The Article that cost Luger the WWF Belt

[cawthon777 0]

I found this on Google a while back and thought I would share.

 

Both are from Linda Stasi's "Hot Copy" column in the NY Daily News.

 

The first was published the day of the PPV. The second ran a day or two later.

 

 

GRAPPLERS ARE TATTLERS ABOUT WRESTLEMANIA

 

We always wondered why athletes get stripped of their jobs/titles/houses/freedom if they: bet on games/take steroids/fix sporting events, while wrestlers get rich from all of the above right in front of everyone. Well, in the spirit of shocking, big breaking news we have to tell all of you obsessive fans who'll be attending this afternoon's Wrestlemania competition at the Garden that we already know who's gonna win. We know this because about 12 of the bulked-up boys have been in town all week and several of them can't keep their traps shut. A huge contingent of them - including Bret Hart, Lex Luger, Stan Lane, Johnny Polo and Crush - plopped down for a few 32-ounce porterhouse steaks at Charlton's steak house Thursday night and our source caught it all.

 

Turns out perennial good guy Luger will meet and beat perennial bad guy Yokozuna for the World Wrestling Federation championship title. But, we understand, Luger will only own the belt for about an hour. At that time Hart is supposed to climb into the ring and, with the help of guest referee Mr. Perfect, lay a big beating on Luger and be declared champion. But don't let us stop you from getting drunk in front of your children and cheering for your favorite actor, er, wrestler.

 

 

And after the PPV ...

 

 

SWITCHEROO

 

Just the other day, we reported the outcome of Wrestlemania X several hours before the huge pay-per-view event unfolded before a live Madison Square Garden audience. We told you that Lex Luger would defeat Yokozuna before losing the championship belt to Bret Hart. Long story short, we were right. The only thing is, Vince McMahon was not about to stage that scenario after we found it out and reported it. To make matters worse, obsessed World Wrestling Federation fans were milling around the lobby of the Doral Court Hotel and congratulating Hart a full 10 hours before he actually won.

 

Our sources say that McMahon called a last-minute meeting to pull the old switcheroo. He stuck with keeping Hart as champion, but he had him fight Yokozuna instead of Luger. To follow up, he had his publicist - former NBC entertainment flack Curt Block - fax us a note that read in part, "[your reporting] proves once again that nothing is as exciting of unpredictable as the WWF." Yes, especially when good reporting and reliable sources blow the lid off carefully staged entertainment and force people to get very creative on the fly.

 

 

BTW, when it said Hart AND Perfect would beat on Luger ... doubtful. Perfect yes, Bret no.

[Australian Pride 0]

If it's for real - thank god for that article, and thank god it prevented Luger from ever holding the WWF title.

 

But part of me finds this rather hard to believe. The WM10 storyline was great (Bret loses to his brother and gets injured, but still comes back to beat the man who took his title 1 year earlier), and I cant imagine they came up with that on the day of the show.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Doesn't make sense. Bret and Luger were both mega-over so if Bret won thanks to help form Hennig...wouldn't that make Bret heel?

[cawthon777 0]

Doesn't make sense. Bret and Luger were both mega-over so if Bret won thanks to help form Hennig...wouldn't that make Bret heel?

I take that part if the piece with a grain of salt.

 

What would have happened in that scenario, logically speaking, was to have Perfect screw Luger out of the belt but I don't think Bret would have been involved in the screwing.

[Precious Roy 0]

This is legit and the Luger title switch was indeed nixed (The Hart/Hart scenario was in place before this article remember and wasn't contingent on Yoko/Luger).

 

I believe the plan was for Perfect to do something somewhat questionable (like DQing Luger against Yoko) but not outright HELP Hart win, like maybe get in Luger's face only for Bret to role him up, thus Luger would save face by being able to blame Perfect while Bret could still claim that he won fair and square.

 

The plan at the time was to run a Luger-Perfect feud that summer as Perfect's comeback, but he decided against it at the last minute, wanting to collect his insurance money instead. And he did the same thing with HHH in 96 before he ran to WCW's money and was miraculously "healed" and perfectly (no pun intended) capable in the ring again.

 

And I guess Piper would have reffed the Yoko/Luger match rather than the main event.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Doesn't make sense. Bret and Luger were both mega-over so if Bret won thanks to help form Hennig...wouldn't that make Bret heel?

I take that part if the piece with a grain of salt.

 

What would have happened in that scenario, logically speaking, was to have Perfect screw Luger out of the belt but I don't think Bret would have been involved in the screwing.

Consider the source as well, I doubt the reporter knew anything about what was currently going on in wrestling, and heard Mr. Perfect would have a hand in Bret getting the belt figured they were supposed to be in cahoots

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

If it's for real - thank god for that article, and thank god it prevented Luger from ever holding the WWF title.

 

But part of me finds this rather hard to believe. The WM10 storyline was great (Bret loses to his brother and gets injured, but still comes back to beat the man who took his title 1 year earlier), and I cant imagine they came up with that on the day of the show.

Even though it wouldn't get as bad as it is today with the 12 PPVs a year, wrestling "history" was still pretty much "buildup to event" only, if it was worth mentioning they'd probably mentioned it. The buildup and focus was more Luger-Hart due to the finish at the Royal Rumble

 

That could also have been why they wanted the Hart-Hart matchup so they could hype the main event (yeah I know you can't get any more buys once the show begins, but for future broadcasts and the video tape edition) as "These two men are in their SECOND grueling match of the night! OH MY GOD!"

 

Steve

[Dark Age 0]

Am I the only one who thought the person who wrote that article came across as a complete jackass?

[tekcop 0]

Am I the only one who thought the person who wrote that article came across as a complete jackass?

No. He also come off as if he thinks he's special because he knows the outcome of the match and he wants to show the big, bad rich guy how smart he is or something.

[cawthon777 0]

It was a she.

 

I think that's just how gossip writers write. Like they know something no one else does and they feel special because of it. They don't take into consideration the fact that only 5% of the pepole that read the newspaper actually care what they have to say.

[Guest Trivia247]

If its true....

 

That is the budding Smart marks getting their come upins by Vince who switched around the endings just to piss them off..

 

Imagine if it was true today... and we all decided to favor the Hosses and all their wrestling favorites, then Vince might try to screw us with Benoit keeping his title Bah Gawd What a Monster!!!

[JoeDirt 0]

I was looking for this article again today, so BUMP!

 

Interesting, interesting stuff.

[cawthon777 0]

Since it has been bumped ... the theory that Luger was getting the belt at WrestleMania is wrong, newspaper article or not.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Here's why I think that Luger was booked to win the belt:

 

If not, it means that they had planned, in advance, for Yokozuna to have to wrestle two matches in a single night.

 

Something about that seems wrong.

[Hawk 34 0]

Here's why I think that Luger was booked to win the belt:

 

If not, it means that they had planned, in advance, for Yokozuna to have to wrestle two matches in a single night.

 

Something about that seems wrong.

 

Not really, it wasn't like the Luger match was going to wear him out so much that he couldn't have another slow plodding match with Bret later in the show.

[Special K 0]

"But don't let us stop you from getting drunk in front of your children and cheering for your favorite actor, er, wrestler."

 

Classy.

[Guest Dumb Monkey]

This has probably been asked countless times, but what jackass started the B.S. "Borga/Luger" rumour that occasionally pops up?

[cawthon777 0]

This has probably been asked countless times, but what jackass started the B.S. "Borga/Luger" rumour that occasionally pops up?

 

I believe that was Scott Keith.

[Hoff 0]

I like how, if this is true, WWE had the common sense to switch plans at the very last minute, and somehow made sense, and they're somehow criticized for this. Outside of maybe Lex Luger, no one really cares how the night went down. They did what they wanted to do, and they surprised anyone who read the article. Seems to me like that reporter got owned.

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

I can just see it now the day of WM10.

 

Vince: Lex why in the hell did you tell that reporter you were winning the belt?

 

Lex: I DON'T KNOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I like how, if this is true, WWE had the common sense to switch plans at the very last minute, and somehow made sense, and they're somehow criticized for this. Outside of maybe Lex Luger, no one really cares how the night went down. They did what they wanted to do, and they surprised anyone who read the article. Seems to me like that reporter got owned.

It's long since been known that the article had nothing to do with Luger not getting the belt. They made the call to go with Bret just after the Rumble of that year.