Jim Ross on Vince McMahon giving "extraordinary" push to former WWE Royal Rumble winner
Jim Ross has recalled how WWE Chairman Vince McMahon had high hopes that Lex Luger’s all-American babyface character was going to succeed.
In 1993, Vince McMahon viewed Luger as WWE’s next marquee star following Hulk Hogan’s departure. Luger, who previously performed as a heel, challenged Yokozuna for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam 1993. He also traveled across America meeting fans in a red, white, and blue bus known as “The Lex Express.”
Ross, who joined WWE as a commentator in 1993, discussed Luger’s brief WWE main-event run on his Grilling JR podcast. The legendary announcer said he could not recall anyone receiving a bigger push than Luger.
“McMahon wasn’t sparing any expense or any resources,” Ross said. “You write a song about the guy, you get him his own bus, his own tour bus, and a kind of celebratory presentation. Again, I mentioned earlier, Vince, I can’t recall anyway, ever doing more for a talent to hopefully get them over than he did for Lex in that era. It was extraordinary. That was the focal point of the company, Lex Luger. The media, the posters, merch, all that stuff.”
Luger defeated Yokozuna in the main event of SummerSlam 1993. However, due to the disqualification finish, he did not win the WWE Championship.
The former WWE star went on to co-win the 1994 Royal Rumble with Bret Hart. Two months later, he failed to win the title from Yokozuna again at WrestleMania X.
Why Vince McMahon liked Lex Luger so much
Lex Luger worked for Vince McMahon’s former bodybuilding organization, the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF), in 1992. He joined WWE in 1993 before leaving the company to return to WCW in 1995.
Ross added that McMahon always liked Luger due to his impressive physique.
“I know Vince always coveted Lex,” Ross said. “He was enamoured by Lex’s look and how marketable Lex’s look was. Vince is a body guy and Lex certainly had a body, and a very good one.”
Luger will be the subject of an upcoming WWE Icons documentary on the WWE Network. WWE released a trailer (see above) for the documentary, which will air on Sunday, earlier this week.
Please credit Grilling JR and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.