Lex Luger

Is it any wonder Lex Luger ended up being a tale of “squandered potential”? His best years were 1987-90, where he spent the entire time working and hustling while Flair and others undermined him almost nightly. He was the top heel in WCW the 2nd half of 89. He took a backseat Sting’s feuds with J-Tex Corporation and then the newly turned and reformed Horsemen in 1990. Then he gets stuck playing fill-in babyface after Sting gets hurt, becoming the rarely seen lame-duck challenger to Flair until Sting gets back, when he gets shuffled down the card a bit into meaningless feuds. Oh, and his first World title run was almost literally by default because Flair up and left with the Big Gold Belt.

Imagine you are both doing your absolute best AND you’re one of absolute best at your job but the higher ups keep dicking you over in favor of an inferior guy they like better. Wouldn’t you just not bother to try anymore?

Don’t get me wrong. By all accounts, pre-Christian Luger was a colossal a*hole and kind of an idiot. He isn’t a victim by any means. But it’s still easy to understand why he went from “Next Big Thing” to “Squandered Potential” the way he did.

​Take a drink.

And yes, I definitely felt like Luger got the short end of the stick during his prime years. ​