Lex Luger

In 1987, Luger went to work for Jim Crockett's World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which was under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner, with the nickname "The Total Package" and began using "The Human Torture Rack", an Argentine backbreaker, as his finisher. He was first booked as an associate to Ric Flair's "Four Horsemen" stable until Ole Anderson was kicked out and he became an official member of the group. Luger started wrestling as a heel. His first big feud was with Nikita Koloff, whom he defeated for his first NWA United States Heavyweight Championship on July 11, 1987. Manager J.J. Dillon threw a chair over the top of the cage while the referee, Earl Hebner, was down. Luger knocked Koloff unconscious with it and then lifted up Koloff in the Torture Rack. A revived Hebner then dropped Koloff's arm three times with no response and awarded Luger a submission victory.
He held the title until NWA's first pay-per-view event Starrcade in November, when he dropped it to Dusty Rhodes in a steel cage. This loss set the stage for Luger leaving the Four Horsemen, as manager Dillon's interference cost Luger the match. A steel chair thrown in by Dillon was dropped by Luger and Rhodes DDT'd Luger on it prior to pinning him for the win. Luger left the Four Horsemen in 1988 after he and his stablemates (Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, and Dillon) were the sole wrestlers left in a Bunkhouse Stampede battle royal and Dillon asked the other wrestlers to eliminate themselves so he could win. Although Blanchard and Anderson complied, Luger refused and eliminated Dillon, leaving the Horsemen in the process.
Luger turned babyface and befriended Barry Windham, his former Florida ally. They formed a tag team, dubbed "The Twin Towers". "The Twin Towers" first teamed on March 27, 1988 at Clash of the Champions to defeat Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson for the NWA World Tag Team Championship.[6] Only a few weeks after the title win, a swerve took place in the NWA with Windham suddenly turning on Luger during a title defense (against Blanchard and Anderson) and joined his former stable, The Four Horsemen.[1] Days later, the Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament was held with its first night in Greenville, South Carolina. A partner-less Luger was teamed with Sting (whose partner Ronnie Garvin had been kayfabe injured) and the impromptu team won the entire tournament, defeating Blanchard and Anderson in the finals.[7]Luger began a feud with the Four Horsemen and Windham. He began hunting their leader Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. At the June 8 edition of Clash of the Champions, it was announced that Luger would challenge Flair for the NWA title at The Great American Bash on July 10 in Baltimore.[1] The contract was signed on a yacht with Flair delivering the line "You gotta make it to Baltimore..." to Luger.[1] As Luger arrived at The Clash in a limousine he was attacked by The Four Horsemen, leaving him (kayfabe) injured and bleeding in the parking lot on live television.[1] While Luger had Flair in the "Torture Rack" and Flair was about to submit, the match was abruptly stopped by the referee who cited (kayfabe) "Maryland State Athletic Commission" rules about a cut that had opened up on Luger's forehead "bleeding excessively".[2][8] Luger faced Flair in many rematches across the country, never winning the title. The Luger/Flair feud came to an end after December's Starrcade 1988: True Gritt where Flair pinned Luger in a rematch main event for the NWA title by illegally using the ropes.[9]He was then matched up against old foe Barry Windham at The Chi-Town Rumble winning his second NWA United States Heavyweight Championship from him.[10] Luger defended the U.S. Championship regularly. One of his major title defenses was against Jack Victory in a dark match on the April 2, 1989 edition of Clash of the Champions.[11]He teamed up with Michael P.S. Hayes against Barry and Kendall Windham in a match which saw Hayes turn on Luger, setting himself as a contender to the U.S. Title.[12] Hayes defeated Luger for the US title at WrestleWar 1989: Music City Showdown when a surprise appearance by Hayes's ex-Freebird teammate Terry Gordy helped cost Luger the match.[1] Luger regained the U.S. Title from Hayes in a rematch a couple of weeks later, beginning a heel turn when he broke the rules by pulling Hayes's tights while pinning Hayes to win the match.[13] The turn became "official" shortly after, when on the June 14 edition of Clash of the Champions, Luger attacked the popular Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat after Steamboat had defeated Terry Funk by disqualification.[14] Luger and Steamboat faced each other at The Great American Bash in July with Luger winning by disqualification after Luger refused to wrestle Steamboat until the match's no-disqualification clause had been waived.[15]Flyin' Brian Pillman challenged Luger at Halloween Havoc 1989: Settling the Score for the US Title, which Luger won.[13] He also defeated Pillman in a rematch on the November 15 edition of Clash of the Champions to retain the title and end the feud.[13] After the main event of the card, which saw Ric Flair and Terry Funk in an "I Quit" match, Luger made a surprise run in, attacking both Flair and Sting, who had come out to save Flair from a post match attack by The Great Muta.[16] December's Starrcade featured an "Ironman" tournament between Flair, Sting, Luger, and Muta. Though Sting eventually won the tournament, Luger was the only participant to go undefeated (Sting got pinfall victories over Muta and Flair, giving him the most points to win the tournament).[17] This elevated Sting to the status of #1 contender for Flair's world title. With Sting and Flair set to square off at WrestleWar in February, Luger was booked to defend the U.S. Title against "Dr. Death" Steve Williams on the card. A legitimate injury to Sting, however, caused the entire booking of the card to get changed. Luger was elevated to face Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. An injured Sting appeared in Luger's corner during the match, eventually being attacked by Ole and Arn Anderson. When Luger left the ring to help Sting he was counted out, giving the match to Flair.[18] The idea here was to build Luger up as a "changed man" that had "gained self-respect" by saving Sting. Luger challenged Flair across the country in rematches. In the final match of the feud, a few months after WrestleWar, another screwjob finish occurred where Luger won by disqualification against Flair in a steel cage match when the cage rose up from the ground and outside interference marred the match.[2]In mid-1990, Luger's focus went back to defending his U.S. Championship while the NWA focused on Sting and his reign as World Heavyweight Champion. When Stan Hansen entered the company and the two of them feuded for a brief period of months, Luger eventually dropped the title to Hansen at Halloween Havoc,[19] though he won it back at Starrcade 1990: Collision Course beginning his fourth NWA United States Heavyweight Championship reign.[20] Luger's third title reign lasted a total of 523 days, making him, the longest reigning United States Champion in history.[21] WCW withdrew from NWA in 1991 and the U.S. Title was renamed the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. Luger started a feud with Dan Spivey, whom he defeated at WrestleWar to retain the U.S. Title.[22] Following their match, Nikita Koloff suddenly appeared to attack Luger, reigniting their feud from 1987. It did not last long, however, as Koloff found himself being pushed into an angle with Sting instead of Luger, which began at SuperBrawl I: Return of the Rising Sun when Sting and Luger challenged The Steiner Brothers for the WCW World Tag Team Championship. During the match, Koloff interfered and hit Sting with a chain, which was intended for Luger.[23] Luger again began to challenge Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship after becoming #1 contender by defeating The Great Muta on the June 14, 1991 edition of Clash of the Champions.[24] With the history of "screwjob finishes" between Flair and Luger, their title match was set to be contested at The Great American Bash in a steel cage match with the added stipulation that, should Flair get disqualified he would lose the title. The match never occurred, however, as Flair began to have disagreements with Jim Herd, the head of WCW, over his future and salary. He eventually quit the company (being "stripped" of the title in the process) and took the World Title belt with him.With the WCW Title now vacant, Barry Windham was declared the #2 contender and was set to face Luger in the cage match at The Great American Bash. During the match, a double turn took place when Harley Race and Mr. Hughes came to ringside and "ordered" Luger to piledrive (an illegal maneuver) Windham. He did it, winning his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship.[25][26]After Luger won the WCW Title, he got over as champion and top heel, participating in a controversial racial angle with Ron Simmons where he asked Simmons to join his entourage, but as a chauffeur. It was also around this time he abandoned the Torture Rack, and started using the "Attitude Adjustment" (piledriver) as his finisher. Luger retained the title at Halloween Havoc in a two out of three falls match.[27] Eventually, Luger began to have his own issues with WCW, and the contract he had seemed to have him wrestling less and less while still collecting money. After ending his feud with Simmons, Luger had a brief feud with Rick Steiner, defeating him on the November 19 edition of Clash of the Champions.[28] The next month's Starrcade was booked with the BattleBowl format, with Sting winning #1 contendership at the end of the night.Luger's contract only required him to work a specific number of dates, and having fulfilled them he "sat out" the end of 1991 and beginning of 1992. This left Sting to build the feud against him on his own. Aside from one title defense against Masahiro Chono at WCW/New Japan Supershow II (Starrcade in Tokyo Dome),[29] Luger did not wrestle a match until SuperBrawl II, where he lost his WCW title cleanly to Sting.[30]After his accident and the closure of the WBF, Luger joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Bobby "The Brain" Heenan "unveiled" him with the slightly modified nickname of The Narcissist, at Royal Rumble 1993. Luger posed before full-length mirrors before every match.[34] The WWF also incorporated his motorcycle accident into his gimmick, capitalizing on the fact that he had a "metal plate" inserted into his forearm which was said to cause more damage when it struck an opponent. This caused a number of his opponents to demand that he wear a cover over it during matches when he had a streak of knocking people out. This eventually led to WWF officials demanding that Luger wear an elbow pad, though he would often remove it. The Narcissist's one major feud was with Mr. Perfect. The feud was based on Heenan, his advisor, referring to him as being "Beyond Perfection," in a slight at Mr. Perfect, his former managerial client. The rivalry ended at WrestleMania IX when Luger defeated Perfect.[35] At King of the Ring, Luger participated in the first-ever King of the Ring tournament on pay-per-view (it was originally a non-televised event), but was eliminated in the quarterfinals after a time limit draw with Tatanka.[36]In mid-1993, after Hulk Hogan's departure from the company, Luger was transformed from a heel to a "mega-face" with the nicknames "Made in the USA" and "The All-American". On July 4, he took part in a memorable event where he arrived (by a red helicopter) on the dock of the USS Intrepid and body slammed the over 500 pound (227 kg) WWF Champion Yokozuna after a number of other athletes, both inside the WWF and out, attempted and failed.[37] Following this he began the "Lex Express" tour, traveling the country in a Red, White, and Blue painted bus to greet fans and to "campaign" for a shot at the WWF Title, thus beginning a feud with the champion Yokozuna. Luger got his shot at SummerSlam 1993, with the stipulation that this would be Luger's only shot at the title. Luger, with the use of the metal plate in his forearm, eventually won the match, but the count-out victory meant that Yokozuna retained the title.[38]In late 1993, Luger began a feud with another foreigner Ludvig Borga who disliked America because of pollution. At Survivor Series 1993, Luger captained a team dubbed "All-Americans" (Lex Luger, The Undertaker, and The Steiner Brothers) against Yokozuna's team "Foreign Fanatics" (Crush, Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, and Quebecer Jacques) in a 4-on-4 Survivor Series match. Luger's team won the match after he pinned Borga.[39] At Royal Rumble, Luger participated in the Royal Rumble match where he and Bret Hart were declared "co-winners" of the Royal Rumble match after both men went over the top rope and had their feet hit the ground simultaneously.[40] As such, both received shots at the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X. Luger was disqualified in his title match against Yokozuna,[41] and later that night Hart went on to win the title from Yokozuna.For the summer of 1994, Luger aligned himself with Tatanka until kayfabe rumors began to swirl that Luger was planning to join Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation.[42] Tatanka and Luger's friendship was strained by the lack of trust between them, and a match between the two took place at SummerSlam. At the event, Tatanka defeated Luger and joined the Million Dollar Corporation.[42][43] Luger continued to feud with The Million Dollar Corporation, leading a Survivor Series team consisting of himself, Mabel, Adam Bomb, and The Smoking Gunns, dubbed "Guts & Glory", to a loss against the Corporate team of Tatanka, King Kong Bundy, Bam Bam Bigelow, and The Heavenly Bodies at Survivor Series - with only King Kong Bundy and Bam Bam Bigelow surviving.[44]In the beginning of 1995, Luger formed a team with Davey Boy Smith, dubbed The Allied Powers[45] and they continued to feud with the Million Dollar Corporation. They made a good impact on the tag team division and made their pay-per-view debut as a tag team at WrestleMania XI, defeating the Blu Brothers.[46] They wrestled and defeated jobbers on Raw and earned a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship against Owen Hart and Yokozuna at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks but failed to win the titles.[47] Bulldog turned against partner Diesel in a match against Men on a Mission which Luger, who was scheduled to team with Smith, was unable to participate in. While Diesel fought King Mabel at Summerslam, Sir Mo tried to interfere but was attacked by Luger, who chased him to the back. The August 27 pay-per-view appearance proved to be Luger's last in the WWF.In late August 1995, after expressing to Sting that he wanted to leave the WWF, Luger got a call from World Championship Wrestling Vice-President Eric Bischoff to set up a meeting about a contract and Luger possibly "jumping ship". Eight days after his appearance at SummerSlam, Luger made his return to WCW on the premiere of Nitro, coming out during a match between Sting and Ric Flair. After Luger's debut, he acted as a sort of tweener character, not making his allegiances known, except for his long-time friendship with Sting. He merely claimed that he wanted to stake his claim at Hulk Hogan's World Heavyweight Title, facing him on the September 11, 1995 edition of Nitro, which Hogan won by disqualification.[48] At Halloween Havoc, Luger officially turned heel, attacking Hogan after his match with The Giant and joining Kevin Sullivan's Dungeon of Doom stable.[49] Later in the pay-per-view, Luger had a match where he lost to Randy "Macho Man" Savage.[49] Luger and Savage had a rematch at World War 3, which Luger won.[50] Later that night, Luger participated in the first-ever three-ring, 60-man battle royal for the vacant World Title, which was won by Savage.[50]Despite being a heel, Luger retained his friendship with Sting. At Starrcade, Luger participated in a WCW vs NJPW World Cup of Wrestling where he represented WCW in a winning effort against NJPW representative Masa Chono.[51] Later that night, he participated in a triangle match with Sting and Ric Flair; Flair won after both Sting and Luger got counted out, making Flair #1 contender to the WCW title.[51] The two men teamed up to defeat Harlem Heat for their first World Tag Team Championship on the January 22, 1996 edition of Nitro,[52][53] with Luger constantly threatening dissent due to his allegiance to the Dungeon of Doom, but always seeming to stay on the same path as his friend. Luger also defeated Johnny B. Badd for the WCW World Television Championship on February 17, losing it back to him the next night.[54] He regained the television title from Badd by beating him on March 6.[54]The Dungeon of Doom aligned with the Four Horsemen to form the Alliance to End Hulkamania, which feuded with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. At Uncensored, nine members from the Alliance participated in a "Tower of Doom Steel Cage match", but were unsuccessful in defeating the team of Hogan and Savage.[55] Luger was blamed for the loss because he accidentally punched teammate Ric Flair and was kicked out of the stable, thus turning him face again.During the summer, Luger began a feud with The Giant for the World Heavyweight Championship, unsuccessfully challenging him at The Great American Bash.[56] During this time, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, both former WWF superstars, began appearing on WCW television and claimed they were "taking over" the company. Randy Savage spearheaded the WCW wrestlers against them, with Luger and Sting by his side. Luger, along with Savage and Sting, took on Nash and Hall (who called themselves The Outsiders) and a third, mystery, partner that they claimed was an "insider" at Bash at the Beach. In the first few minutes of the match Luger went down to a kayfabe injury, leaving Sting and Savage on their own when the mystery partner revealed himself to be Hulk Hogan. With Luger no longer around, Savage and Sting were "easy prey" for the three who announced themselves as the New World Order (nWo).[57]Luger continued to be one of the leaders for the WCW's siege against the nWo, wrestling and feuding with a number of their members. At SuperBrawl VII, Luger and The Giant defeated the Outsiders to win the World Tag Team Championship.[52] The title was returned to the Outsiders by nWo member and WCW President Eric Bischoff. Luger won a Four Corners match to become the #1 contender for Hogan's WCW Title at Spring Stampede,[58] and teamed with his new ally, The Giant, to defeat Hogan and basketball star Dennis Rodman at Bash at the Beach.[59] On the August 4, 1997 edition of Nitro, Luger defeated Hogan to win his second World Heavyweight Championship in an impromptu match,[60] before dropping the title back to Hogan just five days later at Road Wild.[61] His victory, however, marked the first time in a year that WCW had "won their world title back" from the nWo.[62]Luger began a program with Hall after both men pinned each other in tag team matches (Luger's partner was Diamond Dallas Page and Hall's partner was Randy Savage)[63][64] before facing each other in a 1-on-1 match at Halloween Havoc which Luger won.[65] He had a short feud with Buff Bagwell in the fall of 1997, culminating in a match at Starrcade, which Bagwell won.[66] In the first half of 1998, Luger feuded with Savage and defeated him at Souled Out[67] and SuperBrawl VIII.[68] His final feud with the nWo was against Scott Steiner, whom Luger defeated at Uncensored.[69] At Spring Stampede, he teamed with Scott's brother and former tag team partner Rick to defeat Scott and Bagwell.[70]After a long war with the nWo, Luger joined nWo Wolfpac, the babyface faction of the nWo.[71] Luger played a central role in the group's war with Hogan's nWo Hollywood, and even convinced the long standing anti-nWo Sting to join.[72] On the August 10, 1998 edition of Nitro, he defeated Bret Hart to win his fifth and final WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in an impromptu title match,[73] before dropping the title back to Hart just one day later on Thunder.[74] He also took part in the incident that became known as The Fingerpoke of Doom, in which both nWo factions united against the dominant Bill Goldberg in early 1999, turning heel for the first time in many years.[75] He remained a member of the new nWo until he was sidelined with a (legitimate) biceps injury.In mid-1999, Luger came back during a Sting/Hogan angle to eventually help Sting win the World Title at Fall Brawl. At this point Luger began another heel run, claiming that Lex Luger was now "dead" and was now going by the stage name "The Total Package". He started off debuting this "persona" with a Terminator-style entrance symbolizing his "rebirth" and by bringing back Miss Elizabeth as his manager.[76] Under his new moniker, he began a storyline where he would break the arms of his opponents by placing the arm inside a closed steel chair and stomping on it.He had no major feud during the summer before he returned to being Lex Luger in October. He had a long feud with Goldberg[77][78][79] and formed a tag team with Buff Bagwell[80] named "Totally Buff".[81] They defeated Goldberg and Dwayne Bruce in a tag team match at Sin.[82] Luger stayed in the team until WWF purchased WCW.