During a recent appearance on the “Grilling JR” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and AEW commentator Jim Ross commented on Lex Luger’s “Narcissist” gimmick, what Vince McMahon had planned for him, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Lex Luger’s “Narcissist” gimmick and Vince McMahon trying harder to get Luger over than any other wrestler: “I thought we could’ve done better. I didn’t hate it, but I thought we could’ve done better. I had to get my dictionary to see what the hell “narcissist” even meant. I really did, I didn’t know. I didn’t know what a narcissist was, and I’d worked with plenty of them and didn’t know it. I thought we could’ve done better on that deal. It did get Lex some attention, and I guess that’s the object – get attention on your debut. Vince is gonna take care of him real well on his win/loss record. I can’t recall someone Vince tried harder to get over than Lex Luger. The promotional manifestations, the Lex Express, the Intrepid, Yokozuna – all those things were major elements in trying to establish Lex as somebody very, very special. Vince really worked his ass off to accomplish those things. I don’t think we can blame McMahon like we often do in this business for everything. I don’t think we can blame Vince for Lex not getting over to the level that was perceived for him to become. Vince did everything he could do. Just somewhere along the way, you have to connect with your audience, and there’s no timeline for that. Some guys connect right away and some guys connect years later. I thought we could’ve done a better job of introducing him, and I know the effort was there. That was just the first phase of the Narcissist stuff. He got promoted well and expensively.”
On Vince thinking Luger could be his next Hogan: “Of course. Absolutely. I think it was Vince, at one time, fully believing that Lex Luger would be his next Hogan. The issue there is, I thought Lex was a lot better athlete than Hogan, but he didn’t have Hogan’s charisma. Whether you like Hogan or don’t like Hogan or ‘he was never a great worker’ and all that stuff…..if someone who draws money is a key component, how can you say Hogan wasn’t a great worker? He drew money. He pulled the wagon. I think that was the issue with Lex was that charisma thing. I’m not knocking the guy because there were a lot of guys who didn’t have Hogan’s charisma. Few did. But I do think Vince fully believed Lex had all the attributes as far as athleticism, and then primarily, the look. I think that was the mindset. ‘We may have our next Hogan.’ So, that journey began.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
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