Lex Luger

**Providence Peep** · 01-01-2011, 09:15 PM

Do you guys think Luger should be in the Hall of Fame?!

"If you snort it, spray it, shoot it, inject it, I did it, buddy. Or I was around it. That was my life. Alcohol? I abused it all, buddy. I took a lot of pills. I was a pill popper."
- Lex Luger, aka "The Total Package"

KENNESAW, Ga. - Just before high noon, sun scorching down so intensely that it softens the asphalt, a sweet, white and black '66 Caddy Sedan de Ville rolls up to within a few yards of the Golden Corral, a buffet joint. Out steps an old egotistical, narcissistic heel clad in khaki pants, a plaid cotton shirt and sandals.

In a matter of moments, Lex Luger abruptly breaks into wrestling character, a cocksure grin on his tanned face. He tilts his head and rolls his eyes up to the blue heavens. He pushes up his right sleeve to flex his ripped, ham-bone-sized bicep.

Then, just as suddenly, the shtick ends. With metal cane in hand, Luger hobbles off to lunch.

For the next couple hours, between trips to the chow line and chats with the folks who wander by his table, the 49-year-old Luger spins his horror stories about Lex as a younger man. That Lex dabbled in so many prescription narcotics, recreational drugs, cocktails and steroids, Luger says, that it's a wonder he hasn't joined the growing list of dead-before-their-time pro wrestlers, which unofficially numbers more than 100 over the past decade.

In a quiet moment he recalls sitting helpless in the wee hours as his girlfriend, wrestling personality Miss Elizabeth, died four years ago in the townhouse they shared. The cause, according to the coroner's report, was "acute toxicity" brought on by a smorgasbord of prescription painkillers and vodka.

"I take a lot of responsibility for that -- my influence in her life," he says. "Her little heart and body couldn't take what I was doing."

Later on the day Miss Elizabeth died, police found more than 1,000 illegal pills during a search of their suburban Atlanta townhouse. Eventually, Luger was charged with 13 counts of felony drug possession, for which he received probation as a first offender. He later went to jail for a parole violation in 2006, which is when he came across prison chaplain Steve Baskin, whom he credits with helping turn his life around.

The new Lex, a born-again Christian, eagerly shares what he calls "confessions of a drug abuser." He is down-to-earth and contrite, even as he occasionally reverts to the larger-than-life character who won multiple championship belts and was one of professional wrestling's headliners in his heyday. He rails now against the dangers of drug abuse -- the pill-popping, the steroids, the recreational substances.

Mostly, he does it by urging the abusers to come clean and to get clean. And where better to start than by making an example of himself and his hellish skid from fame and fortune, which saw him go from a $1 million-a-year wrestling gig to temporary residence in a spare bedroom of his minister's apartment.

"Wow, I believe I was so close to dying so many times from overdoses," says Luger, who claims his lone physical ailment at the moment is a broken-down hip due for surgery sometime this fall. 'One heart beat away,' I tell people in my faith-based speaking. That, I believe, is why God put me in a role to shed light on the situation in our culture and in our sports. Our sports are affecting our culture.

"It's the ends justifies the means in sports. We are taught that since we were little. The old, 'Do whatever you got to do to win, to be the best. Step over, step on and step through.' So that is how all this performance-enhancing drugs got into our culture. And that leads to guys wanting to take shortcuts. And then, cheat until you get caught, and then lie."

Luger can trace his own introduction to steroids to a long-ago football career. He played in college as an offensive guard at Penn State and, later, at the University of Miami. In the early 1980s, he had stints in three different pro leagues -- the Canadian Football League, National Football League and the now-defunct United States Football League.

In 1979, Luger played for Miami, which featured future All-Pro quarterback Jim Kelly and current University of Georgia coach Mark Richt, until he was booted off the team for an incident that wasn't drug-related. When he left the Hurricanes, he moved less than an hour up Florida's Sun Coast to Fort Lauderdale, where he worked as a bouncer at a popular night spot until the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL called with a tryout offer.

"I wanted to look good on the beach, so I had slimmed down to about 235,'' says Luger, who was born Larry Pfohl in Buffalo, N.Y. "Now here it's February and camp starts in May. And I was an offensive guard. Back then, they were quick, pulling guards -- not 300-pound monsters. But I needed to be at least like 255.

"So I had to gain weight quick -- the unethical, cheating shortcut. Guy in the gym said, 'Buddy, these little blue pills are called Dianabol.' And I took four a day, five milligrams apiece. You get on these steroids and you train better, eat more. And you retain water from them. So I gained 15 pounds in about two months. I jumped on it and it worked.

"And it is the same old thing: Once you do something one time, it leads to another. And then I started in the offseason, where I would do one cycle for 12 weeks. A friend of mine was an exercise physiologist. She monitored my blood [levels]. I never took it in-season. I'd just take it in the offseason to build as much strength as I could."

Dianabol is a powerful anabolic steroid.

In 1985, after the demise of the USFL, Luger retired his football pads and took his then-chiseled 6-foot-4, 270-pound physique to the pro wrestling scene, which was evolving into something of a beauty pageant for guys in spandex tights. He learned the ropes kicking around a regional circuit in Florida. Later in his two-decade career, Luger became a marquee character, and shared headliner status with the likes of Sting ("One of the few that stuck by me when my life was a wreck"), Ric Flair and "Macho Man" Randy Savage (Miss Elizabeth's ex-husband).

He often played the role of the self-centered bad guy, posing in front of full-length mirrors before his matches. His chemically enhanced physique was part of his costume.

"I was on display year round with my shirt off," he says. "So what happens in wrestling is a lot of the guys stay on [steroids]. I never stayed on them year-round. I would go on them for 12 weeks, off them for 12.

"I did testosterone and Deca [Durabolin]. It wasn't classified. It wasn't against the law."

But in the 1990s, the law and the climate about steroids both changed. Vince McMahon Jr., overseer of the World Wrestling Entertainment enterprise, faced federal steroid distribution charges, a rap he beat. McMahon and others also began drug-testing their in-the-ring performers, although Luger says the wrestlers had little trouble getting around the pee-in-the-bottle routine.

The irony is that the sport continued to sell massive, cartoon-like superheroes even during the public steroid fuss. That pitch hasn't changed much. Nor, presumably, has the doping regimens that help build at least some of those ripped, cut physiques.

"Vince [McMahon] sells bigger-than-life," Luger says. "And bigger-than-life, what does that mean? A lot of chemically enhanced heroes and villains -- guys my height and size or bigger. You can't see that on the street every day. You have to buy a ticket to see that. So he sells basically the freaks. The modern-era giants. The [Hulk] Hogans, too. I don't mean that disrespectfully. That is meant as a compliment in today's lingo. They are so out of the ordinary."

The not-so-veiled message, according to Luger: To pull down oodles of cash, get big. Get bigger. And stay big.

And finding drugs to fuel the growth machine never proved to be a problem, Luger says. For him, it was as simple as an online purchase, or hustling up a black-market source.

The new Lex Luger won't name names, but he talks about a place in Atlanta where he could pick up a three-month supply of human growth hormone and testosterone, his favorite muscle-builder. He says such sources dot the landscape from Albany to San Francisco. He talks about a man in California who is currently supplying the drugs to hundreds of wrestlers and other pro athletes.

When the cops searched Luger's condominium on the day Miss Elizabeth died back in 2003, they found a bag he'd never bothered unpacking. Luger claims his ex-wife had sent it over from his former house in a gated, country club community. According to the police report, it contained an assortment of prescription painkillers, plus a bountiful selection of performance-enhancing substances that ranged from six boxes of human growth hormone to 88 bottles of various anabolic steroids.

"I didn't know I had it, and I would never have kept that stuff in my house," Luger says. "I would have had a friend keep it for me. Athletes won't keep it in their house. They'll go over to their friends' house and get their shots and stuff."

Along the way through their careers, he says, athletes sometimes latch on to a friendly doctor or two who is willing to help, someone they can rely on to write a prescription for a steroid or a painkiller.

From 2004 until this July, Luger says he was obtaining prescriptions for pain medicine, specifically the narcotic hydrocodone, from Dr. Phil Astin III, the 52-year-old Carrollton, Ga., doctor currently under federal indictment for overprescribing medications. Astin treated several pro wrestlers, including Chris Benoit, who committed suicide in June after killing his wife and young son.

Luger, however, staunchly defends Astin. He says a gym friend recommended Astin to him, and that the doctor was never a source of steroids.

"I was under pain-management therapy or hydrocodone, just legal amounts," Luger says. "I need to have hip surgery that I've been putting off. I do a little hydrocodone and some Advil and Aleve, buddy. That is all I take. That's why I was seeing him -- a little bit of pain management."

Painkillers such as hydrocodone, along with other anti-anxiety and mood-altering drugs, appear to be at least as significant a factor as steroids in wrestling's high mortality rate, though. The fruits of the performance-enhancing drugs are as obvious as the sports' neatly scripted matches. Unseen, at least by the public, are the ravages -- sometimes leading to death -- brought on by years of dependency on prescription medications, which are often combined with a steady diet of booze and steroids.

Many pro wrestlers, say Luger and others who've competed in the sport, initially turn to painkillers to cope with the nightly rigors and nagging injuries of the circuit. In some cases, a dependency on the narcotics develops.

Luger lived that lifestyle while, by his count, he performed 300 days a year. He'd hustle out of an arena after a show, pumped on adrenaline, and then party into the wee hours and catch a 6:30 flight in the morning. Some nights, his head never hit the pillow. He'd roll into the next town, catch a meal, grab some caffeine or ephedrine to keep going, work out in a gym, do another show and start the cycle all over.

"With my generation, there was no accountability," he says. "We left the building at 11 o'clock, and you lived dual lives on the road. We were like a big dysfunctional family. We fed off each other. And then we go home and sober up. But unfortunately, drugs are drugs. And the guys let that spill over into their home lives. And if the families didn't get intervention and stuff, a lot of us died.

"I was a heartbeat away. I almost overdosed probably dozens of times. I had a really fast metabolism. Part of why Lex stayed so lean wasn't just drugs. God blessed me with a very fast metabolism. I metabolized drugs quickly. That is not good, but it saved my life a bunch of times. I went in deep a bunch of times with pills and alcohol. I was a pill-popper. And I abused alcohol toward the end, real bad. And I got caught with steroids in my house. I am a convicted felon. I deserved it. And I take accountability for that.

"I am trying to help others avoid what happened in my life, and my family and friends that I devastated. I dishonored my profession. I dishonored my community, all because I couldn't control myself and got this sick other lifestyle and drug abuse. I want to help our young kids stay away from that."

As he heads back to his car, the long lunch finished, Luger says the classic Caddy in which he arrived was a gift from his father last year. His dad tinkers with cars, and restored it a long time ago, painting it in the familiar colors of his son's wrestling garb: white boots with black tights and knee pads.

But today's Lex Luger says the younger Lex, the one who was lucky to survive those high-life years on the circuit, went almost 30 years between visits back to his father and the family home in western New York.

"I wrestled through there, but never went home," he says, shaking his head.

-By Mike Fish, ESPN

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=3016179

**CSL** · 01-01-2011, 09:18 PM

I never been 'a fan' of Luger at all but he should definitely go into the Hall of Fame given who's been inducted in the past.

**Schlomey** · 01-01-2011, 09:20 PM

I read the opening sentence. My response is yes. Yes he should be in the HOF. Did I ever care for him personally? No. Not really.

**Providence Peep** · 01-01-2011, 09:21 PM

My answer was "yes" until I read that article.

**Schlomey** · 01-01-2011, 09:23 PM

I didn't read it so I shouldn't say anything. I will assume it involves Elizabeth, steroids, drugs, and performing while intoxicated.....Regardless, what is on film has historical relevance and was quite popular. In fact, the Lex Express should be the first prop entered into the HOF if they ever go that route.

**CSL** · 01-01-2011, 09:24 PM

He was a professional wrestler in the 1980's. 95% of the current HOF inductees including Hogan, Bret, Flair, DiBiase and so on spent that decade taking as many drugs as possible and could have their name at the top of that article.

**Fignuts** · 01-01-2011, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Providence Peep

My answer was "yes" until I read that article.

Right, because everyone currently in the hall of fame led a drug free lifestyle.

**Schlomey** · 01-01-2011, 09:32 PM

he used his illegal bionic forearms for years.

**Shadrick** · 01-01-2011, 10:34 PM

Yes. Definitely. No question.

**Nicky Fives** · 01-01-2011, 10:58 PM

I was not a fan, but he still deserves to go in......

**jskinnyg** · 01-01-2011, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schlomey

I read the opening sentence. My response is yes. Yes he should be in the HOF. Did I ever care for him personally? No. Not really.

Exactly...

**AKin3D** · 01-01-2011, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schlomey

I read the opening sentence. My response is yes. Yes he should be in the HOF. Did I ever care for him personally? No. Not really.

This

**YoungFlyFlashy** · 01-01-2011, 11:39 PM

Let him in. They let Pete Rose in, let Luger in.

**Droford** · 01-01-2011, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fignuts

Right, because everyone currently in the hall of fame led a drug free lifestyle.

CM punk will be the first ever Straight Edge Hall of Famer in what..25 years?

He should have his own wing.

**YoungFlyFlashy** · 01-01-2011, 11:44 PM

I wonder why Mike Tyson isn't in the HOF yet.

**erickman** · 01-01-2011, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSL

He was a professional wrestler in the 1980's. 95% of the current HOF inductees including Hogan, Bret, Flair, DiBiase and so on spent that decade taking as many drugs as possible and could have their name at the top of that article.

yeah and judgeing by hardy rvd an goldust an many others they still do.

**blake639raw** · 01-01-2011, 11:56 PM

Like him or not, he should surely go in. I'd also throw in Arn Anderson, Ron Simmons, Sting (if they can get him), and maybe a few other WCW guys.

**Xero** · 01-01-2011, 11:59 PM

/thread

**YoungFlyFlashy** · 01-02-2011, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Lex Luger 01-01-2011 11:25 PM Ruien Pete Rose is in for actual reasons.

My Pete Rose remark hit a nerve and I got negative repped because somewhere in wrestling WWE has "actual reasoning" to put Pete Rose in the HOF.

**Jura** · 01-02-2011, 12:30 AM

**DLVH84** · 01-02-2011, 12:50 AM

I'd say Lex deserved to be in. With Lex, there's some highs and some lows that level each other out, but in some ways, he better than Batista.

Lex's positives...
Longest-reigning United States Heavyweight Champion ever.
WCW Grand Slam Champion (World, U.S., TV, Tag Team)
Co-winner of the 1994 Royal Rumble (with Bret Hart)
Bodyslammed 550-pound Yokozuna

Lex's negatives...
Four Horseman from March 1987 - January 1988
Incompetence killed Miss Elizabeth

**Aguakate** · 01-02-2011, 12:57 AM

**Fignuts** · 01-02-2011, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xero

/thread

People need to stop saying this. Koko was a great wrestler and multiple tag team champ in the territory days. It's still debateable whether he should be in, but it's not the clear cut case people make it out to be.

**SlickyTrickyDamon** · 01-02-2011, 01:34 AM

Liz needs to be in the Hall of Fame before her killer.

**Jordan** · 01-02-2011, 02:30 AM

Lex was a real star to me as a kid. I really enjoyed the time when Shawn Michaels was the WWF Champion and Lex was the WCW Champion, they were the perfect representative as to what their companies were about.

Sure he had a really really bad downfall and his life has been seemingly unbearable he has stood up like a man and changed for the better. As well as committing his life to helping others through God.

So all in all he is a dynamic story in the wrestling business that should probably be made into a movie at some point. And I think that due to his huge place in the wrestling industry in the 80's and 90's he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. A guy who was famous for his body, and if he was in the ring with a work horse could be apart of an excellent match from time to time.

I think it would be great to have Randy Savage, Miss Elizabeth, and Luger all inducted into The Hall of Fame this year, for the "WCW appeal".

**Rammsteinmad** · 01-02-2011, 03:11 AM

I'm not his biggest fan, but I'm all for it, it's not like he hasn't done anything to deserve.

**whiteyford** · 01-02-2011, 09:02 AM

He was a main eventer in both WWF and WCW, dont see why he shouldnt be.

**Providence Peep** · 01-02-2011, 09:44 AM

Do you guys know that on April 19, 2003, Luger was arrested for a "domestic dispute"? Apparantly he and Elizabeth got into some kind of argument and it ended with him giving her two black eyes, a cut lip and a bump on her head. This was published in the Marietta Daily Journal. He was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and released on $2500 bond.

Two days later, on April 21, 2003, Luger was arrested for DUI. On this charge, Luger's Porsche struck another car in the rear. When Police arrived they found Luger under the influence. The Police Report states that Luger's speech was slurred, and his eyes were bloodshot. His drivers license was suspended due to not responding in court for a summons he received of driving with an expired registration and no insurance.

I'm not saying he should definitely be excluded from the HOF. I'm just not sure whether he ought to be inducted or not. I was wondering if any of you felt the same way, but I guess I have my answer.

**whiteyford** · 01-02-2011, 09:53 AM

With the exception of probably Benoit, i guess you have to judge them solely on what the accomplished in ring, otherwise a good chunk of the HOF would never have been admitted.

**Providence Peep** · 01-02-2011, 10:23 AM

Ok, so just to clarify, Benoit shouldn't be inducted because of what he did. But Luger should be inducted, despite beating up a woman and putting the lives of other people at risk by driving drunk. Got it.

**whiteyford** · 01-02-2011, 10:27 AM

Considering how many wrestlers have DUI's you'd have to remove alot from future HOF consideration, and probably a few already in it. Luger was never convicted, granted he couldnt be, but still. Steve Austin was convicted in 2002 for domestic abuse so he should be removed?

**Jura** · 01-02-2011, 11:11 AM

COLD STONE! COLD STONE! BAHGAWD!!

**Schlomey** · 01-02-2011, 11:45 AM

I said earlier that Luger should get in...Let me add that if they let Luger in the HOF they HAVE to let Jake Roberts in. OK get on it.

**Schlomey** · 01-02-2011, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jura

COLD STONE! COLD STONE! BAHGAWD!!

They sing when you tip them!

**Fignuts** · 01-02-2011, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YoungFlyFlashy

My Pete Rose remark hit a nerve and I got negative repped because somewhere in wrestling WWE has "actual reasoning" to put Pete Rose in the HOF.

People also need to stop saying this. Pete Rose is not in the wrestling hall of fame. He is in the Celebrity hall of fame. I dfo not understand why the existince of this SEPERATE wing of the hof is such an issue for people. Wrestling, and more specifically WWE, has always been as much about the pageantry as it has the wrestling, and a celebrity wing is totally justified.

**Fignuts** · 01-02-2011, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Providence Peep

Ok, so just to clarify, Benoit shouldn't be inducted because of what he did. But Luger should be inducted, despite beating up a woman and putting the lives of other people at risk by driving drunk. Got it.

BENOIT MURDERED HIS WIFE AND A FUCKING 7 YEAR OLD IN COLD BLOOD

Come the fuck on, people.

**Loose Cannon** · 01-02-2011, 01:08 PM

same thing obviously

**Fox** · 01-02-2011, 01:26 PM

In 5th grade, my friend used to Torture Rack people in the hallways and shit.

Lex should go in.

XL · 01-02-2011, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YoungFlyFlashy

Let him in. They let Pete Rose in, let Luger in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xero

/thread

I was waiting for those "arguments".

XL · 01-02-2011, 06:05 PM

As for Luger, he defiantely deserves to be for his wrestling "legacy" even if he did/does have his "demons".

I asked the same question of Jake Roberts and most said he deserved in. TBF a lot said a post-humus induction might be best, so maybe the same deal for Luger? *shrugs*

01-01-2011, 09:15 PM	#1
Providence Peep Posts: 4,371	Lex Luger Do you guys think Luger should be in the Hall of Fame?! "If you snort it, spray it, shoot it, inject it, I did it, buddy. Or I was around it. That was my life. Alcohol? I abused it all, buddy. I took a lot of pills. I was a pill popper." - Lex Luger, aka "The Total Package" KENNESAW, Ga. - Just before high noon, sun scorching down so intensely that it softens the asphalt, a sweet, white and black '66 Caddy Sedan de Ville rolls up to within a few yards of the Golden Corral, a buffet joint. Out steps an old egotistical, narcissistic heel clad in khaki pants, a plaid cotton shirt and sandals. In a matter of moments, Lex Luger abruptly breaks into wrestling character, a cocksure grin on his tanned face. He tilts his head and rolls his eyes up to the blue heavens. He pushes up his right sleeve to flex his ripped, ham-bone-sized bicep. Then, just as suddenly, the shtick ends. With metal cane in hand, Luger hobbles off to lunch. For the next couple hours, between trips to the chow line and chats with the folks who wander by his table, the 49-year-old Luger spins his horror stories about Lex as a younger man. That Lex dabbled in so many prescription narcotics, recreational drugs, cocktails and steroids, Luger says, that it's a wonder he hasn't joined the growing list of dead-before-their-time pro wrestlers, which unofficially numbers more than 100 over the past decade. In a quiet moment he recalls sitting helpless in the wee hours as his girlfriend, wrestling personality Miss Elizabeth, died four years ago in the townhouse they shared. The cause, according to the coroner's report, was "acute toxicity" brought on by a smorgasbord of prescription painkillers and vodka. "I take a lot of responsibility for that -- my influence in her life," he says. "Her little heart and body couldn't take what I was doing." Later on the day Miss Elizabeth died, police found more than 1,000 illegal pills during a search of their suburban Atlanta townhouse. Eventually, Luger was charged with 13 counts of felony drug possession, for which he received probation as a first offender. He later went to jail for a parole violation in 2006, which is when he came across prison chaplain Steve Baskin, whom he credits with helping turn his life around. The new Lex, a born-again Christian, eagerly shares what he calls "confessions of a drug abuser." He is down-to-earth and contrite, even as he occasionally reverts to the larger-than-life character who won multiple championship belts and was one of professional wrestling's headliners in his heyday. He rails now against the dangers of drug abuse -- the pill-popping, the steroids, the recreational substances. Mostly, he does it by urging the abusers to come clean and to get clean. And where better to start than by making an example of himself and his hellish skid from fame and fortune, which saw him go from a $1 million-a-year wrestling gig to temporary residence in a spare bedroom of his minister's apartment. "Wow, I believe I was so close to dying so many times from overdoses," says Luger, who claims his lone physical ailment at the moment is a broken-down hip due for surgery sometime this fall. 'One heart beat away,' I tell people in my faith-based speaking. That, I believe, is why God put me in a role to shed light on the situation in our culture and in our sports. Our sports are affecting our culture. "It's the ends justifies the means in sports. We are taught that since we were little. The old, 'Do whatever you got to do to win, to be the best. Step over, step on and step through.' So that is how all this performance-enhancing drugs got into our culture. And that leads to guys wanting to take shortcuts. And then, cheat until you get caught, and then lie." Luger can trace his own introduction to steroids to a long-ago football career. He played in college as an offensive guard at Penn State and, later, at the University of Miami. In the early 1980s, he had stints in three different pro leagues -- the Canadian Football League, National Football League and the now-defunct United States Football League. In 1979, Luger played for Miami, which featured future All-Pro quarterback Jim Kelly and current University of Georgia coach Mark Richt, until he was booted off the team for an incident that wasn't drug-related. When he left the Hurricanes, he moved less than an hour up Florida's Sun Coast to Fort Lauderdale, where he worked as a bouncer at a popular night spot until the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL called with a tryout offer. "I wanted to look good on the beach, so I had slimmed down to about 235,'' says Luger, who was born Larry Pfohl in Buffalo, N.Y. "Now here it's February and camp starts in May. And I was an offensive guard. Back then, they were quick, pulling guards -- not 300-pound monsters. But I needed to be at least like 255. "So I had to gain weight quick -- the unethical, cheating shortcut. Guy in the gym said, 'Buddy, these little blue pills are called Dianabol.' And I took four a day, five milligrams apiece. You get on these steroids and you train better, eat more. And you retain water from them. So I gained 15 pounds in about two months. I jumped on it and it worked. "And it is the same old thing: Once you do something one time, it leads to another. And then I started in the offseason, where I would do one cycle for 12 weeks. A friend of mine was an exercise physiologist. She monitored my blood [levels]. I never took it in-season. I'd just take it in the offseason to build as much strength as I could." Dianabol is a powerful anabolic steroid. In 1985, after the demise of the USFL, Luger retired his football pads and took his then-chiseled 6-foot-4, 270-pound physique to the pro wrestling scene, which was evolving into something of a beauty pageant for guys in spandex tights. He learned the ropes kicking around a regional circuit in Florida. Later in his two-decade career, Luger became a marquee character, and shared headliner status with the likes of Sting ("One of the few that stuck by me when my life was a wreck"), Ric Flair and "Macho Man" Randy Savage (Miss Elizabeth's ex-husband). He often played the role of the self-centered bad guy, posing in front of full-length mirrors before his matches. His chemically enhanced physique was part of his costume. "I was on display year round with my shirt off," he says. "So what happens in wrestling is a lot of the guys stay on [steroids]. I never stayed on them year-round. I would go on them for 12 weeks, off them for 12. "I did testosterone and Deca [Durabolin]. It wasn't classified. It wasn't against the law." But in the 1990s, the law and the climate about steroids both changed. Vince McMahon Jr., overseer of the World Wrestling Entertainment enterprise, faced federal steroid distribution charges, a rap he beat. McMahon and others also began drug-testing their in-the-ring performers, although Luger says the wrestlers had little trouble getting around the pee-in-the-bottle routine. The irony is that the sport continued to sell massive, cartoon-like superheroes even during the public steroid fuss. That pitch hasn't changed much. Nor, presumably, has the doping regimens that help build at least some of those ripped, cut physiques. "Vince [McMahon] sells bigger-than-life," Luger says. "And bigger-than-life, what does that mean? A lot of chemically enhanced heroes and villains -- guys my height and size or bigger. You can't see that on the street every day. You have to buy a ticket to see that. So he sells basically the freaks. The modern-era giants. The [Hulk] Hogans, too. I don't mean that disrespectfully. That is meant as a compliment in today's lingo. They are so out of the ordinary." The not-so-veiled message, according to Luger: To pull down oodles of cash, get big. Get bigger. And stay big. And finding drugs to fuel the growth machine never proved to be a problem, Luger says. For him, it was as simple as an online purchase, or hustling up a black-market source. The new Lex Luger won't name names, but he talks about a place in Atlanta where he could pick up a three-month supply of human growth hormone and testosterone, his favorite muscle-builder. He says such sources dot the landscape from Albany to San Francisco. He talks about a man in California who is currently supplying the drugs to hundreds of wrestlers and other pro athletes. When the cops searched Luger's condominium on the day Miss Elizabeth died back in 2003, they found a bag he'd never bothered unpacking. Luger claims his ex-wife had sent it over from his former house in a gated, country club community. According to the police report, it contained an assortment of prescription painkillers, plus a bountiful selection of performance-enhancing substances that ranged from six boxes of human growth hormone to 88 bottles of various anabolic steroids. "I didn't know I had it, and I would never have kept that stuff in my house," Luger says. "I would have had a friend keep it for me. Athletes won't keep it in their house. They'll go over to their friends' house and get their shots and stuff." Along the way through their careers, he says, athletes sometimes latch on to a friendly doctor or two who is willing to help, someone they can rely on to write a prescription for a steroid or a painkiller. From 2004 until this July, Luger says he was obtaining prescriptions for pain medicine, specifically the narcotic hydrocodone, from Dr. Phil Astin III, the 52-year-old Carrollton, Ga., doctor currently under federal indictment for overprescribing medications. Astin treated several pro wrestlers, including Chris Benoit, who committed suicide in June after killing his wife and young son. Luger, however, staunchly defends Astin. He says a gym friend recommended Astin to him, and that the doctor was never a source of steroids. "I was under pain-management therapy or hydrocodone, just legal amounts," Luger says. "I need to have hip surgery that I've been putting off. I do a little hydrocodone and some Advil and Aleve, buddy. That is all I take. That's why I was seeing him -- a little bit of pain management." Painkillers such as hydrocodone, along with other anti-anxiety and mood-altering drugs, appear to be at least as significant a factor as steroids in wrestling's high mortality rate, though. The fruits of the performance-enhancing drugs are as obvious as the sports' neatly scripted matches. Unseen, at least by the public, are the ravages -- sometimes leading to death -- brought on by years of dependency on prescription medications, which are often combined with a steady diet of booze and steroids. Many pro wrestlers, say Luger and others who've competed in the sport, initially turn to painkillers to cope with the nightly rigors and nagging injuries of the circuit. In some cases, a dependency on the narcotics develops. Luger lived that lifestyle while, by his count, he performed 300 days a year. He'd hustle out of an arena after a show, pumped on adrenaline, and then party into the wee hours and catch a 6:30 flight in the morning. Some nights, his head never hit the pillow. He'd roll into the next town, catch a meal, grab some caffeine or ephedrine to keep going, work out in a gym, do another show and start the cycle all over. "With my generation, there was no accountability," he says. "We left the building at 11 o'clock, and you lived dual lives on the road. We were like a big dysfunctional family. We fed off each other. And then we go home and sober up. But unfortunately, drugs are drugs. And the guys let that spill over into their home lives. And if the families didn't get intervention and stuff, a lot of us died. "I was a heartbeat away. I almost overdosed probably dozens of times. I had a really fast metabolism. Part of why Lex stayed so lean wasn't just drugs. God blessed me with a very fast metabolism. I metabolized drugs quickly. That is not good, but it saved my life a bunch of times. I went in deep a bunch of times with pills and alcohol. I was a pill-popper. And I abused alcohol toward the end, real bad. And I got caught with steroids in my house. I am a convicted felon. I deserved it. And I take accountability for that. "I am trying to help others avoid what happened in my life, and my family and friends that I devastated. I dishonored my profession. I dishonored my community, all because I couldn't control myself and got this sick other lifestyle and drug abuse. I want to help our young kids stay away from that." As he heads back to his car, the long lunch finished, Luger says the classic Caddy in which he arrived was a gift from his father last year. His dad tinkers with cars, and restored it a long time ago, painting it in the familiar colors of his son's wrestling garb: white boots with black tights and knee pads. But today's Lex Luger says the younger Lex, the one who was lucky to survive those high-life years on the circuit, went almost 30 years between visits back to his father and the family home in western New York. "I wrestled through there, but never went home," he says, shaking his head. -By Mike Fish, ESPN http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=3016179

01-01-2011, 09:18 PM	#2
CSL Over Like Rover Posts: 38,444	I never been 'a fan' of Luger at all but he should definitely go into the Hall of Fame given who's been inducted in the past.

01-01-2011, 09:20 PM	#3
Schlomey Black Sheep Jew Posts: 8,859	I read the opening sentence. My response is yes. Yes he should be in the HOF. Did I ever care for him personally? No. Not really.

01-01-2011, 09:21 PM	#4
Providence Peep Posts: 4,371	My answer was "yes" until I read that article.

01-01-2011, 09:23 PM	#5
Schlomey Black Sheep Jew Posts: 8,859	I didn't read it so I shouldn't say anything. I will assume it involves Elizabeth, steroids, drugs, and performing while intoxicated.....Regardless, what is on film has historical relevance and was quite popular. In fact, the Lex Express should be the first prop entered into the HOF if they ever go that route.

01-01-2011, 09:24 PM	#6
CSL Over Like Rover Posts: 38,444	He was a professional wrestler in the 1980's. 95% of the current HOF inductees including Hogan, Bret, Flair, DiBiase and so on spent that decade taking as many drugs as possible and could have their name at the top of that article.

01-01-2011, 09:32 PM	#8
Schlomey Black Sheep Jew Posts: 8,859	he used his illegal bionic forearms for years.

01-01-2011, 10:34 PM	#9
Shadrick The black Corey Graves Posts: 3,602	Yes. Definitely. No question.

01-01-2011, 10:58 PM	#10
Nicky Fives b/c 5 is better than 4 Posts: 9,721	I was not a fan, but he still deserves to go in......

01-01-2011, 11:39 PM	#13
YoungFlyFlashy My Space Jam Bitch! Posts: 1,507	Let him in. They let Pete Rose in, let Luger in.

01-01-2011, 11:44 PM	#15
YoungFlyFlashy My Space Jam Bitch! Posts: 1,507	I wonder why Mike Tyson isn't in the HOF yet.

01-01-2011, 11:56 PM	#17
blake639raw The Iconoclast Posts: 2,897	Like him or not, he should surely go in. I'd also throw in Arn Anderson, Ron Simmons, Sting (if they can get him), and maybe a few other WCW guys.

01-01-2011, 11:59 PM	#18
Xero He's Here Posts: 60,735	/thread

01-02-2011, 12:30 AM	#20
Jura ▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬ Posts: 16,011

01-02-2011, 12:50 AM	#21
DLVH84 Samurai Rocker Posts: 2,876	I'd say Lex deserved to be in. With Lex, there's some highs and some lows that level each other out, but in some ways, he better than Batista. Lex's positives... Longest-reigning United States Heavyweight Champion ever. WCW Grand Slam Champion (World, U.S., TV, Tag Team) Co-winner of the 1994 Royal Rumble (with Bret Hart) Bodyslammed 550-pound Yokozuna Lex's negatives... Four Horseman from March 1987 - January 1988 Incompetence killed Miss Elizabeth

01-02-2011, 01:34 AM	#24
SlickyTrickyDamon Quark is Less Impressed. Posts: 38,371	Liz needs to be in the Hall of Fame before her killer.

01-02-2011, 02:30 AM	#25
Jordan It's a blood match! Posts: 27,385	Lex was a real star to me as a kid. I really enjoyed the time when Shawn Michaels was the WWF Champion and Lex was the WCW Champion, they were the perfect representative as to what their companies were about. Sure he had a really really bad downfall and his life has been seemingly unbearable he has stood up like a man and changed for the better. As well as committing his life to helping others through God. So all in all he is a dynamic story in the wrestling business that should probably be made into a movie at some point. And I think that due to his huge place in the wrestling industry in the 80's and 90's he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. A guy who was famous for his body, and if he was in the ring with a work horse could be apart of an excellent match from time to time. I think it would be great to have Randy Savage, Miss Elizabeth, and Luger all inducted into The Hall of Fame this year, for the "WCW appeal".

01-02-2011, 03:11 AM	#26
Rammsteinmad TPWW's #3 Peep Posts: 20,903	I'm not his biggest fan, but I'm all for it, it's not like he hasn't done anything to deserve.

01-02-2011, 09:02 AM	#27
whiteyford Out Of Step Posts: 12,059	He was a main eventer in both WWF and WCW, dont see why he shouldnt be.

01-02-2011, 09:44 AM	#28
Providence Peep Posts: 4,371	Do you guys know that on April 19, 2003, Luger was arrested for a "domestic dispute"? Apparantly he and Elizabeth got into some kind of argument and it ended with him giving her two black eyes, a cut lip and a bump on her head. This was published in the Marietta Daily Journal. He was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and released on $2500 bond. Two days later, on April 21, 2003, Luger was arrested for DUI. On this charge, Luger's Porsche struck another car in the rear. When Police arrived they found Luger under the influence. The Police Report states that Luger's speech was slurred, and his eyes were bloodshot. His drivers license was suspended due to not responding in court for a summons he received of driving with an expired registration and no insurance. I'm not saying he should definitely be excluded from the HOF. I'm just not sure whether he ought to be inducted or not. I was wondering if any of you felt the same way, but I guess I have my answer.

01-02-2011, 09:53 AM	#29
whiteyford Out Of Step Posts: 12,059	With the exception of probably Benoit, i guess you have to judge them solely on what the accomplished in ring, otherwise a good chunk of the HOF would never have been admitted.

01-02-2011, 10:23 AM	#30
Providence Peep Posts: 4,371	Ok, so just to clarify, Benoit shouldn't be inducted because of what he did. But Luger should be inducted, despite beating up a woman and putting the lives of other people at risk by driving drunk. Got it.

01-02-2011, 10:27 AM	#31
whiteyford Out Of Step Posts: 12,059	Considering how many wrestlers have DUI's you'd have to remove alot from future HOF consideration, and probably a few already in it. Luger was never convicted, granted he couldnt be, but still. Steve Austin was convicted in 2002 for domestic abuse so he should be removed?

01-02-2011, 11:11 AM	#32
Jura ▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬ Posts: 16,011	COLD STONE! COLD STONE! BAHGAWD!!

01-02-2011, 11:45 AM	#33
Schlomey Black Sheep Jew Posts: 8,859	I said earlier that Luger should get in...Let me add that if they let Luger in the HOF they HAVE to let Jake Roberts in. OK get on it.

01-02-2011, 01:08 PM	#37
Loose Cannon I'm all there is Posts: 31,811	same thing obviously

01-02-2011, 01:26 PM	#38
Fox "Ask him!" Posts: 10,075	In 5th grade, my friend used to Torture Rack people in the hallways and shit. Lex should go in.

01-02-2011, 06:05 PM	#40
XL Feeling Oof-y Posts: 17,151	As for Luger, he defiantely deserves to be for his wrestling "legacy" even if he did/does have his "demons". I asked the same question of Jake Roberts and most said he deserved in. TBF a lot said a post-humus induction might be best, so maybe the same deal for Luger? shrugs