YMMV / Lex Luger

• Base-Breaking Character: One of the biggest in the business. Some (especially those who believe that Muscles Are Meaningful in pro wrestling) love him, considering him one of the greatest examples of a "big man" wrestler in the business, with even those who admit Luger's relative lack of technical skills was compensated by his raw power. Others (who focus more on technical skill) don't like him so much, noting that while he did come off good when paired with the right wrestler (such as Sting and Ric Flair) and look like a million bucks, if he was given the wrong one, it wasn't pretty.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The piledriver he used during his run as world champion in WCW in the early '90s was named the "Attitude Adjustement". John Cena must've been taking notes, as he would later rename his finisher from the FU to the Attitude Adjustement. This gets especially hilarious when you remember that Luger eventually left WCW for the WWF, where he would be soon put in the role of an All-American Face (in the wake of Hulk Hogan's departure) and seemingly on the path to the WWF Championship, but in the end management got cold feet about it. Cena would later be put in the same role and proved to be the worthy successor of Hogan the now WWE was looking for, and has won the WWE Championship multiple times.
• Memetic Mutation: In one unfortunate promo with Devin Sturgis, Lex is defeated by a t-shirt.
  Lex Luger: SUPERBRAWL SATURDAY?! CAN HE AFFORD TO PAY ME TO WRESTLE RON? I DON'T KNOOOOOOOOOOOW! and THE T-SHIRTS ARE TOO TIGHT TOO, BILLY! *whack!* DOOR'S LOCKED, TOO!
• Narm: Good luck watching one of his matches and not hearing him yell in overly dramatic fashion whenever he took a hit. This is something that the OSW Review guys mocked him relentlessly for.
• Never Live It Down:
  • The Lex Express publicity tour and his SummerSlam 1993 "victory" over Yokozuna. After spending the previous two months building up hype for match by touring around America in a star spangled bus, Lex won with a count out finish and didn't get the championship title off of Yoko as he swore he'd do. Despite this, he still got a massive celebration befitting a champion, being carried around on other wrestlers' shoulders while balloons and confetti rained down from the ceiling. Rather than be impressed, wrestling fans viewed Luger as having failed and his reputation took a hit as a result.
  • He put his hands on Miss Elizabeth. Already off to a bad start. And then the trauma from that played a factor in her drug overdose 10 days later. So he's not exactly a darling of the IWC. (Oddly enough, Elizabeth's ex-husband Randy Savage professed to harbor no ill will at all to Luger, and that her drug use and subsequent death were her own doing.)
  YouTube comment: AND THEY'RE GONNA PUT ME IN A CELL FOR KILLING?!? ("No it's a match with Ron Killings") I DON'T KNOOOOOOOOOOOW! *hauled off to jail*
• Replacement Scrappy: After Hulk Hogan left, Luger was plugged right into Hogan's All-American Face gimmick, his main event spot, and even his feud with Yokozuna. Suffice to say, there is only one Hogan and the fans weren't even too crazy about him at that point. Most importantly, the fans wanted Bret Hart more. He'd gotten screwed over at WrestleMania IX and was so over that the fans were clamoring for him to get the belt back. No matter how much McMahon forced Luger into the spotlight, Bret was always going to be the guy. It didn't help that Luger's Heel–Face Turn was a total swerve: He just arrived in a chopper on the Intrepid and then slammed Yokozuna. Footage of the moment shows the crowd not knowing what to do with it, as many probably wondered what "The Narcissist" (the gimmick Luger had beforehand, which is exactly what it sounds) was doing there.
• Retroactive Recognition: As "New Superboy" on the third season's episode of The Adventures of Superboy: Mindscape.
• Shocking Moments: His jumping ship from the WWF to appear on the first episode of Nitro, before such jumps became passe.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Before being converted into the replacement Hogan, Luger made for a pretty convincing heel as The Narcissist. He had an aloof detached personality already, which made him a good fit for a heel. So when he turned babyface, that aloofness and detachment prevented him from getting over.

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