25 Great Wrestlers That EVERYBODY Turned Against
15. Lex Luger
Eric Bischoff tells a funny tale about signing Lex Luger back for WCW in 1995 to ultimately become the shocking returnee on the debut edition of Nitro. The long story short being; he didn't really want him that much.
Luger brought with him a reputation of being extremely difficult to get along with unless your name was Sting, an alleged bad attitude (due to, amongst other things, a failed run atop WWE), and significant doubts he could live up to expectations. With all this in mind, Bischoff low-balled him, but to 'Easy E's surprise, Luger signed the deal. When you're hot you're hot, and World Championship Wrestling was about to get white hot with Luger and others leading the charge as its top stars.
Many of the prior sins were absolved as everybody made a fortune, but things got reached unthinkable lows during the bust that followed the boom. When tragedy struck and his real life partner Elizabeth "Miss Elizabeth" Huelete passed away due to "acute toxicity" while mixing drugs and alcohol, the court of public opinion had made its mind up on the former 'Narcissist', seemingly for good.
Naturally, this expedited Luger's route to rock bottom, but in the decades since those darkest moments, he's rebounded from his own devastating health and wellbeing setbacks to become something of an inspirational figure. Inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2025, Luger spoke fondly of many he worked with that were still here, and the feeling appeared mutual. Time can't heal many of the deep wounds he was left with from his career in wrestling, but it does at least appear to have parked some of the pettier groans that once defined his reputation.