Jim Ross says WWE locker room privately told Vince McMahon to end superstar's push

Jim Ross has revealed that members of the WWE locker room told Vince McMahon that Lex Luger should not be the company’s top star.

In 1993, Luger was viewed by McMahon as WWE's long-term replacement for Hulk Hogan. The experiment only lasted a few months before McMahon nixed plans to have Luger win the WWE Championship from Yokozuna at SummerSlam 1993.

Ross, a former WWE commentator and executive, spoke about Luger’s two-year WWE run on the latest episode of his Grilling JR podcast. He said a lot of people within WWE were unsure about Luger, including McMahon and his fellow superstars.

“I think there was something, Conrad [Grilling JR host Conrad Thompson], there that Vince had not sold himself on,” Ross said. “There was something missing that was an intangible, as far as it didn’t have an odour, it didn’t have a feel. Just something, a gut feeling that we’re really trying hard with this guy but we don’t seem to be making a lot of headway. A lot of the guys, when they would confide with Vince in private, expressed the fact that he may not be the guy.”

With the #WWEChampionship on the line, @GenuineLexLuger came SO close to capturing the gold against #Yokozuna at #SummerSlam '93! #WWEIcons🎥: @WWENetwork pic.twitter.com/GjpuzqmvgU

— WWE (@WWE) June 30, 2021

Ross added that there was a general feeling in the locker room that Luger was "not a good worker" compared to other superstars. Some people also had concerns that Luger was unable to make his opponents look good in matches.

Vince McMahon’s right-hand man had doubts about Lex Luger

Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson

Bruce Prichard and Pat Patterson worked closely with Vince McMahon on WWE’s creative team in the 1990s.

Ross said Patterson was among those who questioned whether or not Luger had the ability to be WWE’s main star.

“There’s a lot of backstage stuff that goes on and things like that,” Ross said. “But I believe that I think Vince had heard enough of Patterson, and maybe even Bruce, I don’t know, that it was time to move on from this project.”

Many tried, but only ONE "Total Package" was able to bodyslam #Yokozuna 25 years ago, and his name is @GenuineLexLuger! pic.twitter.com/nD3BjKwFlP

— WWE (@WWE) July 5, 2018

Ross said Vince McMahon “hated to give up” on ideas, which is why he booked Lex Luger and Bret Hart as co-winners of the 1994 Royal Rumble. The storyline development kept Luger in the main-event scene until McMahon ultimately decided to go with Hart as WWE’s next top guy.

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Please credit Grilling JR and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.