Former WCW Champion Lex Luger, a newly announced inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame, recently opened up about his remarkable life turnaround and the emotional moment he learned of his induction on Eric Bischoff’s “83 Weeks” podcast. Luger’s induction will take place during WrestleMania weekend, capping off a story of redemption.
Luger expressed disbelief at his Hall of Fame honor, reflecting on his past struggles. “What an amazing journey,” he said. “If you asked me 20 years ago at my darkest time, obviously choices I was making, if I would ever have anything to do with wrestling or if wrestling would ever have anything to do with me, I felt like anything associated with wrestling, I was completely toxic due to my own ignorance and stupidity and arrogance, and we can go on and on. I wasn’t that young, but young and dumb, I guess. I never would have imagined that 20 years later, I’m on this journey from the penthouse to the outhouse and the jailhouse, and here I am in the WWE 2025 Hall of Fame.”
The induction news itself was a carefully orchestrated surprise. Luger described how a WWE film crew, ostensibly in Atlanta to film a segment on the Four Horsemen, used a planned workout with Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) as a cover.
“They ambushed me,” Luger recounted. “I was doing my weekly workout with Dallas, and man, did I get set up. The film crew from WWE was coming through Atlanta. They’re doing a thing on the Four Horsemen. They said, ‘Lex, we need some footage of you on the Horsemen. I know we’re coming to town.’ I think it was Wednesday, two weeks ago. I go, ‘Okay.’ I go, ‘I have a workout with DDP on Wednesday’, and they had it about the same time. I said, ‘Let me talk to Dallas. I don’t want to stand him up on his workout. They go, ‘I’ll tell you what. We’ll come to his house and do it. Will that work?’ I go, ‘Well, yeah, if it’s okay with him. It’s his house here in Atlanta.’ I go there.”
He Continued: “They do a little thing on the Horsemen with me. I go down to my workout with D that I do weekly. I call him D. They go, ‘Hey, can we film a little bit of that stuff? Maybe we’ll use it. Dallas said, ‘Sure. come on down.’ I went through my regular workout. I usually have such a good sniffer for this kind of stuff, man. I can see a setup and the only thing different was I saw Dallas looking down on his phone. He times the workout, but I saw him look at a few text messages coming in. He must have something going on after the workout. Then Cody comes around the corner and sticks his head around the corner. I know D and him shoots some footage of his workouts and everything. So right up into the very end, I see Cody, and Cody knocks and puts his head around. I figured they must have something they’re doing after my workouts over with. Then Cody walks in and he has the belt. I’m like, I didn’t know Cody carries his belt around. How stupid I was, right? I was totally clueless for once, in a good way. Cody walks in and he says, ‘Well, Lex, I just wanted you to know that you had a special relationship with my dad.’ Dusty named me the total package and gave me the finish, the Torture Rack.’ So to come full circle with Cody wanting to go out of his way with his schedule and come in and be the one to tell me, he was unbelievable, and I was totally caught by surprise.”
Luger even has a unique request for his induction ceremony. He hopes to have both DDP and Sting induct him.
“I’m trying to get two guys instead of one,” Luger explained. “I speak at recovery centers and at churches and stuff. I’m not good enough scripted, like. I like to just speak from the heart and extemporaneously speak when I speak. So I’m like, ‘Well, guys, has anybody had two guys? Because I’ll probably only do it just a few minutes from my heart when I get up there. I’d like DDP. We’ve been trying to work on the walk. We’re not there yet. We’re hoping, but man, if I could have my two guys up there with me, DDP on one shoulder kind of spotting me, and Sting on the other. If it’s possible, that would be amazing.’ So we shall see. If I have anything to say about that would be my pick.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit AdFreeShows.com with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
