Where we last left off, Luger lost the next big match to Flair at Starrcade ‘88 and was out of the NWA title picture with Ricky Steamboat, then Terry Funk later, coming in to work with Flair in 1989. He FINALLY worked Barry Windham in a singles match, eventually addressing the Twin Towers split, with Luger winning his second US title at Chi Town Rumnle in February 1989. It was a good match, but Windham ended up bolting soon after for the WWF and the illustrious “Widowmaker” moniker. Michael Hayes later turned on Luger to join the dreaded (I say that almost as sarcastically as the aforementioned “illustrious Widowmaker moniker”) Yamazaki Corporation.  Their matches and the feud were surprisingly good, as both traded US title victories. 

Luger turned heel on Ricky Steamboat at the Clash VII in June 1989, setting up another heel run since they already had Flair, Steamboat, and Sting on the babyface side. This was way before the world knew who the fuck Vince Russo was, and two turns in his first slightly over two years on TBS programming was a lot for the era. 

But Luger went on what arguably could have been the most incredible run of his career as a performer. In his feuds with Steamboat and Pillman, he was having good-geat matches with strong promos and great dick heel character work. He was so good that they started running Luger vs. Flair at the house shows with the babyface/heel dynamic being swapped. Those shows had some tepid attendances at best, but that would change. 

With Sting hurting his knee at the Clash in Corpus Christie, WCW needed a capable babyface replacement in the match against Flair. They announced Luger and had him refuse to back out when the Horsemen tried to make him on an episode of the Saturday World Championship Wrestling show. At the PPV, Luger had Flair beat with the torture rack when the Andersons made a move on Sting (who was on crutches) at ringside. It resulted in him being counted out when he gallantly fought them off, but it fully cemented Lex’s babyface turn, and despite all the bullshit in 1988, the fans paid to see him win the title AGAIN. 

8,300 on 03/11 in Atlanta was the highest attendance WrestlingData shows for WCW in that building since Flair vs. Terry Funk in a Texas Death Match in August of ‘89. It also nearly doubled a Flair vs. Luger match in that building in January before Flair turned (4,300 fans), so the babyface turn of Luger worked. Then, the two followed that with another 8,000 in April for the non-title cage match with Luger going over. WrestlingData has attendance figures for twenty-nine Omni shows after that, and they don’t beat the 8,300 until Nitro in 1997, the last show in the building. 

The 03/23 Chicago number of 6,500 at the UIC Pavilion was the most prominent figure in the company’s short history at the Pavilion, where attendance figures are available. We have figures for a dozen shows spanning November 1988 to 1993. The closest was Flair vs. Funk, which only did 3,600 in August 1989 in a super hot feud in the number two market. It should also be noted that Chicago was Luger’s worked home town, but that’s still an incredible increase over the legendary ‘89 Funk vs. Flair feud. 

Maybe 4,500 fans on 03/24 in St. Louis sounds low. However, outside the still-upcoming Starrcade 1990, Wrestlingdata has a dozen shows ranging from the company’s beginning in 1988 until 1991 in that building, and the only show equal to this was a Flair vs. Rick Steiner match in December 1988 (also 4,500). Like Atlanta, St. Louis also had a babyface Flair vs. heel Luger match beforehand. On 12/15, the match drew 1,500 fans, another massive increase for the Luger turn. 

Now, the one thing you can say about Jim Herd is that he wanted to do the right thing – He finally wanted to put the NWA world title on Lex. Maybe it was because he had some sense, or perhaps it was because he fucking hated Ric Flair, akin to someone who gave his wife a ride on the baloney pony. Whatever the reason, Flair negotiated control of the NWA title when he signed with Turner and spurned the WWF in 1988. Flair, who promised Sting he would drop the title to him the night he injured his knee at the February Clash, flat out refused to put Luger over for the title. No matter what anyone may feel towards or about Ric in this scenario, he was awarded the contractual authority, and this was long before Terry Bollea received his WCW creative control. Herd brought a film crew to Chicago, then St. Louis, because not only was Lex going to win the title, but at a house show where people bought tickets specifically to see him win the big one, finally, but even with the pressure of added costs to the company, Flair still refused to play ball. 

So what was their solution? Lex was losing matches via Woman’s high heel shoe this time (something in 1996 WCW as well). Luger was getting the next title shot at Capitol Combat 1990 against Flair in a steel cage. To entice the fans, the rarely-taken road of discussing house show results on TV was traveled when they reported Luger beat Flair in the non-title cage match at the Omni. Luger HAD to win the title at the PPV, right?

If he did, do you think you’d be reading this article? No, despite 160,000 PPV buys, putting the show second in company history behind Halloween Havoc 1989, according to Wrestlenomics, Lex won the cage match by DQ. Yes, a DQ in a steel cage match. A stip match created to prevent outside interference saw Ole Anderson gain control of the cage and raise it, allowing the other Horsemen to attack and making us all feel dumb AF for supporting this man and company. Poor Lex was barely out of the hospital because of a staph infection he had leading up to the show, and he only recovered to look like a dumbshit.. Like Starrcade ‘88, when they had the second PPV match after not delivering at the first PPV and then a round of house shows, Luger couldn’t win the big one again. 

Lex went on to work US title programs with Stan Hansen, Danny Spivey, and Nikita Koloff, but cooled down as a babyface. He wasn’t as over with the crowd as he once was. They finally arranged for Luger to win the title at the Great American Bash 1991 from heel champion, Flair, but politics interjected again. 

Flair refused to take a pay cut, be renamed Spartacus, wear an earring, stick around until the Bash, or put babyface Lex over for the title again. Flair left for the WWF and vacated the title. Barry Windham took Flair’s place and wrestled Luger to crown a new champion. Yes – after three years of trying, Lex never got his win from Ric Flair. Instead, he would win the title by beating a guy who had never held an NWA world title. Excellent. 

You can’t blame the company for Flair leaving before putting Lex over, but you can blame them for Lex finally winning the fucking world title, and turning him heel while doing so at a Bash ‘91. Combined with the babyface turn in 1990, this was Lex’s fourth turn on national television in four and a half years, turning almost every calendar year (except 1988). Out of nowhere, they also put him with Harley Race as a manager and Mr. Hughes as a bodyguard. The heel turn was stupid, but so was not letting the guy try to rekindle 1989 Lex Luger if you were going to do it. Let that guy talk and build to a Starrcade where Sting beats him, for goodness’ sake. The Harley dynamic wasn’t good, and Lex had a very ho-hum run on screen and a bad run in terms of business in his first world title reign. In fact, Luger vs. Ron Simmons, as the main event of Halloween Havoc ‘91, tied a company record low at 120,000. He was the heel WCW champion until he left in February 1992, dropping the world title to Sting. When Turner bought the company, I’m sure they thought these two were their young stars of the future, but they only did the one lame-duck PPV match, and had a build that was pretty close to nothing because Lex Luger had a number of dates on his contract that couldn’t be exceeded. This was all an epic letdown. 

That’s the end of Lex’s first WWF run, but in our next part, we’ll cover how “the greatest pro wrestling promoter in history” did with Lexy. Here’s a hint – It wasn’t good.