What If Lex Luger Had Won The WWF World Championship?
By: Bob Colling
With Hulk Hogan leaving the World Wrestling Federation in the summer of 1993, Vince McMahon believed that he needed a newer, younger version of the Hulkster.
Since arriving to the WWF in the spring of 1992 competing for the failed WBF (World Bodybuilding Federation), Luger became an active pro wrestler for the WWF beginning in 1993 with the gimmick of being ‘The Narcissist’.
For the first six months of his tenure, Luger was one of the more entertaining heels the company had to offer. Luger was putting on solid matches with the likes of Mr. Perfect and Tatanka on the house show market and pay-per-view. There was even a tease of a feud between Luger and former WWF World Champion Bret Hart at a press conference brunch held prior to WrestleMania IX. This also led to some Lex/Hart matches on the house show marker as well.
Any kind of feud on television never came to be as on July 4th, Luger turned babyface and slammed WWF World Champion Yokozuna on the USS Intrepid. As a result, Luger ditched his narcissist gimmick and was all about the good ‘ol red white and blue.
In one of the more humorous (and confusing) moments in WWF history, Lex Luger defeated WWF World Champion Yokozuna at SummerSlam 1993, and it was followed by a big celebration. It wouldn’t have been so funny had he actually won the championship, but Luger instead had simply won by count-out and was celebrating absolutely nothing.
The moment was damaging for Luger in some fans eyes, including myself. Why would there be such a huge celebration? The guy didn’t win anything!
Over the course of the next five months Luger would beg for another shot at Yokozuna but wouldn’t get one until he won the 1994 Royal Rumble. He would actually co-win the Rumble with Bret Hart and both got a shot against Yokozuna at WrestleMania X. Thanks to a corrupt referee in Mr. Perfect, Luger got screwed over in his match with Yoko, while Bret went on to win the WWF World Championship for a second time later that same night.
The question I pose is, what if Luger had been the guy to win the WWF World Championship?
Having him win the championship at SummerSlam may have been too soon to have Yokozuna drop the belt since winning the belt back from Hogan in June. Had Hogan not won the championship at Mania from Yokozuna, a simple four month reign would have been suffice for a title change to occur at the biggest summer event.
The fact they waited nearly another six months to push Luger towards the belt again after SummerSlam didn’t help, and the fans always adored Bret Hart. Luger was destined to lose a fan favorite contest against the Hitman.
So, lets say Hogan doesn’t win the strap at Mania and simply fades away after Mania IX. Luger becomes the American hero and pins Yokozuna at SummerSlam 1993 to win the championship. Where does he go from there? Who beats him for the strap?
Following the win, I’d have had Lex Luger continue to defend against Yokozuna on the house shows. Ludvig Borga was being built up and would be fed to Luger as well. Heck, even an underrated heel like Crush would make for a great opponent against Luger towards the end of the 1993 year.
So, from September to December ’93 or even January ’94, I’d have Luger focus his feuds against Yoko, Borga and Crush.
They seem to be fairly talented guys and work well with Lex. Bret Hart would win the Rumble and get a title shot at Lex as part of WrestleMania X.
In the weeks leading up to Mania X, a tease of jealously from Luger would be apparent. While he is the champion, the fans cheer for Bret just a little more. After all, Luger is the guy who pinned the mighty Yokozuna while the Hitman lost to him. They would be subtle at first, but eventually Luger would turn on the fans citing the fans having turned their back on an American hero.
Let’s face it, Luger has always been a better heel than he was a babyface. I wouldn’t be annoyed with the rather quick turn back to heel, since he is a natural heel and it would make a more interesting story and blowoff at Mania.
With the gold around his waist, Luger would transition back into his narcissist ways. At Mania X, Bret would go on to beat Lex Luger to win the WWF World Championship for a second time.
A simple feud and a seemingly effective way to make Luger interesting again instead of a cheap Hogan wannabe that was lost in the shuffle for the next 18 months following WrestleMania X.
What would you have done if Luger was the champion? Let me know below!
Thanks for reading.
Great article man. Only point I disagree with you on is it being to early for luger to win the belt at summerslam. I think if they wanted to build him up as the new Hogan he should have won in convincing fashion. There were plenty of heels lined up for him all of whom you mentioned. Im not a fan or a hater of lex but gotta say they dropped the ball on this
I think it’s pretty safe to say Vince ultimately made the right call not to put the belt on Luger and instead put it back on Bret. Bret was the fan’s choice, whereas Luger was shoved down everyone’s throats. That being said, had Luger won, Vince would have of course fed him all of the top heels, but eventually the fan’s wishes would’ve still won out and been heard, with that scenario you just laid out of a jealous Luger losing to Bret at WM X. Not sure if he still would’ve fought his brother Owen as well or not. I would’ve let that one still happen because of how shocking it would’ve been to see Bret win the belt after losing to Owen.