What's the Best WWF Lex Luger Match? Is it with Crush?

Lex Luger vs. Crush WWF Raw 4/26/93

ER: It's a shame that only about 15% of Luger's WWF run was as a heel, because I feel like our strongest shot at good matches was Luger as a heel. I'm excited to see what his best babyface match will wind up being, and of course still excited for best overall match, but it's wild that the Narcissist only last a few months and then spent two years as the All American. I really love all the talk around Luger's bionic forearm, even Vince sounding like he doesn't know how surgery works when he keeps stating that the screws in Luger's metal plater are nearly poking out of his skin. Vince is out here talking like doctors just put a plate with jagged hardware store screws right under Luger's skin, over the muscle. I remember arguing with kids at school about this, and it's a real testament to the stupid stuff kids will believe if it's repeated enough. Vince is talking about how the screws are sticking out of the skin, the cameras show a close-up of Luger's forearm, then kids at school say "Did you see his arm? You could see where a couple of the screws are popping through the skin!" Meanwhile, Crush is the same color as every single Nerf product.

This is one of the matches that shows what could have been, with Luger as a big bumping stooge for a larger babyface. Luger as a smaller heel rules, and every part of his heel act here is engaging. The knucklelocks are good, he flies into armdrags (also lol at Crush doing armdrags as if it's just a piece of offense that all babyfaces use), with my favorite spot of the match Luger taking a big press slam and rolling out of the ring, running down the Manhattan Center aisle holding his back. As he's running you can even hear him say "What was THAT!?" Luger takes over on the floor and works over Crush's back, including slamming him hard into the ringpost. In the ring he works a nice bearhug and throws down an even better powerslam, and Crush surprises him by picking him up realllll high for a nice back suplex. Luger's skill as a heel is really valuable when it comes to selling the Kona Clutch, as Crush does not bring a lot to the table here. 

Crush seems really distracted while applying the Clutch, and Luger is jumping around and landing on his tailbone even while it looks like Crush is barely clutching him. The finish is a mess, as Crush was probably distracted during the Clutch because he was waiting for a Doink appearance. Both Doinks show up again, now on opposite sides of the Manhattan Center, distracting Crush AGAIN, and letting Luger waste him with the forearm. In the building, I think the finish probably worked. But watching at home, I couldn't believe that Crush was duped again by the two Doinks (and in fact, I had no memory of that feud continuing past WrestleMania), and the camera almost completely missed Luger's match finishing forearm. They were so focused on showing Doinks, that they missed the thing they had spent the entire match talking about. It seemed like a good one, too, as he walloped Crush in the back of the head and Crush sprawled through the ropes to the floor. How do you miss the forearm?

Lex Luger's best WWF match was not with Crush, but it could have been with a better finish. 

1. Lex Luger vs. Tito Santana WWF Mania 3/20/93

2. Lex Luger vs. Crush WWF Raw 4/26/93

3. Lex Luger vs. Mr. Perfect WWF WrestleMania IX 4/4/93

4. Lex Luger vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan WWF UK Rampage 93