Lex Luger Reveals Original WWE Hall of Fame Plans Were Nixed at the Last-Minute

Lex Luger was inducted into the 2025 Hall of Fame and he kicked off the show with DDP, as he cut a wonderful speech about his career and hardships. However, Luger has now revealed what he initially had planned for his Hall of Fame appearance that ultimately got scrapped.

While speaking on Podcast Heat Wrestling, Lex Luger talked about his WWE Hall of Fame experience and the challenges he faced leading up to it. Luger noted that he and DDP had a special plan for the event.

They had spent over a year working on it. Lex was going to walk about 15 feet to the podium with Dallas supporting him. This was a big deal because of Lex’s spinal cord injury, and they knew it would amaze the crowd.

“Dallas and I had a thing where people didn’t know—I was able to walk with Dallas on my own, with just my hand on his shoulder to steady myself. We were going to do about a 15-foot walk. I was coming partway out in my chair during rehearsals, and I was going to walk from there to the podium. We knew that was going to blow a lot of people’s minds. We put 13 months of hard work into that.”

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However, things went wrong the day before the event. While getting out of an Uber at the Atlanta airport, Lex Luger fell. The driver rushed to help and moved the wheelchair too soon. Luger missed the chair, fell hard on the sidewalk, and landed on his weak side. At first, he thought he was okay, nothing was broken but he knew it was a bad fall.

Since his injury, Luger stated that his body tends to shut down to protect itself after a fall. He didn’t want to tell DDP what happened because he didn’t want to let him down after all their hard work. So he tried to rest and stay off his feet to save his strength.

“The day before, on Thursday, flying in… I got out of my Uber at the airport, and my wife Robin—her son’s special needs, so she’s used to working with him—she knows how to put safety rules in place for wheelchairs. The Uber guy was overly exuberant. He got out, jumped out of the car, and had the wheelchair set up from the other side, before Robin could get around.

He had the chair ready for me to get in, and I said, ‘You got the chair? You got it?’ He goes, ‘I got it.’ When I turned to spin into the chair—I kind of do a little spin when I sit down—he panicked. He tried to move the chair with me, and I completely missed it.

We were at the sidewalk in front of Atlanta airport—of all places. Busy weekend. Spring break. That airport’s the busiest in the world. Down I went—hard. And I knew. I knew it was a bad fall on my right side, which is the side I’m most challenged with. I go, ‘Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.’

So once you lay there for about 30 seconds, you realize nothing’s broken or maybe seriously wrong—but I knew I’d taken a really hard fall. There were going to be consequences.

Since my spinal cord injury, my body has this unusual thing it does. When I fall, it kind of shuts down—like it’s going into self-protection mode. Like it’s saying, ‘You’re doing things no one thought you could do with a cervical spinal cord injury. Be thankful—but be careful.’

So yeah, it was a bad fall. I’ve taken a lot of falls—that’s probably one reason I sit more than I want to. I got scared. I didn’t know how bad it was until later.”

I didn’t say anything to Dallas. He’s worked so hard with me. Lester too. Poured his heart and soul—only he knows how to do that—into our work. We spent hundreds of hours to get to that point, to that moment.I didn’t want to disappoint him. So I kept it to myself: ‘Okay, I’ll be okay. I’ll be okay.’ Because I’m a positive guy.”

By the time he got to Las Vegas, Luger’s leg was giving out. Just before the Hall of Fame, he tried to stand and couldn’t but somehow, he managed to get up with help and walked a few steps to the podium. He leaned on it during his speech and said it felt like a miracle that he could do it at all.

“We got backstage, and I knew I was injured. I thought, ‘I don’t want to try to stand too much between now and then, because if I’m going to do this, I have to save it for tomorrow night.’ So I stayed off my feet. When I got off the plane from Atlanta to Vegas, my right leg was buckling. Didn’t want to work. I thought, ‘That ain’t good.’ Right before we went out there—because we were opening the Hall of Fame—I tried to stand, and I just couldn’t do it. So it was really a miracle of God that I was able to stand, take a couple of steps with help, and lean on that podium. It wasn’t easy.”

Even though things didn’t go as planned, Lex Luger still stood out because of his strength and bravery. At the WWE Hall of Fame, his determination showed the world what he’s made of and fans truly respect him for what he did no matter what and that’s not changing.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.

What do you think about Lex Luger’s Hall of Fame journey and the strength he showed during his appearance? Have you ever overcome a setback like Lex did? Sound off in the comments section below.