The WWE Hall of Fame has rectified one of their biggest omissions as Lex Luger will be part of the 2025 Class.

It was announced by WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, who visited Luger while he was working on his mobility with Diamond Dallas Page.  Rhodes surprised Luger with the news, much to his delight.

After his professional football career ended, Luger was trained for wrestling by Hiro Matsuda, and he would shortly join Championship Wrestling from Florida where he wrestled for nearly two years before joining Jim Crockett Promotions and adding “The Total Package” to his already colorful name.  Luger joined the Four Horsemen, and would win the United States Championship, by beating Nikita Koloff, though he would lose it to Dusty Rhodes due to a mistake by his own manager, J.J. Dillon.  This led to an eventual face turn for Luger, who formed a tag team with Barry Windham, and they won the World Tag Team Titles, only for Windham to turn on him.

Luger spent most of 1988 chasing Ric Flair for the World Title, but was unable to unseat the Nature Boy, though he beat Windham for his second United States Title.  He turned heel again, but that was brief as his close friend Sting was injured, and he subbed in for him in multiple World Title shots against Flair.  Luger dropped the U.S. Title in late 1989 to Stan Hansen, though won it back two months later.

In 1991, Luger finally became the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, defeating Windham for the vacant strap following Ric Flair’s departure from the company.  It was the beginning of a lackluster title run, as Luger never beat Flair for the belt, and the roster was depleted.  Rarely defensing the title, he lost it Sting in 1992, and finally he was WWE bound.

Luger was originally slated to compete for Vince McMahon’s World Bodybuilding Federation, though that was a way to have him appear on TV without breaking his no compete clause.  He finally made his in-ring debut in 1993 as “The Narcissist”, a vain heel character, but on July 4 of that year, he body slammed Yokozuna on the USS Intrepid, catapulting him into an All-American baby face.

Luger was unable to unseat Yokozuna in title shots at Summer Slam ’93 and Wrestlemania X, and he would slide down the card, eventually settling in a tag team with The British Bulldog.  His contract expired, and after appearing at Summer Slam 1995, he appeared at the debut of WCW’s inaugural Monday Night Nitro.

Luger remained with WCW until it folded and was purchased by the WWE.  His lengthy second run in WCW was fruitful, generating many main events, titles and copious high-profile matches.  Following the death of WCW, Luger would work on the independent scene, but tragedy best the “Total Package.”

In his personal life, Luger suffered a drug addiction, which was passed on to his then girlfriend, Liz Hulette who passed away from a drug overdose.  In 2007, he served a nerve impingement in his next that led him to paralysis, which he has dealt with since.

While Luger’s run in WCW far surpassed his time in the WWE, his overall body of work is worthy of this induction.  He will be removed from our notinhalloffame.com list of those to consider for the WWE Hall of Fame following the revamp of the list after this year’s Wrestlemania.

We here at notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Lex Luger for his impending WWE Hall of Fame induction

The world of professional wrestling lost a legendary, albeit cantankerous figure in Ole Anderson, who passed away at 81.

Born Alan Rogowski, Anderson made his professional debut in the late 60s, and it did not take long for him to make his way to the Carolinas, where he adopted the Ole Anderson name as the kayfabe brother of Lars and Gene Anderson, the latter of whom he had a regular tag team with. They won multiple tag team titles, and Ole also established himself as a singles star. As Anderson gained knowledge, he took over as the booker in both Jim Crockett Promotions and Georgia Championship Wrestling. When Jack and Jerry Brisco sold their interest in GCW to Vince McMahon, Anderson created the Championship Wrestling from Georgia.

Ole's promotion would merge with JCP, and Anderson remained a fixture. He gained a new tag team partner (and kayfabe brother) in Arn Anderson, and they would later form the Four Horseman with Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard. Ole entered semi-retirement in 1987 when he was kicked out of the group.

He returned to reform the group with Flair, Arn, Barry Windham, and Sid Vicious, but was used as the mouthpiece for the group for a short time before he went backstage as a booker. He would leave the promotion for good in 1994.

Anderson was as intelligent as he was curmudgeonly and was one of the few who legitimately did not care whether you liked him. He was one of the better bookers of his era, and though not all of his ideas worked (Black Scorpion), he was undoubtedly creative.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the fans, friends, and family of Ole Anderson.

Many times, wrestling promoters talk of someone who has the “look” of a wrestler.  Looking back in the past twenty five years or so, it seems difficult to find anyone who had the designation more than Sid Eudy.

The man dubbed in wrestling circles as the “Total Package” really hasn’t had a lot of good fortune the last few years.  After making millions in the industry, Lex Luger has found himself without money, the use of his legs (he is currently paralyzed) and unfortunately is the butt of many a joke in the wrestling industry.  This is not how we will choose to remember Lex Luger.

As the son of Professor Boris Malenko, Dean Malenko was bred to be a wrestler.  Surprisingly, the Iceman really didn’t hit the national stage until his mid thirties, but when he did; anyone who watched a Dean Malenko match knew they were watching one of the best ring tacticians in the world.

With the discussion of the late Brian Pillman it is as if you remember two different wrestlers.  The first was the aerial specialist who was one of the first American wrestlers to successfully adopt a high flying style that could match any Japanese performer or Luchadore spot for spot.  The second was the psychotic heel character who blurred the lines between reality and fantasy.

One of the best tag team wrestlers in wrestling history, Ole Anderson caught a break because of his looks.  No, it wasn’t because he was exceptionally good looking (he wasn’t) but because he looked like Gene and Lars Anderson.

The first true “Supergroup” in wrestling, the Four Horsemen was the post powerful group of heel wrestlers in the 1980’s. Although they went through the various incarnations it was the collective of Flair, Blanchard, Anderson, Windham and Dillon that were selected to go into the Hall of Fame. Arguably, this was the best version of the group, but this selection excludes Ole Anderson and Lex Luger who were part of the first and second version of the Horsemen respectively. Subsequently, this allowed Ric Flair to receive his second induction which opens the door for multiple inductions for other wrestlers. This is an induction we love and are scared of the implications at the same time.