You might be asking yourself, wasn't it on July 4, 1993 when Lex Luger body slammed the mammoth Yokozuna on the U.S.S. Intrepid that lead to him going on on a call to action campaign aboard the Lex Express? What happened on July 4, 2001 that was so important? It was on July 4, 2001 that the internet changed forever with the launch of TheLexExpress.Com!
Before we can get to the July 4, 2001 launch, we have to take a few steps back. For those of you that have been along with us for the ride, you know that the internet was a totally different place in the early 2000's. No social media, no high quality streaming, no YouTube, just sites like WrestleCrap to keep us entertained for hours.
In the year 2000, WrestleCrap was the only site dedicated to the best of the worst in pro wrestling. Bad gimmicks, bad angles, anything that was crap in the world of professional wrestling was covered. Every Friday we would wait patiently to see what gimmick would be the next induction. It was in May 2001 while sitting in the school cafeteria during lunch (soy burgers and French fries baby!) after WrestleCrap closed it's doors for the first time, that John Gallo came to me with the idea of creating a site dedicated to Lex Luger and The Lex Express. Since the late 90's I had been making websites on GeoCities and AngelFire (which is surprisingly still around, and owned by Lycos, which is also still around) before moving onto different hosting sites, but nothing seemed to stick. John had been doing his famous "Gallo Report" for my website previously, and now he wanted to take it to the next level. We assembled a team of elite writers and went to work! We did long hours of research, saying up late watching Coliseum Video VHS tapes and digging deep into the archives. After our discussion, the idea was born to create a brand new website dedicated to Lex Luger and his journey aboard the Lex Express.
On July, 4th 2001 TheLexExpress.Com went LIVE with a wide variety of classic wrestling content. The Gimmick Graveyard, WrestleMania Recaps, 90's PPV results, Too Much Wrestling lists, 25 Greatest Moments, Dougie B's One Liners, and last but not least, the critically acclaimed Gallo Report. News of the new site traveled fast over AOL Instant Messenger and fans started to flock to the site. We launched right in the mist of the infamous Invasion angle, but after the first month, the wheels started to fall off the bus. Updates were becoming more sparatic and we were starting to lose contributors. It was two months after opening that thelexepress.com decided to power down the bus.
"Well, the time has finally come, today on September 4, 2001 two months after the lexexpress.com opened it is now closing. As you could see after the first month we lost our touch and we never did anything after that. We would like to thank all the fans that made the lex express possible, and who knows maybe we will be back next 4th of July for The Lex Express 2. I think Vince McMahon said it best when he said, "The Lex Express Ran Out of Gas." Yes it did Vinnie Mac. Thank you fans and have a nice day." - thelexexpress.com 9/4/01
Is the spring of 2002, rumors started to swirl that The Lex Express would make a return for a second run, and on July 4th, 2002 The Lex Express 2 was lanched.
Without thelexexpress.com domain this time around due to budget constraints, The Lex Express returned with the Gallo Report and the all-new What Would Lex Do? Trillogy. After The Lex Express crew took at trip to Monday Night Raw on 7/15/02, word came out that additional funding could not be reached for the website, and the bus would have to be parked in the garage for the foreseeable future.
Over the next few years there were always rumors that The Lex Express would make a return. Talks would start and stop on a constant basis. Would there be a Lex Express Version 2.2? Could we see a Lex Express V. 3.0?
The Lex Express V. 2k4?
By the year 2005 all the talks halted and The Lex Express was officially put out of commission. It wasn't until the launch of bumwinebob.com in 2014 that some of The Lex Express archives returned to the web for the first time since 2002. Fans will always have The Lex Express legacy to remember and the archives to enjoy below!
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