History
Lex Luger had been feuding with Sting. That feud culminated in a match at the 1999 Starrcade, and it was a match that Luger was having problems with. Finally Elizabeth hit the ring with her trusty can of mace. She sprayed Sting with it to discover the can was full of Silly String. He ordered her out of the ring and continued the assault on Luger. Finally Elizabeth grabbed Sting’s bat and cracked him with it, drawing a DQ for Luger. After the match, she grabbed a chair and put Sting’s hand in it. Luger stomped the chair, then whacked Sting’s arm with the bat. Sting wound up needing help from the ring.
The next night on Nitro it was announced that Sting had suffered a broken wrist. That was followed up by Luger mocking Sting from the rafters while Liz carried a bat.
Luger came back out a week later, again dressed as Sting and continued mocking him. This time the lights went out and when they came back up there were black roses in the ring.
Luger faced off against Tank Abbott on the next Nitro. Luger was still dressed as Sting. The match ended before it began as Luger avoided all contact with Abbott until Liz could mace him for the DQ. After the match, Jerry Flynn ran in and attacked Abbott. As Luger and Liz left, they froze as they spotted a crow.
On the January 12th Thunder, Luger and Liz reappeared at the end of a match where Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Champagne Chris Kanyon. Luger (still in the Sting garb) cracked Bigelow with the bat and then got set for the Scorpion Deathlock. The lights went out and we saw the crow again. Luger cleared out and headed to the back with Liz. Afterward, Bigelow was yelling after Luger until Kanyon brained him with a champagne bottle and hit him with his finisher.
A week later, Luger had dropped the Sting gear as he faced off against Bigelow. Bigelow was set to hit the Greetings from Asbury Park when Kanyon hit the ring. Bigelow was able to fight off Kanyon, but then Luger grabbed the champagne bottle and blasted Bigelow with it. Luger then got the pinfall and the win.
Thunder saw Luger teaming with Sid to take on Harlem Heat (Booker T and Big T (formerly known as Ahmed Johnson)). Booker wound up in the Torture Rack to give the win to Luger.
Luger faced off against Booker on the following Nitro. After a match that saw Liz distracting the referee to help Luger and then Stevie Ray distract the ref to allow Big T to nail Booker with a slapjack, Luger got the win with the Torture Rack. Afterward, a figure appeared at the top of the ramp pointing a baseball bat at Luger before it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
On Thunder, Luger faced Buff Bagwell. Buff wound up hitting the Blockbuster, only to be stopped by a bat-wielding Liz. After Luger nailed Buff a few more times with the bat, he slipped Bagwell’s hand inside a chair but was unable to do anything before he was pulled off.
Luger took on Brian Knobbs on Nitro, with Finlay as the guest referee. The match ended when Finlay wouldn’t let Knobbs hit a splash, and then Liz hit Knobbs with a bat. Finlay just walked off as Luger put Knobbs’s arm in a chair and stomped it. Luger also kept calling out Hulk Hogan.
On Thunder, Hogan made his return by talking to Gene Okerlund, who was quick to bring up Luger’s comments. Hogan then verbally attacked Luger, which was Luger and Liz’s cue to head to the ring. Then we saw a Sting look-alike standing at the top of the ramp pointing a bat at the ring. Hogan took advantage of the opportunity to attack Luger from behind and give Liz an atomic drop. Hogan ducked a Luger swing with the bat and then ran him out of the ring as well.
Nitro saw Luger head to the ring with a Hulkster chair. While he was trashing Hogan, Jimmy Hart came out. Hart defended Hogan, and Luger pointed out that Hogan had attacked Liz. Luger put Hart in the Torture Rack, then dropped him, slipped his hand into the chair, and stomped it.
Finlay was Luger’s opponent on Thunder. Finlay won the match by DQ when Liz cracked him in the leg with the bat. Afterward Luger stomped Finlay’s arm in the chair. As Finlay was leaving, Knobbs grabbed Finlay’s arm and slammed it into the ring.
On Nitro Luger was facing off against Terry Funk. Funk got the win after Liz slid a chair in to Luger and he clocked Funk with it. After the match, Luger prepared to break Funk’s arm only to be stopped by Funk’s fellow Old Age Outlaw Arn Anderson.
But Luger’s night wasn’t over. Ric Flair took on Hulk Hogan in the semi main event. Flair wound up popping Hogan with brass knucks, and that brought out Jimmy Hart. Hart tried to tell the referee what had happened and got punched by Flair for payment. Hogan hit the legdrop and in came Luger. Hart stopped Luger by hitting him with his cast. He then went after Elizabeth, but Luger stopped him. Luger then stopped Terry Funk from running in. After that, Hogan fought off both Luger and Flair. Hogan cleared the ring and started posing. That was Luger’s cue to attack Hogan with a bat from behind. After Hogan dropped, Luger took advantage of the opportunity to slide Hogan’s arm into a chair and stomp it. Luger then kept beating Hogan’s arm with his bat for good measure.
Luger came out on Thunder to brag about taking out Hogan and to announce a partnership with Ric Flair. That brought Terry Funk and Dustin Rhodes out to challenge for a match.
The main event saw that match. Flair and Luger won the match after Flair got a Luger-bat-assisted Figure Four leglock. Afterward, Flair, Luger, and Liz cleared out as Terry Funk threw a chair into the ring.
Luger faced Hogan at Superbrawl. Liz wound up saving Luger by hitting Hogan with the bat, and Hogan chased her around the ring before Jimmy Hart caught up with her and took it away from her. As Hogan prepared to hit the leg drop, Luger caught him with a low blow. That brought Hart into the ring to clock Luger with his cast. Hogan got the win with the leg drop, and then Flair came in to attack Hogan. We then came full circle as Sting came out to save Hogan.
Nitro opened with Luger bashing Sting, only for his interview to be interrupted by Hogan, who demanded a cage match.
Later in the night, Flair and Luger jumped Jimmy Hart, brought him out to the ring, and began beating him up. Hogan came out, Security got rid of Flair and Hart, and the match was on. Luger finally got Hogan in the Torture Rack, only for Hogan to hulk up. That brought Flair in to attack. Luger wound up hitting Hogan with a chair and Flair whipped Hogan with his own weightlifting belt. Security came out to try to get control and Luger broke Head of Security Doug Dellinger’s arm.
Thunder saw Luger interfere in a Flair vs. Vampiro match and also wrestle Sid. No one’s arm was broken.
On Nitro the Kidcam caught Buff Bagwell hitting on Liz. That sent Flair and Luger looking for him.
Flair fought off Curt Hennig with a little help from Luger and then Luger lost to Buff (with a little help from Flair). Sting attacked Luger with a bat before Luger could break Buff’s arm.
Luger fought Vampiro on Thunder. Flair and Liz came out to help, and Luger got the win with the Torture Rack after Liz hit him in the back with the bat. After the match, they broke Vampiro’s arm.
Nitro saw Flair taking on Curt Hennig. Despite Luger’s interference, Hennig got the win. Afterward, Luger and Flair attacked with the bat and broke Hennig’s arm. In a nice touch, Arn Anderson came out to save Hennig. Luger was preparing to nail Arn with the bat and Flair waved him off.
Thunder opened with Luger talking to Flair about taking Arn out. Flair, in turn, promised that he could convince Arn to join Team Package.
Hennig then did an interview and said that while he wasn’t medically cleared to compete that night, he had plans for Luger on Nitro.
Flair and Luger came out later and called out Arn Anderson to get him join Team Package. Arn refused and walked away, leaving Flair and Luger in the ring.
Nitro opened with Flair calling out Arn to yell at him for not joining Team Package. Arn retaliated by calling out Hogan. As Hogan attacked Flair, Arn walked away. Hogan hit the big boot, and then Luger hit Hogan with the bat. The referees finally separated everyone as Hogan nursed a wounded shoulder.
Arn later ran into Hennig, who was just arriving. Arn told Hennig that things weren’t the same as when he started, and he was leaving.
Hennig faced off against Luger later. Flair wound up running in to draw the DQ, which brought Hogan in to make the save.
The main event saw Luger and Flair teaming against Hogan and Hennig. Hennig had control of the match when Hogan came in anyway. As the referee shooed Hogan away, Liz slid Luger the bat, which he promptly used to nail Hennig. That brought Hogan into the ring, and that got him and Hennig DQ’d. Liz nailed him in the knee and he went down. The lights went out and Vampiro appeared to attack Flair. When the lights came back up, Sting went after Luger.
Team Package were talking trash on Thunder about Hulk Hogan when Jimmy Hart came out to defend Hogan. Luger finally took Hart down and stripped off his jacket and shirt. That cleared the way for Flair to whip Hart with Hogan’s belt.
That, of course, set up a handicap match – Team Package vs. Hogan.
The match took place, and Hogan wound up chasing Flair outside, drawing a double countout.
That brought us to Uncensored, where Luger faced off against Sting in a lumberjack match. The lumberjacks? All of the people whose arms Luger had been breaking (well, except Hogan, who had his own match against Flair later in the night). Before the match, Luger pointed out that he had his own lumberjacks – the Harris brothers and Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray and Big T) and Hugh Morrus, all of whom had mysteriously broken their arms. Things were going well until Tank Abbott headed to ringside, knocked out Doug Dillenger, and left. That caused a total breakdown that saw all of the lumberjacks except Vampiro start brawling with each other and heading to the back. Flair then came out to take care of Vampiro. Liz hit Sting with a bat, and Jimmy Hart chased her to the back while wielding Hogan’s weight belt. Vampiro used the bat to hit Luger in the legs and Sting locked on the Scorpion Death Lock for the win. Afterward Sting and Vampiro embraced.
This was an interesting angle that actually played out well over several months. It took the old “injury†angle (like Bob Orton with his broken arm, D’Lo Brown with his chest protector, or Luger himself with the steel plate in his forearm) and flipped it, so that the point of the angle was not seeing how the injured party would use his protective gear to cheat, but who would stop him from injuring people.
The biggest shock was when Luger stopped targeting midcarders (and non-wrestlers like Dillenger) and actually injured Hogan. Although Hogan didn’t play any part in the blowoff match with Sting, he got his revenge on Flair later that night.
The blowoff was also planned out quite well (especially for this time period, when Kevin Sullivan was booking and things were happening like the return of the Varsity Club and the debut of the Dog). After getting the fans roused by seeing Luger surrounded by wrestlers with revenge on their minds, the bookers sent out the heel lumberjacks.
Surprisingly enough, this feud gave us a couple of angles that would continue throughout the year. Flair, Elizabeth, and Luger would remain together as Team Package until Luger disappeared from television. In addition, Sting and Vampiro formed the Brothers in Paint team, which would detonate that summer in the Sting/Vampiro feud that culminated in the infamous Human Torch match.
Lex Luger remained with WCW until the company was bought out by the WWF. Luger remained on Time-Warner’s payroll until his contract expired. Luger wound up joining the WWA tour and even made sporadic appearances for TNA in 2003 and 2004. Luger kept making rare independent appearances on the indy circuit, and showed up on TNA Impact in late 2006 alongside Buff Bagwell and Sting.
Elizabeth was released by WCW in August of 2000. In May of 2003, Elizabeth passed away at the townhouse she shared with Lex Luger.
