101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened
57. Hulkamania Squashing Lex Luger’s Rise
There's no way the WWF could've presented 'American Hero' Lex Luger and 'Real American' Hulk Hogan on the same pay-per-view. At SummerSlam 1993, Lex stepped into some Hulk-shaped shoes to wrestle Yokozuna for the top title. He'd win that match by countout, but didn't take the belt, and that was pretty much that for Luger's main event aspirations in the promotion.
Incredibly, they almost ended earlier than SummerSlam. As in, before the pay-per-view went live.
One of the original plans for the show was Hogan dropping the belt he'd won at WrestleMania IX back to Bret Hart. When Hulk stroked his facial fluff and said 'that doesn't work for me, brother', bosses started dreaming up other bouts he could work. One of them was a monstrous showdown with lumbering foe Giant Gonzalez.
Gonzalez had been kept semi-strong during his loss to The Undertaker at 'Mania for a reason: The WWF figured he'd come in handy as a Hogan opponent later in the year. If Hogan wasn't going to drop the belt to Hart at SummerSlam after all, then early pencilled in thoughts of a Survivor Series clash between Hulk and Gonzalez could be moved forwards.
Again, that'd have directly impacted Luger's main event push. He couldn't ride a bus around the country as 'Mr. USA' if Hogan was effectively running the same babyface character on the roster. In the end, Hulk's exit opened the door for Lex to try his luck at becoming McMahon's 'next big thing'.
It flopped, but at least he got to have a go at it.