8 WWE World Title Changes That Were Going To Happen (But Didn't)

7. Lex Luger Defeating Yokozuna - WrestleMania X

Batista 2014
WWE.com

There are several variations of the Lex Luger story where it pertains to WrestleMania X.

For all intents and purposes, it was at one point planned for Luger to defeat Yokozuna at that 1994 edition of the Granddaddy of Them All. Some claim that Lex would've dropped the title to Bret Hart later that night, but that's neither here nor there for this piece.

Across the years since, the common rumour about all of this is that the reason Luger didn't become WWF Champion at 'Mania X is due to the one-time Narcissist spending the night before WrestleMania in a bar getting blind drunk and telling any Tom, Dick, or Vince that he was walking out as WWF Champ the very next day.

Luger himself has always rubbished that story, although he has admitted that there were initial plans to indeed crown him WWF Champion at WrestleMania X. After all, you don't get the hype of the nation-spanning Lex Express tour if Vince McMahon wasn't going to pull the trigger and make Lex his shiny new Hulk Hogan.

In Luger's record of things, it was shortly after the Royal Rumble that the call was made for him not to become WWF Champion at WrestleMania. Either way, Lex didn't get the strap, Bret Hart walked out of 'Mania as the WWF Champion, and Luger spent the ensuing 18 months in the midcard before turning up on the premiere episode of WCW Nitro in September 1995.

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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 day job, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.