Lex Luger

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[JerryvonKramer]

Unlike Sting, Luger has a real shot. From 1987 to 1991 in NWA/WCW he's consistently been a great performer and would have had MVP for some of those years if a certain Mr. Flair didn't exist. Better than you'd expect as the young jock face in 88, terrific as a heel in 89, still great as US champ in 90. And, as far as I can see, doesn't miss a step in 1991.

 

The reason he's not a lock for my top 100 is because I need to see again what he does in WWF and later in his WCW career. I've always been higher on Luger than a lot of people, and back in the day rather enjoyed his work as The Naracissist and thought he was pretty underrated circa 95-6 in WCW. Beyond that, I'm not sure, but he was hot in 97.

 

I give Luger a shot, I don't give Sting one.

 

As a benchmark, if you say Rick Rude's vote is based on only 3 peak years (89, 90, late 91-2), I'd put Luger in 88, 89 and 90 right there with those years, and possibly even a bit higher. But Luger has good matches in 87 too (Crockett Cup) and in 91 (various), so just based on that he'd be ahead of Rude for me. The question is the extent to which his post-91 work can add to that case, or whether the weight of suckiness ends up detracting from it. It's a relative advantage for Rude that he retired on top.

 

But bottom-line: if Rude makes the cut for me, Luger almost certainly will as well. I genuinely believe that Luger was as good if not better than Rude (as basis of comparison) in the time frame we're talking about.

[Shining Wiz]

Luger was better than the typical muscle head, particularly in them 87-91 period. But I'm not sure if being a good base who didn't bring matches crashing down makes him a top 100 of all time. I think Sting may be the worst guy I can remember Luger having a good match with, and I'm higher on Sting than most around here seem to be. Once Luger's athleticism started to decline he never seemed to develop the know how of how to adjust.

 

Good, not top 100.

[Dylan Waco]

After watching some dying days WCW recently, I actually think Luger's post-prime is vastly better than people give it credit for. It's not that he was great, but with the exception of his uninspired WWF stint, I think even post 91/92 he was still an entertaining worker a fair amount of the time, and was often putting in far more effort than his situation merited. That sort of thing goes a long way with me, especially in a setting as dysfunctional as WCW where the top guys all coasted to one degree or another.

 

I DOUBT he would make my list. I just don't think he has enough. But I still think his run in 89 is as good a run as I've ever seen for a guy who wasn't pegged into the top slot.

[goodhelmet]

He won't make my list but he will easily be above Sting.

[KrisZ]

Luger got smarter as he got older which is what you want from guys that lose a step athletically. 1989 Luger was amazing and 1988 and 1990 was pretty damn good too but I really think leaving WCW at the time he left the company in 1992 really hurt his career. Sure he had the Lex Express run in WWF but he was never really the same again.

[Timbo Slice]

Luger in 1989 had one of the best in-ring years I've ever seen. I think he's second only to Flair in the NWA in 1989. But if you start with Starrcade '88 and end it before he went to the WWF, is it enough for me to put him on the list? I don't think so.

[funkdoc]

I think Sting may be the worst guy I can remember Luger having a good match with

 

you really need to see the dan spivey match, perfect counterpoint to that whole argument. luger vs. ron simmons from halloween havoc 91 is also good, if you can stomach JR getting way too excited because HOSSES

[BillThompson]

Had Luger's career ended in 1993 I think he would deserve consideration. It's true that for a while he was as green as grass and getting carried by far better workers. But, come 1988-1989 he really came into his own and was bringing just as much to a match as his opponents. 1989 Luger especially is very impressive, putting in work that I would rank with the very best of that year. Unfortunately post-1993 did happen, and that Luger is more often than not awful and drags Luger far away from making the list.

[Lee Casebolt]

It's funny you say that, because revisiting mid/late 90s Luger, I think much more highly of him now than I did then. Some of it's character work - the tag team of heel Lex and best friend babyface Sting never fails to entertain - but I think he's better in the ring than I wanted to admit at the time. He's a "what if" guy a step down from Windham and Rhodes for me. If his booking had been better, if his legs weren't repeatedly cut out from under him whenever it looked like he had a chance to break out as The Man in a promotion, how much better would he be?

 

Still probably won't make 100 for me, but he may end up on the bubble depending on how my dive into lucha/joshi/WoS goes.

[goodhelmet]

His peak is similar to Magnum TA's peak for me. Magnum was awesome from 84-86. But is that enough to put him on the list? I don't know if Luger's case is as strong.

[Stiva]

I haven't jumped in on this yet but I'm going to start with Luger as a guy who I have always enjoyed, even past what people would consider his peak years. Having rewatched those early Nitro episodes recently thanks to the Network, I was instantly struck with Luger as a guy who stands out on those shows. His matches with Savage, the whole program with Sting and everything surrounding that has some really strong performances from him, I think. Moving on from that, I like his NWA/WCW stuff before he jumped to the WWF; that portion of his career I can give or take and I'd really be judging on his time with NWA/WCW and I mean, I have a fuckload of wrestling to watch before submitting a ballot (joshi and 2000s Japan mainly with smatterings of Lucha) but I can actually see Luger sneaking on as a personal preference pick.

[DylanZero]

I have a hunch Luger may be someone on a bit of an upturn when more people revisit some of his later work. Pretty much echo the comments of Waco & KrisZ. He had a relatively high ring IQ by the time the bottom fell out by the 2000s and much of the time could work around his physical limitations to put together some solid work. Really amazing short run, though I would agree he probably wouldn't compare favorably to someone like Magnum TA who has such a high batting average of greatness so to speak, despite Luger being underrated in his older work the dropoff is still there and still noticeable. He'll be close, but I currently have him on the outside looking in too.

[WingedEagle]

How much quality is there after leaving WCW in '92?

[Childs]

I have a hunch Luger may be someone on a bit of an upturn when more people revisit some of his later work. Pretty much echo the comments of Waco & KrisZ. He had a relatively high ring IQ by the time the bottom fell out by the 2000s and much of the time could work around his physical limitations to put together some solid work. Really amazing short run, though I would agree he probably wouldn't compare favorably to someone like Magnum TA who has such a high batting average of greatness so to speak, despite Luger being underrated in his older work the dropoff is still there and still noticeable. He'll be close, but I currently have him on the outside looking in too.

 

Though I agree with your assessment of Luger's career, I think he's already had his reputational renaissance, with people appreciating that he was genuinely excellent for a few years and at least not shitty when he came back from WWF. Maybe he's still got some room to rise, especially from people who aren't looking for blow-away performances from his later run.

[El-P]

After watching some dying days WCW recently, I actually think Luger's post-prime is vastly better than people give it credit for. It's not that he was great, but with the exception of his uninspired WWF stint, I think even post 91/92 he was still an entertaining worker a fair amount of the time, and was often putting in far more effort than his situation merited.

 

Totally agree. Luger was also the saving grace on WCW TV a lot of times in late 99, early 00, simply because he put much more effort in his character than most of the guys at this time. His most shining moment during this time is the match during the Spring Break edition, ending in the sea, as he just goes way over the line to make it a ridiculously entertaining moment. He's almost Terry Funk-like godlike in this.

 

No chance for the top 100 though.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Lex Luger will make my Top 100 wrestlers. I am a big fan of power wrestling and hoss-style pro wrestling and I think Luger executes that style at a high level for a long time. In the next five years, I do want to watch Luger in Florida and Luger in WWF. I know @EricR is doing a project on the hunt for the best Luger in WWF match but it might have morphed into a Tony Halme/Ludvig Borga Complete & Accurate which also sounds accurate. I think the original Crocket run is strong enough along with the fact that he was actually pretty good in WCW from 96 to the end. I really enjoyed the Luger vs Savage pairing whenever that happened, that is an underrated combination. He has the Nitro win over Hogan. He was the biggest working babyface star in the biggest company in the world in 1997. I see him in the 75-100 portion. Awesome verbal seller. Explosive. Knew how to build matches on his own easiest example is the Pillman Halloween Havoc '89 match. 

[Grimmas]

It's the Lex Luger Watch Party this Saturday (December 4th). I think the myth he sucked has died, but I hope we keep dispelling it regardless.