Ole was MIA with an injury onscreen for a bit in 1986. The group was in full form by the end of summer 1985 and Ole was active wrestling the entire time. He re joined the group during the summer of 86 while they were feuding with The Road Warriors, effectively to set up one last run for him & Arn against The Rock & Roll Express (to put over the R&R at Starracde 86 as they were the top good guy team in the company and had feuded on and off with Flair & The Horsemen almost all of 1986).
In early Jan 87 (as Ole was nearing his retirement) he was kicked out of the group in a dispute over his time off for family commitments. This paved the way for Lex Luger joining the NWA from Florida and also was used as a way to promote Bubba Rogers (aka Big Boss Man Ray Trailor) as a singles wrestler (Luger was handpicked by the group to join after petitioning them for months, Rogers, working in the storylines as Jim Cornette's body guard, was "hired" by The Horsemen to eliminate Ole, leading to several NO DQ style matches during the spring of 87, his first extensive action as a singles star). Ole also wrestled Arn on his way out, winning most of his final round of matches before quietly disappearing before the summer of 87.
@FlairFan2003: Yep, Lex Luger started off as a nobody face, before he went heel and made his first notable impact with The Four Horsemen, before being kicked out of The Horsemen to be a popular face in '88-'89, then his heel run with the United States Championship Belt in '89-'90 when he was focused, his mind was right and actually had the clear fire and passion in his matches and promos so he didn't need a mouthpiece to do all the talking for him, and then again his face run from '90-'91 when his alignment with Sting became known for the first time, and his heel run from '91-'92 when he was WCW World Heavyweight Champion but had no fire, lacked focus and just couldn't get his mind right and became cynical after the firing of Ric Flair in 1991, so Harley Race and Mr. Hughes were his managers to cover for Luger's newly found penchant for laziness.
His WWF stint began with Luger as a goofy midcard heel The Narcissist who would be all activated on 'Intent to Injure' mode with his steel plate in the forearm. Then he was suddenly shifted to the Patriotic All-American face squaring off against the likes of Yokozuna and other foreigner heels. By 1994, Luger's forearm steel plate was never mentioned again as it was mostly removed by then. And in '94-'95, Luger was wallowing and floundering in a makeshift tag team The Allied Powers with The British Bulldog before leaving WWF to return to WCW in 1995.
His second WCW stint began with Luger debuting as a tweener who was friends with Sting but hated other faces Hogan and Savage, and his role by the end of Halloween Havoc '95 would be defined with Luger going heel to be associated with Jimmy Hart and The Dungeon of Doom/The Alliance To End Hulkamania for much of '95-'96 until Luger began his longest face run by turning face against Ric Flair at Uncensored '96. As one of Team WCW's top babyfaces from '96-'97 through all of the 1998 portion of '98-'99, Luger would reassert himself as one of WCW's key faces in the WCW/nWo feud before the storyline disintegrated into the nWo Hollywood/nWo Wolfpac feud with Luger remaining face but changing his alliance from Team WCW to the nWo Wolfpac. As the calendar flipped over to 1999 and the two warring nWo groups reunited under the nWo Wolfpac banner called nWo Wolfpac Elite, Luger became an nWo Wolfpac heel until he was sidelined by Rey Mysterio slamming the car door on Luger's biceps, thus tearing up his biceps tendon even though a torn biceps tendon was the cause for Luger no showing the Starrcade '98 PPV. While the nWo Wolfpac Elite disbanded due to injuries, Luger would return as a heel with Miss Elizabeth as his valet, and with DDP and Sting as his enforcers until it was down to Team Package with Luger, Flair and Elizabeth out to eliminate Hogan and Sting from WCW. His '99-'00 heel run ended when he, Elizabeth and Flair were faces for the short lived Millionaire's Club vs New Blood feud which proved to be an nWo rehash, so the storyline was scrapped, and meanwhile, Luger was sent home in 2000 over creative issues while Elizabeth was released from WCW due to her ongoing and longstanding drug problems. Eventually, Luger (now with his long hair in a ponytail cut off for a new short haircut) would return in late 2000 as a heel who would team up with Buff Bagwell as a team called Totally Buffed, and in 2000-01, the two would be role players for The Magnificent Seven with Scott Steiner, Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett as the key players with Luger, Bagwell, Animal and Rick Steiner serving as role players.
The haircut Luger had in 2000, he didn't really lose a lot of hair despite some thinning. But it didn't help his standing with the fans though, as he looked like a total clown and an average joe who typically sits at home and does nothing, and totally nothing like the fairly famous "The Total Package" Lex Luger we saw from the years of 1995-early 2000 era.
