During his Lex Expressed podcast, former WCW World Champion Lex Luger discussed a wide range of topics including his big WWE push in the mid-90s.
Luger wrestled Yokozuna for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam 1993 after a strong build-up. Most fans thought it was a lock that Luger would walk away as champion and although Luger won the match by countout, he didn’t win the title.
He never held the championship. Luger noted he was never promised a title run.
“[Vince McMahon] didn’t make me feel like I was going to be the [top] babyface, and contrary to popular belief, he never promised me the title or said that I was going to be the champion. That wasn’t part of it. So I wasn’t shocked when I didn’t get it at SummerSlam, although it would have been helpful, even if I won it and lost it, obviously, with that big of a buildup,” Luger says. “He always felt that if I was going to win the title, he’d rather do it, and make it special. The Garden was always a very special place for events, most people know that. If he put the title on me, he wanted to do it at WrestleMania 10 at the Garden. So really, SummerSlam was never in the mix for me to win the title.
“Although, in retrospect, looking back now I’d probably would have been a good idea even if they took it right back off of me, it probably would have been good to come through for the fans,” he said.
(H/T to Fightful for the quotes)