WWE’s 10 Worst Choke Artists

1. Lex Luger

Sasha Banks Alexa Bliss
WWE.com

Carrying a burden he'd already earned in WCW right over to WWE when Vince McMahon decided to make a former 'Narcissist' a bicep-flexing flag-sporting Hulk Hogan knock-off, 'Lex Loser' quickly became an unpleasant nickname following repeated failures to win when it really mattered.

Having suffered similarly at the hands of Ric Flair in the late 1980s, Luger should have seen the backlash coming. Unable to dethrone WWE Champion Yokozuna at SummerSlam 1993 but celebrating a count-out victory as if he had, Luger's overcompensation was painfully transparent even to his youngest supporters.

Conversely, real sentimental favourite Bret Hart had actually lost earlier in the night, but delivered such an ungodly sh*t-kicking to hated rival Jerry Lawler that the fans never for a second stopped believing in 'The Hitman's cause. On headset that night, Vince McMahon himself could see it. Keeping both relatively strong for the remainder of the year, he crafted an ingenious strategy to gage crowd sentiment once and for all at the Royal Rumble.

Making Luger and Bret co-winners (in a match yet again marked as a failure for Luger), he ordered Howard Finkel to announce both men separately at first in an effort to judge popularity. The resultant cheers overwhelmingly favoured Hart.

WrestleMania 10 would be the site of Luger's main event collapse, losing yet again in a WWE Title rematch against Yokozuna he'd waited over 7 months for. Bret closed the show toppling the very man Luger couldn't, symbolically accepting McMahon's apology that he'd backed the wrong post-Hogan horse all along.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett