10 WWE Gimmicks That Worked For One Wrestler (But Not Another)
3. All-American Babyface
Worked for: Hulk Hogan
Didn't work for: Lex Luger
At his prime, Hulk Hogan was more-or-less the "face of America" - a blonde, tanned, beefed-up loudmouth who fought for what's right. Well, behind the scenes he really only fought for himself, but I digress...
When Hogan left the WWF for greener pastures in 1993, Vince McMahon felt as if he needed a successor; another blonde, tanned, beefed-up wrestler who could rep the good ol’ USA. At the time, the closest thing he had, aesthetically speaking, was Lex Luger, who was playing a “narcissist” heel gimmick at the time.
The “Lex Express” made its first stop on the U.S.S. Intrepid on July 4th, when Luger body-slammed the massive Yokozuna in what was a genuine feel-good, rah-rah moment of patriotic triumph. Though he felled and humiliated the detested foreign heel, Luger still could not quite connect with the fans.
Even mid-1990s wrestling fans felt as if he was being forced down their throats, and they didn’t have nearly as much access to insider information as we do today. It wasn’t long before Luger fell out of the spotlight and left the WWF.