Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

Wrestling What Ifs


Web Conn

Recommended Posts

39 minutes ago, Stefanie the Human said:

Either way, I don't see Hall outlasting Watts in WCW. If the Steiners, Terry Gordy, and Steve Williams didn't outlast Watts and Watts loved them, I don't think Hall stands a chance.

Watts loved Rick Steiner, Scott...not so much.

Anyway, Brian Pillman outlasted Bill Watts. This being a What If, I'm putting Hall as one of those who slipped through the cracks. If Hall stays in WCW until 94/95 (feuding with the likes of Johnny B. Badd and Dustin Rhodes), that changes the course of wrestling history significantly.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW, Bischoff blamed/credited somebody who was in charge of a separate division for the mini movies, but I can't remember her name. But ppv advertising was under her control. Had an affair with Ole iirc

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said:

FWIW, Bischoff blamed/credited somebody who was in charge of a separate division for the mini movies, but I can't remember her name. But ppv advertising was under her control. Had an affair with Ole iirc

Sharon Sidello?

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It only just occurred to me that Big Show has only now outlived Andre the Giant in the past few months. 

Andre still 3 years more active than Show's career too. 

Makes me wish we got a couple more years out of Andre and he had the program with Taker not Gonzales. 

Slightly more morbidly, a what if had Show died of gigantism related issues a decade or so ago. Who gets the Mayweather match? Do we get the super push for CM Punk in ECW?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, RolandTHTG said:

Just saw that Taker mentioned this on a podcast that Andre wanted to put him over.

Not convinced. They had an opportunity in 1991 and they used it to put over the Natural Disasters instead.

What podcast was this? Would be curious to listen to

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apologies if this has been asked but what if Backlund agrees to put over Hogan? I know Hogan talks plenty of BS but let's assume that the Backlund heat is legit. What if Bob is able to put that aside for business though and lays down for a leg drop?

Does Hulkamania have more or less impact beating the fellow American babyface in a 'mega match'?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, L_W_P said:

Apologies if this has been asked but what if Backlund agrees to put over Hogan? I know Hogan talks plenty of BS but let's assume that the Backlund heat is legit. What if Bob is able to put that aside for business though and lays down for a leg drop?

Does Hulkamania have more or less impact beating the fellow American babyface in a 'mega match'?

Wasn't it also said that if Backlund were to drop the belt to Hogan, he would have not only dropped the belt to Hogan, but VKM would have also turned Backlund heel and repackaged him as a punk rocker?

That kind of changes it from "American face vs. American face."

Edited by SorceressKnight
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, SorceressKnight said:

Wasn't it also said that if Backlund were to drop the belt to Hogan, he would have not only dropped the belt to Hogan, but VKM would have also turned Backlund heel and repackaged him as a punk rocker?

Get right the fuck out of town!! Talk about a missed opportunity. Punk Rock Bob Backlund is the stuff that pro wrestling dreams are made of. I'm imagining the same kind of dedication to the gimmick that he ran with for the 1994 heel run.

Backlund as some kind of enviro-punk berating us about the damage we are doing would have been some kind of wonderful. I'd buy Backlund's zine in a fucking heartbeat. Fuck it, bring him back right now and put him with Bryan and Rowan.

  • Like 4
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Brandon-E said:

With no Sable does Sunny become the Attitude Era's top female instead?

She probably should have been anyway, but she was super unreliable and likely would have never started wrestling like Sable did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, elizium said:

A lot shorter...

I don't know about shorter- supposedly Marc Mero was hated by the back because he was the first wrestler to get a guaranteed contract from WWF (which, if that's the case, means "WWE would be forced to keep him that length of time, Sable or no Sable.")

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, elizium said:

A lot shorter...

The knee injury in 97 did him in more than Sable. I wince everytime I watch his old matches and his knee folds under him on that tope con giro. Dude had no control over his legs when he landed. With or without Sable, that was a torn ACL waiting to happen and eventually it did. It sucks because I actually liked the Wildman look at the time. The problem was he didn't have great mic skills to go along with the look and his cool looking moves...well there were actual luchadores on the other show doing that shit every week by then and with more diversity.

I don't put all the weight on Sable overshadowing him. That's what comes with having a sexy valet in the mid to late 90s. She helped him get over and then she got over (through softcore porn for horny teenagers watching wrestling at the time). If anything the fact she couldn't do anything beyond being sexy and raunchy limited what they could do with Mero, a guy who left WCW partly because he didn't want to do an angle with Kimberly Page. In the end, that would fuck him over (along with the injury) because his own wife wasn't that talented. So he went from a shiny new toy who gets his first appearance and angle on a Wrestlemania card to just a guy months later by the end of 1996. Now if the question posed was what happens if you replace Sable with Sunny as his valet and mouthpiece (pun not intended given who I'm talking about) and this dumbass doesn't do spots where his legs go catawampus, I would definitely say he has a better career outlook. Sunny would have gotten insanely over regardless, but she could play more than a damsel in distress which was the only thing Rena Mero could do before she got over and start powerbombing her husband. Sunny getting over wouldn't come at the expense of Mero if you make him a real wildman heel that only Sunny could control instead of someone doing goofy looks and gestures between highspots. Once his momentum as a face starts to die down, you have him turn heel and get in a nasty blood feud with someone he was tagging with months prior. Don't let him speak that much and make Sunny into the biggest c u next Tuesday ever on the promos antagonizing the fans and whoever his opponent is. I'm not saying he would be Tully Blanchard, but that act would get over. Certainly, it would get more over than the boxer gimmick post-injury. Say what you will about Triple H, but the fucker got it right with adding Chyna pre boob job and plastic surgery. That gimmick needed a shot in the arm (pun not intended again). The Wildman thing could have worked IMO under the premise I laid out. Otherwise, he was just a dude once you get past the presentation of his entrance and the three or four highspots that weren't as innovative by 96/97.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/10/2019 at 6:37 PM, RolandTHTG said:

Yep, imagine the rock and wrestling war with Punk Rocker Backlund instead of Piper.

I want Backlund seconded by Black Flag. And possibly a special guest appearance on a live performance of Rise Above.

This would have changed the Rock 'n' Wrestling thing considerably.  Does the Hogan and Lauper alignment make as much sense with Backlund tapping into the "sound of the young generation"?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never heard of the “Punk Rock” gimmick for heel Backlund just that Vince wanted him to dye his hair black.

If Backlund stuck around until the fall of 84 and was game for a heel turn having him be Bobby Heenan’s first signing would have been perfect.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/10/2019 at 7:37 PM, RolandTHTG said:

Yep, imagine the rock and wrestling war with Punk Rocker Backlund instead of Piper.

I want Backlund seconded by Black Flag. And possibly a special guest appearance on a live performance of Rise Above.

Imagine a reality where Henry Rollins was involved with the WWF and was part of Wrestlemania.

Send Backlund on tour with Black Flag, so he and Henry can beat the shit out of skinheads together.

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, worldcupfever said:

This would have changed the Rock 'n' Wrestling thing considerably.  Does the Hogan and Lauper alignment make as much sense with Backlund tapping into the "sound of the young generation"?  

Hogan and Lauper are celebrated by the MTV commercial darlings like Cyndi Lauper.

Backlund was never a commercial darling like Hogan and went and found guys who didn't get MTV airtime.

Society's 24 inch pythons of control? RISE ABOVE! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All these plans about punk rock Bob Backlund waxing poetic, as if Backlund as a punk rocker wouldn't be disappointing.

Seriously, search your feelings. Big guys, with Mohawks, who dressed punkish, and used moves like the Pit Stop while punching.  The Nasty Boys are what a punk rocker would be like in 1980s/90s wrestling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, happjack said:

I never heard of the “Punk Rock” gimmick for heel Backlund just that Vince wanted him to dye his hair black.

If Backlund stuck around until the fall of 84 and was game for a heel turn having him be Bobby Heenan’s first signing would have been perfect.

This. How in the hell 'they wanted Backlund to dye his hair and start acting like a heel' turned into PUNK ROCK BOB is beyond me.

As for Mero's run, it's hard to envision how the Wildman character transitions into the Attitude era. He was over and deserved his guaranteed contract and it was so obvious him and Sable were supposed to be Macho n Liz II. The knee injury did him in more than anything, like @Elsalvajeloco said. By the time he came back the whole WWF had shifted on its axle and he was forced to do the boxing gimmick to account for not being able to be a high flier.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...