Lex Luger Worried He Would Be Fired For Breaking Character During WCW Nitro Premiere

Lex Luger’s appearance at the end of the first WCW Nitro was a major shocker at the time, and Luger recalls he thought he was going to be fired for breaking character. Luger spoke with Chris Van Vliet for the latter’s Insight podcast and talked about making his surprise debut at the end of the show, and how his smile during the commercial break made him worried for his newly-acquired contract.

“We hit it off because I went nose to nose with him on the first Monday Nitro,” Luger said (per Fightful). “I thought I was going to get fired. My wife goes, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘I got nose to nose with Hogan and we went to a commercial break. I broke character and smiled at him.’ I had never been around Hogan in the ring. He goes, ‘Brother, wipe that smile off your face or I’ll knock it off.’ ‘We’re in commercial break.’ ‘I don’t care. Don’t ever break character. Wipe that smile off your face right now or I’ll knock it off.’”

Luger continued, “I tried to chase after him down the hall after, he wouldn’t talk to me. I went up to him next week, before we wrestled on TV and I said, ‘Man, I’m so sorry.’ I thought I was being unprofessional. I knew we were on commercial break, I was being a heel and smirking. ‘You were 100% right. Please accept my apology.’ After that, we were totally cool. He accepted my apology and we were always cool with each other.”

Luger was announced on Friday as the latest member of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2025.