Let's talk about Lex, baby.

[King Cucaracha 0]

I was always a big mark for the Lex Express run to Summerslam '93 as a kid. Not so much for Luger himself, as much as the actual build-up. It's so cheesy looking back at it, but the bus, the whole ultra patriotism aspect of the character... "I'll Be Your Hero", easily one of the greatest songs in wrestling history. It wasn't the sort of thing they could keep going though, I don't think. After the way he beat Yokozuna he was struggling. Even if he'd won the title at Summerslam though, it's hard to see how they could have kept the momentum going, especially with his prospective opponents.

 

I always enjoyed his run as US Champion in NWA/WCW as well. He was never the most natural looking wrestler, but he was capable of a good or even great match. Like Cena, I suppose. I've always had a soft-spot for his couple of matches with Stan Hansen on WCW PPV. And the tag match w/Sting vs. The Steiners at Superbrawl, another really good match. I can't think of many if any WWF matches that were on a par quality wise with his NWA/WCW efforts.

[King Kamala 0]

Yeah, I can't think of any good matches Luger had during his WWF run. Even though the stint was pretty memorable- jumping ship probably hurt his career more than it helped it.

 

Though I thought the first match with Yokozuna was way better than you'd expect it to be given the participants.

[The Truthiness 0]

I also loved Luger tweener work in WCW.

 

When him and Sting would be coming to the ring, Sting would be slapping the fans hands, and Luger would be telling the fans don't touch him. When Sting would turn around, Luger would start slapping hands with this goofy smile on his face.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Luger/Pillman, Halloween Havoc 89 is one of my all time favorite matches.

[King Cucaracha 0]

To be fair, he was an acceptable worker, if not great, and probably wouldn't have quite as much of the bad reputation he has now if not for his late 90s, early 2000s era work. Everything post Russo's arrival was the pits. One match with Buff Bagwell sticks out as being particularly awful, I forget which PPV.

[cabbageboy 0]

I'll say something that most here will scoff at but here goes. I sort of enjoyed the silly Totally Buff tag team in late era WCW. They at least got some heat by "retiring" Goldberg, and since Goldberg never returned to WCW they got that job done.

 

And I'll also admit to being amused by Luger's schtick of "4% body fat."

[Boner Kawanger 0]

I just remembered Team Package. For some bizarre reason I really liked that team.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

That angle from 1999 where he was repackaged as "The Total Package" was so bizarre. The new character was really nothing different from what he was playing before. I seem to remember them even having a funeral or something for the old Lex Luger character too. What the hell was the point of all that?

[Timmy8271 0]

Yeah, I can't think of any good matches Luger had during his WWF run. Even though the stint was pretty memorable- jumping ship probably hurt his career more than it helped it.

 

Though I thought the first match with Yokozuna was way better than you'd expect it to be given the participants.

 

Luger/Tatanka cage match was pretty good.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I just remembered Team Package. For some bizarre reason I really liked that team.

 

The highlight for me was Flair screaming at AA "I want to be on Team Package! I want to be on Team Package!!!"

[cabbageboy 0]

I remember a really hilarious Flair/Luger interview during that time period where Luger did his spiel and then Flair did a rant listing all of their accomplishments. It was like "I'm the Nature Boy Ric Flair! Greatest of all time! 14 time world champion! And this is the Total Package, former world champion himself....4 percent!" It was as though Flair thought Luger's 4% body fat deal was so awesome he had to work it in, haha.

[strummer 0]

That angle from 1999 where he was repackaged as "The Total Package" was so bizarre. The new character was really nothing different from what he was playing before. I seem to remember them even having a funeral or something for the old Lex Luger character too. What the hell was the point of all that?

 

Not to mention Elizabeth with a veil wearing an extremely low cut black dress with her new implants hanging out. It was probably the work of Bill Banks as it was a very WWF type video with wacky melodrama and forced surrealism

 

I believe this happened on one of Russo's first few shows in Oct or Nov of 99

[Jebus 0]

That angle from 1999 where he was repackaged as "The Total Package" was so bizarre. The new character was really nothing different from what he was playing before. I seem to remember them even having a funeral or something for the old Lex Luger character too. What the hell was the point of all that?

 

Not to mention Elizabeth with a veil wearing an extremely low cut black dress with her new implants hanging out. It was probably the work of Bill Banks as it was a very WWF type video with wacky melodrama and forced surrealism

 

I believe this happened on one of Russo's first few shows in Oct or Nov of 99

 

It was September 27th, 1999...just a couple of weeks before Russo-mania hit WCW.

http://slashwrestling.com/nitro/990927.html

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

That angle from 1999 where he was repackaged as "The Total Package" was so bizarre. The new character was really nothing different from what he was playing before. I seem to remember them even having a funeral or something for the old Lex Luger character too. What the hell was the point of all that?

 

Not to mention Elizabeth with a veil wearing an extremely low cut black dress with her new implants hanging out. It was probably the work of Bill Banks as it was a very WWF type video with wacky melodrama and forced surrealism

 

I believe this happened on one of Russo's first few shows in Oct or Nov of 99

 

It was September 27th, 1999...just a couple of weeks before Russo-mania hit WCW.

http://slashwrestling.com/nitro/990927.html

The lack of pictures of Liz in said dress on that page vexes me. I am terribly vexed.

[alfdogg 0]

I like how they have Nitro's ratings on one side of the page and RAW's on the other. From a 4.7 to a 2.9 with the start of RAW. Shit.

[cabbageboy 0]

It got worse as the night went on. I think that had to be the This is Your Life, Rock show and thus the one segment had an 8.4 rating to 1.6 for Nitro. WCW was just getting assraped back then.

[The Truthiness 0]

I always liked The Giant Vs Lex match at GAB 96.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

I like how in the beginning of the Luger/Giant match, Luger charges right towards The Giant, and The Giant just calmly lifts his foot up for Luger to run right into it. Cracks me up!

[ChrisMWaters 0]

I kinda liked Lex and Bulldog as The Allied Powers, for the record.

 

I was kinda dissapointed when Lex jumped to WCW because then we'd never get Lex's view on Bulldog's heel turn that was promised for the Superstars that would have aired the week that Lex jumped that was promised the previous Saturday.

 

Then again, I was still young at the time.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I kinda liked Lex and Bulldog as The Allied Powers, for the record.

 

The Allied Powers seemed like a concept that would have been more over a year or two earlier. It just kind of seemed obvious to me the two guys were a team because neither had much else to do, even though I was still basically a mark at the time.

[cabbageboy 0]

I still have zero clue why they didn't put the belts on the Allied Powers even if just for a transition run. So not only did Luger choke against Yoko in the world title scene he also choked against Yoko and Owen in the tag ranks.

 

And I have to ponder: You have Luger and Bulldog and want to turn one guy heel. So you choose to turn BULLDOG??? The guy had never been a heel in his career and was still quite over with the crowd, while Luger was out of steam as the All American hero and needed a new direction.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I remember the Allied Powers had awesome theme music.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I'm not sure why WWF refused to change Luger back to a heel character. Maybe they were still getting pressured by USA Network to have a Hogan-like babyface on top.

[Richard 0]

They had Diesel for that though.

[cabbageboy 0]

I heard that Vince always wanted to get around to putting the title on Luger at some point, but I have zero clue how that would have happened by 1995. Luger was so far out of contention by that point that no one would have cared. In that respect he was right to go back to WCW, where he immediately became a top star again.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

I just remembered Team Package. For some bizarre reason I really liked that team.

 

The highlight for me was Flair screaming at AA "I want to be on Team Package! I want to be on Team Package!!!"

This was seriously why. Thanks.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScxoUbS0QPQ

 

Team Package action within