20 WWE Superstars And Their 80s Counterparts

6. Roman Reigns/Lex Luger

Luke Harper and Bruiser Brody
WWE.com/Wrestling '87 Magazine

Along with Sting, Lex Luger was one of the NWA’s hottest rising stars of the mid-late ‘80s.

After making waves in Florida, Luger would end up working for WCW and operating at the top of the card as both a heel and a babyface. Regardless of what side of the fence he was on, there was always a sense of Lex being rather horrendous in the ring, being outright awful on the mic, and being forced down fans’ throats.

Bringing things to the modern day, many have questioned Reigns’ in-ring talent over the last year, and there’s no denying that the WWE were initially as forceful with Roman’s push as a drunken jock is with his advances on any semi-breathing female at a college party.

In fairness to Reigns, he’s vastly better than Lex in the ring and is constantly improving. Still, his so-so promos don’t help him and only draw further comparisons to The Total Package. And much like how Lex was often tied to Sting at times, Roman Reigns is far more palatable when stood side-by-side with Dean Ambrose.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.