Lex Luger's 96-97 run was an example of great babyface booking

[Ku$h Parker]

Definite stand out moment in a legendary 1997 for the best parts of pro wrestling.

Yep,one of my Fave things during my 97 Wrasslin War Binge Watch on The Network

 

[Dog Based Gremlin]

Hoegan was tapping before he even got in the air

Bischoff that dude for letting this and Goldberg winning the title be on Nitro

i couldnt afford the ppvs as a kid

 

[Playaz Eyez]

I vividly remember this. Though I wasn’t really a fan of his then, he was incredibly over and I did mark out for him winning. Damn shame they squandered it

 

[reserved_one]

To me, this was when WCW was at his best. I remeber watching that match and seeing Luger put Hogan in the rack and I started going crazy.

The in ring celebration and champagne being poured on Luger felt like the heavyweight championship win actually MATTERED.

This showed that Lex could had been a huge star in the wwf also but he was handicapped by that terrible Mr America gimmick and not getting the support of winning the championship against Yoko at Summerslam '94

 

[richaveli83]

I was a fan of Luger during that period. They should have done the title change at Road Wild instead of Nitro then had him lose the next night or at the next ppv. Seems like after this they didn't know what to do with him. Putting him in the Wolfpack was so stupid.

 

[Mr. Negative]

we need more honest (and even heel, but not annoyingly nut sucking stannery) breakdowns like this. #TSCObserver

 

[NYChase718]

I agree with the above post. More threads like this

 

[HipHopStan]

Bischoff that dude for letting this and Goldberg winning the title be on Nitro

i couldnt afford the ppvs as a kid

They also played a repeat of Goldberg/DDP at HH 98 on Nitro since the feed cut out for most of the viewers. I was glad too, because I remember hearing that most of the PPV sucked. How could they fukk up a GOAT card like that.

 

[HipHopStan]

Anyway, Luger was a good a transitional face to root for while waiting for Sting to get off his depressed ass up in the rafters and do something. I became a fan of his around 96 and 97 (which was kind of surprising because I overall wasn't a fan for most of his career). I'll never forget that Nitro that he beat Hogan. Even though I supported nWo more, I was still when he won. I seem to remember that he was off tv from late April to early June in 1997 though. Why was that? Was he injured or did they just have nothing for him?

 

[HollywoodP]

...similarly it was a joke that The Steiners (again insanely over) didn't beat Hall and Nash for the tag titles at Road Wild. That was the original plan but Hall and Nash got it nixed as they "thought the show had too many title changes already"

Who was more over at that point...the Steiners or the Outsiders? Plus...they put the Steiners over for the Tag Team championships 3 TIMES including the nWo's own PPV for fukks sake. I've literally never heard anyone complain that the Outsiders won at Road Wild before. They had a great rivalry (I'll never forget when they ran the Steiners off the road.) Who gives a shyt who won at Road Wild...ROAD WILD!? The fukking PPV held at a biker rally...in front of fans who didn't have to pay for tickets. That revved their engines instead of cheering for the wrestlers...Oh god the Steiners didn't go over at that event. What a mistake...business was probably terrible after that


Anyways...I was an nWo fan back then...but damn if that wasn't some great television. Luger defeated all the odds... Locker room coming out and putting Luger on their shoulders. That crowd was so loud.

 

[TheGreatShowtime]

Definitely agree. People like to throw shade on his legacy because he was an a$$hole/not the best in the ring, but he was over.

 

[Sypress]

Never liked Lugar but he was over as fukk at this time.

He was over

Don’t care what anyone says: I liked that running forearm lol

The torture rack

 

[Da_Eggman]

Yep but the beat him right away but he got over huge

 

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

The crowd was so into luger and the rack was a top 5 most over move of the era (jackhammer, people's elbow and stunner)

 

[Mr. Manhattan]

let me hear his promo during that run