Biggest Fan: Jamie Andrews "He did have an illegal weapon in his forearm at all times."
A two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Lex Luger was PWI's Most Popular Wrestler for 1993. And whether you prefer him to be clad in red, white and blue, or as The Total Package, or even as The Narcissist, there's little doubt that Lex Luger left an impact on the wrestling business during his 21-year career.
Although it seems like I've typed this before, Luger took up wrestling after his career with the Green Bay Packers failed to pan out. After training with Japanese legend Hiro Matsuda, the man who trained Hulk Hogan, Luger began wrestling in NWA Florida alongside Rick Rude and Percy Pringle. While working for the promotion, Luger (who chose his ring name because he loved the comic character Lex Luthor) battled such industry legends as Wahoo McDaniel and Bruiser Brody. He also fought NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair to a 60-minute time limit draw.
In 1987, Luger joined the roster of Jim Crockett Promotions (soon-to-become WCW), eventually earning himself a spot in Flair's Four Horsemen stable of wrestlers. That July, Luger defeated Nikita Koloff to capture the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship for the first of his record five times. This first stint would last only four-and-a-half months; Luger dropped the title to Dusty Rhodes at the 1987 Starrcade, JCP's first pay-per-view. Soon, Luger had a falling out with the Four Horsemen and embarked on an award-winning feud with Ric Flair.
In February of 1989, Lex Luger bested Barry Windham to capture the U.S. Heavyweight Championship again. Luger would hold this title for 809 of the next 874 days, only briefly losing the title for 15 and 50 days to Michael "P.S." Hayes and Stan Hansen, respectively. This stretch would include the longest title reign (over 17 months) in the history of the U.S. Heavyweight Championship, and ultimately the only reason Luger relinquished the belt for the last time was because he captured the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. After losing the WCW World Heavyweight belt to Sting, Luger left WCW and joined the World Bodybuilding Federation.
The WBF was about as successful as Vince McMahon's other non-wrestling venture, the XFL. Soon, Luger was employed by McMahon but there was no longer a WBF to compete in. So, Luger joined the WWF after recovering from a motorcycle accident (the reason he had the metal plate in his arm that our expert refers to above), first as The Narcissist and then as "Made in the USA" Lex Luger, traveling the country in his custom bus, the Lex Express. This was a time of huge popularity for Luger, as he would feud with Yokozuna and Ludvig Borga over national pride and stuff. After an unsuccessful bid to capture the WWF Title from Yokozuna, Luger embarked on a pretty hilarious feud with Tatanka over whether or not he had "sold out" to Ted DiBiase.
After a short time as one half of The Allied Powers (with partner Davey Boy Smith), Luger returned to WCW in a shocking surprise on the first episode of WCW Monday Nitro. Luger and his pal, Sting, were two of the main foes of the nWo during that exciting era in WCW. Luger ended up spending time in the nWo Wolfpac, bringing in Miss Elizabeth to be his manager, and winning tag team gold with Buff Bagwell before the WWF purchased WCW, effectively ending his time there.
Luger is arguably the greatest United States Heavyweight Champion of all time, altogether holding that belt for 948 days over five different reigns (nobody else is within 300 days of that total). He's been one of the more popular wrestlers in the industry and, although his recent life has been marred with tragedy and scandal, his superstar status is unquestionable. Yeah.
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