LEX LUGER

'Lawrence' ("'Larry'") 'Wendell Pfohl' (born June 2, 1958), is an American former bodybuilder, professional wrestler, and American football player better known by his wrestling ring name, 'Lex Luger'.^[1]

Football career

Larry Pfohl played high school football in Orchard Park, New York. From there he went to Pennsylvania State University, but left after one year, transferring to the University of Miami. After sitting out the 1978 season he started the 1979 season at Offensive Guard until his scholarship was terminated for disciplinary reasons stemming from a hotel damage incident that occurred during an away game at Georgia Tech.
He first played professional football for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, playing one game in 1979, eleven games in 1980, and one more game in 1981. He went to the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League next, but never played in league game and thus is not listed on their all-time roster, though he did spend the entire (strike-shortened) 1982 season on the team's injured reserve list with a groin problem incurred during training camp. He returned to the Packers training camp in 1983, but was released before the regular season began. In 1984, he finished his football career playing in the United States Football League for the Memphis Showboats (listed as #72, at 6 feet 3 inches and 270 pounds.) The rap on Pfohl was that he had poor footwork and could not effectively pass block. He was a decent straight on drive blocker. Pfohl was the type of player who looked good in the weightroom and in a football uniform, but could not compete at the Division I or pro level. He also played for the Tampa Bay Bandits in the USFL, where he was a teammate with future WCW rival Ron Simmons.

Professional wrestling career

Training

In 1985, Pfohl met Bob Roop at a celebrity golfing event in Florida and was given the chance to get into professional wrestling. Roop arranged for Pfohl to be trained by Hiro Matsuda, who had previously trained Hulk Hogan and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. Pfohl adopted the ring name "'Lex Luger'", being a fan of the comic book villain Lex Luthor, and made his in-ring debut in September 1985.

NWA Florida (1985-1986)

Luger began wrestling in the NWA Florida territory, and quickly came to dominate the area. He got his first victory on Halloween 1985 against Ed "The Bull" Gantner, and won the Southern Heavyweight Championship from Wahoo McDaniel the next month. In 1986, he fought NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair.
Towards the end of his run in Florida, Luger was involved in a now-legendary steel cage match with Bruiser Brody, where Brody stopped cooperating, leading to Luger leaving the match.

World Championship Wrestling (WCW)

1987-1988

In 1987, Luger went to work for Jim Crockett's World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which was under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner, with the nickname "'The Total Package'" and began using the "The Human Torture Rack", an Argentine backbreaker as his finisher. He was first booked as an associate to Ric Flair's "Four Horsemen" stable until Ole Anderson was kicked out and he became an official member of the group. His first big feud was against Nikita Koloff, whom he defeated for the NWA United States Championship in July at ''The Great American Bash''. He held the title until ''StarrCade'' in November, when he lost it to Dusty Rhodes in a steel cage. This loss set the stage for Luger leaving the Four Horsemen, as manager J.J. Dillon's interference is what cost Luger the match.
Luger left the Horsemen in 1988 after he and his stable-mates (Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, and J.J. Dillon) were the sole wrestlers left in a ''Bunkhouse Stampede'' battle royal and Dillon asked the other wrestlers to give themselves up so he could win. Although Blanchard and Anderson complied, Luger refused and eliminated Dillon, leaving the Horsemen in the process.
Out of all the Horsemen, Luger befriended Barry Windham, his former Florida ally, and formed a tag team, dubbed "'The Twin Towers'", with him. The Twin Towers first teamed at ''Clash of the Champions'' in March to defeat Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson for the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version). Only a few weeks after the title win, a shocking swerve took place in the NWA with Barry Windham suddenly turning on Luger during a title defense (against Blanchard and Anderson) and joined his former stable, The Four Horsemen.
Days later, the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup tag team tournament was held with its first night in Greenville, South Carolina. A partner-less Luger was teamed with an equally partner-less Sting (whose partner Ronnie Garvin had been kayfabe injured) and together the impromptu team won the entire tournament, defeating Blanchard and Anderson in the finals.
As , held in June, approached it was announced that Luger would challenge Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at ''The Great American Bash'' on July 10 in Baltimore. The contract was signed on a yacht with Flair delivering the line "You gotta make it to Baltimore..." to Luger. As Luger arrived at ''The Clash'' in a limousine he was attacked by The Four Horsemen, leaving him kayfabe injured and bleeding in the parking lot on live television. The build up to the Flair/Luger match helped the event draw a 14,000 person crowd, only to see Luger lose the match in one of the biggest wrestling controversies ever. While Luger had Flair in the "Torture Rack" and Flair was about to submit, the match was abruptly stopped by the referee who cited kayfabe "Maryland State Athletic Commission" rules about a cut that had opened up on Luger's forehead "bleeding excessively".
Luger faced Flair in many rematches across the country, never winning the title - although he did frequently win their matches by disqualification (titles don't change hands on a disqualification). The Luger/Flair feud came to an end after December's ''StarrCade'' where Flair pinned Luger in the main event by illegally using the ropes.

1989-1990

With the feud with Flair over, Luger was matched up against old foe Barry Windham at ''The Chi Town Rumble'' in February, winning the NWA United States Championship from him. Luger defended the US Championship regularly, remaining one of the top draws in the NWA.
He teamed up with Michael Hayes against Barry and Kendall Windham in a match which saw Hayes turn on Luger, setting himself as a contender to the US Title at ''Wrestle War'' in Nashville, Tennessee. In what was considered a shocking upset at the time, Hayes defeated Luger for the title when a surprise appearance by Hayes's ex-Freebird mate Terry Gordy helped cost Luger the match. Luger regained the US Title from Hayes in a rematch a couple of weeks later, beginning a heel turn when he broke the rules by pulling Hayes' tights to win the match. The turn became "official" shortly after, when at '' Luger attacked the popular Ricky Steamboat after Steamboat had defeated Terry Funk by disqualification. Luger yelled out in frustration about the former world champion Steamboat continuing to be the #1 contender for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and a feud between Luger and Steamboat occurred with matches around the country for Luger's US Title, with Luger always coming out on top. Eventually, Luger and Steamboat faced each other at ''The Great American Bash'' in July with Luger winning by disqualification after Luger refused to wrestle Steamboat until the match's no-disqualification clause had been waived. Steamboat departed the NWA shortly afterward.
In the fall of '89, Luger's US Championship began taking a back seat to the main event feuds occurring between Flair, Sting, Terry Funk, and The Great Muta, relegating Luger to defend the US Title against lower caliber opponents. In November, things picked up for him again as Brian Pillman challenged him at ''. Luger won the match after hitting Pillman with a chair, pushing him back into the spotlight. After the main event of the card, which saw Ric Flair and Terry Funk in a (now famous) "I Quit" match, Luger made a surprise run in, attacking both Flair and Sting, who had come out to save Flair from a post match attack by The Great Muta.
December's ''Starrcade'' featured an "Ironman" tournament between Flair, Sting, Luger, and Muta. The tournament featured 15 minute time limit matches pitting all of the men against each other, with no titles on the line, and points awarded for victories. Though Sting eventually won the tournament, Luger was the only participant to go undefeated for the night. (Sting got pinfall victories over Muta and Flair, giving him the most points to win the tournament). This elevated Sting to the #1 contender for Flair's world title.
With Sting and Flair set to square off at ''Wrestle War '90'' in February, Luger seemed to be dwindling away from the main event scene. He was booked to defend the US Title against "Dr. Death" Steve Williams on the card, but a legitimate injury to Sting caused the entire booking of the card to get changed. Luger was elevated to face Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. An injured Sting appeared in Luger's corner during the match, eventually being attacked by Ole and Arn Anderson. When Luger left the ring to help Sting he was counted out, giving the match to Flair. The idea here was to build Luger up as a "changed man" that had "gained self-respect" by saving Sting. Luger challenged Flair across the country in rematches, but similar to their 1988 feud, the matches always ended with Luger not winning or winning but not earning the title. In the final match of the feud, a few months after ''Wrestle War'', another screwjob finish occurred where Luger won by disqualification against Flair in a steel cage match when the cage rose up from the ground and outside interference marred the match.
In mid-1990, Luger's focus went back to defending his US Championship while the NWA focused on Sting and his reign as World Heavyweight Champion. It became difficult coming up with opponents to feud with Luger until Stan Hansen entered the company and the two of them feuded for a couple of months, with Luger eventually dropping the title to Hansen at ''Halloween Havoc'' in October, though he won it right back at December's ''Starrcade''.

World Championship Wrestling (1991-1992)

:''Beginning in 1991 World Championship Wrestling began to withdraw from the National Wrestling Alliance to become its own company. For more information see 'here'.''
Luger started 1991 feuding with Danny Spivey, who unsuccessfully challenged him at ''Wrestle War'' in February for the ''WCW'' United States Championship. Following their match, Nikita Koloff suddenly appeared to attack Luger, reigniting their feud from 1987. It didn't last long, however, as Koloff found himself being pushed into an angle with Sting instead of Luger, and Luger again began to challenge Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship after becoming #1 contender by defeating The Great Muta at .
With the history of "screwjob finishes" between Flair and Luger, their title match was set to be contested at ''The Great American Bash'' in a Steel cage match with the added stipulation that should Flair get disqualified he would lose the title. The match never occurred, however, as Ric Flair began to have disagreements with Jim Herd, the head of WCW, and eventually quit the company (being "stripped" of the title in the process) and took the World Title belt with him.
With the title now vacant, Barry Windham was declared the #2 contender and was set to face Luger in the cage at ''The Bash''. During the match Luger was turned heel (and Windham face) when Harley Race and Mr. Hughes came to ringside and "ordered" Luger to piledrive (an illegal maneuver) Windham. He did it, winning his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
The rest of 1991 was spent getting Luger over as champion and top heel, including a controversial racial angle with Ron Simmons where he asked Simmons to join his entourage, but as a chauffeur. Luger defeated Simmons at ''Halloween Havoc in October. Eventually, Luger began to have his own issues with WCW, and the contract he had seemed to have him wrestling less and less while still collecting money.
In the fall of '91 Luger had a brief feud with Rick Steiner, defeating him at ''Clash of the Champions XVII'' in November. The next month's ''Starrcade'' was booked with the 'BattleBowl' format, which Sting winning #1 contendership at the end of the night.
Luger's contract only required him to work a specific number of dates, and having fulfilled them he "sat out" the end of 1991 and beginning of '92. This left Sting to build the feud against him on his own. Aside from one January title defense (against Masa Chono), Luger did not wrestle a match until February's ''SuperBrawl II'', where he lost to Sting cleanly.

World Bodybuilding Federation (1992)

After losing to Sting at SuperBrawl, Luger negotiated a departure from WCW and joined Vince McMahon's World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF), appearing regularly as a co-host on its Saturday morning program, ''WBF BodyStars''.^[2] He also made an appearance at the WWF's WrestleMania VIII, taking part in an on air interview with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon.^[3] He was slated to guest pose at a WBF pay-per-view event, but was injured in a motorcycle accident.^[4] By the time he recovered, the WBF was out of business.

World Wrestling Federation

1993

After his accident and the closure of the WBF, Luger joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). His first TV appearances were vignettes hyping his greatness until he was "unveiled" by Bobby "the Brain" Heenan at the Royal Rumble. Luger then adopted the moniker of 'The Narcissist', a heel gimmick that saw him pose before full-length mirrors before every match.^[5] The WWF also incorporated his motorcycle accident into his gimmick, capitalizing on the fact that he had a metal plate inserted into his forearm which was said to cause more damage when it struck an opponent. This caused a number of his opponents to demand that he wear a cover over it during matches when he had a streak of knocking people out. The Narcissist only had one real feud, which was against Mr. Perfect. The feud was based on Heenan, his manager, calling him "more than perfect" in a slight at Mr. Perfect, his former managerial client. The feud ended at WrestleMania IX when Luger defeated Perfect.^[6]
In mid-1993, after Hulk Hogan's departure from the company, Luger took up the nickname "Made in the USA" and transformed himself from a heel to a "mega"-face. On July 4 he took part in a memorable event where he arrived (by helicopter) on the deck of the ''USS Intrepid'' and body slammed the over 500 pound (227 kg) WWF champion Yokozuna after a number of other WWF superstars and other athletes attempted and failed.^[7] Following this he began the "Lex Express" bus tour, traveling the country in a Red, White, and Blue painted bus to greet fans and to "campaign" for a shot at the WWF Title. Luger got his shot at Yokozuna at SummerSlam, with the stipulation that this would be Luger's only shot at the title. Luger eventually won the match, but by count-out, meaning that Yokozuna retained the title.^[8]

1994-1995

At the January Royal Rumble event, Luger and Bret Hart were declared "co-winners" of the Royal Rumble match after both men went over the top rope and had their feet hit the ground at the same time.^[9] As such, both received shots at the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X.
Luger was originally booked to win the WWF Championship at WrestleMania, but after getting drunk at a bar not long before the event, Luger legitimately told several people (including a local reporter) about the planned outcome.^[10] When the information spread, eventually getting to WWF higher ups, the plans were changed to not only have Luger not win the title, but Bret Hart leaving the event as champion.^[11]
For the summer of '94 Luger aligned himself with Tatanka until kayfabe rumors began to swirl that Luger was planning to join Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation.^[12] Tatanka and Luger's friendship was strained by the lack of trust between them, until Tatanka joined the Corporation at SummerSlam, the very action which he'd accused Luger of.^[12] Luger continued to feud with The Million Dollar Corporation, leading a Survivor Series team consisting of himself, Mabel, Adam Bomb and The Smokin' Gunns (Billy and Bart Gunn), dubbed "'Guts & Glory'", to a loss against the Corporation team of Tatanka, King Kong Bundy, Bam Bam Bigelow and The Heavenly Bodies ("Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray and Dr. Tom Prichard) in a match at the November event - with only King Kong Bundy and Bam Bam Bigelow surviving.^[14]
1995 saw Luger form a team with Davey Boy Smith, dubbed the "'The Allied Powers'".^[15] Between March and July 1995 The Allied Powers joined the hunt for the World Tag Team Championship, until Davey Boy turned on Luger and joined James E. Cornette's heel Camp Cornette stable.^[16] Following the breakup of The Allied Powers, it seemed Luger was set to once again enter the WWF Championship picture when he saved (champion) Diesel from King Mabel at SummerSlam in August.^[17] However, he left the company before those plans could go anywhere.

World Championship Wrestling

1995-1997

In late August 1995, after expressing to Sting that he wanted to leave the WWF, Luger got a call from World Championship Wrestling Vice-President Eric Bischoff to set up a meeting about a contract and Luger possibly "jumping ship". Years later, Bischoff would claim that he was never a "fan" of Luger on a personal or professional level and only decided to hire him only to have his debut be a big shock to wrestling fans on the first episode of ''WCW Monday Nitro''.^[18]
Bischoff offered Luger substantially less money than he was making in the WWF,¹⁸ believing that he would turn the contract down allowing Bischoff to go back to Sting and tell him that he "tried." To Bischoff's surprise, Luger agreed to the deal. He wrestled his last WWF match on September 3, 1995 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, then shockingly appeared on ''WCW Monday Nitro'' the very next night; first during a match between WCW United States Champion Sting and Ric Flair and then again at the end of the show when he challenged Hulk Hogan to a match at the next week's ''Nitro'' for Hogan's World Heavyweight Championship.^[19] During both appearances the Mall of America crowd (from which ''Nitro'' was being broadcast) erupted into chants of "Luger". During the first months with the company, Luger played a tweener, siding with various wrestlers on either side of the heel/face divide and feuded with others. For example, he would team with Sting,^[20] but also feud with "Macho Man" Randy Savage,^[21] both of whom were faces.
Luger's status unofficially changed solidly to face in early 1996 with a number of title changes. First he and Sting won the WCW World Tag Team Championship,^[22] then he defeated Johnny B. Badd to take the Television Championship, lost it back to him the next night, and won it again on March 6.^[23] In the summer Luger began a feud with The Giant for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, unsuccessfully taking him on at June's Great American Bash.^[12]
When The Outsiders (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash) arrived on the scene beginning they called "a hostile takeover" of WCW, "Macho Man" Randy Savage spearheaded the WCW wrestlers against them, with Luger and Sting by his side. Luger, along with Savage and Sting, took on The Outsiders and a third, mystery, partner that they claimed was an "insider" at July's Bash at the Beach. The match began with Hall and Nash taking on Savage, Sting, and Luger without their mystery partner. In the first few minutes of the match Luger went down to a kayfabe injury, leaving Sting and Savage on their own when the mystery partner revealed himself to be Hulk Hogan. With Luger no longer around, Savage and Sting were easy prey for Hall, Nash, and Hogan who announced themselves as the New World Order (nWo) after the match.^[25]
Luger continued to be one of the leaders for the WCW's siege against the nWo, wrestling and feuding with a number of their members.^[26] He defeated The Giant at the December 1996 StarrCade event,^[12] then teamed ''with'' him (after he was kicked out of the nWo) to face The Outsiders at SuperBrawl VII.^[12] When he began to focus on Hulk Hogan, he eventually won the World Heavyweight title from him on the ''Nitro'' six days before August's Road Wild.^[29]^[30] However, he lost it right back to him at the pay per view.^[12] His victory, however, marked the first time in a year that WCW had won their world title back from the nWo.^[32]

1998-2001

Luger feuded with Randy Savage, Scott Hall, and Buff Bagwell in the first half of 1998^[33]^[34] until he joined the nWo Wolfpac.^[35] Luger played a central role in the group's war with Hogan's original nWo, and even convinced the long standing anti-nWo Sting to join.^[36] He also took part in the incident that became known as The Fingerpoke of Doom, in which both nWo factions united against the dominant Bill Goldberg in early 1999.^[37] He remained a member of the new nWo until he was sidelined with a legitimate biceps injury.
In mid-1999, Luger began another heel run. He started off by bringing back Miss Elizabeth as his valet and changing his name to "'The Total Package'"; declaring "Lex Luger" dead.^[38] Under his new moniker, he began using steel chairs to (kayfabe) break the arms of his fallen opponents. Also during this time, Luger had a long feud with Goldberg^[39] and formed a team with Buff Bagwell^[40] named "'Totally Buff'",^[41] which he stayed in until The WWF purchased WCW.
Since Luger's WCW contract was not a part of the WWF's purchase of WCW's assets, Luger collected the remainder of his guaranteed contract through a subsidiary of Time Warner that had been set up to handle outstanding debts and business from WCW.

Semi-retirement

In late 2002, Luger joined the European tour of World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA). He debuted on November 28 2002 in Dublin, Ireland, teaming with Sting to defeat Buff Bagwell and Malice. On December 6 2002 at WWA's Retribution pay-per-view, Luger defeated Sting to win the vacant WWA World Heavyweight Championship after Jeff Jarrett interfered on his behalf.^[42] In Manchester, England on December 7, Luger and Sting faced Bagwell and Jarrett in a match in which both Luger's WWA World Heavyweight Championship and Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight Championship were on the line, though neither title changed hands, as Sting pinned Bagwell.^[43] Luger made his final appearance with WWA on December 13, in Zürich, Switzerland, when he lost the WWA World Heavyweight Championship to Sting in a three way dance that also featured Malice.⁴²

In late 2003 Luger began working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), appearing on November 12, teaming with Jeff Jarrett in a loss to Sting and A.J. Styles.^[44] He returned to TNA on February 25 2004, interfering in Styles's match with Abyss for sole possession of the NWA World Tag Team Championship and helping Abyss defeat Styles.^[45]
Sometime in 2004, Luger made a few appearances in NWA Shockwave. During his time there, he cut a promo ^view to hype the upcoming ''Superbrawl Saturday'' card. In the course of the promo, he forgot the name of the card he was promoting as well as the promoter's name, and then struggled to rip off his t-shirt. The promo later become a viral video.^[46]
Throughout 2004 and 2005, Luger made sporadic appearances on the independent circuit.¹ He returned to TNA in 2006, first appearing during the April 27 ''iMPACT!'' as the second of Sting's potential tag team partners for Sacrifice.^[47] Throughout September and October, he appeared on ''iMPACT!'' as one of the people (along with Buff Bagwell) helping Sting to "prepare" for his upcoming match against Jarrett at Bound for Glory.^[48]

Wrestling facts

★ 'Finishing and signature moves'
:
★ '''Human Torture Rack''' / '''Rebel Rack''' (Argentine backbreaker rack)
:
★ '''Bionic Forearm''' / '''Luger's Elbow''' (Running elbow / forearm smash)
:
★ ''Lex-Plex'' (Superplex)
:
★ ''Attitude Adjustment'' (Piledriver)
:
★ Hip toss
:
★ Neckbreaker
:
★ Powerslam
:
★ Scoop slam
:
★ Military Press

★ 'Managers'
:
★ J.J. Dillon
:
★ Miss Elizabeth
:
★ Ric Flair
:
★ Jimmy Hart
:
★ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
:
★ Hiro Matsuda
:
★ Harley Race
:
★ Bob Roop
:
★ Kevin Sullivan

Championships and accomplishments

★ 'Championship Wrestling from Florida'
:
★ NWA Florida Bahamian Championship (1 time)
:
★ NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
:
★ NWA Florida Television Championship (1 time)

★ 'Jim Crockett Promotions'
:
★ NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
:
★ NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-Atlantic version)'' (1 time) - with Barry Windham
:
★ NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament Winner in 1988 - with Sting^[49]

★ 'World Championship Wrestling'
:
★ NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (3 times) '(Last)'
:
★ WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)¹ '(First)'
:
★ WCW World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
:
★ WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Sting (1) and The Giant (1)
:
★ WCW World Television Championship (2 times)
:
★ First WCW Triple Crown Champion (tied with Sting)
:
★ First WCW Grand Slam Champion

★ 'World Wrestling All-Stars'
:
★ WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)⁴²

★ 'World Wrestling Federation'
:
★ Royal Rumble (1994) – with Bret Hart^[50]

★ 'Pro Wrestling Illustrated'
:
★ PWI Rookie of the Year award in 1986^[51]
:
★ PWI Feud of the Year award in 1987 ^[52] - with the Four Horsemen, vs. the Road Warriors and The Super Powers
:
★ PWI Feud of the Year award in 1988 - vs. Ric Flair
:
★ PWI Feud of the Year award in 1990 - vs. Ric Flair
:
★ PWI Match of the Year award in 1991^[53] - with Sting, vs. The Steiner Brothers
:
★ PWI ranked him # '2' of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 1991
:
★ PWI Comeback of the Year award in 1993^[54]
:
★ PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year award in 1993^[55]
:
★ PWI Wrestler of the Year award in 1997^[56]
:
★ PWI ranked him # '20' of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003^[57]
:
★ PWI ranked him # '52' of the best 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Sting in 2003⁵⁸
:
★ PWI ranked him # '90' of the best 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Barry Windham in 2003^[58]

★ 'Wrestling Observer Newsletter'
:
★ Most Improved Wrestler award in 1989
¹Luger's 4th NWA United States Heavyweight Championship reign carried over to World Championship Wrestling when it was renamed the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, making him the last NWA United States Champion and first WCW United States Champion.

Personal life

Luger is divorced and has a son and a daughter.^[59]

Legal problems

Lex Luger's mug shots in 2003 and 2005

On May 1 2003, Luger's girlfriend, and former valet, Elizabeth Hulette, died in the townhouse they shared in Marietta, Georgia after mixing pills of hydrocodone, Alprazolam (Xanax), and anabolic steroids (testosterone and sazien) with vodka. Luger was arrested later that day after a search of the residence revealed a number of illicit controlled substances, including anabolic steroids, OxyContin, synthetic growth hormone, testosterone, and Alprazolam. He was charged with 14 drug possession counts, 13 of them felonies. He was released the following day on a bail of $27,500 USD. Hulette's death was eventually ruled accidental. Luger pled guilty to the charges on February 3 2005. He was given a $1,000 fine, sentenced to five years probation, and required to submit to periodic drug testing.^[60]
In December 2005, Luger and fellow wrestlers Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner were removed from a flight from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Canada. They were detained for several hours before Bagwell and Steiner were released, while Luger was held without bail as a result of two outstanding felony charges in the state of Georgia (he had neglected to obtain permission to leave the country from his parole officer). Luger was detained in the Hennepin County jail for two weeks before being extradited to Georgia to stand trial on December 22, 2005. Luger was sentenced to nine weeks imprisonment, and was released in February 2006.^[61]

Trinity Broadcasting Network appearance

On September 28, 2006, Luger appeared on ''Praise the Lord'', the flagship talk program of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and declared himself a born again Christian. In an interview conducted by Sting (the host of the program), an emotional Luger discussed the downward turn of his career and personal life -- including the events surrounding Hulette's death -- and how it led to his religious conversion.

Present Circumstances

Luger credits Steve Baskin, the pastor of Western Hills Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia, with pulling him from a terminal tailspin. The jail chaplain met Luger in early 2006 and sensed the former wrestler was spiritually wounded. As of July 2007, Luger lives in a spare bedroom in Baskin's apartment and is trying to figure out a path in life.^[62]

Notes

References

Video: Lex Luger Talks About Benoit & Being A Christian

External links

★

★ gerweck.net bio

★ Online World of Wrestling Profile

★ Mug shot photo from ''The Smoking Gun.com''

★ SLAM! Sports Wrestling - Miss Elizabeth Dies

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