I'm not sure this was "testing the waters" so much as it was a way to get footage of Luger with the championship belt, in case they got cold feet about putting the championship on Bret again. For those who don't know, this taping took place on February 22, 1994, about a month before WrestleMania X. Luger wrestled Duane Gill at this taping in a match that would air a week AFTER WrestleMania X. If Luger were to have won the belt, they simply would have edited that entrance into the show and sweetened the hell out of the crowd noise. As for the crowd being dead, these tapings lasted for about four hours and consisted of mostly squash matches. They were probably tired and wanted to go home. I could also be completely wrong about all of this, and this could have just been a way to keep the "smart" fans who read the taping results guessing, as many other commenters here have pondered.
For the ppl talking about the crowd going silent well for one they obviously knew he wasn't really the champ which is why they didn't give it their all but had he won the title it would've been a different story
@@sandyunderpants4376the count out I can understand. They put it on ice to come back around to by mania 10. But by that time everyone moved on from Luger.
@RobertHall85 I think you're absolutely right. They wanted to do a "Rocky" story with Summerslam 93 so they could do a "Rocky 2" story at Wrestlemania 10 where he finally gets the title, but the Summerslam ending just killed any momentum he might have had. That being said, Bret clearly deserved it more.
Luger wasn't ready to be champ this whole lex express thing was to get him over enough to put the belt on him at WM10. If there was ever evidence of him not being ready it was this video as shit a segment as it was if you did that with an over wrestler the crowd would pop a bit.
Agreed - we might have actually also had some decent WWF title matches from Summerslam 93 to Rumble 94, as Yokozuna was a garbage champion who never had a single good match during his WWF run. You could at least count on Lex having a decent match when paired up with a good worker. Nobody, not even Bret Hart, could squeeze anything good out of a slug like Yokozuna.
@@therussianspy5882Bret even explained that he had a whole good match at mania 9 planned a yoko got gassed ended the match much early because of his body condition.
Agree! But why not give lex a wwf title run from survivor series 93 to royal rumble 94. See how he does on raw/tv and house shows for 2 months. Don't do it at wrestlemania!!! This is why summerslam was better hvg a main event tag team thus no cheap count-out finishes! the Mega Powers(88), the Mega Bucks, the Mega Maniacs(89), Kings & Thugs (Macho Man & Z-Gangsta!), The Triangle Of Terrorism(91). Have Luger beat champ yoko at Survivor 1993 instead...
Vince did some strange things with the total package I've never seen this before this may even be stranger than when lex beat yokozuna by count out at 1993 SummerSlam in The Steiner Brothers put lex on their shoulders and paraded him around the ring with a confetti coming down like he was the champion when he wasn't. Strange
Yeah, I remember that, they had that post-match celebration as if Lex had won the championship but he beat Yokozuna via countout therefore the title never changed hands, years later, & we saw it on the A & E biography, it felt 'forced' that they went ahead with the balloons & confetti after the match despite the fact that Lex didn't win the championship. As it turned out, that was Lex's best real opportunity at winning the title, aside from Wrestlemania the following year & that had a 'schmohz' finish to it anyway.
Vince should have capitalized on Lex's popularity at SummerSlam 94, but he went to a DQ finish. This was right before Mania X, well past the point where Lex was cooled off (although he was co-winner of the Rumble) so of course the fans didn't care at all
At least this is one great business decision I'm in total agreement with Vince on. Lex as the face of the company would've been a catastrophic disaster.
@@rjm22ndI do agree. And to add onto your point, I remember these days quite well. My dad took me and my younger brother to a house show in Pittsburgh a little over a week before Wrestlemania 10. Bret and Luger were in the main event as a tag team, and the fans were firmly behind Bret a lot more than they were Lex. So many of us wanted to see him win back the title that he got cheated out of a year prior. In fairness though, Vince missed the boat on Luger. In my opinion he should have put the belt on him at Summerslam 93, have a four month run as the babyface champion, then at the Royal Rumble, have Lex cheat to beat The Undertaker or whoever, turn on the fans by saying it was never about the USA, it was all about himself as he reverts back to the heel Narcissist, and then have Bret vs. Luger at Wrestlemania. That way you get the best of both worlds.
What's funny is that at the wrestlemania X match he had a bit of a pop... and the fans were pisssed when they had that BS DQ finish.. IDK I think Lex should have won the belt that night and drop it to Bret. But then what would it do for Lex??
Nothing wrong with lex winning the ic title instead! That's American too! Sure, U.S. title is better patriotically speaking! But so is the ic title. Why rush things? Stupid vince! Have luger bodyslam big Diesel on uss intrepid boat instead!! Summerslam 1993 ends with HBK vs LEX for ic title! Luger wins it!! So no cheap ending... SS ends in an IC match again. Undercard: "Perfect Partners" bret, perfect vs yoko(c), ludvig ("The Alliance"
As much as I love that Bret Hart got his WrestleMania X moment being crowned the Number One Man in Wrestling in 1994 (after ALL of that Hulkamania Bullocks at WMIX and the first of many of Vince's fickle treatment of him) I do however feel bad for Lex Luger who I feel the trigger should have been pulled at SummerSlam'93 with the Championship. The guy was White Hot going into that event and the fans were ready to embrace him as Champion...Only for Vince's usual fickle eccentricities essentially killed the fans interest in Luger that no amount of rebuilding to WrestleMania was going to work, especially when someone else on the roster (Hart) was still considered the People's Champion, and that man's growing popularity wasn't going to be denied as evident from the Royal Rumble '94 finish.
We needed 2 world titles back then! wwf title and an international world champion. Lex can be wwf champion on Monday night raw! (Since bret was international star he can be the new "International World Champion" (IWC) on our Saturday Superstars local affiliate tv show!)
@trav8028 summerslam 1993 re-visited: Hulk, Bret vs Yoko, Lex! Still cheap azz ending. Hulk, Bret win via CO when both fatsos yoko `n luger can't get up from floor in time for 10 count!! they still laying on the cold cement floor. Balloons and confetti mix fall from ceiling!! as hulk n Bret are lifted up in victory!!?
They were trying to recreate Hulkamania so badly here. At this point, why not just have Lex battle Yokozuna in his Narcissist gimmick as that would've probably garnered him genuine face heat for calling Yoko ugly and unbefitting of a champion, then this would've never happened.
If this was to gage the reaction of Lex as champ, this was the worst way to do it, it just made Lex look like a goober celebrating with a title he didn't win, like someone who had brought a replica so it made him look more lame. why not just have him win the belt on his own merit and go from there
So I’m a Wwe timeoogist if that makes sense. I just noticed something. This maybe the first time the new generation logo was featured and it’s on Vince microphone. Wwe camera resolution bumped up around late 3rd quarter 93 so to see the new gen logo still in super early 90s res is crazy.
It's incredible they used this as a gage for Lex as champion and the whole thing live is so f-ing weird. I'm not saying Lex was the guy or anything - but sheesh - why would something like this ever get a reaction?
Good lord. Between the balloons dropping from the ceiling after a countout win over Yoko at Summerslam 93' to crap like this, no wonder Lex got passed over.
Exactly, I don’t know what Vince was thinking having Lex parade around with a belt that wasn’t his. There was no coming back from this. When creating a main event level talent, there’s a fine line between putting the world title on them too soon and continuing the chase for too long. Summerslam 1993 was the window of opportunity for Lex, and him not winning the belt along with ridiculous segments like this killed Luger from ever getting over as a top guy.
@@johnselwitz5362 It was trial and error. "Hey Lex I wanna try something. Here's the belt. I want to see how the fans react to 'Lex as Champ' for an entrance." And it flopped. And when it did it was over for him.
@@RobertHall85 It flopped because fans knew he wasn't the champ and this made no sense. Trial and error would have been having him win at SummerSlam, and if it doesn't work, take the belt off him at the Royal Rumble.
U notice vince never made a former wcw world champion the wwf champ except flair and that was obvious ric was the top wcw/nwa guy and the dream match ric vs terry hogan. Race, Luger, Vader, DDP, Booker, Big Poppa Pump, Benoit (whc don't count), even Sting. Sting vs Seth - wwe.
Wcw gave us the wcw vs wwf dream matches that dumb wwf never gave us live: bret vs lex, hulk vs lex, razor vs lex, macho vs lex, macho vs perfect, hulk vs razor, bret vs macho (as main eventers), hulk vs piper with a finish, flair vs piper with a finish, flair vs razor, etc
@@blackbirdsvolume1366 You are incorrect the plan was to put the belt on Bret after the 1994 Royal Rumble. Vince tested the fans making both Bret and Lex co winners as they introduced them respectfully as the winner Bret got double the cheers as Lex making up Vince's mind right then.
@@willisaprilgetting double the cheers doesn't make you the draw. Both Lex and Bret got a decent reaction with WWF not showing the complete reaction when they announced Lugers name. The plan all the while was making Luger the champion. But Bret got bitter because in his head WWF should have made him the champion. They even changed the Summer Slam 1993 Finnish because Bret was crying backstage and Pat Patterson and Brisco told Vince to drag Lugers push to WrestleMania. Then before the Rumble they told Vince that the house shows are not drawing and they should go with Bret as the champion. At that moment Vince decided to do a double elimination with Bret and Luger not because he wanted to see who was more over. He did that because they did the entire Lex Express and did interviews with Luger and kept telling the fans that Luger was going to be the next champion. So Luger not going to WrestleMania as a challenger would make WWF and Lex Luger look like an idiot which they anyway did. The plan was to not bury Luger. Hence Yokozuna did not pin Lex at WrestleMania and the match ended with Perfect DQ Luger. In an interview that's available on the net Luger said that before the Rumble he was told by Vince that they are not making him the champion due to backstage heat (Though not mentioning Bret). He said people in the creative weren't a fan of him being the WWF champion. Lex had said he had told his family and friends he was winning the WWF title at WrestleMania. Vince apologized. This video was primarily done to confuse the fans about the outcome at WrestleMania. Because most people believed back then that Luger was winning the belt from Yokozuna and even beating Bret in the final match. Bret was a mid card guy and Luger and Sting were stars back then. So most smart fans thought Luger will win. All though Bret was a good babyface in that era he was no different than Dolph ziggler and Zack ryder. People over exaggerate Brets accomplishments. The house shows in 1993 did much better than 1994 with Bret as the champion. There is the house show attendance. The house shows crashed with Bret in July and kept going down. Then Vince put the belt on Diesel.
@@mds56358 Oh Please WWF fans didn't care about Luger. He was just another blown up musclehead. The original plan was to make him champion at Summerslam but they scrapped it because the fans did not care about him and it had nothing to with Bret crying. Luger had no charisma which was why after WM10 he kept going further and further down the midcard. I remember a house show in Worcester, Mass back in August 1993 and after the show everyone wanted to meet Bret the most. More than Undertaker, Randy Savage, Tatanka,, Yokozuna, etc. more than anyone on the card. Luger was viewed as a cheap Hogan clone. Just watch Bruce Pritchard's videos about Lex.
@@willisapril Luger was pretty over with the fans after the bodylslam challenge. PWI called Luger the most popular wrestler of the year. PWI also awarded Luger as the comeback of the year. I have all the Superstar and Wrestling challenge tapings of 93 to 95 and Luger always got a good reaction. And it was Luger in his interview that said that he didn't get the belt because he had locker room heat. Luger had no charisma? Read the dictionary for the meaning of charisma. Charisma is a magnetic presence. Luger had more charisma in 1 finger than than Bret and Shawn in their entire body. Bruce Prichard, Cornette and others were marks and weren't big fans of Warrior, Luger or Hogan representing WWF. And when Bret got the belt the looked up to him. Bret and Shawn were low card tag and IC guy level.
@MBM1117727 no it wasn't. The second raw hit the airwaves, it became the A show. And the ratings reflected it within 4 months. Hardly anything of substance was happening on superstars and if it did, it was to coax you to watch Raw, not the other way around.
@@mrsain19 A lot of big stuff still happened into 1996. Fun fact: the UK didn't even get Raw until 1995 so Superstars was definitely the A show there, they also got Challenge, Mania etc before.
@MBM1117727 did big stuff happen on superstars in its later years, yes. Not often but yes. And for every thing of substance that happened on Superstars, 10 more happened on Raw. But it stopped being the main WWF show as soon as Raw came on air. That's not even an opinion, that's just the fact of the matter.
I remember that actually he was supposed to win the WWF at WrestleMania but they did this segment to see the reaction how the people would react if he was champion but he didn't get any reaction from it so they changed plans at the end at the end they decided for Bret to win instead
They did this only to fool the audience. Bret Hart had played politics since 1993 and kept Vince hostage. Finally Vince had to do the CO Rumble Winners just to protect Lex. Because after doing all the Lex Express and not making Luger face Yokozuna at Wrestlemania would anyways burry Luger. Anyway it did. Bret Hart won the belt by politics and the house shows crashed and the business went down the toilet because mid card guys don't draw in the main event. Luger got the reaction here because they did that after the show ended and half the crowd was half a sleep.
Well there's a lot that could be said about this. The big moment was they are in Atlanta Georgia where Luger made his career with the NWA and the Crockett's, so you would have thought with that big crowd the pop would have been much greater but it wasn't and there was a huge crowd there. I think at that moment that's when McMahon figured that this wasn't going to work. You weren't going to make a lot of money with Luger, and again this was in Georgia where the crowds should have went crazy for a Luger. I mean I don't think you should prematurely put a belt on a guy and do it in this fashion but maybe that was the point. McMahon was a true businessman, he knew what drove business I mean don't get me wrong he screwed the pooch when it came to Bret Harte because Bret Hart made him money, lots of money along with all the other harts. But for this particular event in the writing was already on the wall.
Even though Vince was trying to bury Bret in ridiculous feuds and pushing Lex to be his new muscle-bound Hulk Hogan replacement it was clear Bret was still the face of the company and the people's champ in '93. And Vince couldn't deny it any longer, especially in the Royal Rumble where the people clearly made their choice and cheered much louder for Bret than Luger after the double finish. I felt bad for Luger because he unfortunately was pushed too hard with that patriotic angle and the Lex Express where it didn't feel organic to the audience. It felt more like Vince was choosing Luger as champion instead of the fans choosing Luger as champion.
As clear as day as it was here in 94’ that Luger wasn’t remotely “the guy”, come 97’ he was so undeniable that they had to call an audible and change a year long storyline to accommodate just how over he was.
Imagine Luger being a heel with Ted Debiase as his manager wearing the million dollar belt. Vince tried to replace Hogan with Luger which was a mistake. Luger has a baby face body but his aura is a that of a heel. His first run as a heel was too gimmicky. I remember Luger in WCW as a heel with Harley as his manager. That version was epic. Vince dropped the ball here
Vince called it a belt there! If a wrestler (oops! Sorry, "Superstar") called it a belt, Vince would always get mad & correct him, maybe even fine him, as he yelled, "It's a title or championship, not a belt! Belts are for keeping your pants up!"
Lex Luger was supposed to win the belt, but the story goes that he started telling people and thus Vince made the change to have Brett Hart win the belt from Yokozuna
Supposedly Luger was originally planned to beat Yokozuna for the title but Vince changed his mind....Funny some wrestlers might spend the rest of their lives whining about something like that. 💗😂
Luger was only ever going to get the belt at SummerSlam. But politician Bret got a group of people together who threatened Vince if he put the belt on Luger. Resulting in the lame countout. Even before Royal Rumble, Vince told Luger he wasn't winning the belt at WrestleMania, and the plan was Hart all along. But Luger was put in the mix to generate buys.
@@12345Yeah No, not true, Dave. The fact business dropped significantly after Hart got the belt says it all. Plus, when Luger jumped to WCW, and got a better push, it broke multiple records. When Hart jumped, he fell flat on his face.
Wow. I like Lex. Always have. He was better than some people say. But...with that crowd response, I think I see why they didn't give him the belt. Not exactly hulkamania levels of cheering.
1:08 Jim didn't sell Lex's "I'm going to fake that I'm going to hit you, and then rub my hair." But yeah, this was too contrived to expect a reaction from the crowd. To expect the crowd to cheer after Lex already came out, talked, etc. I wonder how it would have gone if it was someone like Bret Hart. Who was more popular than Lex. But the reaction would have been just as flat. Now for a real reaction, Kurt Angle ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YLszpgcirF4.html
Putting "simulation" to an unearned WWF Title is a no-no in a pre-Attitude era. But yeah, Lex looks good as a WWF champion, but Vince felt disheartened for cold reception, hoping he's Hogan 2.0.
He wasn't and they knew he wasn't. The reaction wouldn't have been the same as if he was. They just watched him basically take the belt away and play with it.
We needed 2 world titles back then! wwf title and an international world champion. Lex can be wwf champion on Monday night raw! (Since bret was international star he can be the new "International World Champion" (IWC) on our Saturday Superstars local affiliate tv show!)
Lex put the title on his waist, introduced as the "champion" and the crowd went...............MILD. LOL. If Vince did make a decision that was good for business, it was NOT making Luger the WWF Champion. Bret Hart far and above at that time was the best choice.
Imagine if Bret did the same angle with Cornette. It would’ve come off as insecure. It’s a bad angle to have a babyface and steal the belt and pose with it.
@@mistere9099 I think that little stealing the belt & test the fan's reaction segment was meant for Lex. Wasn't meant for Bret. Vince already knew that the fans would always be behind Bret. He wasn't totally certain about Lex. Once he found out for sure, he decided it was a no-go for Lex. He went with the sure thing---Bret Hart as the new champ
