Wrestling What Ifs

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Yeah, but... from time to time I do miss the cravats.

I miss flippy, cravat Chris Hero. I lost interest in him once he became That Young Knockout Kid. I also miss his Superman entrance theme with Larry Sweeney's "Chris is Awesome" intro.

[BrianS81177]

What if Hayabusa hadn't had that freak accident? I know FMW would still have shut down as it was already dying, but what about after? Would he have gone to one of the larger promotions?

[cool arrow]

MPro full-time and the odd New Japan show, I would imagine.

[J.H.]

I could totally see Muoth convincing Busa to jump to AJ though he would have had an in at NJ with Gedo and Jado. Of course there is alays the chance tht Busa finding a financial backer and startign his own promotion that was bigger than WMF.

 

James

[CanadianChris]

What if Nailz decided that going all Latrell Spreewell on McMahon wasn't such a good idea? I could see him squashing jobbers for a while, leading up to a feud with Taker. Not that Nailz was a good worker by any stretch of the imagination, but a match with Taker would've looked like Flair-Steamboat compared to the one that Taker had with Giant Gonzalez at Wrestlemania. Maybe throw a no holds barred stip in there or something.

Considering they had started a Nailz/Taker feud before he was fired, I think you're on the right track.

[Brian Fowler]

That was the big problem with the Nailz gimmick at any rate. It was so completely designed to feud with the Big Bossman and only the Big Bossman, trying to go anywhere else was doomed to not really work from day one.

[SorceressKnight]

I could totally see Muoth convincing Busa to jump to AJ though he would have had an in at NJ with Gedo and Jado. Of course there is alays the chance tht Busa finding a financial backer and startign his own promotion that was bigger than WMF.

 

James

 

Even beyond just Japanese promotions- there also has to be the international options as well there.

 

Bare minimum, Ring of Honor absolutely brings Hayabusa in as regularly as any Japanese wrestler could be during their super spot-monkey RF era, and it's likely TNA brings him in for a few of their Super X-Cup or World X-Cups as the Japanese representative.

[J.H.]

For some reason, I just can't see Hayabusa working TNA. It doesn't seem to fit for some reason.

 

One popular theory was that he would end up in NOAH. Those Tokyo Dome shows would be interesting with Busa in them. Shit Kobashi/Busa GHC would get a good crowd for Ariake or Budokan

 

James

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

That was the big problem with the Nailz gimmick at any rate. It was so completely designed to feud with the Big Bossman and only the Big Bossman, trying to go anywhere else was doomed to not really work from day one.

 

That whole feud was weird though.

 

Seemed set for a double turn. Then both were gone 2 months later.

[kafkonia]

That was the big problem with the Nailz gimmick at any rate. It was so completely designed to feud with the Big Bossman and only the Big Bossman, trying to go anywhere else was doomed to not really work from day one.

I don't know, I think psychotic ex (or was it escaped?) convict is one of the easiest gimmicks to slot into a feud with someone. Certainly moreso than dentist, garbage man, or hog farmer.

[The Nature Boy]

 

That was the big problem with the Nailz gimmick at any rate. It was so completely designed to feud with the Big Bossman and only the Big Bossman, trying to go anywhere else was doomed to not really work from day one.

I don't know, I think psychotic ex (or was it escaped?) convict is one of the easiest gimmicks to slot into a feud with someone. Certainly moreso than dentist, garbage man, or hog farmer.

 

 

WWE's biggest mistake with Nathan Jones is that they didn't go all out with the violent ex-con thing. And also not giving him a more intimidating name than "Nathan Jones."

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

What if they decided to go with Savage/Hogan rather than Sting/Hogan as the big money match for WCW?

[Thomas Bugg]

16 hours ago, RolandTHTG said:

What if they decided to go with Savage/Hogan rather than Sting/Hogan as the big money match for WCW?

Hogan would've still fucked it up with his creative control. And Starrcade would've still drew a good number, but not nearly the 1.1 rating they did.  

[Thomas Bugg]

I know the idea of reviving the NWO in WWE was asinine, but what if Hall didn't fuck up on The Plane Ride From Hell, and what if Nash didn't injure himself trying to run across the ring? Could they've gotten a couple more months out of the angle? 

[Cristobal]

Is this predicated on Hall NOT drunkenly getting himself shitcanned and Nash NOT hurting himself doing something even most non-wrestlers would consider a completely normal amount of physical activity? Because I'm not sure we can stretch fantasy that far.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Not much changes really.

You still end up with HHH/HBK but with the roles reversed, and the rest of the clique involved.

[PetrolCB]

Maybe they would've run an all Kliq Elimination Chamber at Survivor Series, using the Curtain Call/MSG connection as a selling point. Although Waltman was already gone, plus they'd be missing a sixth entrant. 

[Wyld Samurai]

What if there was no "curtain call"? 

HHH gets the summer push with the KotR... Austin was already Stone Cold but there would be no Austin 3:16...

Which means he probably doesn't get the match with Owen at Summerslam in 97... which means he doesn't dumb down his style and forever alter the "main event formula".

[AxB]

HHH would have altered the main event formula instead. It's the only way he could ever have a decent match.

[muhammedboehm]

What if 'Bret didn't screw Bret' and by that I mean what if Bret on his way to WCW layed down for Shawn? Do we still get evil McMahon ect ect?

[(BP)]

They had already laid the groundwork for a Vince/Austin feud, and Bischoff was already doing the evil authority figure angle in WCW. It was inevitable, but Survivor Series gave Vince a huge platform to leap off from and make it work. 

[evidence]

What if in 2001, both Booker T and DDP decide to join the rest of the WCW main event guys and wait until their contracts expire? Who gets the WCW World Title? Would Vince even bother with an Invasion angle at that point? 

A far-fetched what if but what if the XFL is able to compete with the NFL or at least very successful? Does Vince turn all of his attention to that and let someone else run the WWF?

[The Nature Boy]

1 hour ago, (BP) said:

They had already laid the groundwork for a Vince/Austin feud, and Bischoff was already doing the evil authority figure angle in WCW. It was inevitable, but Survivor Series gave Vince a huge platform to leap off from and make it work. 

 

I still think that Bret staying would've made the build to WrestleMania 14 a lot more interesting, if the WWF was able to run with the Mr. McMahon character still. Bret Hart as the corporate champion playing a self-righteous asshole would have worked so perfectly. 

[Brysynner]

12 minutes ago, The Nature Boy said:

 

I still think that Bret staying would've made the build to WrestleMania 14 a lot more interesting, if the WWF was able to run with the Mr. McMahon character still. Bret Hart as the corporate champion playing a self-righteous asshole would have worked so perfectly. 

So what does HBK do at Mania 14? If Shawn doesn't get the strap at Survivor Series, he's clearly aimless outside rematches with Bret and Taker

[(BP)]

I think it's a lot more plausible that Shamrock gets inserted into Survivor Series somehow and gets the belt so he can either drop it to Shawn or Austin later. It sounds crazy now, but it was one of the alternatives they considered before they settled on screwjob.