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Lawrence Pfohl (Lex Luger) (born June 2, 1958 in Buffalo, New York) is an American professional wrestler and former professional football player.
Pfohl was a student at Pennsylvania State University, where he played football before transferring to the University of Miami in 1978. He later played football for the Memphis Showboats and Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League, the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, and the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League.
A metal plate was inserted into Pfohl's forearm after a serious motorcycle accident he suffered in 1992; however, he turned this into an advantage, using it as a gimmick in the ring (he claimed that when he hit opponents with his elbows, he did extra damage). He was a two-time WCW World Champion.
When he joined the WWF, he used the "Narcissist" gimmick, widely considered to be one of the lamest gimmicks in professional wrestling, where he posed before a full-length mirror before matches. After Hulk Hogan left, Vince McMahon needed a new "Real American," and Lex Luger got the job. In a memorable event, then-WWF champion Yokozuna (Rodney Anoai) challenged any American athlete to bodyslam him on the deck of the USS Intrepid in an event on July 4, 1993. After a series of professional athletes and wrestlers tried and failed to lift him, Luger arrived on the scene and bodyslammed him (with a little help from Yoko himself).
Pfohl was chosen by Vince McMahon to claim the then-WWF World championship in the main event of Wrestlemania X. This began a nine month plan in which the WWF had even taped an interview with Pfohl as champion to show the night after gaining the title. However, he was heavily intoxicated at a bar months before Wrestlemania and told some fans about the outcome of the match. This information spready rapidly, and McMahon opted to have a double main event at Wrestlemania, with Pfohl losing to Yokozuna, and Bret "The Hitman" Hart was chosen to take Pfohl's place in the main event as punishment. Hart claimed the championship that night, with Pfohl never reaching the coveted title.
Pfohl is now facing 13 drug charges in Marietta, Georgia after the May 1, 2003 suspicious death of his companion, WWE figure Miss Elizabeth.
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