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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Apr 17, 2014 6:04:46 GMT -5
Because Lex Luger always came off as incredibly insincere and the fact there was little transition between Narcissist to star spangled crotch Lex Luger didn't help. He went from hitting people with a steel plate to slapping hands and kissing babies after one move and the audience didn't buy it.
Lex just can't play the whiter than white babyface, he doesn't have that in him as he doesn't come off as likeable. He's very good as a tweener, someone who'll side with the face but still kick his opponent when they're down and will turn on the hero if the right offer comes along, but the WWF at that time just wasn't booked well enough to accommodate such a character.
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Post by Tiger Millionaire on Apr 17, 2014 6:06:47 GMT -5
Because Lex Luger always came off as incredibly insincere and the fact there was little transition between Narcissist to star spangled crotch Lex Luger didn't help. He went from hitting people with a steel plate to slapping hands and kissing babies after one move and the audience didn't buy it. Lex just can't play the whiter than white babyface, he doesn't have that in him as he doesn't come off as likeable. He's very good as a tweener, someone who'll side with the face but still kick his opponent when they're down and will turn on the hero if the right offer comes along, but the WWF at that time just wasn't booked well enough to accommodate such a character. In WCW 96-97, he was actually booked that way, and came across pretty well.
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Post by horsemen4ever on Apr 17, 2014 6:50:32 GMT -5
Real with a name that sounds Superman's arch nemesis it is only natural he works betters as heel or a tweener. Heck Robot Chicken did a sketch about that.
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Post by cabbageboy on Apr 17, 2014 7:08:38 GMT -5
I thought about this the other day actually. The closeness to Hogan leaving was a problem no doubt, but Luger's entire shtick came out of nowhere. He went from having a time limit draw as The Narcissist vs. Tatanka at KOTR 1993 to suddenly slamming Yokozuna on the Intrepid. There was zero done to make anyone care about Luger. No initial confrontation where Fuji railed against America and Luger stood up and said "I've had enough." It needed at least a month or so of TV time to turn Luger face in a way people would buy into.
Further, it's always hard for guys to get over when they get title shots they haven't remotely earned. Luger campaigned across the country on a bus to get a title shot. Even as a 13-14 year old I was like "Why doesn't he win some matches to get a shot?" Meanwhile Bret won KOTR, taking out Razor, Perfect, and Bigelow and obviously looked like the #1 contender. Yet Bret screwed around with Lawler (who was never a serious wrestler in the WWF) while Luger main evented.
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Post by horsemen4ever on Apr 17, 2014 7:18:34 GMT -5
. Further, it's always hard for guys to get over when they get title shots they haven't remotely earned. Luger campaigned across the country on a bus to get a title shot. Even as a 13-14 year old I was like "Why doesn't he win some matches to get a shot?" Meanwhile Bret won KOTR, taking out Razor, Perfect, and Bigelow and obviously looked like the #1 contender. Yet Bret screwed around with Lawler (who was never a serious wrestler in the WWF) while Luger main evented. Well to be fair, who did Hogan beat to get a title shot against the Iron Shick?
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Apr 17, 2014 8:54:12 GMT -5
The fact that he debuted as the Narcissist only a few months before slamming Yoko didn't help. Because Lex Luger always came off as incredibly insincere and the fact there was little transition between Narcissist to star spangled crotch Lex Luger didn't help. He went from hitting people with a steel plate to slapping hands and kissing babies after one move and the audience didn't buy it. Hell he still used the steel plate as All American Lex. Only Vince and Heenan's stance flipped on it.
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Sephiroth
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Post by Sephiroth on Apr 17, 2014 9:02:54 GMT -5
Flipped from heel to face too fast. Sucked on the mic and didn't come across convincing in his new gimmick. Title feud was horribly booked. The end.
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Post by Hit Girl on Apr 17, 2014 11:00:13 GMT -5
The Narcissist was Luger's best gimmick, because it suited his real personality.
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nisidhe
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Post by nisidhe on Apr 17, 2014 11:18:45 GMT -5
Because Bret was already established as the top face in the WWF at the time. During his entire first run as world champ, he was being built up more or less gradually, though he looked especially good after Royal Rumble '93. Fans, especially overseas, had a world champion they could embrace.
Lex was seen as another usurper of the spot Bret had earned; Hogan could be argued to be the first, since his return to WWF was met with a mix of adulation and questions. WWF was just beginning to move on from the Hogan era after he'd left.
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Post by cabbageboy on Apr 17, 2014 12:35:00 GMT -5
Hogan had alredy beaten virtually everyone in the AWA and it was a formality to put the title on him. Vince got him and was like "Thanks, Verne!" WWF didn't have any other top face that was a clear alternative to Hogan, especially with Backlund losing all steam by late 1983. I guess they could have gone with Snuka but after all the questions about his girlfriend's death there was no chance Vince was putting the title on Snuka.
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Post by Todd Pettengill on Apr 17, 2014 14:08:51 GMT -5
Luger was at best a mediocre talent. Had he won at Summerslam while he was hot, who knows what would've happened.
Additionally, Luger inherited the "USA guy" gimmick at a time (Post Cold War/Iraq 1.0) when patriotism/nationalism was beginning to wane in the US. Luger & those that followed for the rest of the decade weren't really able to pull off the USA gimmick until Angle came along. And, Angle totally inverted the USA character - which may be the only reason that gimmick got over.
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Post by Hit Girl on Apr 17, 2014 14:32:47 GMT -5
Nothing Luger said made any sense. When he confronted Yokozuna on that ship, he blamed him for America's problems. I'm not sure how a sumo wrestler who had risen to the highest level of the WWF could cause issues like trade deficits, unemployment, failing public schools etc...
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Post by horsemen4ever on Apr 17, 2014 14:54:22 GMT -5
Kayfabe reason, there is no reason Bret should not have gotten the title shot at Summerslam. He was a fromer champion, go cheated out of the title. Because of post match sanagans, Hogan got the belt, he and Yokozuna had to settle the disput at King Of The Ring, fine winner has to give Bret his much deserved rematch. But instead you get Bret mixed up in some feud with Lawler, the whole feud was just a reason to keep him away from the title picture, meanwhile Yoko has this stupid bodyslam challenge that is only open to americans and really geared power wrestlers which was no Bret's forte, even it was open to canadans, Bret whole stick is not being a power guy.
So who gets the title shot, the former champion, the King of the Ring winner, or someone who won a bodyslam challenge? It is stupid, the number one ought to be the most deserving on their wrestling resume, not on exhibition challenge. Even as a kid, yay I was rooting for Luger to win at Summerslam, not because he was the best man in the WWF, but anyone that goes up against the evil Yokozuna I was rooting, but at the sametime, I am thinking when is Bret going to get his title shot. Long term I still wanted to get his title eventully weather is from Yoko or from Luger, he was my guy during Yoko's reign. Until late 93 / early 94, as they teased Undertaker being next champion, and I was thinking it would be cool if he was champion. But after he was "killed off and resurrected", Bret was my guy again.
Though 1995 was even werider, after Royal Rumble 1995, Bret got into this pointless feuds with Backland, Lawler and his cronies over nonsense, when he should be in the title picture.
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Post by Hit Girl on Apr 17, 2014 15:06:43 GMT -5
They might have had better luck if they sent Luger across the country on the Narcissist Express, where Luger would make stops across the heartland of America telling people he was beyond perfection.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Apr 17, 2014 15:07:59 GMT -5
They might have had better luck if they sent Luger across the country on the Narcissist Express, where Luger would make stops across the heartland of America telling people he was beyond perfection. Ok that owuld be funny. Lex just going from town to town talking about how much better he is compared to you.
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Post by Manute Bol on Apr 17, 2014 17:02:09 GMT -5
Revisionist history says the audience just didn't take to him. I think most of the fans wanted to see him win the title at WrestleMania, even over Bret. This is simply not true. I was watching from 1993-94 and revisionist history has nothing to do with it; the fans did not take to Lex Luger at all. MAYBE if he had won the belt at SummerSlam, things would have been different, but it couldn't have been more obvious at Royal Rumble 1994 that the fans were completely behind Bret Hart.
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Post by Amazing Kitsune on Apr 17, 2014 23:04:37 GMT -5
If he had won the title at Summerslam, I think wrestling history would have been drastically altered.
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Post by mysterious on Apr 17, 2014 23:22:48 GMT -5
As much as I agree with Luger's lack of charisma and limited in ring skills, I do think that a run with The IC belt as a heel could have help in transitioning him into main eventing as a face. It worked with Savage. But in the early 90's WWF dropped the ball with some of WCW's main guys like Flair and Sid so I guess Luger was just another top dog from WCW that Vince had no patience for.
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Apr 18, 2014 1:18:15 GMT -5
Additionally, Luger inherited the "USA guy" gimmick at a time (Post Cold War/Iraq 1.0) when patriotism/nationalism was beginning to wane in the US. Indeed. Although Hogan occasionally brought nationalistic elements into his gimmick when the story called for it, it was never a key component of his gimmick. The previous "USA Guys" had been Duggan and Slaughter. At a time when the company's best business was actually overseas, it didn't make much sense to try to build their top face as an all-American hero.
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Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm on Apr 18, 2014 3:52:26 GMT -5
If one good thing came out of it, we at least got a(imo) pretty cool theme song.
But what I wanna know is why did they try to give Luger the "All American" push all of a sudden? I know Hogan left and they needed someone to fill his boots but why Luger?
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