What if Lex Luger did become the WWF champion at WM 10?

[CM Steel]

About 18-19 years ago in the WWF/E the company was pumping up former WCW talent Lex Luger as their new all-american guy in the promotion. And was set to win the WWF/E championship from the late great Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 10 in New York City at Madison Square Garden. The WWF/E championship scene that night also involved Bret Hart in the main event. But plans changed for that night.

Lex Luger got drunk the night before Wrestlemania in a New York bar. The next morning an article in a New York City paper was published by a reporter that was apparently in the bar with Lex Luger. The article said the whole plan of Luger beating Yokozuna and then Hart beating Luger so WWF/E officals decided they needed a new plan and punished Luger by not giving him the title.

But what if LL didn't get drunk that night before WM 10 and won the world title there? We wrestling fans had to wait years later when Lex Luger went back to WCW to win a world title. When he defeated Hollywood Hogan with the torture rack.

 

[Psyclone]

i doubt much wouldve changed... especially if as you say the plan was for lex to drop the title to bret anyways... I remember watching wrestlemania X live and thought they did a good job with the stories they told with those matches for the world championship... Luger won but by countout when he used his metal forearm (from his motorcycle accident) to knock yokozuna out of the ring for the knockout.... He didn't get the title but didn't get diminished... Bret started the night by losing (in a great match) to Owen, thus setting up the storyline of Owen wanting a title shot since Bret ended up winning the belt later....

Honestly I don't think anything would've changed had Luger gotten the victory and Bret then beat him for the title... He'd still be a guy who never quite reached the level he could have, and who was horrifiterrible on the mic.... He was a great performer at times, and surely had the "look" of a world champion, but wasn't ever able to really be "the man."

 

[mdj2010]

You are talking about a guy who got drunk the night before WM and revealed plans to a journalist? Im going to guess that had he won the title, it would have been a very shortlived reign.

WWE put a lot of time, money and undeserved effort into Luger and he crapped on them for what they gave him by going back on his word and heading to WCW (a company who were eqaully aware of his problematic ego).

Luger remains one of the gretest underachieveres of all time in my book. He could have been a Hogan, he was given the tools to be a Hogan. but, despite having an ego on par with hogan's, he never realy cut it with the fans and made very little of the barrel load of opportunities he was afforded.

If you haven't guessed, I am a lifelong hater of Lex Luger.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Realistically not much would have changed... I don't think Bret would have gotten the belt from Luger, I still think they would have pushed Diesel as the guy to unseat Luger but Diesels run would certainly have been a bit better had he been a heel and defending against Luger and Bret. Diesel ends the fued with Luger at Rumble 1995 and Shawn and Bret go one and two in the Rumble. Bret gets taken out by Shawn and Diesel interferes and eliminates Taker and Shawn... Bret stuns Diesel the following night when Taker costs him the title so Mania is Diesel v Taker and Bret v Shawn.

 

[SydTinDad]

You have to go back to the begining as to why he became a WWE 'face' in the first place; he was supposed to be the next HULK HOGAN-AMERICAN HERO.

Larry Phfol the man, has a personality you can store meat in. Lex Luger the character has absoluetly NO charisma, let alone, Hogan-esque. There is a fine line between being an an underachiever and being overrated. He, was significantly overrated. This man would have found some way to fuck it up without being drunk because he had a bad attitude and is a selfish bastard. What Steve Borden (Sting) sees in him, I have no idea.

But Vince though this would work. He saw the great looking box on the shelf, bought it, opened it up and thought it was going to be the best purchase he ever made. But the toy broke.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Although its true Luger was supposed to win the title from Yokozuna at WM10 he was also supposed to lose the title to Bret in the last match that night, or at least that's what I recall.

The truth is by Wrestlemania 10 Bret was the more popular of the 2 but the WWE probably wanted Luger to be champ, I do know the reason they both won the Rumble is because Vince had no clue who he wanted to win the title. All I know is during the summer you could have sworn Luger was being setup to win the title at Wrestlemania. I honestly think it went to Bret because Luger lost steam going into Wrestlemania so the decision was made to have Bret become champ and feud with Owen right after (which is what happened).

So all in all not much would have changed. Luger wins the title at 430, Bret wins the title at 6 and goes on to feud with Owen. I don't think Luger was meant to be the champ by Wrestlemania 10, he just wasn't as over as Bret was. Luger had the look and the machine behind him but when Bret feuded with Lawler, then Owen right after it kept him more relevant at the time and helped him get over even more than he already was. Both were great feuds and if Luger left WM10 with the title who would he feud with? After WM10 I don't recall Luger doing much after that.

 

[asiatic7]

It seems WWF was going in that direction with the lame ass bus trip and american flag sweat pants. I didn't know the whole bar story though...Wow! I don't think it would have been a great idea to have him as champion. Me personally, I didn't care for him at the time. As a matter of fact I didn't care for any incarnation of Lex Luger. He was just another "body" guy, and I think that is what Vince liked about him, his look., Big muscular, blonde, american hero...does that sound familiar? I'm glad Bret went on to define that era, it was new and his matches were incredible at that time and they still are. Even though those were lean years as far as buisness is concerned, I don't think Luger with the title would have changed anything or drew more fans to watch...

 

[Greg4WWE]

I remember this well.. it was kind of a dumb night.. it was Bret vs Owen with Bret getting the title match later in the night despite the outcome of that match... that basically told me Owen was going to win...

Then Luger vs Yokozuna ended when Perfect DQ'd Luger for "touching him" thus putting Perfect back as a Heel..

Then ofcourse we all know Bret defeated Yokozuna then Owen walks down to the ring and just stares..

Doubt it was ever really in the plans for Luger to leave WM 10 with the title, and it made more sense for Bret to defeat Yoko

 

[Potatogod93]

I somewhat disagree that Vince only liked Luger cause of his body. I think Vince saw that Luger got over in NWA/WCW. Perhaps that's why he got his push in the NWCWA, but he was world champion in the early 90's for them. Other than the Luger vs Yoko angle Luger was not a good fit in the WWF. With that said I could've seen a program with him vs Shawn/Diesel working if he did become champ, but that would have to mean they would end the Razor vs Shawn/Diesel fued early.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Bear in mind as well that Vince had designs on a Steiner Brothers Feud leading into Scott being a main eventer... They balked on money and both walked (part of the reason Scott took so long to get into WWE)... The whole Bret Owen thing was 2nd choice for the Brother feud at the time. Had the steiners played ball, we may well have seen Scott in Luger's position, he was a more natural fit for the "All-American" gimmick...

 

[The Brain]

I’ve said this many times on this forum but since it’s come up I’ll say it again. Going into mania Lex Luger was not supposed to win the title at WM10. I’m sure the original plan was for Luger to win the title at mania but that plan changed before the Royal Rumble. This whole story about him getting drunk and spoiling the plans the night before mania is just a wrestling urban legend. It doesn’t make any sense.

If Lex Luger was supposed to win the title he would have simply faced Yokozuna in the main event and Bret Hart would not have been involved with the title at all. He already had a perfect mania opponent in his brother Owen. They had a huge story going into mania so if Luger was supposed to win the title he would have been scheduled against Yoko while Bret wrestled Owen and that would have been that. Somewhere between SummerSlam 93 and Royal Rumble 94, likely after Survivor Series, the WWF decided they did not want to put the title on Luger so they went with the co-winners at the rumble. Not to mention the entire point of Owen beating Bret in the opening match was to allow him to be pushed back into Bret’s shadow by the end of the night and establish the number one contender throughout the summer.

If Luger had won the title he probably would have wrestled Diesel at KOTR like Bret did but we wouldn’t have gotten as good of a match. Maybe he would have dropped the title to Hart at SummerSlam though that is unlikely as the face vs. face match wasn’t common in the WWF yet. Regardless Diesel would have ended up with the title by the end of the year as he was the fastest rising star in 1994.

 

[Goldie]

Luger would have been a failure. Despite Vince pulling out all the stops to give Lex the megapush... the fans didn't like having Luger rammed down their throats.
They wanted to cheer for who they wanted... not have Vince telling them who they should cheer for.
Listen to the 1994 Royal Rumble outcome... where Bret and Luger are each announced as the winner... the fans are put into a split situation, and are solidly behind Bret.

Had Luger been the victor over Yokozuna at WM10 I think that he would have dropped the title at the next PPV.... possibly even to Diesel (who challenged Bret for the title at the actual event) ... and since Vince still had his thing for big guy wrestlers and was keen on pushing Diesel anyway ... turn Nash face shortly afterwards.

I thought Luger was much better as a heel. As a face he was bland and unlikeable.... sticking with the heel Narcissist gimmick would have paid off better for him.... rather than Vince trying to re-mould Luger into Hulk Hogan #2 ... the American hero!

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

If Luger would have won the title at WM X this is how I see the events following playing out.

1) In the main event of the night Bret would still win the title, now against Luger instead of Yoko.

2) As a result of Luger winning the title then losing the title he becomes bitter and in the process turns heel. You could have him solo or part of Dibiasi's top heel stable of the time the million dollar corporation.

3) For the rest of the spring and into the summer, the Bret/Owen story plays out the same way it did. During this time Luger grows into his role as top heel.

4) After SummerSlam Luger and Bret get into a program that leads to Survivor Series where Luger wins the title.

5) Now depending on how much heat Luger has as champ would dictate how long he holds the title. He's either dropping it at the 95 Rumble or WM XI.

If he drops it at the Rumble:

It would be against Bret. There is a rematch and Hart regains the title. At the rumble itself, your major players at the end should be Michaels, Diesel, Owen, Razor and Taker. I would have Diesel win the Rumble to set up Hart v Diesle at WM XI. I would still play off of there 3 matches they had and have this be the 1st of the three and have Bret retain the title here, drop it to Diesel at SummerSlam and win it back at either Survivor Series or the Rumble. At the 96 rumble, Shawn wins entered at 1 and beats Bret at WX XII as he did and the rest remains the same.

If he drops it at WM XI: COntinue to build Luger as the top heel by having him beat Hart again this time with more cheating then his original title win. I would have the 95 Rumble play out as I mentioned earlier to set up a Diesel v Luger title match at WM XI with Diesel winning. Then I still have the three matches between Bret and Diesel with Bret winning the title at SummerSlam, losing it at Survivor Series and then winning it once more at the 96 Rumble. Again I would have Shawn win the Rumble entered at 1, go one to beat Bret for the title at WM XII and the rest play out as it did.

In conclusion, if Luger won the title at WM X he would have dropped it to Bret at the same card, and this would have effected the events between WM X-WM XII. Now things for the most part happen as they did back then, just at different events with different title reign lengths.

 

[The Eighties]

Nothing much would have changed, Lex would have had a 90 minute title reign and possibly had a better match with Bret than a gassed Yokozuna did. From there I see Luger's career taking the same path into his feud with Tatanka and then into a tag team with Davey Boy.

It was clear at the Rumble who the crowd were behind and again at the coin toss a few weeks later to see who faced Yoko first at Mania. Vince put the entire machine behind making Luger the new Hogan but it just never clicked.

The WrestleMania X booking was always a little odd to me, the thing with Perfect screwing Luger went nowhere, and expecting a 500lb man to have a 15 minute match then cool down and come back and have a second match was crazy, and led to a pretty anti climactic last match with a lame finish.

 

[FlairFan2003]

If you were watching wrestling then you should remember the massive push Luger was getting, it was huge, one of the biggest things Ive ever seen in 30 years watching wrestling. When he turned face (after playing a cocky heel, "The Narcissist" character when he first debuted, similair to his Four Horsemen gimmick) it was a major event. His subsequent bus tour (remember The Lex Express) and nationwide autograph signing tour were all huge deals. WWE invested a lot in Luger, they clearly thought they had stolen the crown jewel from WCW.

People who bash Luger forget just how popular he was, in both companies. He was very over with the fans, he sold tickets, he moved merchandise. I always enjoyed him ore as a heel but regardless he was a big deal, despite the legitimacy of criticisms RE: his ring skills or mic skills. Remember, The Ultimate Warrior was a lazy, low work rate, careless performer who routinley injured opponents through his lacksadaisical performances, attrocious and one dimensional on the mic, a complete niche chararcter with little upside, and hard to get along with backstage to boot. He was however pretty popular from 1989-91.

As for Luger winning the WWE Title, I doubt it would have changed much in the long term. I still believe that WWE liked Hart because he was great worker and a WWE lifer, even though this is around the time HBK really started rising up the ranks. Once WWE felt comfortable HBK could carry the ball he was favored over Hart because he was a lot more entertaining as a character, plus he could keep pace or even exceed Hart's in ring performances. None of that would have changed with Luger getting a title run. By 1996 the title would have been Michael's to lose, he was just too good.

It would have been a nice add on to Luger's career although realistically beating Yokozuna for the WWE title would not have been as big as winning the WCW Title off of Hogan cleanly, which he did. If Luger had gotten a title run maybe he would have stayed in WWE past the expiration of his deal in 1995, which might have put the ultimate victory of his career in jeopardy.

Even if Luger re upped with WWE and didnt return to WCW I doubt much would have changed. He was important in the WCW/NWO wars early on but not as much as Sting and Flair or Savage.

My guess - Luger wins the WWE Title, survives his re match with Yokozuna, feuds with Hart, loses the belt, then everything else plays out about the same. By 1997 The NWO Invasion and Sting's return from exile would have still been wrestling's biggest stories, and HBK would have entrenched himself over top Hart as WWE's top guy until the ascension of Stone Cold.

 

[theHeadliner]

Lex Luger himself said that he was never supposed to win that night and that he certainly did not brag about it drunkenly in a bar. That's a wrestling folk tale.

The day after the Royal Rumble where Bret and Luger tied Vince told Bret that he'd win the title that night against Yoko after opening the PPV with Owen... So why would Luger ever say that when it wasn't the plan to begin with? I can cite a source for that if someone wants it.