Austin Region, Chicago Subregion, Second Round (3) Mick Foley vs. (19) Lex Luger

[Richard Blonoff]

This is a second round match in the Austin Region, Chicago Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

#3 Mick Foley

VS.

#19 Lex Luger​

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.

 

[SSJPhenom]

This one is not as cut and dry as the seeding would lead you to believe.

Foley is by far the more charismatic of the two, but is the more accomplished? Foley lost more big event matches then he won. I guess Foley was a bigger draw.

Idk who to vote for. A good argument for either could sway me.

 

[Tastycles]

Look, Luger is given a rough time on this board and, weirdly, by quite a lot of people who used him to make money in the 90s. His main asset was his look, but that's not all he was, despite the way it is sometimes made out. What I would say is this, when you look at the assets a wrestler needs, Foley has a lot more of them a lot more abundantly and I think is far more fondly remembered.

I guess you can boil it down to this. If you could give Lex Luger's body to Mick Foley but kept everything else the same, you'd still have one of the most successful wrestlers of all time. If you gave Lex Luger Mick Foley's body, you'd have Balls Mahoney.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Hmm, Mick I reckon.

Luger for all his achievements was just not there. As cool as Luger's bus was, I'll take Mrs Foley's baby boy's sock as more special. Foley's had a more illustrious career and made more impact.

 

[NSL]

This is a match between one of the most entertaining guys to ever step between the ropes, and the guy who put more people to sleep than public broadcasting in the 80's. Mick Foley's career speaks for itself, and while Luger has his own list of championships and accomplishments, it pales in comparison.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Foley got over in spite of not having a traditional look. Luger had the look in spades and had a hard time getting over. I mean did Luger ever put butts in seats? I know Foley did. Foley wins.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Lex Luger looks every bit the superstar, and Mick Foley looks like the guy who cleans the toilets at the arena.

But Foley wins this in every category. In-ring success, mic skills, charisma, popularity, drawing...the list goes on.

Lex flexes, Foley attacks and puts him down with the Mandible Claw.

Winner: Mick Foley

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I like both wrestlers, but I had to pick Lex Luger slightly over Mick Foley here. Lex Luger has been in the Four Horsemen, he's been NWA Tag Team Champion, NWA World Champion, WCW World Champion two or three times, United States Champion, the first WCW guy to put a crack in NWO's armor and defeat Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the championship, he was involved in one of the best tag team matches in WCW history with Sting vs The Steiner Brothers, he was a steady top card performer in WWF.

Mick Foley doesn't have quite as many accolades as Lex but he's had more success in WWF/WWE. He was more popular with the fans and won the top prize on two occasions.

What wins it for me is, the in ring performance of both wrestlers. Mick Foley had good to great gimmicks, was great on the mic but....he sucked in the ring, seriously. Mick Foley's only draw was that he could take a tremendous beating. The guy's pain tolerance is something that will never be seen again. But when putting him in a traditional one on one match with anyone and his true shitty self emerges. He's one of the worst when it comes down to pure wrestling, that's why he's had to mask it with Cactus Jack, Dude Love, Mankind-type gimmicks.

Lex Luger has had better one on one traditional matches and is a better in ring wrestler than Mick Foley. His cage match vs Ric Flair was one such memorable match and showed that even though he's outclassed technically, he could still use his powerhouse style to carry the match. A knock on Luger though is he could be pretty bland in the ring too, but much better in comparison to Foley IMO.

It's not a landslide, but I picked Luger to torture rack Foley for ten minutes until he passes out.

 

[OYDK]

All I'm going to say for this one is, can you imagine Mick Foley tapping out to the Torture Rack? Can you really PICTURE Lex Luger beating Mick Foley as we remember him today?

Vote Foley.

 

[justtxyank]

This is one that will be heavily tainted by the fact that WWE owns wrestling history now.

Lex Luger's WWF run was lame save for a small stretch where he had some momentum. But outside of that, Luger was a major player in wrestling from the late 80s through the late 90s. He can't help the fact that Vince McMahon likes to "reinvent" guys from other companies and thus created the lame character that Luger debuted with and then got an instant makeover into the babyface American hero.

There is a reason why NWA/WCW promoters wanted him in the Horsemen, gave him a record setting US title reign, paired him with Stan Hansen, paired him with Flair and, gulp, picked him over Sting to be the standard bearer for the company in the early 90s before he bolted. When he came back he instantly became the backbone of the company on the house show circuit and kept the babyface heat alive for WCW in the nWo vs WCW feud when Sting didn't work for over a year. His World title win over Hogan on Nitro was every bit the awesome moment that Foley's over The Rock was, he just got unlucky that he got his title a year before television on TV exploded.

All that said, Foley is an awesome part of wrestling history. His runs in WCW, ECW, Japan and the WWF are well remembered by the fans of each company he worked in during those eras. I'm not sure how much of a draw he actually was, but he made feuds work.

This is a brutally tough matchup, but in the end, Foley taps out to the Torture Rack.

 

[nightmare]

Wrestling is about larger than life characters that make you want to tune in or spend money. Newcomers see the way Luger looks & think "This guy must be good, just look at him!" Then they watch a match & eventually change the channel because he is largely shit in the ring & boring on the mic.


Someone new sees Foley & they think "Man, who gave this fat homeless guy a job?", but before they can flip over- he starts talking. Now they are pulled in to whatever story he is weaving. By the time he gets in the ring people are cheering him on despite his lack of traditional look. The epitome of unconventional Mick Foley has done a better job at getting people to care & tune in than Luger has. Did anyone ever flip over from WWF to WCW just to watch Luger have a match? WCW spoiled the outcome of Foley's title match in an attempt to mock & belittle the man\WWF in general, yet it backfired. Tons of people changed the channel to watch Mick win despite knowing the results because he is a great character that people care about.


Looks are not enough. Foley will take a beating against Luger & still come out on top.

 

[stingray11214]

Here is all you need to know about this matchup:

When Eric Bischoff opened his pie hole and announced that Mick Foley won the WWF World Strap, WCW Nitro lost 600k viewers instantaneously when they turned on Raw.

How many jumped over to the WWF when Luger signed on? How many people followed the WBF that McMahon founded around Lex Luger?

I rest my case. Foley wins.

 

[NSL]

Lex Luger's WWF run was lame save for a small stretch where he had some momentum. But outside of that, Luger was a major player in wrestling from the late 80s through the late 90s.

Late 90's? Really? He stopped being a "major player" when he showed up on Nitro's debut. And, if you're aware of Luger's time in WCW/NWA, then you know about Cactus Jack in the those days, right? Or how much he helped ECW? Or the way he exploded when he got to WWF/E? And possibly his matches in Europe and Japan?

Luger had a few years where he was "very good", and still managed to bore people to death. Foley has never once put me to sleep.

 

[Prince Vee]

Mick Foley is the God of Hardcore, that even the atheists would worship. The casual fans probably might not know who Lex Lugar is, in a couple of years. But Mick Foley's legacy is forever written. Regardless of who's Lugar is up against, Mick Foley or Dude Love or Cactus Jack, he will be on the losing side.

 

[justtxyank]

Late 90's? Really? He stopped being a "major player" when he showed up on Nitro's debut.

Don't agree with this at all, sorry. Luger beat Hogan for the title in 1997 and at that point was still over and was WCW's #2 babyface, and the only babyface consistently working. He was still over into 1998. 1998 was his last good year as he got injured that year during the Wolfpac run that saw him win the US title and have good matches with Bret Hart. From his return in 1999 forward he was an often injured midcarder, but 96, 97 and 98 he was still a major player for WCW.

And, if you're aware of Luger's time in WCW/NWA, then you know about Cactus Jack in the those days, right? Or how much he helped ECW? Or the way he exploded when he got to WWF/E? And possibly his matches in Europe and Japan?

Well I mean I referenced them in post so...

As for Cactus Jack never boring anyone, maybe you didn't see his UWF work (Herb Abrams UWF)? Foley had plenty of stuff that was boring.

 

[NSL]

Don't agree with this at all, sorry. Luger beat Hogan for the title in 1997 and at that point was still over and was WCW's #2 babyface, and the only babyface consistently working. He was still over into 1998. 1998 was his last good year as he got injured that year during the Wolfpac run that saw him win the US title and have good matches with Bret Hart. From his return in 1999 forward he was an often injured midcarder, but 96, 97 and 98 he was still a major player for WCW.

I think you're confusing "over" with "they kept putting him on TV". Just because Luger was involved with the championship, or in the main event scene, does not mean the crowd wanted him there (see: Reigns). His return to Nitro got the pop they were going for, and then he was instantly relegated to teaming with Sting, Savage, and Hogan, and was easily the least important member of the team.

As for Foley in UWF, I'll admit I've never seen it...and I've seen a lot of old school wrestling, so it must not have been important enough to the history of Mick Foley to worry about.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I voted for Foley primarily because I've just never been a Luger fan, he had arguably the best physique in pro wrestling history but that's about it. On the other hand, I can understand others who did vote for Luger getting the win because Foley spent much of his time losing against big opponents whether it be Sting, HBK, Taker, Rock, Austin, Triple H or whomever.

 

[ShinChan]

For me, British Bulldog would have already knocked out Lex Luger in the first round itself and then suffer a defeat at the hands of Mick Foley in this round.

An easy win for Mick Foley. Luger isn't in the league of Foleys of the world.

Mandible Claw to win.