Nick Piccone
In the summer of 1993, Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation began a campaign to build their next Hulk Hogan.
Just weeks after Hogan lost the WWF Championship to Yokozuna at the first King of the Ring pay-per-view, Vince and co. decided to turn a great heel in Lex Luger into their next patriotic babyface star. Then they flushed the entire push down the toilet.
But that’s not what we’re here for this week! Vaughn Johnson (@VaughnMJohnson) and I took a deep dive into the All Aboard the Lex Express on the WWE Network to describe in great detail just what the hell was happening in this video. It started out with the Stars and Stripes Challenge on the U.S.S. Intrepid where Luger bodyslammed Yokozuna (you can hear us live commentate that exclusively on Patreon) and ended with the SummerSlam ’93 main event with Yokozuna defending the championship against Luger (you can hear us live commentate that for free at this link).
What Nick and Vaughn do on this episode is explore in-depth the raw footage in between, which seemed like a good two-plus hours. We got a candid look at Luger’s life on the road with the Lex Express, the others who followed him, the events he headlined, and more. Lots of interesting Easter eggs also, including some with a local Philly flavor. You won’t want to miss this one!
Before that, the guys give their thoughts on the WWE Thunderdome, which premiered on SmackDown Friday night.
Listen to more episodes at shootersradio.com.
More links: [Pandora | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeartRadio | Radio.com | TuneIn Radio | Google Podcasts | Player FM]
[Download on ShootersRadio.com]
[Join The Straight Shooters Patreon]
[Patreon exclusive: Wing Bowl Retrospective! From the guys who have been there to cover the event through its eventual end – the stories are aplenty in this one!]
Follow us on Twitter (@ShootersRadio). Like us on Facebook.
You can follow Nick Piccone on Twitter (@nickpiccone) and e-mail him at [email protected]. You can read his pro wrestling articles on PhillyVoice here.
Subscribe to The Straight Shooters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Radio.com, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Player FM, and wherever else you get your podcasts! Follow The Straight Shooters on Twitter (@ShootersRadio), like them on Facebook, and listen to every episode at ShootersRadio.com.
Subscribe, rate, and review all Philly Influencer podcasts here. Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.