Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Throughout the history of pro wrestling bookers and promoters have always tried to come up with new, creative and innovative ideas to generate interest in their product. Some ideas have not only succeeded…but flourished. Others were DOA from the get go. Then there are those ideas which initially were innovative but, for various reasons, faded away. Those are the focus of this latest series of posts titled ‘Great Ideas That Didn’t Last’. The latest piece focuses on ‘The Narcissist’ Lex Luger
When Lex Luger jumped ship from WCW to the WWF in 1992, he wasn’t immediately thrust into action inside a wrestling ring. Instead, Luger was made to be a part of Vince McMahon’s ill fated World Bodybuilding Federation. He became the poster boy for the upstart WBF mainly because of his name recognition. His WBF endeavor came to an end once he was involved in a serious motorcycle crash. Once Luger got healed up, the WBF was already gone.
It only made sense for McMahon to bring him into the WWF as a full time competitor. The gimmick of ‘The Narcissist’ was created by Vince and Pat Patterson and given to Lex Luger. ‘The Narcissist’ was a character that was totally ego driven and loved everything about himself. The gimmick was very much like the real life Lex Luger. At the time, he was egotistical and difficult to work with. He was all about himself and his tremendous physique.
It was…in some people’s opinions…the best gimmick Lex Luger ever had. Playing an arrogant, self centered heel was right in Luger’s wheelhouse. He did have a very similar gimmick in the NWA/WCW as the ‘Total Package.’ The Narcissist was just like that, but with the volume turned all the way up. The WWF had Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan be like his pseudo manager/spokesperson hyping him up at ringside and on commentary. The Narcissist made his debut at the Royal Rumble in January of ’93. Luger wore a flashy robe and stared in front of a series of mirrors before every match.
Heenan use to sing the Narcissist’s praises by calling him “Beyond Perfection.” That would ultimately lead to Luger’s one and only feud with Curt Hennig under that gimmick. The two battled it out at Wrestlemania IX in Las Vegas. The match was clunky at best, because as Luger recalls…Mr. Perfect “forgot” how the match was supposed to go and they had to call everything on the spot.
While the gimmick was not so hot in the beginning, it began to pick up steam towards the end of its run. His finishing move was a forearm smash. It was playing up Luger’s real life injury from the earlier motorcycle accident in which a steel plate was placed in his forearm. Lex Luger personally loved the character and felt it was the closest representation of himself at that time. Luger was on a 300 day schedule wrestling all over the country getting the Narcissist character slowly over.
One day while on the road, Luger received a call from Vince McMahon and told to return to Stamford, Connecticut immediately. Luger questioned if his job was in jeopardy. He said, “It almost felt like a kid being called to the principal’s office.” When Luger returned to Stamford, McMahon informed him that they were dropping the Narcissist gimmick and it would be replaced with an All American character. Lex was extremely leery about the sudden change in his gimmick, but Vince laid out his entire plan and Luger was sold on it.
Thus, the entire Lex Express movement was born. The Narcissist gimmick was placed into moth balls, but would eventually come out a few years later. Both The Masterpiece Chris Masters and ‘The Reflection of Perfection’ Mark Jindrak both used a version of that character.