10 Wrestling Debuts That Changed Everything

5. Lex Luger

Lex Luger WCW Nitro Debut
WWE.com

Almost 25 years earlier, Lex Luger forced McMahon's hand too.

Luger stunned the entire wrestling community when he showed up unannounced at WCW's very first live Nitro show on 4 September 1995. It was a shockwave that sent worried glances back towards Vince, and it gave Eric Bischoff the right to smugly claim his company was where "the big boys" played.

The WWF had overlooked Lex's overall apathy towards company life for months and totally ignored the fact that his contract had ticked down to zero. Now he was free to do so, Luger hastily thrashed out terms on a fresh deal with Bischoff and agreed to make the jump to WCW without telling anybody in the WWF.

McMahon, reeling over seeing an upper-midcard act like Lex choose WCW over his federation, implemented guaranteed deals for the first time after this. Without Luger's shocking departure, he might never have bothered, or at least wouldn't have rethought his attitude towards talent pledges for years.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.