Lex Luger: Wrestling with the Devil

CBN.com- THE RISE
Lex’s real name is Lawrence Pfohl (“Foal”).  He grew up in Buffalo, New York and always dreamed of being a football player.  After high school, Lex accepted a scholarship to the University of Miami, but he quit after his sophomore year to play in the Canadian Football League.  For the next 7 years, Lex played in 3 different leagues including a 2-year stop in the NFL as a member of the Green Bay Packers.  Lex was already married and had his first child at the time but he was on a chase for fame and fortune.  “I thought the world was dog-eat-dog,” says Lex.  “The end justifies the means; whatever you gotta do to make it, and if it wasn’t football, it was going to be something else.”  Lex had an outstanding physique and everyone suggested he try Hollywood or becoming a pro wrestler.  One day he walked into a championship wrestling office in Florida and a few months later, Lex was in the ring. 

THE FALL
Lex got his name from the Superman comic book’s character Lex Luthor, and he quickly became one of the premier names in pro wrestling.  The notoriety and fame came fast.  “There was almost literally a party every night if you wanted to,” says Lex.  “At the end of the match, everyone would go, ‘Where are we going tonight?’ I almost felt a duty and obligation to lead the pack,” he says.  Throughout his career, Lex was on the road almost 300 days a year and the party life soon won out.  Lex couldn’t separate the man from the wrestling image.  It wasn’t just the party life Lex tried to hide from his wife and children.  Lex had a secret: he was sharing an apartment across town with another woman named Elizabeth.  On May 1, 2003, Elizabeth overdosed on drugs.  Lex called 911 but unfortunately, Elizabeth passed away.  Police found drugs in the apartment and arrested Lex on 13 counts of possession.  He was sentenced to 5 years probation.  His wrestling career was over. His wife divorced him and Lex sank further into despair.  “That whole lifestyle I had on the road that I brought back to Atlanta…was all at once exposed.  It was a huge story…betrayal and sex and drugs and arrests and death,” says Lex.  He continued to do drugs and got high every day.  “I grew up with out religion and church,” says Lex.  “…the God I never acknowledged my whole life….now I acknowledged him enough to be angry at him,” he says. 

THE REDEMPTION
In 2005, Lex violated his parole and was sent to jail for 9 weeks.  While he was in jail, a pastor asked to speak with him.  Lex thought, What does a pastor want to talk to me about?  Pastor Steve shared the Gospel with Lex and the 2 developed a friendship.  After Lex was released, Lex asked Steve a question: “What about the sinner’s prayer?”  Steve explained that is where you repent and turn it all over to God.  Lex said, “What do we have to do?”  Steve told him to get on his knees.  “When I said the sinner’s prayer, all that hate and grief and despair and depression and everything I was going through in my life felt like it got lifted off me,” says Lex.  “And when Jesus gave me that supernatural Holy Spirit inside of me, I thought I was going to explode!”

Lex made a comeback in 2006 but one year later, an injury to his spinal cord caused it to swell and he was paralyzed temporarily from the neck down.  Doctors said he would need 24-hour care for the rest of his life.  Though he is not 100%, today Lex is walking and taking care of himself which is a miracle.

Though Lex’s spiritual life is in order, he understands the consequences of his behavior in his natural life.  “I devastated repeatedly those closest to me before I came to Christ,” says Lex.  He is estranged from his grown children.  “I’m always hopeful,” says Lex.  “I’m about sharing what God’s done in my life.  He has a divine calling on all of our lives.”