15 WWE Pushes That IMMEDIATELY Backfired
8. Lex Luger (1993)
You've got to feel for recent WWE Hall Of Famer and reborn nice guy Lex Luger. He was never signed to become the "next Hulk Hogan". Luger was brought in as a high profile ambassador for the WBF. Once that bodybuilding side project flopped, Vince McMahon decided it was time to try Lex on as a wrestler. Fair enough, but who knows what he was thinking by trying to piggy back on Hulk with somebody less charismatic who screamed self-obsessed heel?
Hogan had just departed the promotion following his latest run on top, but Vince wasn't satisfied. No, it wasn’t the dumbest idea in the world to attempt a recreation of some sort, but fans weren’t as into Luger in the role as McMahon was. So, his sudden change from 'Narcissist' to 'American Hero' and huge push heading into SummerSlam trundled along, then the Lex Express drove into a wall once Luger beat Yokozuna by countout but didn’t win the WWF Title on that pay-per-view.
He was realistically cooked after that.
Lex limped on in the main event scene until WrestleMania X, but a loud show of support for Bret Hart during the 1994 Royal Rumble’s finish spoke volumes about what the audience really wanted. Spoiler alert: It wasn't Luger marching around waving a flag like some sort of toned up Jim Duggan. The whole experiment reeked of, 'I'll just make another Hulkamania - how hard can it be?!' from McMahon.
He'd already tried to replace Hogan with one muscle man in the past (The Ultimate Warrior), but this was a clear bid to play on patriotism and the whole 'Real American' vibe. It didn't work. WWF fans wanted Bret more than they wanted Lex.