History
By mid 1994, Ted DiBiase had retired from in-ring competition and had formed his own stable – the Million Dollar Corporation. The first members were former tag team partner Irwin R. Schyster (IRS and Nikolai Volkoff.
On the June 20th Raw, DiBiase had arranged for Nikolai to take on the 123 Kid to determine the number one contender to the WWF title. The Kid defeated Nikolai after faking a knee injury, which caused Nikolai to attack the Kid after the match. That brought out Virgil to save him and threatened to attack DiBiase. Volkoff put an end to that, and that brought out Luger for the save. DiBiase spotted Luger coming and waved Volkoff off, giving Luger a thumbs-up on the way out. At the end of the show, DiBiase made a remark about how Luger would do well as a member of the Corporation. All he needed was a little guidance.
The next week, Luger had a match against Mike Bell. He quickly won as a smiling DiBiase watched from the entranceway. The show closed with DiBiase announcing that he had just purchased Bam Bam Bigelow and that Luger was next.
Two weeks later, DiBiase was Jerry Lawler’s guest on the King’s Court. DiBiase proudly announced that he’d already purchased Luger, but Luger just had to sign the contract.
The following Raw opened with Tatanka discussing how disappointed he was in Luger for selling out. We followed that with a match where Luger challenged Diesel for the Intercontinental title. DiBiase was nowhere to be seen. As Raw went to a commercial, we saw DiBiase watching the match from the rafters.
When we returned, DiBiase was gone. The match soon degenerated into chaos as Shawn Michaels tried to help Diesel, which brought Razor Ramon out to get his hands on Michaels. As the referee announced the match was a double DQ, DiBiase emerged from the back, took a look at what was going on, and headed back through the curtain.
As the show closed, DiBiase joined the announcers, who immediately began questioning him as to whether Luger had joined the Corporation or not. DiBiase laughed them off, only saying that he would soon have a major announcement that would rock the WWF. That brought Tatanka out, who demanded to know if Luger had joined him or not. DiBiase got angry, told Tatanka that he was just jealous that he hadn’t tried to sign him, and concluded by betting $10,000 that he couldn’t beat Nikolai Volkoff the next week.
Raw opened the next week with footage from the weekend’s episode of Superstars. DiBiase brought Luger out, but before Luger could give any information as to his status, Tatanka came out and demanded an answer. Luger told Tatanka firmly that he hadn’t sold out.
That led to the Tatanka/Volkoff match. Tatanka easily won, and DiBiase agreed to pay up, although he still knew that Tatanka couldn’t defeat “his†Lex Luger. Luger came out and got into an argument with Tatanka, with Luger shooting DiBiase a glance as he left.
On Raw the next week, it was announced that, following the argument, a match between Luger and Tatanka had been signed for Summerslam.
The next week’s Raw showed footage again from Superstars, this time where Luger was on Shawn Michaels’s Heartbreak Hotel. Luger admitted he’d met with DiBiase, but again denied signing any sort of contract with him.
Luger then had a match with Chad Miller. DiBiase came out for a few minutes and left. When the cameras caught up with him backstage after Luger had won, DiBiase still refused to give any details.
Following that, Tatanka and Doink faced off against IRS and Bigelow. The two overpowered Doink and then attacked Tatanka. That brought Luger out for the save. DiBiase shoved money into Luger’s hand just as Tatanka turned around. There was Luger, with a fistful of money and Bigelow appearing to be holding Luger back.
The show closed with Luger storming into DiBiase’s dressing room, and Nikolai letting him by with no problems. As Luger demanded to see DiBiase, Tatanka walked by, catching sight of Luger again in DiBiase’s room.
The next week’s Raw had DiBiase promising to be in Luger’s corner on that weekend’s Sunday Night Slam.
Luger opened the show against Crush. Everything was going normally until we returned from an ad break to discover that DiBiase was now at ringside. As Crush gained control of the match, DiBiase headed closer to the ring, waving a handful of cash. Crush slapped the money out of his hand and turned around for a Luger forearm that put him down for the three count. After the match, Luger didn’t see DiBiase as he was bent over picking up the money.
That brought us to Summerslam. Luger and Tatanka were in mid-match when DiBiase headed to the ring with a bag full of money. Luger turned to yell at DiBiase, and that was the opening Tatanka needed to roll him up for the win. Afterward, Luger was going after DiBiase, when Tatanka attacked him from behind to officially join the Corporation.
And that was about that. The feud would linger on with the final closure coming at Survivor Series, where Luger, Mabel, Adam Bomb, and the Smoking Gunns faced off against DiBiase’s team of Tatanka, Bam Bam, King Kong Bundy, and the Heavenly Bodies. The closure occurred when Luger was the one responsible for eliminating Tatanka.
It’s hard to understand why this feud failed when on paper it looks so good. A vile heel starts hinting that one of the promotion’s top babyfaces is turning and joining him. The denials just make it more and more obvious that the turn is coming. Then the swerve occurs. Another top babyface turns instead.
The problem was that the WWF overplayed their hand. All the announcers talked about week after week was: Is Lex Luger joining the Million Dollar Man? Add in the fact that Tatanka suddenly took a great interest in Luger, and the fans had everything figured out by Summerslam.
Another flaw was the fact that neither Tatanka or Luger were overly skilled on the microphone. Neither of them were particularly convincing with their accusations or denials, and the crowd noted this.
The final problem was the fact that the WWF was still trying to turn Luger into the next Hulk Hogan, and the fans weren’t buying it any more than they bought Tatanka as a top heel.
In the end, Luger came out almost unscathed, but Tatanka suffered through a mediocre heel run that lasted almost until the end of his WWF tenure.
Lex Luger formed a tag team with Davey Boy Smith going into 1995 that was known as the Allied Powers. Later that year Luger made headlines as he left the WWF and jumped to WCW to make a surprise debut on Nitro in a move that would become common as Nitro established itself. Luger would remain in WCW until the company was bought out in 2001. Since Luger’s contract was not picked up by the WWF, he began touring with the World Wrestling All-Stars in late 2002. He also made sporadic appearances with TNA and other independent promotions. In October of 2007, Luger was at a fan convention when a nerve incident led to paralysis. In November Luger was transferred to an Atlanta hospital. As of this date Luger is still unable to move his arms and legs.
Tatanka left the WWF in early 1996. WCW’s Eric Bischoff immediately offered him a major contract, which he declined. Tatanka spent nearly the next decade making occasional indy appearances. In 2005, he was re-signed by the WWE and returned as Tatanka. In January of 2007 Tatanka was released from his WWE contract.
