler. He liked the money of being a top-tier wrestler. He also kinda sucked in the ring and earned most of his major title runs after the major players left the promotion.

Billy Graham had a major title run in the WWWF during a generation where there was much more competition and he was on top of the heap. Luger was on top by default.

Graham should get this one and Luger is way overseeded in this tourney.

 

[justtxyank]

Lex Luger is so underrated it isn't funny.

To the guy who mentioned Flair being unwilling to put over Luger, you are not taking that fact in context.

Flair wanted out. He hated Herd and was having massive issues with him and WCW. Flair used the Luger/Sting situation as the way to get out. He refused to drop to Luger because he already promised he'd drop to Sting. The reality is he wanted to get away from Jim Herd.

Anyway, I challenge anyone that thinks Luger is terrible to go back and watch his work up to 1991. He was very good. There was a reason he was pushed the way he was. Basically his entire career outside of the WWF was very good until he got old and hurt and was washed up by 2000.

Stan Hansen has praised Luger as has Bret Hart. Kevin Sullivan has said that Luger is the one who kept WCW going in 1996-1998. He was massively over and worked harder than anyone and busted it on the house show tours like nobody else.

I give my vote to Luger.

 

[deem]

This is an absolute no-brainer for Billy Graham. Lex luger had a great image and received push after push that lead to nothing due to his negligence and the audiences apathy towards him. He was THE MAN chosen to replace Hogan in 1994. Not Bret Hart, it was Luger that had the ball in his court to become the #1 babyface in WWE, and he ballsed it up like he always does.

I mean, I can see Luger beating a few people in this tournament if you are voting in kayfabe - he was always upper midcard, he was fairly over and semi-dominant. He's a two time world champion, albeit a shitty, terrible, failure of a reign and another reign of less than a week without even going over on a PPV. He was booked super strong against Ric Flair for years.

But he's not going over Billy Graham here. Not just because he is a terrible person and worker, but because Billy Graham is GREAT. Super over, a hugely successful title reign, a trend setter. He was more than just his world title reign - he may be the first great seller in the sport. He may be the first great micworker. Honestly, he was a sports entertainer before anyone else was doing it.

And that title reign? The first heel to hold the WWF title for a significant period of time. TO THIS DAY it's the longest WWF/E heel title reign. Billy Graham might be the most successful heel of all time. He won the belt off Sammartino ending an almost four year reign, defending against a who's who of America and Japan. He sold out 95% of his shows easily the highest in WWF history. More than Hulk Hogan, more than Sammartino. He was a cool heel before that even existed.

Anyone that votes for Lex Luger is a fool. Graham would fling him around for fun, slap on the bearhug and send Luger back into retirement to reflect on his mediocre career.

edit; justtxyank, can you recommend some WCW singles matches of his? I've watched a lot and found he absolutely refused to do any long term selling, his matches were formulaic and dull and I just never got into him inring whatsoever. I'll gladly give him another shot and admit if I'm mistaken though. I do confess to forming my opinion mostly on his abysmal WWF work, of which I've seen it all and he just paged in performance after performance.

 

[PsychoBlack]

Graham goes over Luger easily here. I actually like Luger and don't think he was as bad as a lot of people say he is, but Graham was one of the most influential wrestlers of all time and always kept fans entertained. He did great things as WWE champion and paved the way for many of the colorful superstars that came after him. Graham gets a rather easy win here with a bear hug in about 10 minutes

 

[Tastycles]

Luger is generally sold really short in these tournaments, and never gets the credit he deserves for having been a very popular guy in NWA, WWF and WCW. However, I don't think he should be winning here. Graham was a heel world champion that held the title for almost a year, something that wasn't matched in the WWE for almost 30 years, until JBL became champion.

Luger, for all his popularity, was never given the world to carry on his shoulders, and even in WCW they milked what he did the wrong way. Graham, of course, was allowed to be undisputedly in centre stage, and he'd take it here.

 

[The Brain]

Interesting match here. Two powerhouse bodybuilders. I'll take Superstar. He had a nice run as WWWF champion. Luger always seemed to be the guy that got the main event when the real main eventer wasn't available. Superstar was a huge influence on the business and deserves to move on.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Both were built like bodybuilders, except Graham could actually work a match.

Graham took the strap off Samartino as a heel and held it for over nine months, which was unheard of for a heel at the time.

Graham had more personality, was a better worker, left a greater legacy, and arguably had better credentials. This is Graham's victory across the board.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

It's been referred to several times already, Billy Graham was the main influence on Hulk Hogan and Hogan went the full Superstar when he adopted the Hollywood persona. Do you know who the first person to crack Hollywood was? Lex Luger ending a 359 reign (longer than Graham's 296 day reign).

Flexi Lexy gets lots of flack but don't be blind folks, he could very easily be booked to go over the Superstar here.