wrestling / Columns
Right Move/Wrong Move 5.07.10: Yokozuna Defeats Lex Luger at WrestleMania X
RIGHT MOVE/WRONG MOVE
Looking back at the history of Vince McMahon’s decisions and the fallout – both good and bad!
Now before I discuss this week’s controversial decision, I wanted to do a wrap-up of last week’s column and some of the comments. First a disclaimer:
Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my column, I appreciate most of the feedback and am happy that many of you liked the column. Some of you didn’t agree with my decision, and that’s OK – many of these topics have valid arguments for both sides. I try to focus on the facts of the story and draw a reasonable conclusion from them. This article certainly contains a dose of fantasy booking in the “Reversed Decision” section which I intentionally try to keep brief, but the article as a whole is more than that. If you feel differently then I apologize if I mislead you, but hope you still enjoyed the read. I don’t look at one feud or angle and say that good fan reaction = RIGHT MOVE, it’s not as simple as that. There could be an element that changes the entire decision around and makes it a WRONG MOVE or visa versa. I understand that some of these topics will spark debate, and I welcome that. Lastly, please do not confuse revisionist history with hindsight. I am not “remembering the past differently”, but rather taking what we know today and using that information to determine whether or not the decision made was for the best. As stated above, every topic I will discuss is from my personal memory, not something I “heard about” or read about from a time before I was a fan, which spans the better part of three decades.
Regarding Savage/Warrior:
I probably should have made this clearer in the first column, but I do not subscribe to the “Ultimate Warrior is a whacko who did nothing but hurt the business and deserved nothing” mentality. Growing up as a young fan, the Ultimate Warrior was one of my favorite wrestlers and even now as a “smartened-up” adult, I feel that he did more for the business than he gets credit for. The man was big and credible enough to beat Hogan clean for the title at the biggest show of the year, then went on to beat Savage clean for his CAREER at the biggest show of the next year. Anything he got after August of ’91 may be a different story and arguably undeserved, but in my opinion, the Warrior was just as important to the WWF’s success in the late 80s & early 90s as anyone. While I, too, loved the Warrior/Savage feud (and Roberts/Savage feud for that matter), you have to keep in mind that the stipulation of the match was that the loser would lose their career! I understand that the feud did work brilliantly, there is no denying that, and I’m not trying to fix something that isn’t broken. What is broken here is the Career Ending Match stipulation and it was the key to last week’s WRONG MOVE decision. The fact is Warrior had only a handful of meaningful matches after WM7 and even less with any long-term importance; Savage, on the other hand, had plenty. If they didn’t add the stipulation to the match, then the feud is not nearly as intense or as anticipated as it was. I do feel that they needed that stip to give it something extra, similar to HBK/Taker at WM26, though we will see how that pans out. The climax of the Warrior’s career pretty much came to an end in Los Angeles anyway. Forget the unfortunate events of Savage’s reinstatement voiding the result of the contest, and assume that the stipulation held true, which is how Career Ending Matches should be. Would the WWF have been that different if the Warrior lost this match and didn’t compete in the ring after WM7? Not when you compare that to what would have happened if Savage was truly retired from the ring at WM7. I can’t help but think that many of the people that insulted me for my opinion are probably the same people that complain when the loser of a Career Ending Match doesn’t retire. If not, and you don’t mind when someone “un-retires,” then I have to question your integrity as a fan? Do you like being screwed out of stipulations? I sure don’t. If you’re advertising something, you better deliver it!
Now onto this week…
Yokozuna defeats Lex Luger via disqualification at WrestleMania X.
Once again, we’ll start by setting the stage for this encounter. The time was 1994, the place was Madison Square Garden in New York City for an event “ten years in the making,” WrestleMania X. Unlike previous WrestleManias, the true main event had yet to be finalized until midway through the event. After a controversial finish at the Royal Rumble that saw the last two participants eliminate each other at the exact same time, WWF President Jack Tunney was left with a difficult decision. The winner of the Royal Rumble match was to receive a WWF Championship opportunity at WrestleMania, a tradition that had begun the previous year in 1993. Due to the finish of the ‘94 Rumble, Tunney declared Lex Luger and Bret Hart “co-winners,” and decided that there would be TWO championship matches at WrestleMania X. A coin toss was held that would determine who would wrestle the champion, Yokozuna, first. The loser of the toss would face a “suitable opponent” in the first match of the event, and in the last match they would wrestle the WWF Champion, whoever that would be. As it turned out, Lex Luger won the toss and Bret was given an opponent: his brother, Owen. Tunney would add another wrinkle before the sell-out event went down, and that was the addition of surprise special guest referees for each championship match. Both sides had to agree on each referee beforehand, and this would prove to be crucial in determining who would walk out of Madison Square Garden with the gold.
At this point in time in the World Wrestling Federation, not announcing what the last match/main event would be was pretty risky. This type of booking was very different for the WWF and something that wasn’t done too often. Nowadays, the WWE tends to stay away from that style of planning, considering they don’t feel they will generate as much interest in non-advertised matches as they would had the matches be solidified beforehand. Every now and again this may happen, but I doubt very highly that we will ever again see it revolve around the main event at a WrestleMania. Having said that, 1994 wasn’t exactly the first time it happened either. In fact, most of WrestleMania IV was booked around a 14 man tournament to crown an undisputed WWF Champion. Hogan vs. Andre was the biggest match advertised, but surprisingly enough, neither man made it to the finals and we got Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase as the closeout match. In 1993, the WWF added the King Of The Ring to its broadcast lineup as the fifth Pay Per View of the year. This also marked the beginning of the post-Hogan era and probably figured into the reasoning for the different approaches tried by the WWF. They had began experimenting with different ways to sell tickets and draw buyrates for their PPVs and decided that this was the way to go for WrestleMania X. Instead of a Yoko/Bret, Yoko/Luger or even Bret/Luger pre-determined main event, Vince had decided to go with three men sharing two matches. If this had taken place 5 years later, we would have most likely seen a triple threat match, but in 1994 triple threats weren’t seen on WWF television.
Most of us reading this column and visiting this site, knows how it went down, but for those that don’t, I will provide a quick recap and expand upon this as we go along. Yokozuna defeated Lex Luger via disqualification to retain the World Wrestling Federation Championship and Mr. Perfect was the guest referee who made the decision. Yokozuna would move on to wrestle Bret Hart later in the evening with Rowdy Roddy Piper serving as guest referee. Yokozuna lost the WWF Championship to Bret after falling off the ropes when attempting his Banzai Drop. Luger came out after the match and eventually extended his hand to Bret and the broadcast went off the air with all of the babyfaces carrying the new Champion on their shoulders.
Luger’s career in the WWF would take a nosedive after this night, and Mr. Perfect wouldn’t wrestle in a WWF ring until almost 8 years later. Bret Hart became the face of the company after this night and would eventually win the WWF Championship a record-tying fifth time, while Yokozuna wrestled for the next several years before his weight became a liability for the WWF. While technically there are three major participants in this decision (Lex, Perfect, Yoko) I will focus mainly on the two competitors actually wrestling in the match. Did Vince McMahon and the WWF make the RIGHT MOVE by having Mr. Perfect disqualify Lex Luger? Let’s find out.
PARTICIPANT #1
Let’s first look at then-WWF Champion Yokozuna…
Yokozuna hit the ground running upon his arrival in the fall of 1992 taking out every opponent in his path. His PPV debut was at the 1992 Survivor Series where he defeated Virgil in a squash match. Less than 2 months later, Yoko would win the Royal Rumble and with it, the #1 contender slot for the WWF Championship. He would flatten a veteran of the WWF in Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and after several devastating Banzai Drops, put him on the shelf for several months. A year before he wrestled in two Championship matches at WrestleMania X, he wrestled in two Championship matches at WrestleMania IX at Caesar’s Palace, although the second one was unscheduled and full of controversy. Almost every wrestling fan knows what happened…
In the scheduled main event of WrestleMania IX, Yokozuna challenged for the WWF title and successfully defeated Bret “Hitman” Hart, with the help of Mr. Fuji, of course. After the match, Hulk Hogan would come from out of nowhere to “aide” Bret Hart. Moments later, Mr. Fuji challenged the Hulkster to an impromptu match for his man’s newly-won WWF title. In one of the most controversial decisions in the history of professional wrestling, Hulk Hogan defeated Yokozuna in under a minute to become the World Wrestling Federation Champion for a record fifth time. A normal man’s career may have been derailed, delayed and maybe even destroyed by a moment like this, but not Yokozuna. This man was able to survive this decision and turned it into a minor speed bump on the road to success. The ending of WrestleMania IX is a column all unto itself, but for the purposes of this RIGHT MOVE/WRONG MOVE segment, we will work with the facts that Hogan won that day and both Yokozuna and Bret left Las Vegas without the strap.
Again, a normal man’s career could have been completely destroyed after some famous Hulk Hogan politicking. Instead, Yokozuna would rebound and get a rematch with the Hulkster in Dayton, Ohio at the first ever PPV broadcast of the King Of The Ring. Yokozuna would get revenge on Hogan this night, and with the help of a Japanese photographer (Harvey Whippleman in disguise, though unrelated to the angle), regain the WWF Championship and send Hulk Hogan out of the WWF seemingly forever. It took ten years, the collapse of a national wrestling promotion, a merger between two major companies (AOL & Time Warner), and a multi-million dollar buyout to bring Hulk Hogan back to the WWF, soon to be WWE. But for the longest time it truly appeared that Yokozuna had killed the “most powerful force in the World Wrestling Federation,” Hulkamania.
So, you join the WWF and in less than a year of your arrival you’ve destroyed an American hero and WWF legend, you win the Royal Rumble by last eliminating Randy Savage, you make the best of your opportunity and win the WWF title in the main event of WrestleMania, and you pin the Immortal Hulk Hogan for your second WWF title, in essence, sending the biggest icon in the history of wrestling packing for a decade. I’d say you’re off to a good start. Maybe even too good a start, because now the WWF could have a problem on their hands. Who in the world could beat you?
Over the next 9 months Yokozuna would retain his title after bouts with the likes of Randy Savage, Lex Luger, The Undertaker and more. He was even responsible for putting The Undertaker on the shelf for an extended period after defeating him in a Casket Match at the ’94 Royal Rumble. At this same event, Bret Hart and Lex Luger were declared “co-winners” of the Royal Rumble match and would both have an opportunity to wrestle for the title at WrestleMania X.
Yokozuna would lose the WWF Championship at WrestleMania to the same man he defeated for the belt a year ealier, the Excellence of Execution, Bret “Hitman” Hart. After losing the title, Yoko briefly teamed with Crush before heading back to singles action. He wasn’t seen on screen as much during the summer of ‘94 as his weight began to increase even more. Still, he wrestled the returning Underaker in a second Casket Match at the 1994 Survivor Series, in which he lost. At this point, Yokozuna wasn’t seen on WWF television for several months. He returned as Owen Hart’s mystery partner at WrestleMania XI and defeated the Smoking Gunns to become co-holder of the WWF Tag Team Championship.
Yoko proved to be a dominant Tag Team Champion, and along with Owen Hart, held the belts throughout the entire Spring and Summer of 1995 before losing them in controversial fashion in the fall of that year. This would be the last time Yokozuna ever held Championship gold, and soon fell further down the card. When he entered the WWF in late ’92 he was billed as weighing 505 lbs, then increased to 541 lbs, and by the time he had his last match in the WWF he weighed over 600 lbs.
Although never quite reaching consistent main event status after WrestleMania X, Yokozuna was a staple in the WWF throughout the rest of 1994 and 1995. In early 1996 he turned face to feud with his former manager’s stable known as Camp Cornette, and specifically, Vader. He had several matches with The Mastodon before ultimately putting over the new arrival, and had his last televised match at the 1996 Survivor Series.
Yokozuna maintained a successful career following his match with Lex Luger at WrestleMania X. He was a dominant WWF Champion and holds the distinct honor of defeating Hulk Hogan for the WWF title; a feat only two other men can claim, even today. Within the course of a year, Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, and Lex Luger. That’s quite a list.
Yokozuna was such a monster heel at the time of WrestleMania X, and some may argue that it was fitting that he be the one to drop the strap to Bret, but I have to disagree. That would have been OK for any other PPV during this time, but for the 10th WrestleMania in Madison Square Garden, it should have been something more special. Nothing is more special than a Face vs. Face Main Event Championship Match because the outcome is usually less predictable.
Yokozuna lost the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X. There were never any plans for Yoko to leave MSG as Champion, so what would it have mattered if he dropped the strap to Lex? It isn’t like he came out of the match with Luger looking strong, quite the contrary. He didn’t continue a feud with Bret; WrestleMania was the end of his main event days. Bret was leaving WrestleMania with the belt, what would have been more special – to beat Yokozuna or to beat Lex Luger? Yokozuna would not return to the WWF title scene after WrestleMania X.
PARTICIPANT #2
Now let’s take a look at Lex Luger’s career and how it changed after losing at WrestleMania X…During Yokozuna’s initial push of 1993, Bobby Heenan introduced a new man into the WWF with a chiseled physique and an arrogant attitude. The Narcissist was his name and he was truly in love with himself, so much so that he brought mirrors to the ring so that he could pose for himself before each match. This man was JACKED, had the body of a Greek God, and what many in the wrestling business have come to know simply as “The Look”. He began a brief feud with Bobby Heenan’s old protégé, Mr. Perfect, when The Narcissist claimed to be “Beyond Perfection”.Their feud was never quite settled since Vince McMahon decided to shake things up shortly after WrestleMania IX. At that event, Luger stole a victory over Mr. Perfect when the referee counted the 3 despite Perfect’s feet on the ropes. Immediately following the match, Perfect began a feud with Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels while Luger would soon begin his face turn.
As discussed earlier, Yokozuna had begun his rise as a monster Champion around this time and Vince McMahon knew that in order to pose a valid threat to the sumo, he needed to find a serious challenger. Yoko had already defeated Hogan and Bret, Warrior was gone, and Savage was over the hill (in McMahon’s eyes at least). Who could the fans look to as a legitimate challenger to Yokozuna’s title? How about a babyface Lex Luger? That’s the direction that McMahon decided to go.
Dropping the Narcissist gimmick (and Bobby Heenan as well), Lex Luger hopped aboard the USS Intrepid on July 4, 1993 and shocked the world when he bodyslammed the 541 pound Yokozuna. This was the blastoff point for Lex Luger’s push and McMahon did everything he could to try and get the fans to believe in this man as the Next American Hero. Luger worked hard and traveled harder, riding a bus known as the Lex Express across the country during his “Call To Action Campaign” for a shot at the WWF Championship.
Luger won the match after knocking the Champion through the ropes and to the floor with his forearm smash. Yoko could not beat the 10 count and layed motionless on the floor as the PPV came to a close. Although victorious, Luger was not awarded the gold since he had won via countout. His reputation suffered a bit of a blow after this, as everyone was expecting him to walk away with the title given the hype surrounding the match. Some say the reaction generated by Lex’s tour was less than what McMahon was expecting. Others fault Lex’s lack of charisma as well as backstage politics as the reason why he did not win the title at SummerSlam. Whatever the reason, Luger wasn’t given the gold, but Vince did not give up on Luger completely. He was still kept at the top of the card and in the title picture, but it would take 7 months before he would get another chance to wrestle for the WWF Championship.
Between SummerSlam ’93 and WrestleMania X, Luger wrestled in the main event consistently and was finally granted another title opportunity due to the finish of the ‘94 Rumble Match. At WrestleMania X, Mr. Perfect was announced as the first special guest referee to the delight of the crowd since he was a “good guy”. During the match, Luger grew tired of Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji (both in Yoko’s corner) and attacked both managers, even bringing them into the ring. Continuing his momentum, he used his “illegal” forearm smash to send the Champion down to the canvas and, for all intents and purposes, down for the count. Only one problem. Mr. Perfect didn’t count the fall. Instead, he was tending to the injured managers and was concerned with getting them out of the ring. Upon noticing that Mr. Perfect was neglecting his duty to count the fall, Lex left the unconscious body of Yokozuna, spun Perfect around and pushed him to get his attention. Luger then laid across Yokozuna once more, hoping for Mr. Perfect to count the 1-2-3. Three seconds later, the bell did ring, but Lex Luger had been disqualified for getting too physical with the referee. As a result of Mr. Perfect’s decision, Yokozuna retained his title. This drew the ire of Luger as he stormed back to the dressing room to search out Mr. Perfect who immediately fled the scene after Howard Finkel announced his decision. Mr. Perfect had once again turned heel and the groundwork was laid for a feud between two of the biggest stars of the 90s.
The plans were set for Luger to reignite his feud with Mr. Perfect from just a year prior, only this time their roles would be reversed. Luger would be playing the babyface, while Perfect would once again be the great, arrogant heel that he portrayed so well. This feud did have a lot of potential and even had the history dating back to early 1993. Their rivalry was off to a hot start getting lots of TV time on the WWF’s weekly programming, including several interview segments on Monday Night Raw. It was less than a month in, however, when Perfect’s back began to cause him considerable pain, a recurrence from an injury suffered in the summer of 1991. The injury forced plans to be scrapped and Mr. Perfect to be sidelined, and off-camera, for over a year. Already this angle had failed before it was ever given a chance to succeed.
Meanwhile, Luger had gone from top babyface and #1 contender to the WWF Championship, to having no opponent, no angle and plans for him were left in limbo. The seeds were planted for the Perfect/Luger angle in early ‘93 and now was supposed to be time to bear the fruit. Their history had given them potential to have a memorable feud that could have benefited both men. Instead, injuries to Curt Hennig indirectly took Luger’s career, which was already on shaky ground, and seemingly put it under. Luger went from having a program with the returning Mr. Perfect to being thrust into a lackluster feud with Crush, who was tagging with Yokozuna at the time. Needless to say, this had nowhere near the effect that a series with Mr. Perfect would have had.
Lex Luger never did regain the success and the stardom that he had achieved in late ’93 through early ’94 and slowly began to slide down the card. After Crush, Luger worked more mid-card feuds with Tatanka and the Million Dollar Man’s Corporation that would last almost a year. Following that he was thrown into the much-maligned tag team division of the mid 90s and even jerked the curtain at WrestleMania XI.
Luger’s career in the WWF came to an end in the summer of ’95, after a decent tag team run with Davey Boy Smith, together known as the Allied Powers. A heel turn for Davey left Luger without a partner, and his last WWF appearance came in the main event of SummerSlam ’95 when he interfered on Diesel’s behalf against King Mabel. It seemed that a feud with his former tag partner was next in line for Luger, a move that could have catapulted him right back into the main event scene. Instead, the SummerSlam run-in was another aborted angle after Luger appeared on the WCW Monday Nitro live television program 8 days later.
If history has taught us anything, it is that you do NOT go back on your word to Vince McMahon. Although he has shown the ability to extend second and third chances for certain wrongdoings, McMahon is extremely stubborn in other areas. Jumping to the competition’s ship while his was sinking after a handshake agreement stating the contrary is one of those areas. Although not necessarily blacklisted to the degree of a Randy Savage, Lex Luger will most likely never appear at a WWE event again.
Luger went back to WCW and had a very successful career, even earning a submission victory over white-hot heel Hollywood Hogan, an incredible feat. There weren’t many times where WCW knew what to do with a talent that WWF didn’t, but arguably Lex Luger is one of those rare occurrences. Some might say that it wasn’t so much Vince not knowing what to do with Luger, as it was Luger not being able to carry the ball given to him. The man had success both before and after his time in WWF. Even though WCW was not the same as the WWF, Luger still had multiple successful runs over the course of a decade in pro wrestling. If he was truly incapable of main event status, he wouldn’t have been able to recover from his failures in the WWF. Not only did Luger return to the WCW main event scene, but he did it during the most successful era ever in the history of pro wrestling. The competition in WCW was extremely tough with guys like Hogan, Flair, Savage, Sting, Hall, Nash and the rest of the nWo, but Luger remained on top. Luger was a staple in the WCW main event scene, and Luger did overcome his disappointing WWF run.
Where did it all go wrong? Some say Luger still had a shot at WWF superstardom in the summer of ’95, others pinpoint SummerSlam ’93 as the start of his decline, while many feel his downfall came in a bar the night before WrestleMania X. Rumor has it that Luger had too many cocktails and began speaking to other bar patrons about the plans for the next day’s WrestleMania, specifically the planned Luger/Bret main event. As the story goes, the outcome of the matches at Mania had to be changed at the last second due to Luger’s intoxicated ramblings. This rumor has been denied by Lex, but still exists as one of the wrestling community’s urban legends. Regardless of whether or not the rumor is true, a Lex Luger vs. Bret Hart main event at WrestleMania X would have been the ultimate WrestleMania main event in 1994. Although not necessarily on the same level as Hogan/Warrior, this match already had that “main event” feel to it and had been teased for several months. This would have been the first Face vs. Face WrestleMania main event since WrestleMania VI, and only the second ever. In fact from 1988 through 1995 there were only FOUR PPV main events to have such intrigue: Hogan vs. Warrior (WrestleMania VI), Savage vs. Warrior (SummerSlam ‘92), Bret Hart vs. Diesel (Royal Rumble ’95), Bret Hart vs. Diesel (Survivor Series ‘95). By having Luger vs. Bret for the WWF title in MSG, the blastoff to the New Generation would have been so much more monumental than the Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna title match that we were given instead. Even if Yoko/Bret was the match everyone wanted, having the Champion come off as extremely lucky and vulnerable rather than the unbeatable monster heel that he had been all year was a poor booking decision.
Although it was clear that Bret was THE Man following WMX, these two still had not wrestled each other. You could argue that you still didn’t know just who the better man was. Luger had Yoko beat earlier in the evening, but was screwed out of the title by a third party, similar to Bret at WM9. This was a time when the WWF was going in a new direction and needed the best main event available, and in 1994 it was Bret vs. Lex. Maybe they were saving this match for a later date. Maybe they were hoping that Mr. Perfect would help Lex’s credibility as a consistent WWF main eventer. Or maybe Vince really did call an audible at the last second. Regardless of the reason, Bret vs. Lex didn’t go down and we got Bret vs. Yoko II instead.
PARTICIPANT #2 WRAP-UP
If we know the plans were for Bret to leave as Champion, then what would be the best possible scenario to make him look strongest? Luger would beat Yokozuna for the title – immediately that makes Luger the best and gives him credibility. If Bret then beats Luger, Bret looks even stronger, and Luger, while knocked down a notch, is still a main event star (think Hogan after WrestleMania VI although obviously not as big of a star). The whole point to the DQ finish was to start a Lex/Perfect program while keeping Lex strong, otherwise Yoko could have pinned Luger, clean or dirty. Yokozuna was out of the title scene after WMX anyway, why not elevate Luger by having him win the belt and gain credibility? The WWF wanted him around the top of the card anyway! Perfect/Luger never happened, so the whole idea was almost an immediate fail!
REVERSED DECISION
