WWE legend Lex Luger gets candid about Miss Elizabeth’s tragic drug death

[Liz]

Former pro wrestling star Lex Luger opened up about the drug overdose death of Miss Elizabeth, his girlfriend at the time with whom he partook in a self-destructive cycle of drugs and alcohol.

Luger was the subject of the most recent documentary in A&E's "WWE Legends" series, which airs on Sunday nights.

The episode on Luger, 64, depicted his roller-coaster career that peaked when he was the first babyface to defeat the nWo's "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan for the WCW world championship on "Nitro" in 1997. This arc was a moment that stands out in the fabled "Monday Night Wars" between WCW and the then-WWF, even though Luger dropped the belt back to Hogan later that week.

WCW boss Eric Bischoff explained in the doc he had not wanted to sign Luger, whose character was a super-buff narcissist and didn't leave a great taste with the promotion when he bolted for WWF years earlier. However, Luger signed a "prove it" deal worth about $150,000, which was very low for WCW at the time, and earned his way back up the ladder with a good attitude and compelling TV performances.

Luger, whose real name is Lawrence Pfohl, teamed with Sting and Randy Savage in the match where Scott Hall and Kevin Nash revealed Hogan as the third member of the nWo at the famous 1996 "Bash at the Beach" pay-per-view. Hogan, Hall and Nash proceeded to demolish their opponents as fans hurled hundreds of garbage projectiles into the ring, and longtime Hogan admirer "Mean" Gene Okerlund interrogated him as part of the storyline on how he could do such a thing.

Over a year later when Luger defeated Hogan, the WCW locker room sprinted out to the ring to revel in a seminal moment.

This was arguably the high point of Luger's career, but a toxic turn was to come.

Luger and Miss Elizabeth, real name Elizabeth Ann Hulette, began seeing each other. Both were married at the time. Miss Elizabeth was famously the wife of Randy Savage on-and off-air, but they had split years earlier, and she was in another marriage.

"Obviously something neither of us should have been doing, but it just progressed from there," Luger said.

Sting, the close friend and on-screen tag-team partner of Luger, said the locker room was all of the "what are you doing?" opinion of the relationship — "but there was no getting through [to them]."

"The two had a clandestine relationship, but they were both participating a little too much in the pharmaceutical side of the recreational activities," Bischoff said in the documentary.

Luger, looking back 20-25 years, recognizes that he was in a downward spiral with increased drug and alcohol use.

Nash recalled that Luger could be out partying until 4 a.m. after a show, and up at 9 a.m. ready to work out and get to the next town.

Luger thought at the time that because he was so disciplined with his physique and career, he never considered that he could succumb to addiction.

In 2001, Vince McMahon and WWE bought out WCW. "Nitro's" surging ratings in the early nWo era were now handily defeated by WWE "Raw," plus the acquisition of WCW parent company Time Warner by AOL left little appetite in the company for pro wrestling.

Having been given a lucrative new deal after successfully "proving it" to Bischoff, Luger was on a big-money, guaranteed contract for several years that WWE — with a virtual monopoly, an already-successful roster and basically having their pick of all the rest of the wrestlers in the rest of the world — was not inclined to match.

Idle time plus lots of money drove Luger's substance abuse issues to become even worse, and Elizabeth was along for the crash.

Luger would develop a prolific rap sheet, including charges on drunken driving and domestic violence against Elizabeth.

"I was making a lot of really bad, selfish decisions at that time in my life," Luger said. "I wouldn't have admitted it at the time, but things were really going to a dark place and getting out of control in a bad way."

On May 1, 2003, Elizabeth died of "acute toxicity" due to a combination of painkillers and vodka. She was 42.

By Luger's recollection, their cleaning woman was at their home with them that day and also felt that Elizabeth seemed "fine." Luger said he was heating up some food for her in the microwave, brought it over to her and about 10 seconds later he realized she was out cold.

"I thought that was strange and said, 'Hey Liz, wake up, your food's gonna get cold,' and she didn't respond," Luger said. "I knew that was strange. So I got up and tried to shake her and she didn't respond. I immediately called 911. I was panicked."

Luger told a 911 operator that it didn't look like Elizabeth was breathing and that he was "scared to death."

She was pronounced dead at Kennestone Hospital outside Atlanta.

"I was devastated, and I was angry as hell at Lex, which is really immature on my part, because she made her own decisions and choices — she was an adult woman," Bischoff said. "I felt that Lex took advantage of her and influenced her and led her down that path. I blamed Lex for a long time."

A subsequent police investigation did not rule Luger responsible for the death, but a search of his home found large amounts of steroids and prescription medications.

And yet, Luger's downward spiral continued for several more years. More drugs. More alcohol. More arrests.

"I actually received a five-year jail sentence for the drugs," Luger said. "I got back out, went back to the same lifestyle. But even worse."

Luger had a stretch where he didn't care whether he lived or died, and even contemplated suicide.

Ultimately, Luger credits Pastor Steve Baskin, the former Chaplin at the Cobb County Jail, with taking an interest in his redemption, and leading him toward a path of Christianity.

"My whole life I'd been just frittering it away on money and stuff, and I was doing my whole life on sinking sand," Luger said of hearing the lecture at his first service of Pastor Steve after much resistance. "I had a vision of all my mansions and money and fame and being on a beach with me and being washed away. My life really had no true purpose or meaning.

"I went back to my hotel that night, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. I called Pastor Steve up, and said, 'Something happened to me.' He came to my hotel room, and shared the plan of salvation with me — the plan that God has for all of us. I got down on my knees and prayed. I'd never done that in my life. When I got done, I was weeping. I made a full commitment to come clean and ask for forgiveness and ask for Jesus to come into my heart ... I felt an instant peace. I felt like I got power-washed from the inside out by the whole experience."