Lex Luger On His ‘All-American’ Run: I Did The Best I Was Capable Of, I Didn’t Try To Replace Hulk Hogan

July 3, 2021

Lex Luger said he never tried to replicate Hulkamania and just worked at being the best version of himself during his WWE run.

Lex Luger spoke with Sports Illustrated‘s Justin Barrasso ahead of the premiere of his new WWE Icons special, premiering on Peacock this weekend. Luger talked about his run as “The All-American” in WWE, which was viewed by some as the successor to Hulk Hogan in the company. Hogan left in 1993 and Luger abandoned his “Narcissist” gimmick to embraced the patriotic babyface role, but he says he only tried to do his best and never thought he was trying to replace Hogan.

“There will never, ever be anything but one original Hulk Hogan,” Luger says. “I was just trying to be the best Lex Luger I could be with my character. I never thought or would want to try to fill the shoes of Hulk Hogan. He was a phenomenon that was above and beyond almost anything the wrestling industry has ever seen.

“Looking back in time now, I really look at the highlights of it. I had the opportunity to slam Yokozuna on the USS Intrepid. That was a phenomenal moment in my career, definitely one of the highlights. The [Lex Express] tour was exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time. I was in the main event of SummerSlam, and that was a big deal. I look at that as a big part of my career. I did the storyline to the best of my ability, and did my very best to fulfill my role in the story. I did the best I was capable of at the time; I can definitely tell you that.”