GuerrillaMonsoon Posted June 15, 2020 Posted June 15, 2020 Let's assume for the moment that the Steph/Savage rumours are true. What if Vince is supportive of their relationship rather than blackballing him? Does Savage effectively replace HHH in this timeline? How long does he wrestle to? How does this effect HHH's role? From there - two offshoots - how long does the relationship last, given Savage's history with women? What if he passes the same time he did anyway, does Steph still remain the likely successor to Vince without a husband?
Infinit Posted June 15, 2020 Posted June 15, 2020 Wasn't the underage? I don't think a HHH-like situation would be possible.
SorceressKnight Posted June 15, 2020 Posted June 15, 2020 Well, considering that claims from around the time period said that Randy Savage was one of the top bookers for WWF when he left (and many saying as high as "Savage had the book when he defected to WCW"), that would claim that it would be pretty much be a "but the future refused to change" thing. All signs from those make it clear Savage basically HAD Triple H's power at the time independent of Stephanie being with him or not, and it didn't make a difference to Savage to keep him from going to WCW. If that didn't, it's likely that nothing changes on Savage's side- he still goes to WCW. If that's the case, more problems happen on Stephanie's side than on Triple H's side-if Savage goes to WCW, Stephanie presumably leaves the family and goes with him (and Eric Bischoff loved goading WWF so much he'd absolutely throw Stephanie a WCW contract just to say "we stole your own daughter from you".) Even if Vince takes Stephanie back into the family after this (which, presumably, he would if he accepted Savage and Stephanie's relationship), the Stephanie McMahon who returns is one who didn't go to college in order to follow Savage and, as such, would not be a shrewd enough businesswoman to do anything that she's done behind the scenes, inevitably making her "just a onscreen talent".
AxB Posted June 15, 2020 Posted June 15, 2020 Has she actually made any shrewd business decisions for real though? Or is her shrewd businessperson gimmick just a massive work to protect the share price? 1
(BP) Posted June 15, 2020 Posted June 15, 2020 College for people like Stephanie is for networking and providing cover for inevitable nepotism. 6
twiztor Posted June 15, 2020 Posted June 15, 2020 this is the first time i've heard of Savage booking WWF. were there really rumblings saying this? i suppose you can rationalize it by saying McMahon gave him that opportunity to replace his in-ring career, but i don't buy it. 1
Super Ape Posted June 15, 2020 Posted June 15, 2020 It's now and forever "what if they gave Monty Brown a run with the NWA title?" 2
SorceressKnight Posted June 15, 2020 Posted June 15, 2020 3 hours ago, AxB said: Has she actually made any shrewd business decisions for real though? Or is her shrewd businessperson gimmick just a massive work to protect the share price? In defense there, however, the big part with Stephanie as a behind the scenes worker- we really don't know that much. All we know is "she was a mediocre booker" (and since we know that Vince rewrites shows over and over again up to the second it airs onscreen, quite frankly Shakespeare couldn't give you good shows in the WWE system). Even with it- she isn't a genius, but she isn't exactly completely inept either. (We know that- we've SEEN inept in the 21st century- look at Dixie Carter and it's night and day.) Which is kind of the point. Whether or not she's excellent, we CAN safely say Stephanie's not terrible at her job, but if this What If came to play, in all likeliness she WOULD be.
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted June 16, 2020 Posted June 16, 2020 17 hours ago, Infinit said: Wasn't the underage? I don't think a HHH-like situation would be possible. 18 when he left in 1994. 20 when he seemingly found out around the time Savage nearly came back in 96 and then refused to do business ever again. But yes, possibly earlier. 1
paintedbynumbers Posted June 16, 2020 Posted June 16, 2020 10 hours ago, RolandTHTG said: 18 when he left in 1994. 20 when he seemingly found out around the time Savage nearly came back in 96 and then refused to do business ever again. But yes, possibly earlier. only way to be sure is to bring the UV light and DNA kit on board the Lex Express
Web Conn Posted June 18, 2020 Author Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) On 6/15/2020 at 1:23 PM, Super Ape said: It's now and forever "what if they gave Monty Brown a run with the NWA title?" This one. I started thinking about this and went down a fantasy booking wormhole. If they had put the strap on Monty Brown I wonder how it would have went. At the time in TNA and I was watching Impact, they had started to dissolve the Kings of Wrestling trio of Jarrett Nash and Hall. If Brown won the strap in January then what happens? This all factors in on if Hall stays past Final Resolution. But you keep The Kings of Wrestling going they could have added Billy Gunn and Xpac to the faction when they showed up in February, put DDP Monty and 3LK as a team. Run Brown vs Nash then Brown vs Hall then the big Lethal Lockdown between the two factions then DDP turns on Brown and you have that big match in May. Then idk Brown loses it during the King of the Mountain. The biggest issue is and was when it all went down is what to do with Monty Brown afterwards. That’s what happened in real life they had no idea what to do with Monty to build him back up. Joining Team Jarrett was a mistake. The Trytant shit didn’t help him either. And finally I don’t know what kind of an impact (ha!) Brown as Champion would have done for the ratings or buyrates it general interest in TNA. 4pm Friday evenings on regional sports channels is not an ideal time slot. But Brown would have been fresh and exciting compared with Jarrett and his one dimensional Memphis ways. Edited June 18, 2020 by Web Conn 2
PetrolCB Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 8 minutes ago, evidence said: I'm not as anti-Jarrett as most but that Monty turn, especially after how everyone was behind him at the Final Resolution PPV, was the most frustrating to watch in real time. I remember him retaining the NWA Title against Raven was considered a bad move by just about everyone that was covering NWA-TNA at the time, but they really dropped the ball with Monty. Monty got a raw deal. 3
SorceressKnight Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 The problem with Monty Brown as a specific What If? is that ultimately it was a symptom of a far bigger problem TNA always had, and because of that bigger problem, it honestly wouldn't have mattered if they gave him the title. The same What If? that didn't give Monty Brown the title could have also been said for AJ Styles, Ron Killings, Samoa Joe, James Storm, Bobby Roode, Chris Sabin, Eric Young, Abyss, Magnus...pretty much any TNA homegrown talent, and all those guys DID get a World Title reign. The big issue was less "TNA won't give them the World Title!" because in many cases, they totally did, and more specifically, TNA wouldn't give this homegrown wrestler THE CAR KEYS. TNA always was willing to push homegrown wrestlers- even make them World Champion, but they never quite went all-in with the wrestler and made it clear "this wrestler is a SUPERSTAR. They are every bit as good or better as the WWE stars, and they should be perceived as being on the same level as the top WWE stars." It says something for how little awareness TNA had when the "AJ Styles is going to leave with the TNA World Title!" storyline could be boiled down to, even in storyline, AJ Styles taking TNA to task and saying "wait, I've been the star of tomorrow for 11 years now, I've done literally everything there is to do in this promotion five times over...when do I get to be the star of TODAY?", and even then they continued to do the same thing even after it was a plotline. Compare that problem to the real issue, and Monty Brown's what if was less "he should've been the World Champion" and was the relatively reasonable "Maybe Monty Brown would have, but suddenly TNA lucked into locking up Christian, both Christian and Monty Brown had pretty equal resumes in 2005, pretty equal momentum in 2005, the fans were dying to see both guys as World Champion in 2005...so it was effectively a coin flip for which one you run with." 1
Log Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 6 hours ago, PetrolCB said: Monty got a raw deal. Don’t you waste your breath (waste your breath). 1
Web Conn Posted June 18, 2020 Author Posted June 18, 2020 Everything @SorceressKnight said is absolutely correct. There was a ceiling for the homegrown guys in TNA. It’s like they were never gonna be on the same playing field as ex-WWE and WCW guys. That’s what fucked up the hot Frontline vs MEM angle is Team 3D Foley and Rhino become the focal point of the Frontline and guys like AJ and Joe took a backseat once again. 2
The Man Known as Dan Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 I think you could make a long list of times when TNA dropped the ball, but the biggest one will always be Angle over Joe. I’m. It a Kurt fan but I don’t doubt Kurt was ready and willing to put Joe over. Not doing so out the gate was flat idiocy. 1
Phantom Lord Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 Any time it seemed like TNA would get some momentum they would always shoot themselves in the foot. Raven not winning the title when he first came in and Monty not winning the title are two prime examples. TNA is the biggest what if ever. What if they did this. What if they did that. It could have been something special with it being a hybrid of ECW/WCW which is what people were looking for back then (at least I was). But all it ever really did was have Jeff Jarrett live out his dream of being Jerry Lawler in Nashville. 4
Tromatagon Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) 23 minutes ago, The Man Known as Dan said: I think you could make a long list of times when TNA dropped the ball, but the biggest one will always be Angle over Joe. I’m. It a Kurt fan but I don’t doubt Kurt was ready and willing to put Joe over. Not doing so out the gate was flat idiocy. This is what killed the company for me, honestly. I was pretty goddamned into it before this point. Usually I'll hate a booking decision and recover pretty quickly, but this one just bummed me out. Like, okay, you built this home grown star for like one or two years so the first thing you did was job him to a big WWE guy as soon as you got one. Dude never recovered. Started walking around with a dick tattooed on his face and shit. Edited June 18, 2020 by Tromatagon 1
The Man Known as Dan Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 On 6/3/2020 at 4:22 PM, olythegreat89 said: I don’t know if Flair and Rude’s egos would’ve allowed them to coexist. Rude left the WWF with a chip on his shoulder because he felt he was misused so I don’t see him playing second fiddle to Flair. Maybe we get a Dangerous Alliance (Rude, Eaton, Zbyszko, Austin) vs a babyface Horesmen (Flair, Arn, Pillman, Tully?) this is old, but I think the real interesting money is Flair calling his greatest rival Ricky Steamboat for help. Even more fun if you imagine Arn is actually with the DA at the time.
SorceressKnight Posted June 19, 2020 Posted June 19, 2020 The Joe over Angle thing was bad, but honestly I am steadfast that push Kaz suddenly got to the main event against Kurt Angle was even worse, IMO. That, to me, was the more blatant one, because he was the one TNA homegrown who left TNA, went to WWE temporarily for three weeks and flamed out quickly, then went back to TNA, and suddenly gets a main event run. In the process, TNA basically said "nope, the homegrowns don't have it. If the homegrowns are so good, why aren't they in WWE? If a homegrown wants to be big, leave TNA for WWE, then come back and we'll push them."
BurningBeard Posted June 19, 2020 Posted June 19, 2020 I never had much of a problem with Kurt going over Joe, he was a huge get for the company and a big name so it makes no sense for him to job straight away and you had the problem of ending his undefeated streak. The amount of jobs he did to Angle afterward is where I have my issue.
BurningBeard Posted June 19, 2020 Posted June 19, 2020 I’ve been on a bit of a Gary Albright kick recently, what happens if he doesn’t die in 2000? WCW and ECW was gone, NOAH was formed but never really promoted foreigners, what options are there for him? Zero 1?
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted June 19, 2020 Posted June 19, 2020 What if Linda becomes part of the Reagan cabinet not Trump's? 1
Curt McGirt Posted June 19, 2020 Posted June 19, 2020 Massive deregulation that destroys small business still occurs either way? I think Albright may have ended up in NOAH. They still had the occasional Bison Smith in there.
Technico Support Posted June 19, 2020 Posted June 19, 2020 On 6/15/2020 at 12:57 PM, SorceressKnight said: Well, considering that claims from around the time period said that Randy Savage was one of the top bookers for WWF when he left (and many saying as high as "Savage had the book when he defected to WCW" Source? I have never heard this.
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