WWE Royal Rumble Winner’s Circle: Lex Luger & Bret Hart (1994)
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With the 2011 Royal Rumble approaching, we found it appropriate to pay homage to those who managed to go over in the 30 man over the top rope classic without their feet hitting the floor.
The closing moments of the 1994 Royal Rumble painted a rather symbolic picture of the WWF’s indecisiveness as to who their next top superstar would be following the departure of Hulk Hogan.
The WWF was a company in transition, with arguably their biggest star of all time gone amidst a damning steroid trial in 1994 that threatened to land Vince McMahon in jail as his promotion loomed dangerously close to extinction.
With both Lex Luger and Bret Hart being declared co-champions of the 1994 Royal Rumble, in the inauspicious confines of Providence, Rhode Island, this particularly allegorical Royal Rumble match painted a very bleak picture for what the WWF’s future had in store.
Bret Hart and Lex Luger were two completely different breeds of wrestler. Lex Luger was basically a less charismatic carbon copy of Hulk Hogan, as Vince McMahon and the WWF set out to recreate the Hulkamania craze. If successful, McMahon’s own genius would have been vindicated as compared to the shared genius between McMahon and Hogan that has always been implied when it comes to the Hulkamania brand.
Bret Hart, while also lacking charisma, was extremely proficient in technical wrestling, and his perfectionist attitude when it came to his in ring work would earn him the enviable distinction as a fan favorite. As these two top contenders, for the WWF Championship as well as the right to be the next great WWF Superstar, stood face to face in the center of the ring at the Providence Civic Center, the WWF seemed to be on the verge of making an extremely important decision that carried very serious implications pertaining to the future of a company on the precipice of implosion.
But the WWF didn’t actually make that decision, instead opting for an anti-climactic non-finish that saw both individuals tie as winners of the Royal Rumble match when they eliminated each other at the exact same time. The WWF had seemingly bought itself time until Wrestlemania, where both men would compete for the WWF Championship against Yokozuna, to officially decide who would get the ball as the top babyface in the company.
With Lex Luger’s shortcomings in the ring, and failure to connect with the crowd to the level of his muscly predecessor Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart earned that distinction when he gained a momentous victory over Yokozuna at Wrestlemania X after Luger had suffered a disqualification loss to Yokozuna earlier in the night.
The WWF’s looming steroid trial further damaged Luger’s case as the ensuing years, referred to as ‘the Lean Years’ of the WWF, saw the promotion showcasing smaller talent such as Shawn Michaels and the aforementioned Bret Hart in a clever yet financially debilitating PR move to thwart a negative public perception of all pro wrestlers being on steroids.
The Lex Luger experiment actually never really did work out in the WWF, and just served as yet another cautionary tale of how difficult it is to follow in a legend’s foot steps. Luger actually found greater success in the WCW years later when he was booked more like a real life personality as opposed to a patriotic poster boy. His stint with the company during the famed Monday Night Wars saw him capture the WCW championship with a rare TV win over – wait for it – Hulk Hogan.
Bret Hart went on to reach hall of fame heights as he helped carry the WWF brand though the dark periods of the mid-nineties before ultimately getting screwed in what has become the most infamous piece of wrestling footage in history.
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Tags: Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, Providence Civic Center, Rhode Island, Royal Rumble 1994, Steroid Trial 1994, Winners, Wrestlemania X, Wrestling, WWE, WWF, Yokozuna
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