THE LEX EXPRESS TO REDEMPTION (FSM 96; Aug 2013)

FSM: Good morning, Lex. To begin, can you update us on your health at the moment?
Lex Luger: My health is tip-top. I see myself as stream-lined and re-defined! (laughs) Obviously, I can't pump the iron anymore, and I'm no longer 275lbs, but I was going to drop weight when my career ended anyway - I just didn't plan on it coming off so fast. Then again, I never planned on having a spinal injury!
I miss lifting weights, but my prognosis was 24/7 care: being fed, bathed, and clothed. So to come from that to being able to live on my own, drive my car and walk, I'm very thankful. My injury was strictly neurological - my vital organs are all fine.

You're a born again Christian. How much of a motivating factor has that been?
It's been everything to me. To be quite frank, it used to be thought that I would be that next wrestler to be found dead in a hotel room, which unfortunately so many of our friends have been. I'm thankful that I'm not one of them, but I can't take any credit; I went to recovery centres, and all sorts of things, but it wasn't until April 23, 2006, when I surrendered to Jesus, that things really started to turn around. I started associating with the right people, and I can give God the credit for that.

Before breaking into wrestling, you were an American football player. Was that your dream job?
I enjoyed playing football, but I didn't like practice (laughs). Basketball and track and field were my favourites, but I was physically best suited for football, so I went to college, got some attention and played pro. But when I saw the opportunity to break into wrestling after Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant break those records, it made sense to pursue that. It was becoming a very big business.

How were you able to get trained?
I was fortunate to be living in Florida during the off-season, and walked into the offices of Championship Wrestling from Florida. They took one look at me and sent me to Hiro Matsuda, and I never went back to football. I had my first match six months later, and credit Hiro for me turning to wrestling. He was a great guy.

How did you get the chance to start working for Jim Crockett Promotions?
Ric Flair was probably the main reason. He travelled around as the NWA champion, and he wrestled me a few times during my rookie year in Florida. Obviously, he went back with some good reports.

You were a member of The Four Horsemen, who had a reputation for working hard and partying hard. Did you try to keep up in that scene?
Ric Flair lived up to his reputation, both in the ring and out, and it was quite the adjustment for me. In football, you weren't on the road 300 nights a year like in wrestling, and we'd go out quite a lot then have to wrestle the next day. A lot of guys would sleep when we arrived in town, but I had to go to the gym and tan, because of the way I was expected to look.

When Ric left for the WWF in 1991, there was a huge hole left in WCW. You won the vacated WCW title at The Great American Bash, but fans were still pining for Flair. Was that a difficult situation?
No doubt. I mean, back then I was a very confident individual, but nobody could fill Ric Flair's shoes. I just did the best I could in a challenging situation, and didn't really put too much pressure on myself, because who could replace Ric? We had to pull together as a company and try to overcome it.

In the build-up to SuperBrawl '92, you rarely wrestled despite being WCW champion. Why was that?
I had 275 dates per year on my contract, and we had run those dry, so they added in three events, and paid me separately for those. One was a pay-per-view at the end of '91, another was a title defence in the Tokyo Dome in January, and the last was SuperBrawl. WCW was very fair to me on my way out, because they were happy to make the transition to Sting.

After WCW, you signed with Vince McMahon's World Bodybuilding Federation. How did negotiations begin?
The initial phone-call was from me to Vince, because I was interested in coming to the WBF on a one-year contract. He didn't commit on the phone, but he eventually got back to me, and said I could co-host on TV with him. So, he looked after me financially for the year, leading up to me guest posing on a pay-per-view, and I signed on to become a wrestler following that.

Before the pay-per-view you were in a terrible motorcycle accident. What happened that day?
I had a head-on crash with a car. I was going out for a ride, and fortunately, because it was dusk, I didn't care about how I looked. Normally I would wear one of those non-protective, cool-looking helmets, because we have a helmet law here, but instead I put a full helmet on, and it really protected my head. I ended up going around a blind curve at about 45-50mph, and neither of us had the chance to react, so it's another miracle of God that I'm alive today, because at the hospital they told me that that kind of wreck is always a D.O.A. I flew 150ft into the woods, and missed every gigantic tree at the side of the road. If I'd hit one of those trees, it would've snapped me in two.
About six months ago, I actually met a couple who were in the car behind the one that hit me, and they recalled seeing my body flying through the air like Superman. The lady said her husband wouldn't go down the hill where I landed, because he was squeamish and thought I was dead, for sure. But she found me alive, and she prayed with me until the ambulance arrived. I can't remember anything about that, but I thanked her from the bottom of my heart.

Do you know what Vince's hopes were for the WBF?
I think he wanted to create a magazine and nutrition line. Bodybuilding is a $70 billion industry, and he wanted a slice of that. Vince loves fitness, and I think he thought it'd be a natural fit for him.

When you did come back to wrestling, you were introduced as "The Narcissist" at the 1993 Royal Rumble, which was a change from the original name of "Narcissus". Did Vince want you to use the Lex Luger name at all at the time?
He was open to discussion, and we discussed using just the "Narcissus" nickname, but we came to the conclusion that the name Lex Luger was well enough known, and that we should add "The Narcissist".
I loved the run as "The Narcissist", and wish it had lasted longer. It was fun posing in front of gigantic mirrors, with beautiful women, and the pyro. Initially, it's always easier to make people hate you, so I had a blast with that character. To be honest, with where my attitude was at that point in time, it wasn't too much of a stretch for me! (laughs)

You've said before that you're quite a shy person. How do you equate that with this incredibly arrogant heel persona that seemed so natural?
I think I may have made up the excuse that I was shy as a child, but wrestling definitely got me over that.
I used to say that I was confident, and as a wrestler I could be a confident good guy or an arrogant bad guy. Many people thought I got changed back and forth between heel and babyface too often, but that was because when somebody got injured, they'd switch me as my character could be down the middle.

Bret Hart once told FSM that it was like living a double-life as the family man at home, and the pro wrestling character on the road. How does that compare to your own story?
I was definitely the same as Bret; an ultimate family man, all for the community back home in Atlanta, and then Lex Luger when I would go out to wrestle. They were two totally different characters.

It's been 20 years since you famously bodyslammed Yokozuna on the USS Intrepid. Who do we have to thank for that angle?
It was Vince who presented it to me. I remember walking into his office as "The Narcissist", and walking out with ideas of red, white and blue. I thought they were crazy, but Vince said to me, "You watch!"
Yokozuna did an incredible job that day. I had practiced it the week before in my Nikes, but I went onto the Intrepid wearing cowboy boots, and had no footing, so he basically slammed himself.

Was the idea pitched to you, or were you simply told that this was the direction?
Well, Vince paints such a beautiful portrait that you walk out of his office on cloud nine anyway (laughs). He's an artist when it comes to presenting his plans.

Even though you weren't actually wrestling, was the Lex Express bus tour still gruelling in its own way?
Just time-wise: getting up at 4am and doing morning radio, then talk shows 'til mid-morning, the mall autograph sessions in the early afternoon, late afternoon radio after that, and then going on with the weatherman on the evening news (laughs). Sometimes they'd allow me time to work out, but it was physically and emotionally demanding.

Given that you didn't win the title at SummerSlam, were there ever any hints from Vince that he wasn't satisfied with the way things had panned out?
No, the tour was phenomenal, and the response was amazing. If there was ever any talk of dissatisfaction with it, that never got back to me. Vince never once promised me the belt; I was hopeful, of course, but he did say to me that he wanted to do something extra special if they were going to give me the belt, maybe at WrestleMania X, in Vince's hometown building. The positive way he put it to me, I didn't think much of not winning at SummerSlam.

Towards the end of your run in the WWF, you teamed regularly with Davey Boy Smith. He's still so fondly remembered in the UK.
We were like two peas in a pod! We travelled, ate and went to the gym together, and I even stayed at his mom and pop's house when we'd go over for the UK tours. Every block had a pub, so we'd go out and have a couple of cold beers. He had a green Jaguar sedan, and we'd drive around instead of taking the bus.
I have so many fond memories of Davey Boy - he was a great wrestler, a great husband and father, and just a wonderful guy. I'll never forget teaming with him at Wembley Arena, and hearing the biggest reaction I've ever been a part of in my life.

You had been working on a handshake agreement with the WWF, which allowed you to jump to WCW. That part is well-known, but you also took a major pay cut to do this. Why did you accept that offer?
A big reason was definitely Sting, who is one of my best friends. Once again, I was a very confident individual, so when Eric Bischoff offered me the deal, I thought, "He may not think that much of me right now, but I'll work hard, earn my way up, and get back to where I think I should be."
Eric was fair with me, and honest. He said it wasn't that he didn't want me to come in, but that he wasn't going to give me a huge, guaranteed contract. I did come in, became an integral part of the company, and Eric was a man of his word.

Nitro ripped up the wrestling rulebook, which made it exciting for the fans. Was it equally as exciting for the wrestlers?
I'd say more so! There was an electricity, a buzz in each building. It was a very special time for wrestling. I thought I'd seen the pinnacle of crowd reaction during my time with The Four Horsemen, but that run we had with the nWo and The Monday Night Wars, it was fantastic.
Was there a point where you realised that WCW had major problems?
You know, I never thought that, because I'd seen that the wrestling business could be cyclical, due to the economy, or what Vince was doing or what we were doing. At one point, we thought we'd annihilated Vince, because even our re-runs were killing his live show ratings. So, even when he started to pull away with fresh characters like The Rock, I thought we'd turn it back around in a year or two. I had a feeling, but I was surprised by the way it ended for WCW.

When WCW did sink in 2001, and Vince bought over the promotion, were there ever any talks about bringing you into the WWF, after how you had left?
We had some discussions, but I had almost two years left on my WCW contract, guaranteed, and it was worth millions of dollars. So, do I stay home, work out and improve myself, or give that money up to get back into WWE, with no certainty as to what I'd make? I didn't really pursue talks with Vince, because I knew I had time. I had a two-year, paid vacation.

You've spoken before about what happened on the night that Elizabeth died. But was it difficult to have a relationship with someone you worked with, especially with her ex-husband in the company?
Well initially, we strictly had a working relationship, and the personal relationship happened away from wrestling. Liz and Randy had broken up, he worked with other girls on the show, and actually Randy and I were very good friends who travelled together, so it was never an issue.
Elizabeth was a fantastic woman, and what happened was tragic. It had nothing to do with wrestling, but we made a lot of bad decisions with our lives - personally with our relationships, and with drugs and alcohol. She was a very tragic victim of that. I try to embrace what she meant to so many people worldwide. That's how I like to remember her.

Bringing us forward to today, you have an advisory role with WWE in relation to the Wellness Policy. Is that in an official capacity?
No. I wouldn't want to be official, because I work with a non-profit organisation. Health and wellness are my passions, though, so if anybody needs help, WWE knows I'd love to speak to and work with them in any way I can. I enjoy being available, when and if needed.

Ric Flair wrote that you had many ideas about health insurance and unionising when you first entered the Crockett locker-room. Looking back, you wonder if these ideas could have saved lives.
At the time, I didn't really know any better. I knew wrestling didn't have a union, but I didn't really understand why. Coming from a sports background, I wondered why we didn't have guaranteed contracts. I brought this to the table out of ignorance, not genius; we were risking our bodies every night, and when I saw that Crockett wanted me under contract so I wouldn't go to the WWF, I said, "Well, how much are you going to pay me? What kind of guarantees do I have?" They asked me, "What do you want to make?" and I said that if I was going to be a top performer like Ric Flair or Dusty Rhodes, I wanted to be paid like them. I actually took a lot of kidding from the guys about my guaranteed contract. At the time, it was like, "What are they doing giving you a contract like that? You just got in the wrestling business."

That's odd in the sense that they should have been happy for someone to break down that barrier.
Well, you're thinking logically, Brian! (laughs) At the time, there was a lot of grumbling, but I do think it helped them - it helped everybody, I believe. A guaranteed contract is a great thing for the wrestlers.

Your book, Wrestling With The Devil is set to be released on August 13. Why have you chosen this period of your life to write it?
I'm just trying to be obedient (laughs). I never thought I'd do a book, because I tend to keep my private life exactly that. As a born-again believer, I just felt it was time to share the good news and the gospel. I've run myself ragged speaking about the good God has done for my life, and what he can do for others, and some of my mentors said it might be a good idea to put it down in writing instead.
I really felt it could help people in three ways. It can help young people who are embarking on that quest for fame, fortune, and glamour that there's a right way and a wrong way to do it - by reading my story, you'll know how not to do it! (laughs) For people who feel like they're on top, and nothing bad can happen, well, you might want to read my story. And for people who think, "It's too late for me, I can't turn it around", I'm here to tell them that yes, you can.

Lex Luger's new book, Wrestling With The Devil, is available from www.LexLugerBook.com. You can contact Lex on Twitter @GenuineLexLuger.