People are still surprised that Lex Luger was given such a big push in 1993 and 1994, only for it to amount to precisely zero WWF Titles. With his physique and his All-American gimmick, fans just assumed he was going to be the "next Hulk Hogan" for the company, but it never came to fruition. When Luger showed up on the debut episode of WCW's Monday Nitro, people were stunned. He had been in contention (with The British Bulldog) for the WWF Tag Team Titles not that long prior to showing up. Nobody knew what was going on. It sure did set Nitro up as the place where just about anything could happen, though. The person who may have been the most surprised to find out Luger was in WCW was Vince McMahon himself. Not only did Vince not know Luger was even in contract talks with WCW, but Lex had given him his word that he was going to re-sign with the WWF and continue on with the company. When someone you have put a lot of effort into pushing outright lies to you, it isn't exactly outside the realm of possibility that you'd be upset. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTvrg2d9Kr4 Vince has said he was very hurt and offended about the entire ordeal, as his word means something to him. Undoubtedly, he learned something from the Luger incident, though, and probably began to get things in writing more often than just trusting everyone at what they said.
Columnist/Podcaster/Director at LordsOfPain.net for nearly seven years, with nearly 2000 total columns written. Interviewed and/or involved in interviewing the likes of Tyler Black/Seth Rollins (twice), Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Jacobs, Christopher Daniels, Uhaa Nation and more.
