1. Lex Luger Reveals The Story Behind His Name, Talks About his Wrestling Debut
During a recent appearance on Eric Bischoff’s “Bischoff on Wrestling” podcast, former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger revealed the story behind his name, his wrestling debut and more. Below are the highlights:
Lex Luger: My first time on television I just stood in the background. They said, “Hey Lex, you go out there with your shirt off out there and stand behind them.” It was Ravishing Rick Rude at the time with Percival Pringle who ended up being Undertaker’s manager. That was my first time ever on TV and they didn’t know where I was from nor did they have a name. Within about three minutes before we go out they go, “What’s your name?” I go, “Larry Fold.”
They said, “You can’t be that!” So we came up with Lex Luger as my name and they said, “Where you from?” I go, “Buffalo, NY.” They go, “ON MAN! You can’t be from Buffalo!” We had the ‘Mistake on the Lake’ reputation back then.
The rust belt and all the steel belts. Wahoo McDaniel and Blackjack Mulligan were in charge and they looked at each other and went, “Chicago or Detroit?” So I became from Lex Luger from Chicago and that’s something that stuck with me my whole career. As funny as that sounds.
Eric Bischoff: Lex Luger was probably a derivative of the character Lex Luthor who was popular from Superman I would guess?
Lex Luger: Yes, the first name was from him. Lex Luthor from Superman. The last name, Luger, was actually because of my German heritage. We all thought that was a good last name. At the time,
I’m going back for nostalgia, Magnum PI was the number one television series on network television. They figured Magnum was a popular TV series so they’d call me Luger. So I became Lex Luger.
Go to the next page and check out our complete list of every major Old School Pro-Wrestling name who passed away, including the day and cause of death.
