More under-rated than Lex

[tiger_rick]

Remember when you thought Lex Luger was shit? Because Meltzer and Keller said it. And because in the infancy of the Internet, everyone said it. And because you'd only seen him in the WWF and he was a bit shit most of the time. And that time he was incredible for most of 1996 and 1997 was always kinda brushed over because it didn't fit the narrative. And then you discovered his best work for yourself and realised Lex was absolutely superb and should have been World Champion 2 years earlier in the NWA. And that 1996 and 1997 Lex was an absolute treasure who WCW cut off at the knees.

Yep, Lex is the bar. Who is under-rated? Got to be more under-rated than Lex.

Edited February 28, 2025 by tiger_rick

[SuperBacon]

21 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Remember when you thought Lex Luger was shit? Because Meltzer and Keller said it. And because in the infancy of the Internet, everyone said it. And because you'd only seen him in the WWF and he was a bit shit most of the time. And that time he was incredible for most of 1996 and 1997 was always kinda brushed over because it didn't fit the narrative

Not sure about any of that. I appreciate Lex now, and enjoy him and his work, especially in 96 and 97, but watching at the time, as an 11yo, he WAS shit, and that wouldn't have been me being influenced by any of that (as I probably didn't know who Meltzer was to be honest)

To me at least. He was really uncool, seemingly was always being made to look stupid, and for me had zero charisma.

Revisionism is fine and I think we can all look back with a fresh adult perspective and appreciation but for me in those years he was the absolute pits.

[tiger_rick]

23 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Not sure about any of that. I appreciate Lex now, and enjoy him and his work, especially in 96 and 97, but watching at the time, as an 11yo, he WAS shit, and that wouldn't have been me being influenced by any of that (as I probably didn't know who Meltzer was to be honest)

To me at least. He was really uncool, seemingly was always being made to look stupid, and for me had zero charisma.

Revisionism is fine and I think we can all look back with a fresh adult perspective and appreciation but for me in those years he was the absolute pits.

Appreciate some of that should have said "or" but it's still valid. Lex had a bad rep for decades because a lot of people hadn't seen his body of work and the people who had were some of the original bad faith actors. Justice for Lex. 

[RedTwoster]

X-Pac.

The first time I encountered X-Pac - outside of in the Smackdown video games - was through the term ‘X-Pac heat’. That gave me the idea he was probably a bit shit.

Going back and watching his matches though, he was a fantastic wrestler who deserves more credit than he seems to get. From WWF, to TNA he has plenty of of great matches to his name. 

I’m kind of surprised that he’s not turned up in WWE in any significant way since leaving them in the early 2000s; particularly when you consider his friendship with Triple H. 

[Cousin Jim Bob]

41 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

X-Pac.

The first time I encountered X-Pac - outside of in the Smackdown video games - was through the term ‘X-Pac heat’. That gave me the idea he was probably a bit shit.

Going back and watching his matches though, he was a fantastic wrestler who deserves more credit than he seems to get. From WWF, to TNA he has plenty of of great matches to his name. 

I’m kind of surprised that he’s not turned up in WWE in any significant way since leaving them in the early 2000s; particularly when you consider his friendship with Triple H. 

 

I think the drugs and hep C meant they wanted nothing to do with him for the longest time. He seems clean and looking good now and is under a legends contract so would be cool to hear that they were using him as a trainer or something else behind the scenes. 

Shame he lost so many years to drugs. By all accounts he is lucky to still be alive. I remember when he rocked up in CHIKARA and everyone was expecting him to be a mess but he stole the show. 

Edited February 28, 2025 by Cousin Jim Bob
123 spelling mistakes

[Mr Butternut Squash]

88-90 Lex was a legitimate very good worker who seemed to settle once he'd had his legs cut off (as happened multiple times even by that point.) Most of us know him for his WWF run first and foremost, which does him no favours. Also don't think anybody was hurt by Meltzer, Ric and the WWE propaganda machine more than Lex.

Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, and Micheal Hayes all seem to have the reputation of great talkers who weren't all that in the ring. They were great workers if you actually watch the footage.

[davertfnewman]

Meltzer had Gorilla as worst announcer for years, so I tended towards him being good on news, not so much on taste. I know it's a reader vote, but Meltzer was definitely influencing the voters.

[Devon Malcolm]

There's an argument to be had that Dave Meltzer is one of the worst overall influences in wrestling history. An invaluable historian though.

[LaGoosh]

2 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

X-Pac.

The first time I encountered X-Pac - outside of in the Smackdown video games - was through the term ‘X-Pac heat’. That gave me the idea he was probably a bit shit.

Going back and watching his matches though, he was a fantastic wrestler who deserves more credit than he seems to get. 

I think the issue at the time was that he went from being one of the hottest babyface singles stars in the company but they fucked that in late 99 to turn him heel, put him back with Triple H as a sidekick and the fans very quickly moved on. The product was moving really, insanely fast back then too so you very soon had Jericho, the Radicals, Edge/Christian, the Dudleyz and Kurt Angle as the super hot new midcard acts while in the meantime X-Pac never evolved and was still doing the same shtick which felt very outdated by the summer of 2000. Then came The X Factor group and he was dead in the water after that. Great song though.

[CTXRussomark]

There's a weird cyclical thing with guys like Luger where once enough time has passed (and people are more removed from the weeks/months/years of terrible output) there's an urge to do a complete 180 and say they've been hard done to over the years.  The same thing happened with Nash around 10/15 years ago, though that seems to have gone full circle now and people are back to disliking him. 

Don't get me wrong - I love me a bit of Lex and there were small windows of time when he was genuinely great, but he was terrible for far, far longer and that final 1998-2001 run has to be one of the worst runs in history for someone at that level.  

Having said that, few things make me as happy as seeing how well Lex is doing in the present day and how he has completely turned his life around after all of his health troubles.  I'm hoping the recent videos with DDP are the first step to an overdue Hall of Fame induction in the same way they were for Jake and Scott Hall. 

[herbie747]

3 hours ago, davertfnewman said:

Meltzer had Gorilla as worst announcer for years, so I tended towards him being good on news, not so much on taste. I know it's a reader vote, but Meltzer was definitely influencing the voters.

Those were reader awards though, not his own personal pick.

 

I loved Gorilla. Voice of my childhood. And even now when I listen to him, he was perfectly fine. 

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

I think the issue at the time was that he went from being one of the hottest babyface singles stars in the company but they fucked that in late 99 to turn him heel, put him back with Triple H as a sidekick and the fans very quickly moved on. The product was moving really, insanely fast back then too so you very soon had Jericho, the Radicals, Edge/Christian, the Dudleyz and Kurt Angle as the super hot new midcard acts while in the meantime X-Pac never evolved and was still doing the same shtick which felt very outdated by the summer of 2000. Then came The X Factor group and he was dead in the water after that. Great song though.

Yeah, that’s a good point - I’m watching his matches utterly removed from the context that you’d have had from watching at the time. I mean, I could easily see a similar thread in 25-years-time resulting in someone throwing out the names ‘Roderick Strong’ or ‘Kyle O’Reilly’. 

[davertfnewman]

1 hour ago, herbie747 said:

Those were reader awards though, not his own personal pick.

 

I loved Gorilla. Voice of my childhood. And even now when I listen to him, he was perfectly fine. 

Point more being reader influence, though. Meltzer would've been shitting on him enough to set the tone.

[DCW]

Was X-Pac's last run in the fed the short-lived/crap NWO angle in 02?

Crap way for someone with as much history as he had to head off into the sunset.

[Carbomb]

I thought I read on here that he showed up for the Triple H/Sting match at Wrestlemania a few years ago?