Wrestling What Ifs

[The Nature Boy]

Abram's UWF didn't go down for a lack of talent and starpower. They had a decent amount of both.

 

If Abrams had given a decent guy the book, it might have turned out differently. 

[Infinit]

Abrams spent way too much money on blow to invest in a decent booker.

[Brysynner]

Random thought made me want to bring this thread back from the dead....what if Jeff Jarrett's contract ends the day after No Mercy. He never holds up Vince for money the day of the PPV and there's now less of a reason to consider him not welcome in WWE again. Does Jeff end up back in WWE after WCW folds? If so, does anyone ever create a TNA-like promotion?

[cool arrow]

I think TNA happens regardless, though I wonder who Jerry would've pushed with Jeff not there.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

What if every guy that ever died in wrestling didn't actually die, they just legitimately retired, and its like wrestling's form of witness protection/getting out for good from the mob? Every other guy that retired is just working an angle or biding their time.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

It's interesting to me that after mending fences with Bruno, Warrior, a post-TNA Hogan, and convincing Lanny to allow Macho into the HOF, that Jarrett is still persona non grata. I mean, obviously with GFW being sort of somewhat allegedly a thing, it's a little more difficult, but I think he'd be a fantastic trainer at the PC or player/coach on NXT. The guy is the absolute definition of a "decent hand," and is one of the last of that tail-end of the territory generation who can still go

[Web Conn]

Frank Gotch is most likely dead by now. Just saying.

[The Man Known as Dan]

I always wanna give credit to the kid in Zac Sabbaths sig for selling the post shot wonderfully. 

[BurningBeard]

It's interesting to me that after mending fences with Bruno, Warrior, a post-TNA Hogan, and convincing Lanny to allow Macho into the HOF, that Jarrett is still persona non grata. I mean, obviously with GFW being sort of somewhat allegedly a thing, it's a little more difficult, but I think he'd be a fantastic trainer at the PC or player/coach on NXT. The guy is the absolute definition of a "decent hand," and is one of the last of that tail-end of the territory generation who can still go

 

Holding up Vince for $300g's before performing will do that to a person

[nofuture]

It's interesting to me that after mending fences with Bruno, Warrior, a post-TNA Hogan, and convincing Lanny to allow Macho into the HOF, that Jarrett is still persona non grata. I mean, obviously with GFW being sort of somewhat allegedly a thing, it's a little more difficult, but I think he'd be a fantastic trainer at the PC or player/coach on NXT. The guy is the absolute definition of a "decent hand," and is one of the last of that tail-end of the territory generation who can still go

 

There a recent Jarrett interview where he talks about being asked to be on the WWE Owen Hart doc but wasn't able to due to scheduling conflicts so at least he's not blackballed.  

[BurningBeard]

Everyone always talks about Magnum TA as the NWA's Hullk Hogan and how he'd have been huge if he'd not had that accident, but how do you see his career trajectory going into the 90-00's? No doubt he'd have been champ in the late 80s and early 90s and Luger and Sting's ascendancy wouldn't have been as strong or as quick, but I can't envision how he'd fit in that late 90's boom. Ultimately I think his career would have been somewhat similar to Barry Windham's

[Raziel]

Watching old shows got me thinking...

 

What if Steamboat didn't ask for the time off a month after Mania 3?

[Nice Guy Eddie]

We probably don't get the Honky Tonk Man as IC champion. WM4 probably has the Steamboat/Savage rematch. I think we get DiBiase as world champion while Hogan is filming No Holds Barred, and Hogan eventually beating DiBiase for the title at WM5. 

[J.H.]

Hell even Honky as IC Champ wasn't supposed to happen!

Imagine how things would have been different if Butch Reed had showed up for his match with Steamboat?

I don't think Savage goes face to feud with Reed, maybe Warrior gets pushed up the crd faster for a Reed feud for the IC strap?

 

James

[Nice Guy Eddie]

or maybe Beefcake gets a run with the IC title

[J.H.]

Well Beefer did turn face at Mania 3 and they spent the next year building him up to beat Honky only for the weirdness of the Ron Bass feud to happne

 

James

[cool arrow]

The Butch Reed thing is a myth.  He didn't no-show, he's in the video celebrating HTM's win.

 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

I always wondered why the switch was made from Beefcake to the Warrior for Summerslam 88. I know the story of Honky refusing to drop the title to Savage, leading to Savage getting moved up to the world title. I've also heard that Honky threatened to take the belt to Crockett with him. I presume Vince wanted to embarrass Honky by squashing him in about 30 seconds.

[Happ Hazzard]

They likely would have put the IC title back on Savage as a babyface somehow, using someone else as a transitional champ between the two. Probably means never getting Savage as WWF champ as the whole scenario with Honky refusing to drop the title never happens. DiBiase wins at WM4, Hogan gets the title back at SummerSlam '88 and then who knows what.

[Skeeball Wizard]

I always wondered why the switch was made from Beefcake to the Warrior for Summerslam 88. I know the story of Honky refusing to drop the title to Savage, leading to Savage getting moved up to the world title. I've also heard that Honky threatened to take the belt to Crockett with him. I presume Vince wanted to embarrass Honky by squashing him in about 30 seconds.

The office wasn't happy with Beefcake's level of overness with the push he was getting, so he got moved aside to the Ron Bass thing, and Ultimate Warrior, who was over performing with his push, got the nod instead. The 30 second thing was to establish Warrior as an unstoppable force leading into his reign.

[stro]

It's interesting to me that after mending fences with Bruno, Warrior, a post-TNA Hogan, and convincing Lanny to allow Macho into the HOF, that Jarrett is still persona non grata. I mean, obviously with GFW being sort of somewhat allegedly a thing, it's a little more difficult, but I think he'd be a fantastic trainer at the PC or player/coach on NXT. The guy is the absolute definition of a "decent hand," and is one of the last of that tail-end of the territory generation who can still go

I don't think he's really persona non grata. They put him in the alumni section on the website after he left TNA. He would have been brought back with WCW had Vince thought he could get money out of him. But Jeff wasn't even a star in dying days WCW with a huge push. And by the time WCW died, he was back to being a mid carder even there. I would agree he has more value now than in 2001 for WWE, and I could see him doing work at the PC if he wasn't doing his own promotion stuff again.

[The Nature Boy]

 

It's interesting to me that after mending fences with Bruno, Warrior, a post-TNA Hogan, and convincing Lanny to allow Macho into the HOF, that Jarrett is still persona non grata. I mean, obviously with GFW being sort of somewhat allegedly a thing, it's a little more difficult, but I think he'd be a fantastic trainer at the PC or player/coach on NXT. The guy is the absolute definition of a "decent hand," and is one of the last of that tail-end of the territory generation who can still go

I don't think he's really persona non grata. They put him in the alumni section on the website after he left TNA. He would have been brought back with WCW had Vince thought he could get money out of him. But Jeff wasn't even a star in dying days WCW with a huge push. And by the time WCW died, he was back to being a mid carder even there. I would agree he has more value now than in 2001 for WWE, and I could see him doing work at the PC if he wasn't doing his own promotion stuff again.

 

 

http://www.wwe.com/superstars/jeff-jarrett

 

I'll be damned. I did not know that this existed.

 

Anyway, Jarrett is a solid hand that would work great at the PC. Jarrett was always solid at everything but a stand out at nothing, precisely the kind of guy you'd want training people since he could teach a little bit of everything. He could fill Billy Gunn's niche. 

[stro]

 

 

It's interesting to me that after mending fences with Bruno, Warrior, a post-TNA Hogan, and convincing Lanny to allow Macho into the HOF, that Jarrett is still persona non grata. I mean, obviously with GFW being sort of somewhat allegedly a thing, it's a little more difficult, but I think he'd be a fantastic trainer at the PC or player/coach on NXT. The guy is the absolute definition of a "decent hand," and is one of the last of that tail-end of the territory generation who can still go

I don't think he's really persona non grata. They put him in the alumni section on the website after he left TNA. He would have been brought back with WCW had Vince thought he could get money out of him. But Jeff wasn't even a star in dying days WCW with a huge push. And by the time WCW died, he was back to being a mid carder even there. I would agree he has more value now than in 2001 for WWE, and I could see him doing work at the PC if he wasn't doing his own promotion stuff again.

 

 

http://www.wwe.com/superstars/jeff-jarrett

 

I'll be damned. I did not know that this existed.

 

Anyway, Jarrett is a solid hand that would work great at the PC. Jarrett was always solid at everything but a stand out at nothing, precisely the kind of guy you'd want training people since he could teach a little bit of everything. He could fill Billy Gunn's niche. 

 

Vince has proven time and time and time again that he'll bring anyone back if he thinks he can make money from them, no matter how burned the bridge is. No one is ever truly persona non grata in WWE unless they go full Benoit. Even then, it's not like Snuka wasn't brought back repeatedly after allegedly killing someone.

[Technico Support]

 

I always wondered why the switch was made from Beefcake to the Warrior for Summerslam 88. I know the story of Honky refusing to drop the title to Savage, leading to Savage getting moved up to the world title. I've also heard that Honky threatened to take the belt to Crockett with him. I presume Vince wanted to embarrass Honky by squashing him in about 30 seconds.

The office wasn't happy with Beefcake's level of overness with the push he was getting, so he got moved aside to the Ron Bass thing, and Ultimate Warrior, who was over performing with his push, got the nod instead. The 30 second thing was to establish Warrior as an unstoppable force leading into his reign.

 

 

Exactly.  I don't see a HTM -- guy who had the balls to refuse a job -- laying down for Warrior in 30 seconds unless he was absolutely willing.

[SorceressKnight]

Interesting new "What If" from the week (the story usually goes from the Podcast section, but the "What If?" it brings up is pretty good nonetheless...

 

 

Source: Talk Is Jericho

Jericho said that WWE's drug testing and concussion testing are very real and meant to prevent all of the premature deaths we have seen in professional wrestling over the years. 

"The testing is real. Concussion testing. Heart testing. Everything is very, very strict because [WWE] wanted to stop guys from basically dying at a young age and wanted to take control of it." 

Jericho claimed that WWE's drug policy is more stringent than the Olympics and he even faced a potential suspension in 2008 for having elevated levels of testosterone. While a T/E ratio of 6:1 is permissible on the Olympics, WWE requires a 4:1 ratio or better.

"I kept getting readings of 10:1, 8:1, 9:1. And the guy finally called me. He said, 'listen, you have got another elevated level.' I said, 'okay, listen, I know that you think that I'm on something, but I'm not, so if I wasn't on something, what could this be?'." Jericho continued, "he goes, 'well, you probably have a tumor.' I'm like, 'what?' He goes, 'you probably have a tumor.' Like what kind of doctor says that, 'oh, you probably have a tumor'?" 

Jericho went to see an endocrinologist with WWE Senior Ringside Physician, Dr. Chris Amann and it was revealed that Jericho has a naturally elevated level of testosterone. Ultimately, Jericho was not suspended because he was not taking any prohibited substances. 

"I said, 'you can't suspend me! It's like suspending me for having a naturally big nose! Like, it's natural! You can't suspend me, you dummy!' But that's how strict the testing is."

 

 

 

Considering that 2008 was kind of continuing the quagmire of 2007, with Jeff Hardy (getting a violation before winning MITB) and William Regal (getting one in the throes of his main event push as King of the Ring) getting big pushes derailed by Violations (not even counting people like The Brian Kendrick losing out on the push of a lifetime for non-violation drug use), 2008 already had some problems.

 

Throw in the possibility of Jericho getting a Wellness Violation in 2008, around the same time as his feud with Shawn Michaels that may be the best thing either guy had ever done? Suddenly, 2008 looks even more dire than it was before