Lex Luger Disputes Bruce Prichard's Recollection Of His WWF Exit
On WWE's latest A&E biography focusing on WWE and WCW legend Lex Luger, WWE's Bruce Prichard made some comments claiming Luger was always planning on leaving WWE for WCW in 1995 when he appeared on the first ever episode of "WCW Monday Nitro." Today, in an appearance on 'Busted Open Radio,' Luger disputed Prichard's version of events.
"I love Bruce, we get along great now, but Bruce had it all wrong in last night's documentary," Luger said. "Bruce has that sarcasm about him, which he's great at, about the Lex Express. The pay was down everywhere, WCW and WWE. So I went to Vince and said, 'Look, my contract is up. I've given my 90-day notice. I want to stay.' And Vince wanted me too as well.
"I was in a great relationship with Vince. I said, 'I want to do outside stuff.' And Vince was like, 'Well, what do you mean by that?' I go, 'Well, I want to get into, after my wrestling career, the fitness and nutrition deal. Let me do that kind of stuff outside of wrestling. I'll earn my own extra money if it's out there for me. Let me do that, and we'll keep my wrestling contract for wrestling. You own my wrestling rights, but let me do outside stuff.'"
Luger went on to say that he and McMahon attempted to work something out on that front, but as time passed, Luger became uneasy.
"Vince wanted to do that," Luger said. "But it went on and on with lawyers over months and months and months. I kept on working without a contract, just on a handshake with Vince, because we got along so well. And I wanted to stay there, but it got to the point where I didn't know if he was going to let me do that to stay there.
"We finally had a conversation [while] I was up in Canada. And on the phone, Vince goes, 'If I let you do this, I'll have to let Shawn Michaels do outside stuff. I don't know how to word that in a contract.' I had just kind of a flicker; a light switch goes off that was like, 'He's not going to do it. I don't think he's going to let me do anything outside of [wrestling.]'"
Luger then went through the events that led to him opening up negotiations with WCW, where he had worked from 1987 to 1992 before joining WWE.
"Just a hair before I had that conversation in Canada — just before I showed up on Nitro, the first one in Minneapolis — I had had a conversation with Sting [where I said] that I wasn't under contract. He goes, 'You're not under contract?' I go, 'No. I'm working under a handshake.' He was like, 'Are you kidding?' I go 'No!' So Sting went to Eric and goes, 'You know, Lex is a free agent right now.' And Eric was like, 'I'm not a big fan.'
"And Eric kind of made that, really, at the time, super low ball offer. Like, 'If he wants to come in, tell him I'll pay him this, ha ha ha.' But when I realized I may not be able to work this thing out contractually to do outside stuff on my own, I went, 'Well, maybe I should take Eric up on his offer for that new show and go back to WCW, climb my way, earn my way back to the top there. I'll start out low and try to earn it.'"
While Luger's surprise appearance on the first ever episode of 'Nitro' has become iconic, he initially was hesitant about doing it due to what it required from him.
"I called Sting up, and Eric had said, 'Well, if he wants to come in, he can't tell anybody,'" Luger recalled. "I said, 'Oh, Vince and I are close. Not giving notice?' And that's why I explained on the show, 'Well, I have to do what's best for my family.' So I came in. It was all a surprise, all clandestine. But really, up until the very end, I was planning on re-signing with WWE because I wanted to prove it that I could make it there, and so did Vince. But that one conversation, days before Nitro, I ended up calling Sting back. Then Eric flew me in, and the rest was history."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open Radio and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.