Re-Write the Book: The Lex Express

Not quite seasonal, but I had an idea. Lex Luger was a gent who should have been bigger than he was, but one angle of his stood out.



July 4th, 1993 saw the debut of Lex Luger as the All-American. Hulk Hogan had left for the greener pastures of WCW and Vince McMahon needed another face to build around. Despite guys like Bret Hart already there, Vince saw his future with the former Horseman and World Bodybuilding Federation star.

As a heel, Lex was the Narcissist but for some reason come July 4th Lex answered WWF Champ Yokozuna's challenge. After that Lex started touring the country in a red, white, and blue bus and campaigning for a title shot at SummerSlam '93. Lex drove all over the country and when the anointed time arrived Lex drove his tour bus right up to the arena and marched right to the ring and promptly choked. He won, of course, but on a count-out so he didn't get the title.

Heard two reasons-1)Vince got cold feet at the last minute didn't think Lex could draw as champ OR 2)Vince was so in love with the angle he thought he could extend it to WrestleMania. What happened was the crowd stopped caring the second Lex didn't get the belt. So, how would I handle it?

July 4th, 1993
Yokozuna is still standing tall after nearly the entire roster fails to bodyslam him. Mr. Fuji, boasting that since anyone can enter, surely there must be someone who can challenge the nearly 500 pound sumo for the belt at SummerSlam.

A helicopter is seen approaching and soon it lands on the deck on the USS Intrepid. Much to the shock of everyone present, Lex Luger exists and throws his hat in the ring. Despite manager Bobby "the Brain" Heenan's protests, Lex gets in the ring and manages to slam the champ. As Yoko runs out, Lex grabs the microphone and issues a challenge.

To wit, he not only accepts Yokozuna's challenge for the world title, but from now until then he'll be facing any and all comers across this great nation of ours on his way to the Palace of Auburn Hills.

So for the weekly shows we'd see Lex and his US Challenge facing a variety of jobbers and the occasional midcarder. Maybe have him pop up at a few malls and such and promote good citizenship/give out little American flag pins stuff like that. Maybe even have a bus tracker, with a little line going across a US map to mark where his matches are held?

Then, SummerSlam 93 would see the star-spangled bus pull up to the arena and Lex would win the WWF World Heavyweight title.

For the Royal Rumble '94, Bret Hart would win the battle royal and go after Lex for the title (which he would win). Yokozuna would have fired Mr. Fuji and brought in Jim Cornette to be his manager. Lex would stay as an All-American Face but after losing the title to Hart he would move onto feuding with Tatanka before forming a team with the British Bulldog.