NWO Twenty Years Later: Where Are They Now?
21. Lex Luger
Besides Sting, Lex Luger is arguably the name most inseparably associated with WCW, in spite of his dreadful 'main event' run with their rivals between 1993 and 1995.
Jim Crockett had big plans for Luger, instantly drafting him into the Four Horsemen upon his 1987 arrival in the company, and the 'Total Package' again made a big impact when he unexpectedly turned up on the inaugural episode of Monday Nitro, just a night after competing in a house show for the WWF.
When the nWo formed, Luger became one of the few big names to remain on the side of WCW, but even he couldn't resist being dragged in by the group's increasingly inescapable gravity. At the very least he got to remain on the babyface side of things as part of the nWo Wolfpac, stopping the promotion becoming completely overrun by the heels.
For a bit, anyway. Of all the people to be a perennial babyface, a man as naturally unlikable as Lex Luger isn't the one, and he was eventually turned against the thriving Goldberg.
Despite his name value, the difficult Luger was another performer not picked up by the WWF for the reasons of a historical grudge when the Atlanta promotion folded. He instead toured the indies, before a seemingly innocuous nerve impingement suffered during a flight left Luger in quadriplegic state.
Once renowned for his buff physique, the condition saw Luger gradually waste away as he was consigned to a wheelchair. Of all the pills Luger had taken throughout his career, the injury was a particularly bitter one to swallow, after he had seemingly cleaned up his act after finding God just a year earlier.
Today, Luger is still wheelchair-bound, though he has regained mobility of his limbs. His adversity has been enough to provoke honesty, and he has since been open about the issues he combated throughout a career, with the intention of warning the next generation away from the evils which blighted him and so many of his cohort.
Once one of the most disliked people in wrestling, Luger's new-found humility and post-career generosity has redeemed him in the eyes of many once entirely averred to the 'Total Package'.