Did Lex Luger screw himself?

[Fuel The Fire]

Title says it all and I bet you can see why I would be saying this as well. Lex was in the wwf before he jumped ship to w.c.w and he was on his way to be a top guy in the wwf at that time. He was doing regis and kelly, doing events with the kids and doing the whole "john cena act except the movies". Lex even had the lex express and was even one of the few the body slam Yoko. If you dont remember any of this I don't blame you but let me remind you with a video
[YOUTUBE]JKFyI7pqqLg[/YOUTUBE]
With full steam lex jumped over to w.c.w and I really don't remember what he did besides making the jump and having a big appearance.
So pretty much what lex did was kind of a example like this.
If your working at wal mart "sorry Milinko lol" But lets say your a store manager there. Your working your ass off for the company and lets say target comes along and says hey we will pay you 10 times as much as your making now to sit around and answer our phones. "would you say no?"

That's pretty much what happened with lex and he went to w.c.w for less work and lots more money.

The question though is that when he was in the wwf he was on his way to the top and when he went to w.c.w I feel he got lost in the shuffle. So Did lex screw him self out of a great career? Im sure he is fine financially lol but what did we miss if he staid in the wwf. Would his wrestling career better? would we see him with a world title? I don't know, but in the long run money talks and it talked very well to lex.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

The allure of money is more than understandable. I mean here was a company (in WCW) that had Hogan, Flair, Sting; undoubtedly big players.Sure, in WWF the man's Lex Express was huge, he was gonna take that top spot no doubt, but it takes two things to overrule the temptation of money- Present financial stability and Loyalty.

Bret showed in the years to come that he had loyalty towards WWE, (upto November 1997 anyway if other stories are to be believed) and signing with WWF a 20 year deal when WCW waved a much fatter cheque in his face. Did Luger have it? Maybe not. But then again, what do we know about his financial situation at that time too. WCW was a golden goose that wouldn't knock on your door very often. So he went with it, and I get his reasons for doing so.
So NO, he didn't screw himself over, he just made the smartest move for that time.

 

[Marky-Marc]

Of course he screwed himself.

The whole Lex Express thing wasn't for nothing. he was supposed to win the WWE Title at Summerslam in 1993 to culminate that whole thing. You think that whole thing was built up to just have a countout win over Yoko? Absolutely not.

Apparently, Lex was going public during that whole 'campaign' and telling people he was going to be the next world champion, Vince found out and pulled the plug. I believe he was supposed to win and hold it until Wrestlemania 10 where he'd drop it to Bret Hart. After that Lex was thrown in the mid card and a short tag team with th British Bulldog before jumping ship. He definitely screwed himself. He was pushed from day 1 with the WWE. The Narcissist gimmick was great and then the Lex Express thing was huge but he ruined it for himself.

I'm sure Vince eventually would've gotten over it and made him champ sometime in 95, maybe feuding with Diesel or in 96 feuding with HBK. Who knows but he definitely ruined his own career because his run in WCW was totally forgettable.

 

[Mustang Sally]

So NO, he didn't screw himself over, he just made the smartest move for that time.

I would agree with that. It's easy now to say that the guys (and Madusa) who deserted WWE for WCW screwed themselves but that's only because of hindsight. No one knew how things were going to turn out back then. Plainly, WCW was coming at the top WWE guys and saying something like: "We're going to put Vince out of business, so you might as well come with us before they go down. Plus, we'll double your salary."

If that's the way it was put to guys like Luger, what else would they be expected to do? If you want loyalty, buy a dog.

Then again, I can argue with the way Luger left WWE without saying a word (as far as we know); simply showing up on a Nitro broadcast and taking Vince by surprise. Was that really necessary? How badly did he think he was being treated by WWE that he felt the need to do that? After WCW folded, Vince invited almost everyone back except Luger.

Hmm. Come to think of it, maybe Lex did screw himself.

 

[eljay7i]

Guys in an Interview with Eric Bischoff, he clearly stated he was never a big Luger fan and it was for Sting's sake that he brought Lex back. Also he offered Luger 3% LESS than the WWF was paying him, and he accepted it.

I do believe Luger screwed himself by mouthing off at a bar and saying he would win the World Championship at SS. The guy could of been big as Cena or even Hogan in terms of household name value.

At the end of the day he's still one of my all time favs.

 

[jmt225]

No, the WWF screwed Lex Luger by not giving him the title at Summerslam following that video you posted, fuel.

I don't care if Luger spoiled it or not at some bar (which 1. is just a rumor, and 2. I heard that happened before Wrestlemania 10, not Summerslam 1993), I, and everyone else who ordered that show, paid (or got their parents to pay for it) to see Lex Luger win the WWF Championship, not win a bogus count-out decision. The conclusion of that event still pisses me off to this day. Sincerely, one of the dumbest things McMahon ever did was not give Luger the belt that night. Luger had so much momentum behind him, and I guarantee there was not a single person tuning in who didn't want to see him as the new WWF Champion. Instead, we got this bullshit count-out finish, and never got a fucking rematch between the two until Wrestlemania 10, which had another bogus finish to it.

I really don't blame Luger for leaving at all. WCW offered more money, and he would actually go on to win the World Title in one of the most insane matches of all time when he beat Hogan on Nitro. He also met the love of his life in WCW, too, no matter how that ended.

All in all, Luger did fine for himself after leaving the WWF, and even though he's struggling now, I think that would have been inevitable. Rumor is anyway that WWE will honor him with a Hall of Fame induction this year as well, so Luger has that going for him, too.

 

[MoneyMack]

It turned out to be a bad move for Lex. No doubt about that in hindsite. Especially if he took less money- like the above poster suggested.

I was at SummerSlam 93' as a 14 year old. We sat along the entrance aisle, like 4 rows deep. I family friend- who was 20 or so had a extra ticket, cuz one of his buddies backed out. He knew how much of a fan I was and invited me. Up to the day- it was the time of my life!! & still is the best seats i've ever had for a wrestling event. I remember clapping hands with the Steiners and Bret Hart. but what I really remember is tryin to tip over Jerry Lawler while he was on his strecher, being wheeled back to the back. After Bret whopped that ass. Even after jerry tried to back out of the match, faining injury. I remember being so pissed at that guy at that time-lol! I literally reached over the gaurd-rail & pushed the gurney! HAHA!! Of course the "doctors/emt's" didnt let it get tipped.

FUN FACT: The shows outcome was kinda ruined by the fact that red, white & blue ballons could be seen up in the rafters of the Palace. So- it was kinda a given to all the fans in the building, who was going to win the main event. But the countout was very odd. I remember thinking: why the hell would they do that?? As ballons rained down on everyone...I could hear people talking about maybe Yoko really hurt himself & couldnt get back into the ring FOR REAL.

Anyway- thanks for taking me back in time! That was some fun stuff right there!

 

[Big Sexy]

If Vince wanted Luger as champion then he would have given him the belt at Summerslam in 1993. At the time he left the WWF Luger had just finished up a tag team run with the British Bulldog so it's not like he was in the main event when he left. Not only did WCW probably offer him more money but he was put into the main event right away.

Luger's last WWF appearance was at Summerslam 1995 when he chased Mo to the back as Mo tried to interfere on Mabel's behalf against Diesel. People can speculate that it meant he was on his way back to the main event but there's no guarantee of that. He could have just been the next challenger for King Mabel. I'm not sure Luger ever would have won the title in the WWF even if he had stayed. Business wise and exposure wise Luger made what he thought was the right decision and there is no evidence anyone can show me that could prove he was wrong.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Luger was never fully embraced in the WWF universe - I think popular opinion was that after the steroid scandal, an unfeasibly build blond American hero was just that tiny bit close to a certain Mr Hogan (although Lex never had quite as much charisma on the mike). This is when WWF moved towards more natural wrestlers. Another negative was that he was a former WCW World Champion and this has appeared to have been an albatross for many guys down the years.

Yes, he had the Lex Express but he was passed over in favour of Bret at WM10. Where did he move from these heady heights? A feud with the Megastar that was... Tatanka Being moved into a full time tag team after this was not an indicator of big things ahead either.

I think Lex was dead in the water in WWF and really don't think he 'screwed' himself by going back to his 'home' federation where he was never going to be to far from the big storylines.

 

[Nikkolas]

I thought Lex was a total flop. The WWF was trying to replace Hogan with another muscley American hero type.

Luger proved to not have even half the charisma of Hogan and no one really cared. Oh sure, they popped for him, but was he actually a draw?

I also gotta say this. The "slamming Yokozuna" thing? Luger's slam was terrible and a piss poor attempt to replicate the Hogan/Adre thing. It's a damn shame Lex had to be the one to do it because Crush looked like he could have legitimately slammed Yoko. It was better than Flexy lexy's hip toss.

 

[The HEEL JuiceLee]

I bet when Lex Luger has to make a trip to the bank he does not think for 1 second he screwd his career. when the NWO took off LEX was 1 of the top babyfaces going against the odds/number game of the NWO.He played huge roles in top story line fueds. remember him and STING were all BFF until he accused him of being with the NWO when really it was IMPOSTER STING,witch led to STING becoming the Crow gimmick.Or did u forget the NWO WOLFPACK, & kicking out K-DoGG for not letting Lex be in the rap video,thats classic.Even until WCW final years with the Millionaires CLuB.I think that Vince did not want him to go, but onece the ATTITUDE ERA & the MONDaY NiGHT WaRS began i think Lex knew he wass in the right place as his personality was to super man/heroish there was no place for that with personalities like SCSA,D-X, THE ROCK,THE NATION,KANE,THE MINISTRY,THE CORPURAtION, & of course THE CoRPRaTe MiNISTRY.I believe Lex would of been like Bret HaRT & GoT pushed out as he did not have the personality for that type of T.V,unless he would of dropped that gimmick and went back as a new improved narcasist(spell check) kinda Like CoDY RHoDeS Is doing now,But dont forget Lex started in the NWA witch became WCW, he had many friends there including his BFF STING.So vey long post to say HELL NO!!!Larry is fine with how his carrer in WCW turned out and absolutly positivly does not regret the move,Sure he has probably thought what If.....who doesnt,but then remembers stuff like the red & black WolfPak & smiles...lol

 

[yellowdog22]

To be honest Luger was brought in for Vince's bodybuilding federation, that failed and they had to fine something for Luger to do. He did the whole Narcissus gimmick and had he stuck with that, he may have been world champion. I believe the problem came with that he was a perceived as a WCW product and the Summer Slam '93 was probably to gauge the crowd reaction of him being champ. Also this wasn't in the days where championships changed rapidly and Summer Slam was hardly Wrestlemania in those days.

Another interesting fact is that a world championship had never changed at hands at Summer Slam and didn't until Brock defeated The Rock in 2002.

They chose to audible from Luger winning. The proposed WM card probably featured Bret vs. Owen (which they kept cause they knew it would be an instant classic) and they kept Luger vs. Yokozuna due to it being the proposed main event. The problem is Luger had probably lost the heat from the Lex Express/Intrepid by that time and Bret probably lobbied Vince for the title. Another thing is Luger never seemed like a guy that wanted to politic, just a guy who wanted a paycheck.


"No. To be honest with you, I knew maybe a few months before WrestleMania because my family had never been to an event. So I asked (The WWF) for tickets to WrestleMania and Vince was upset. He called me into his office, this is months and months before WrestleMania, and he goes, "Lex, you know, you're not going to be winning the belt at WrestleMania." And my ex-wife Peggy had some really good friends out of New York. Their family had kids the same age as my kids, so I wanted them there no matter what. So I said, "Vince, I just want them to go to the event with their friends. It doesn't matter. That doesn't have anything to do with me wanting tickets." So he let me know months out that I was not going to be World Champion at WrestleMania because he was worried about me flying my whole family in to celebrate me winning the title and he was courteous enough to tell me that I wasn't winning the belt. So I knew months out."


"And I've heard these crazy rumors. Someone saw something on Wikipedia one time - which is not an encyclopedia. You can type in and change whatever you want that I was in a bar, messed up, telling everyone I was going to win so they didn't do it. But I was actually, the night before, not in a bar in New York saying I was going to win the World Title. I was actually staying two hours away from New York for the site of Wrestlemania at my wife's friend's house in Connecticut. So I wasn't anywhere near a bar telling people I was going to win the World Title."

 

[Megadeth]

I think you are missing a big chunk of history with your argument here. The whole Lex express thing pretty much lost its steam after Wrestlemania X, about a year and a half before he went back to WCW. After WM X, Luger went from the main event down to tagging with, then feuding with Tatanka and by extension, the Million Dollar Corporation, with his team losing to the Corporation team at Survivor Series 1994. Then, by the time Wrestlemania XI rolled around he was thrown into a team with the British Bulldog who fought the Blu Brothers at WMXI. He went from fighting for the WWF title at WMX, to being in a random tag match to open WMXI. He then continued to team with Bulldog for most of the summer until Smith turned heel shortly before Luger left. So in Lex's entire 2 1/2 years or so in the WWF he never won a title, and had spent the last year and a 1/2 or so of it stuck in the midcard.

For those unaware, prior to his WWF debut, Luger had been in WCW, and was a former WCW world champ. I think he felt like he wasnt going to get back into the main event, and decided he would rather try his luck back in WCW. Personally, I never really cared for Luger, but I think he made the right call. He ended up beating Hulk Hogan for the WCW World title (albeit he only held the title for a week), won the Tag titles a couple titles, TV tile, and the US title, along with being involved in one of the biggest moments in Wrestling history at Bash at the Beach 1996. I think if he had stayed in WWF he may have eventually won the tag titles or maybe the IC title, but I am doubtful he would have ever made it back up to the top and won the WWF title.

Edit: Also, I checked Eric Bischoff's book, and according to Bischoff, Luger claimed he was miserable in the WWF and was the one who called Bischoff about coming back to WCW. And as someone else pointed out, he also claims he never really liked Luger, but Sting convinced him to bring Luger back. Also Eric claims he only offered Lex $150,000 a year, which when he had left WCW to go the the WWF originally he had been making somewhere around 500,000 to 750,000 a year. It doesnt say what he was making in the WWF, but either it was less than $150,000 a year, which I doubt, or he really wanted out of WWF bad at the time.

 

[Chris Jericho Markaholic]

Hmmm This A Tough Question Honestly

I'm a big fan of the "Total Package" Soo Ill Try Not To Be Biased Sooo In My Mind No He Didn't Ruin His Career Because Lex Luger Was ALWAYS A Top Guy

He Made A Huge Impact Debuting On Nitro In 1995 , And Lex May Have Not Been The Best Skill Wise , But He Was A Guy Who Looked Believable As A Top Guy. U Could Sell This Guy As A Champion One Of The Greatest Looks In The History of Wrestling

Lex Is Most Likely Doing Well Financially And He's A Born Again Christian

Lex Luger Will Most Likely Be In The Hall Of Fame This Year And Is Remembered (Not By All) As One Of The All Time Greats

 

[Next Jericho]

To be totally honest I think that Lex Luger did screw himself out off a great carrier as the WWE was looking for a guy to replace Hulk Hogan and with him being very bulit up he was a top candidate for the spot but decide to got to WCW for better money than the WWE and got himself lost in the NWO mix and never really found a way out. But I also think that Lex Luger also screw himself out off a great carrier because he never had any microphone skills, could never truly wrestle a great match, never really showed any real effort and could never get a crowd going in his matches but yet the WWE looked pasted that and put him as a top badyface when he showed little effort in wrestling therefore he screwed himself from a great carrier.

 

[jaceynightheat]

I don't think he screwed himself at all. He wasn't going to be the champion in WWF even if he should have been. So he went to WCW and ended up being a main face for a while against the nWo. I really liked Lex during that time.

And one way or the other, if not this year one year he'll be in the WWE Hall of Fame.

 

[TUFFY54]

Lets get one thing straight. He did NOT go to WCW for the money. In Eric Bischoff's book he said that he met with Lugar as a favor to Sting. He didn't like Lex and told him he wasn't going to pay him the money he was asking for. He told him that if his attitude was good and he got over, then he would get paid more. Bischoff said it took Lugar 3 years to get back up to the money he was making in 91. The story was backed by Michael Hayes and JR on different occasions.

The whole Lugar situation is just bizzare. If I could ask Vince McMahon one question, it might be why didn't Lugar win at Summerslam. He had more build up than anything since Hulkamania and got a countout. Bizzare. Lugar shot his mouth off 6 months later and Vince made him lose at Mania even though they had already taped TV with him as champ. After that he knew that he would never be a top player again so he left.

In the wrestling business its hard to say if a guy screwed himself. Remember, WCW almost put the WWE out of business. They came so close that USA wanted Vince to move RAW to another night. If WCW had won, we would be asking if guys like Stone Cold, Mick Foley, and Triple H had screwed themselves by pissing Bischoff off and leaving WCW.

P.S. For everyone saying that Lugar is a rich man today and doesn't have any regrets. Learn your facts. Miss Elisabeth died of a drug overdose at his house. He almost went to jail over it. He then suffered a spinal stroke and was wheelchair bound for months. After becoming a born again Christian he was living in the basement of his preachers house. Today he looks like he weighs about 180 pounds and pays the bills doing autograph signings. Not trying to disparage the man, but those are the facts.

 

[theHeadliner]

Luger has shot down that rumor several times in interviews that he "gave away" the finish in a bar the night before or whatever. Vince told Bret right after the Royal Rumble that he was winning the belt back at Mania 10. No matter what Vince did to try to get Lex over, he wasn't into it himself, didn't like the job, and couldn't reach that point.