Football career

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.

He met Bob Roop at a celebrity golfing event and was given the chance to get into professional wrestling. Roop regarded him so highly that he arranged for him to be trained by Hiro Matsuda, who trained Hulk Hogan and "Mr. Wonderful" (Paul Orndorff). He adopted the ring name Lex Luger.

Wrestling career

Luger began wrestling in the NWA Florida territory, and quickly came to dominate the area. He got his first victory on Halloween 1985 against Ed "The Bull" Gantner, and later won the Southern title from Wahoo McDaniel. In 1986, he fought NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair to a 60 minute draw.

Toward the end of his run in Florida, Luger was involved in a now-legendary match with Bruiser Brody, where Brody stopped cooperating, leading to a quick exit from the ring by Luger. Some sources claim that Brody was annoyed with the exiting Luger's boasts about how much money would be making when he left Florida, and decided to teach the youngster a lesson in respect.

World Championship Wrestling

In 1987, Luger went to work for Jim Crockett's World Championship Wrestling, and joined Flair's "Four Horsemen" group. He also began wrestling Sting, who later became his close friend; the two once owned a gym together in Atlanta. Luger went from heel to face many times, whenever the circumstances were best for him. He won multiple NWA/WCW U.S. Titles, multiple NWA/WCW tag team belts, and near the end of his WCW run, was the heavyweight champion. He would eventually be a two-time WCW World Champion. His nickname in the WCW was "The Total Package." His finisher was called "The Human Torture Rack."

World Wrestling Federation

By early 1992, Luger was tired of wrestling in WCW. He sat out for several months before losing to Sting at SuperBrawl II in February. Luger negotiated a departure from WCW, but the terms of that agreement precluded him from wrestling for the rest of 1992. He planned to join the WBF (World Bodybuilding Federation), which was owned by Vince McMahon, and appeared regularly as a co-host on its Saturday-morning program, WBF BodyStars. He was slated to guest pose at a WBF pay-per-view event, but was injured in a motorcycle accident. By the time Luger recovered, the WBF was out of business.

A metal plate was inserted into Luger's forearm after his accident, and Luger later used this misfortune to his advantage by making the metal plate a gimmick in the ring (it was claimed that when he hit opponents with his forearm, he did extra damage).

His initial appearances in the WWF were as The Narcissist, in which he posed before a full-length mirror before matches. After Hulk Hogan left in mid-1993, Vince McMahon needed a new "Real American" hero, and Lex Luger got the job. In a memorable event, then-WWF champion Yokozuna challenged any American athlete to body slam 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 successfully slammed the big man.

Luger was booked to win the then- WWF World championship at WrestleMania X in the first match of a planned double main event involving Luger, Yokozuna, and Bret Hart, and lose the second match to Hart. However, he became heavily intoxicated at a bar just before WrestleMania and told several people (including a local reporter) about the planned outcome. This information spread rapidly, and the WWF opted to change the booking of WrestleMania, with Luger losing to Yokozuna by disqualification, and Hart beating Yokozuna instead. Luger was never given any run with the WWF title.

Luger remained in the WWF for another year. He put over Tatanka at SummerSlam and formed a tag team with the late Davey Boy Smith dubbed the "Allied Powers." Then in late August 1995, Luger got a call from Eric Bischoff asking him if he'd like to jump ship back to the WCW. In an interview with Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Luger claimed he was wrestling without a contract and could, therefore, leave unannounced. Lex Luger's last match for the WWF was on September 1, 1995 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Vince McMahon was very unhappy with this abrupt departure because Luger reportedly gave McMahon his "word" about staying.

Years later, Eric Bischoff would admit that he was never a fan of Lex Luger's on a personal or professional level. Bischoff only made the decision to talk to Luger at the behest of Luger's longtime friend Sting. Bischoff then offered Luger 20% less money that he was making in the WWF. Bischoff at first believed that Luger was going to turn the contract down anyway but at the very least, Bischoff could go back to Sting and tell him that he "tried."

World Championship Wrestling

Luger's first appearance in WCW upon his return was his shocking entrance at the first WCW Monday Nitro on September 4, 1995. Luger first showed up during the very first match on Nitro between Sting and Ric Flair, walking out in the aisle to briefly observe, which prompted the surprised crowd to begin a "Luger" chant. Later that night, Luger appeared from the crowd and assisted Hulk Hogan during a group brawl at the end of Hogan's match with big Bubba Rogers. A week later, he wrestled Hogan from the WCW World Title but the match ended in a no contest when Kevin Sullivan's "Faces Of Fear" interfered. For the next several months, Luger played a tweener character who seemed to side with various wrestlers and feuded with others. Sting, who was a face, continued to stay on Luger's side due to their friendship.

When the nWo split, he was a member of the nWo Wolfpac. At the time WCW was purchased by the WWF, Luger was a member of Ric Flair's heel group, The Magnificent Seven with his "Totally Buff" tag team partner, Buff Bagwell. The other members were Jeff Jarrett, Road Warrior Animal, Rich and Scott Steiner. Luger's WCW contract was not part of the WWF's purchase of WCW's assets, and Luger collected the remainder of his guaranteed contract through a subsidiary of Time-Warner that had been set up to handle outstanding debts and business from WCW.

Personal life

Pfohl is divorced and has two children, a son, Brian and a daughter, Lauren .

Semi-retirement

In 2002, Luger toured Europe and Australia with the short-lived World Wrestling All-Stars promotion.

In November 2003, Luger had a tag team match with Jeff Jarrett against Sting and AJ Styles in TNA. Styles was able t secure a roll-up for the victory. Later that month he returned briefly to put A.J. Styles in the torture rack, but soon thereafter he left the company all together.

On October 8, 2005, Luger headlined the launch of a new televised wrestling show called Action Wrestling Entertainment.

Legal problems

On April 19, 2003, Pfohl was involved in a domestic dispute with his then-current live-in girlfriend, former valet Elizabeth Hulette,(best known as Miss Elizabeth, was a U.S. professional wrestling manager) in the garage of their townhouse in Marietta, Georgia; Pfohl had allegedly struck her. Cobb County police found Elizabeth with two bruised eyes, a bump on her head and a cut lip. Pfohl was charged with a misdemeanour count of battery and released on $2,500 bond. Two days later on April 21, Pfohl was arrested for driving under the influence after rear-ending another car while driving his Porsche. According to the report on the arrest, Pfohl had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and could not locate his driver's license. Pfohl had a 9 mm handgun in the car. Elizabeth was a passenger in the vehicle, and was sent home in a taxicab. Pfohl was also driving with a suspended license for not appearing in court on March 5, 2003 for a hearing on a previous offence (driving with expired tags and having no proof of insurance).

On May 1,2003, in Marietta, Georgia,Pfohl called 911 and said Elizabeth Hulette Pfohl companion, was not breathing. The 911 operator told him to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation but she did not respond. Paramedics rushed her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Hulette died in the townhouse they shared in Marietta, after mixing pills of hydrocodone, Alprazolam (Xanax), and anabolic steroids (testosterone and sazien) with vodka. Pfohl was arrested later that day after a search of the residence revealed a number of illicit controlled substances, including anabolic steroids, OxyContin, synthetic growth hormone, testosterone, and Alprazolam. He was charged with 14 drug possession counts, 13 of them felonies. He was released the following day on $27,500 bail. Hulette's death was eventually ruled accidental. Pfohl pled guilty to the charges on February 3, 2005. He was given a $1,000 fine, sentenced to five years probation, and required to submit to periodic drug testing.

Friends of Elizabeth said the two were planning on getting married sometime in 2003.

Her final resting place is in Frankfort, Kentucky, at the Frankfort Cemetery next to her grandparents, the Sorgs.

In December 2005, Pfohl and fellow wrestlers Marcus "Buff" Bagwell and Scott Steiner were removed from a flight from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Canada. They were detained for several hours before Bagwell and Steiner were released, while Pfohl was held without bail as a result of two outstanding felony charges in the state of Georgia (he had neglected to obtain permission to leave the country from his parole officer). Pfohl was detained in the Hennepin County jail for two weeks before being extradited to Georgia to stand trial on December 22, 2005. Pfohl was sentenced to nine weeks imprisonment, and was released in February 2006.

Trinity Broadcasting Network appearance

On September 28, 2006, Pfohl appeared on Praise the Lord, the flagship talk program of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and declared himself a born again Christian. In an interview conducted by guest host Steve Borden (known as "Sting" in wrestling), Pfohl emotionally discussed the downward turn of his career and personal life -- including the events surrounding Hulette's death -- and how it led to his religious conversion.

Present Circumstances

Pfohl credits Steve Baskin, the pastor of Western Hills Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia, with pulling him from a terminal tailspin. The jail chaplain met Pfohl in early 2006 and sensed the former wrestler was spiritually bankrupt. As of July 2007, Pfohl lives in a spare bedroom in Baskin's apartment and is trying to figure out a path in life. Pfohl also is an admitted steroid user who says he took handfuls of pills a day in a recent interview.

Spinal Stroke

On October 19, 2007, Pfohl suffered a nerve impingement in his neck that led to temporary paralysis. He was at Stanford Hospital in stable condition. He underwent intravenous antibiotic treatment and was expected to make a full recovery.

Pfohl issued a statement thanking all of his fans for their continued support. He mentions that doctors are puzzled how this happened, and are not sure if the damage done is permanent. He continues to say that life is fragile, and not to take it for granted.

Nearly a month after his "spinal stroke", Pfohl was finally transferred from California to an Atlanta hospital. He was still in a quadriplegic state, having no movement in either his arms or legs. Pfohl was scheduled to have hip replacement surgery the week before, had it not been for the stroke. Doctors had told him that they would be amazed if he was able to walk without the surgery.

Despite regaining some feeling and movement, Pfohl still remains paralyzed.

Nikita Koloff appeared on the Wrestling-Radio.com online show and gave an update on Pfohl. He said he's traveled twice recently to see Pfohl. He said Pfohl is still in a wheelchair after the San Francisco wrestling convention fiasco, and that for a long time, he was paralyzed from the neck down. After Pfohl spent a week at Stanford Hospital, tests determined nothing. He was sent to an Atlanta rehab facility where their testing also came back with no answers. According to Koloff, "Lex said his spinal column short circuited," but lately he's been making "remarkable improvement." According to Koloff, Pfohl can lift his legs and move his torso, and can hold a can in his hand. Koloff quoted Pfohl as saying, "I've had 49 good years with these legs, and if I never walk again, I'll be the best wheelchairer for Jesus you've ever seen."