Lex Luger Recalls Bret Hart Protecting Him At WWE Royal Rumble 1994

Nearly every January, the winner of the men's Royal Rumble Match is rather predictable, something even Triple H acknowledged after Cody Rhodes' victory earlier this year. However, there were two clear favorites going into the 1994 Royal Rumble — Lex Luger and Bret Hart, both of whom were vying for a shot at dethroning then-WWE Champion Yokozuna. 

On the one hand, Luger had already shown the ability to defeat Yokozuna when he body-slammed the 500-pounder as part of his "Lex Express" tour. On the flip side, Hart had lost to Yokozuna a year before at WrestleMania IX and was primed to get the job done 12 months later.

Considering that both were worthy choices to win the Rumble, WWE booked a unique finish that saw Hart accidentally eliminating himself while pushing Luger off the top rope. Declared as co-winners, both Hart and Luger would go on to challenge Yoko at WrestleMania X in two separate singles bouts for the WWE title. On the debut episode of "Lex Expressed," Luger was asked if he and Hart rehearsed the controversial finish.

"We did," Luger confirmed. "Vince McMahon, Bret, and I all got in the ring; we talked a few things over. We worked it out — we wanted to keep it quick and simple. We didn't want to do a long wrestle-off to get to the end of the match. We just decided to go at it. We ended with Bret cross-bodying me and they wanted me to go backwards over the top rope."

Luger had admittedly never gone backwards over the top rope up until that point in his career while clinging onto his opponent, causing him to feel jittery about the finish. Thankfully, Hart walked him through the sequence and protected him. "I'm thinking, 'How do I protect myself because I'm holding him?' Bret, of course, took care of everything. [He's] the master tactician and technician."