TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Jul 2, 2018 20:32:58 GMT -5
This Fourth of July will mark the 25th anniversary of Lex Luger bodyslamming Yokozuna on the deck of the USS Interpid on July 4, 1993.
It has always been a special memory for me even though I didn't even witness it. I was a six year-old who was just discovering wrestling. That day I remember being at my grandma's house for an Independence Day BBQ pool party. It was a few days later when my older brother told me what had happened and I was so confused because I only knew Lex as the evil "Narcissist."
I just wanted to use the milestone anniversary to ask where were you when Lex slammed Yoko and what was your take on the whole event?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2018 20:54:34 GMT -5
Did this event air live? I recall seeing highlights of it on superstars and as a young mark I was glad the evil and fat Yokozuna got slammed by the apparent new American hero Lex Luger lol. When I met Lex 5 years ago at a book signing, I had him inscribe "Made in the USA". He was actually my favorite wrestler during that period. Well favorite WWF wrestler. Overall Hogan was my favorite.
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,819
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Jul 2, 2018 21:13:01 GMT -5
Did this event air live? I recall seeing highlights of it on superstars and as a young mark I was glad the evil and fat Yokozuna got slammed by the apparent new American hero Lex Luger lol. When I met Lex 5 years ago at a book signing, I had him inscribe "Made in the USA". He was actually my favorite wrestler during that period. Well favorite WWF wrestler. Overall Hogan was my favorite. I'm actually not sure if it did air live. Maybe I should rephrase it to where were you when you HEARD Lex Luger slammed Yoko? My brother and I were also big Lex fans back then after he turned face. Not quite as much as Bret, but he was a favorite for sure. |
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Post by The Brain on Jul 2, 2018 21:20:41 GMT -5
I remember them showing clips on Raw the next night and then on the weekend morning shows after.
25 years later and it still ticks me off how they threw away a perfectly good character in the Narcissist and put em in the red,white and blue just cause Hogan was leaving. Terrible move IMO. Only good thing from the face turn was this gem(that they played to death on tv prior to SSlam that year)…
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,819
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Jul 2, 2018 21:47:01 GMT -5
I remember them showing clips on Raw the next night and then on the weekend morning shows after.
25 years later and it still ticks me off how they threw away a perfectly good character in the Narcissist and put em in the red,white and blue just cause Hogan was leaving. Terrible move IMO. Only good thing from the face turn was this gem(that they played to death on tv prior to SSlam that year)…
I play this at every Fourth of July BBQ! Always wondered if they had Lex win the belt at Summerslam would it have changed people's opinion on his whole "Lex Express" gimmick. Not sure if Vince originally had Lex getting the strap in that first match or if the endgame was always to have him wait until Wrestlemania X to conquer Yoko. Either way they waited too long to pull the trigger. Between Summerslam and Wrestlemania X the fans were still behind Luger, but during that same span Bret spiked in popularity which probably made Vince's ultimate decision an easy one. Luger didn't even have a match at the next PPV (KOTR '94) which tells you they kinda lost interest in any main event status. |
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Post by The Brain on Jul 2, 2018 22:06:48 GMT -5
I enjoyed Yoko as champ but no doubt about it they should've gave Luger the belt at SSlam. They built him up all Summer long as this big All-American babyface and in the end... he fails at winning the title. That stopped his face run cold right there as far as I'm concerned.
And on top of that right after the event they had em feud with Borga essentially knocking him down the ladder after all that build. It wasn't until early 94 where he got back in the main event picture and again it ended as failure at WM X.
Now his Narcissist character? Ton of potential there as a heel World Champion. What could've been...
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Post by PJ on Jul 3, 2018 4:22:32 GMT -5
I was never a fan of this gimmick for Lex. As for where I was when I heard about it was probably when they aired the highlights of it on whatever weekly tv show they were airing at the time.
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Post by hbkjason on Jul 3, 2018 5:39:51 GMT -5
As a kid in the UK the highlights aired on WWF Mania. I was not a fan of Lex Luger and was kind of pissed that it was him and not Crush who was able to do it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2018 13:28:04 GMT -5
Simpler times when I was free of knowing why Lex was suddenly turned. I thought the Lex Express was so awesome. Marked like crazy when he slammed Yokozuna!
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Post by warriorlynx on Jul 3, 2018 14:59:22 GMT -5
Crazy it's been that long. Lex was initially supposed to get the title at SS, but the reason Lex didn't was that Yoko was hot enough as a heel that they decided to keep the title on him. This was unorthodox for Vince (since New York was about babyfaces instead of babyface chases), who if he had the chance, would put the title back on Hogan if he showed up the next night on RAW lol.
Lex was never promised the belt after SS, we all just assumed he was going to get the title at WMX. They tested it at a house show, but Bret was the guy. IF the Undertaker wasn't hurt, he should've main evented WMX because he was way more over than Bret and Lex IMO (just look at the Yoko-Taker feud from the start).
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Post by marino13 on Jul 3, 2018 15:11:33 GMT -5
Man, I'll never forget how happy I was when I saw this. I was a big Luger fan from wCw/NWA days, so this was a dream come true for me. I do think they made a huge mistake not giving Luger the title. Not that I wanted another Hulk Hogan type gimmick on top, but Luger would have made it easier for me to tolerate.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2018 12:51:18 GMT -5
Crazy it's been that long. Lex was initially supposed to get the title at SS, but the reason Lex didn't was that Yoko was hot enough as a heel that they decided to keep the title on him. This was unorthodox for Vince (since New York was about babyfaces instead of babyface chases), who if he had the chance, would put the title back on Hogan if he showed up the next night on RAW lol. Lex was never promised the belt after SS, we all just assumed he was going to get the title at WMX. They tested it at a house show, but Bret was the guy. IF the Undertaker wasn't hurt, he should've main evented WMX because he was way more over than Bret and Lex IMO (just look at the Yoko-Taker feud from the start). So Luger not getting the title had nothing with "getting drunk at a bar and spoiling it"? I don't know why Luger didn't beat Yokozuna at WM X and lose the title to Bret in the main event? Luger vs Hart would have been better than Bret vs Yoko for the second year in a row. |
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Post by jakks1996collector on Jul 4, 2018 13:57:39 GMT -5
Lex should have won the belt at SummerSlam 93 just like Wade Barrett should have won the belt at Survivor Series 2010, just like Ryback should have won it at Hell in a Cell 2012.
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Post by LA Times on Jul 4, 2018 20:45:51 GMT -5
I was actually there at the USS Intrepid when it happened, LOL.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2018 21:01:00 GMT -5
Lex should have won the belt at SummerSlam 93 just like Wade Barrett should have won the belt at Survivor Series 2010, just like Ryback should have won it at Hell in a Cell 2012. Just like Roman Reigns should have won at wrestlemania 34. |
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Post by warriorlynx on Jul 4, 2018 22:17:21 GMT -5
Crazy it's been that long. Lex was initially supposed to get the title at SS, but the reason Lex didn't was that Yoko was hot enough as a heel that they decided to keep the title on him. This was unorthodox for Vince (since New York was about babyfaces instead of babyface chases), who if he had the chance, would put the title back on Hogan if he showed up the next night on RAW lol. Lex was never promised the belt after SS, we all just assumed he was going to get the title at WMX. They tested it at a house show, but Bret was the guy. IF the Undertaker wasn't hurt, he should've main evented WMX because he was way more over than Bret and Lex IMO (just look at the Yoko-Taker feud from the start). So Luger not getting the title had nothing with "getting drunk at a bar and spoiling it"? I don't know why Luger didn't beat Yokozuna at WM X and lose the title to Bret in the main event? Luger vs Hart would have been better than Bret vs Yoko for the second year in a row. Yeah, according to Bruce Prichard, it had nothing to do with that drunk storyline and Lex in a shoot once said that Vince told him well in advance that he wasn't getting the title at WMX. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2018 9:53:51 GMT -5
The network has added a 3 hour Lex Express special in their hidden gems section.
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Post by BrIaNMeRcY on Jul 5, 2018 15:16:05 GMT -5
The network has added a 3 hour Lex Express special in their hidden gems section. After watching a good portion of it, I can see why Lex Luger didn't work out well in the WWE. Talk about trying to get somebody over as a babyface. The WWE tried too hard positioning Luger as a baby. They say less is more is always better. This holds true. The whole Lex Express bus was a nice idea for the time but gosh, it doesn't age well today. I can see why some say Roman Reigns is the modern equivalent to Lex Luger. Two babyfaces who the machine tried to shove down people's throats and it blew up in their face. Seems they tried to make both men as the 2.0 (Lex being Hogan 2.0 and Roman being Cena 2.0). Letting each guy be their 1.0 would be beneficial not only for the fans but the company as well. The WWE could have done good business in the mid-90's but what they started with didn't go off with a bang. I almost feel Lex Luger could have had a bigger run in New York but the missteps they made costed them money. Don't get me wrong, Luger has an impressive look but was one of those guys Vince didn't know what to do with. Looking back at 1993, it amazes me how unorthodox Yokozuna's reign was at the time. A babyface driven promotion giving a heel a 280 day reign as their world champion. |
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Post by warriorlynx on Jul 5, 2018 17:07:18 GMT -5
The network has added a 3 hour Lex Express special in their hidden gems section. After watching a good portion of it, I can see why Lex Luger didn't work out well in the WWE. Talk about trying to get somebody over as a babyface. The WWE tried too hard positioning Luger as a baby. They say less is more is always better. This holds true. The whole Lex Express bus was a nice idea for the time but gosh, it doesn't age well today. I can see why some say Roman Reigns is the modern equivalent to Lex Luger. Two babyfaces who the machine tried to shove down people's throats and it blew up in their face. Seems they tried to make both men as the 2.0 (Lex being Hogan 2.0 and Roman being Cena 2.0). Letting each guy be their 1.0 would be beneficial not only for the fans but the company as well. The WWE could have done good business in the mid-90's but what they started with didn't go off with a bang. I almost feel Lex Luger could have had a bigger run in New York but the missteps they made costed them money. Don't get me wrong, Luger has an impressive look but was one of those guys Vince didn't know what to do with. Looking back at 1993, it amazes me how unorthodox Yokozuna's reign was at the time. A babyface driven promotion giving a heel a 280 day reign as their world champion. I don't recall Luger getting booed like no tomorrow lol. SS93 killed his babyface run. It's like Hulk Hogan not getting the title off of the Sheik (of course the main difference is that Hulkamania was already "running wild"). |
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Post by BrIaNMeRcY on Jul 5, 2018 17:53:45 GMT -5
After watching a good portion of it, I can see why Lex Luger didn't work out well in the WWE. Talk about trying to get somebody over as a babyface. The WWE tried too hard positioning Luger as a baby. They say less is more is always better. This holds true. The whole Lex Express bus was a nice idea for the time but gosh, it doesn't age well today. I can see why some say Roman Reigns is the modern equivalent to Lex Luger. Two babyfaces who the machine tried to shove down people's throats and it blew up in their face. Seems they tried to make both men as the 2.0 (Lex being Hogan 2.0 and Roman being Cena 2.0). Letting each guy be their 1.0 would be beneficial not only for the fans but the company as well. The WWE could have done good business in the mid-90's but what they started with didn't go off with a bang. I almost feel Lex Luger could have had a bigger run in New York but the missteps they made costed them money. Don't get me wrong, Luger has an impressive look but was one of those guys Vince didn't know what to do with. Looking back at 1993, it amazes me how unorthodox Yokozuna's reign was at the time. A babyface driven promotion giving a heel a 280 day reign as their world champion. I don't recall Luger getting booed like no tomorrow lol. SS93 killed his babyface run. It's like Hulk Hogan not getting the title off of the Sheik (of course the main difference is that Hulkamania was already "running wild"). I made the Roman-Lex comparison because it is a case of two guys the machine was trying to position as the next successor. It has little to do with crowd reactions. Hogan getting the title from Sheik was due to McMahon wanting to establish Hogan as the face of the company. SummerSlam '93 killed any potential money they could have made with Luger. While I can paraphrase what Jim Cornette recalled from this time period, this edition of the Experience is worth listening to: art19.com/shows/jim-cornette-experience/episodes/af8a217f-d53a-4bea-bb21-bdbd8686de4e |
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