Revisionist History: Lex Luger blindsided Vince McMahon when he turned up on the first Monday Nitro on September 4th. Luger violated a handshake agreement and left without notice
Actual History:
Pro Wrestling Torch #349, dated Aug 19th, 1995:
"It's unsubstantiated at the moment, but it's worth noting that a lot of signs points towards Lex Luger giving his notice to the WWF to join WCW. (1) The Allied Powers match was inexplicably pulled from SummerSlam; (2) The Bulldog turned heel and became a singles wrestler this weekend leaving Luger with no set role; (3) Luger was not played into the angle of Bulldog's turn; (4) WCW has talked about signing a major name; (5) Luger has talked about leaving the WWF for quite a while."
Pro Wrestling Torch #350, dated Aug 26th, 1995:
"Lex Luger is still with the WWF. Sources say Luger gave his notice to the WWF, anticipating an offer to work with WCW. Sting, who co-owns gyms in the Atlanta area with Luger pushed for Luger to be brought in. WCW considered it, but then soured on it. Either both sides had a very different version of: what is push would be (Luger wanted long runs against Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan) or guaranteed money or both. Luger wrestled house shows over the weekend for the WWF and as of the deadline it looked as if for now that Luger would remain in the WWF. His contract status is still not resolved as he hasn't renewed yet, but that is now probable."
Pro Wrestling Torch #351, dated Sep 3, 1995:
"Until the recent talks that in the end didn't go anywhere, Luger had not had any talks with WCW despite rumors and reports otherwise."
So the truth is this:
- Lex Luger did negotiate with WCW. It might have started out secretly, but the secret was out and was reported on in the latter half of August by the Pro Wrestling Torch (and presumably The Wrestling Observer as well). Vince McMahon would have known; otherwise The Allied Powers would not have been ended and Davey Boy Smith would not have gone heel
- WCW gave Luger a low-ball offer (per Bischoff interviews in recent years) and was not necessarily enthused about bringing him in. Despite very heavy spending in the years to come, the WCW of 1995 was under what in effect was a hard salary cap. Like the WWF, they too had endured a roster cut to achieve profitability that led to the dismissals of Blacktop Bully, Mike Graham, Dustin Rhodes, and Paul Roma (this being the actual reason for their releases as opposed to actions at UnCensored).
- With no real reason to then leave, Luger decided to stay put while he and Vince agreed to continue to negotiate on a new deal. This was the "handshake agreement". The WWF felt confident enough in Luger staying that they included him in a brief angle in the main event of SummerSlam '95, and recorded a segment (that never aired) at RAW the following night where Luger confronted Mo and Mable and told them, "If you challenge me, you challenge America."
- In the next few days, the Vader situation freed up a tremendous amount of salary room under WCW's cap. Bischoff gave Luger a new, higher offer. This time he accepted.
Some other relevant factors in Luger's decision:
- Main event wrestlers on B-shows who were taking $200 advances against the gate were finding themselves receiving negative paychecks. That likely would have included Luger, who as a part of The Allied Powers was likely on those B-shows
- The WWF had just hired Bill Watts as the head booker. Watts did not have a favorable reputation with some wrestlers following his tenture at WCW
- There had just been a major roster purge. The Heavenly Bodies, The Barbarian, Chad Fortune, Erik Watts, Mantaur, Stephanie Wiand, Lord Alfred Hayes, and King Kong Bundy had all been released five weeks earlier, and Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie had quit. Morale in the WWF was reaching its all time low point
Actual History:
Pro Wrestling Torch #349, dated Aug 19th, 1995:
"It's unsubstantiated at the moment, but it's worth noting that a lot of signs points towards Lex Luger giving his notice to the WWF to join WCW. (1) The Allied Powers match was inexplicably pulled from SummerSlam; (2) The Bulldog turned heel and became a singles wrestler this weekend leaving Luger with no set role; (3) Luger was not played into the angle of Bulldog's turn; (4) WCW has talked about signing a major name; (5) Luger has talked about leaving the WWF for quite a while."
Pro Wrestling Torch #350, dated Aug 26th, 1995:
"Lex Luger is still with the WWF. Sources say Luger gave his notice to the WWF, anticipating an offer to work with WCW. Sting, who co-owns gyms in the Atlanta area with Luger pushed for Luger to be brought in. WCW considered it, but then soured on it. Either both sides had a very different version of: what is push would be (Luger wanted long runs against Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan) or guaranteed money or both. Luger wrestled house shows over the weekend for the WWF and as of the deadline it looked as if for now that Luger would remain in the WWF. His contract status is still not resolved as he hasn't renewed yet, but that is now probable."
Pro Wrestling Torch #351, dated Sep 3, 1995:
"Until the recent talks that in the end didn't go anywhere, Luger had not had any talks with WCW despite rumors and reports otherwise."
So the truth is this:
- Lex Luger did negotiate with WCW. It might have started out secretly, but the secret was out and was reported on in the latter half of August by the Pro Wrestling Torch (and presumably The Wrestling Observer as well). Vince McMahon would have known; otherwise The Allied Powers would not have been ended and Davey Boy Smith would not have gone heel
- WCW gave Luger a low-ball offer (per Bischoff interviews in recent years) and was not necessarily enthused about bringing him in. Despite very heavy spending in the years to come, the WCW of 1995 was under what in effect was a hard salary cap. Like the WWF, they too had endured a roster cut to achieve profitability that led to the dismissals of Blacktop Bully, Mike Graham, Dustin Rhodes, and Paul Roma (this being the actual reason for their releases as opposed to actions at UnCensored).
- With no real reason to then leave, Luger decided to stay put while he and Vince agreed to continue to negotiate on a new deal. This was the "handshake agreement". The WWF felt confident enough in Luger staying that they included him in a brief angle in the main event of SummerSlam '95, and recorded a segment (that never aired) at RAW the following night where Luger confronted Mo and Mable and told them, "If you challenge me, you challenge America."
- In the next few days, the Vader situation freed up a tremendous amount of salary room under WCW's cap. Bischoff gave Luger a new, higher offer. This time he accepted.
Some other relevant factors in Luger's decision:
- Main event wrestlers on B-shows who were taking $200 advances against the gate were finding themselves receiving negative paychecks. That likely would have included Luger, who as a part of The Allied Powers was likely on those B-shows
- The WWF had just hired Bill Watts as the head booker. Watts did not have a favorable reputation with some wrestlers following his tenture at WCW
- There had just been a major roster purge. The Heavenly Bodies, The Barbarian, Chad Fortune, Erik Watts, Mantaur, Stephanie Wiand, Lord Alfred Hayes, and King Kong Bundy had all been released five weeks earlier, and Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie had quit. Morale in the WWF was reaching its all time low point
