What If: Lex Luger Beat Yokozuna At WMX, But Lost To Bret?

I think that would have been interesting. If they had gone that route, I definitely think the Lex should have turned heel at Summer Slam. Make him turn heel and join DiBiase because he was frustrated that he lost the title. Make it seem like he doesn't think that he could have beaten Bret fare and square so he joined the Million Dollar Corporation for help. Then have him feud with Bret at the end of the year and into 1995. If they had didn't go that route, have Lex take Backlund's spot for Survivor Series 1994 (as a baby face), then he turns on Bret with the help of Owen and the Million Dollar Corporation and wins the WWF title. Bret and Luger could have the rematch at the Royal Rumble, have Owen interfere costing Bret the win and the belt. Also have Diesel enter in the Rumble and win, last eliminating HBK. Then Lex and Diesel face off at WM11 for the belt, with Diesel winning (since that seems to be where Vince wanted to go). Bret and Owen could face off at WM11 to end their feud; it could be a tag team match between Bret and Davey vs. Owen and Yoko (replacing Neidhart). At the first In Your House PPV, you can have Diesel vs. Shawn (just moving their feud and angle down one PPV, the night after the event they could have Sid attach Shawn turning HBK face), Bret vs. Lex (to give Bret his win over Lex), and Owen/Yoko vs. the Smoking Gunns (for the Tag Titles).

I just said this in another thread but Luger losing to Bret and becoming the Narcissist again is peak fantasy booking

Fantasy booking for Lex is fun because he just floated around aimlessly for most of his WWF run after WrestleMania X. However, Bret had a fantastic 1994 so I'm not sure if anything involving Luger would be better than what we actually got.

Bret/Owen was easily the feud of the year and those two had excellent matches. Then you had the crazy Bob Backlund heel turn which was done so well and lead to one of the best storytelling matches in wrestling history at Survivor Series.

I would love a do-over for Lex, but the stuff Bret did in 1994 was fine as is in my opinion and I don't think I would change anything. 1995 is a different story though as both guys seemed lost in the shuffle and a hot feud between the two would have been a breath of fresh air during a very stale time for the company.

it would've been a make good giving how stupid he looked winning by countout at Summerslam and celebrating like he won the title.

If Lex beat Yoko instead of Bret.... I think it would have went something like this.

Lex Luger would celebrate with the WWF Title at the end of Mania with all the good guys. Owen Hart would come out and look at Lex and then turn around and leave.

Lex would defend the WWF Title vs. Diesel at the KOTR, and Bret would interfere in the Crush/Yoko vs. Headshrinkers tag title match.

At SummerSlam, Lex Luger vs. Owen Hart would happen in a cage match in a "brother vs. brother" match, which would make zero sense since neither are related to each other. While Tatanka will start a war with Bret by saying Bret sold out to Ted DiBiase and they would have a match at SummerSlam.

Lex Luger would go on to lose the WWF Title to Bob Backlund after Owen makes Helen Hart throw in the towel on Lex. Which makes even less sense than their SummerSlam match they had.

Lex would go on to have a 60 minute iron man match with HBK at Wrestlemania 12, while Bret Hart would show up on the first WCW Nitro and challenge Hulk Hogan, along the side of his good friend Sting - who he just met minutes earlier.


So that sums up how it would be if Lex had won instead of Bret! Ha ha ha

Lex rightfully should have never been the WWF champion and Bret should have won the Rumble by himself. If they were going to do two winners it should have been Owen, not Luger. Open Wrestlemania X with Bret vs Yoko and close with Bret vs Owen.

I agree with this 100%. His run with the belt from WrestleMania X to Survivor Series 1994 was the only reign where it felt like Vince was fully invested as Bret being THE guy. Every other time it felt like a stop gap solution to put the title on him as if Vince knew it was the safe move to make while he thought up his next big idea or champion.

His inaugural reign felt like a trial run for sure. They were trying to get away from the Hogan/Warrior image and heavily emphasized his ability as an in-ring technician and the "hardest-working" champion in company history. Of course, they tossed it all away for Hogan and reverted right back to their old ways. Bret never even received a rematch and was pushed aside for Lex who was clearly Vince's new pet project. If Vince had it his way, Lex would have been the guy on top and Bret could have stayed tucked away as the reliable workhorse in the upper part of the card. He only went back to Bret when it was clear that Lex wasn't nearly as over as they wanted him to be and the fans let them know it was Bret who they were solidly behind.

Even during his longest run with the belt in 1994 when Bret was arguably at his peak, it is now clear Vince was already looking ahead to Diesel. The Bret/Backlund angle was so good and their match at Survivor Series told such a fantastic story. However, the impact of that whole program was immediately diminished the second Diesel squashed Backlund for the belt a few days later.

Bret spent most of the next year spinning his wheels in meaningless feuds until once again Vince put the belt back on him because Diesel as a babyface wasn't getting over. Notice the theme here. I don't always agree with Bret even though he is my all-time favorite, but that particular reign was criminally thrown under the rug as it was all about Shawn then. It felt like an afterthought and only happened to have him pass the torch to HBK. You can even make a similar comparison to his final run as champion except this time the roles were reversed as both he and Shawn were now heels. Bret and the Hart Foundation angle were the hottest thing going in the WWF in 1997 until Vince decided to go with Shawn again. Bret was the World champion wrestling on the undercard while Shawn main evented back-to-back PPVs leading up to their final showdown in Montreal.

Vince never wanted Bret to be the guy. He just always knew the belt was safe when he had it and only put it on him when some of his other experiments didn't pan out. Bret was reliable and believable as champion which bought Vince time to work on how to build his next champion. They were constantly looking beyond him.

I feel like people overlook how over Luger still was even after Summerslam 93.

At the 94 rumble he got a huge pop, and they popped big for his announcement as the winner (not so much afterwards, as the crowd clearly favoured Bret). But again at Mania X his pop was massive. Even at the 95 Rumble, Luger probably got the biggest pop of the night.