Hey Scott,
I was contemplating the mysteries of the WWEUniverse, and the following topics began to trend.
1. Before Vince was “outed” as the owner of the WWF, he was the excitable announcer and was still all over the product. But did Vince Sr. ever have an on-screen role? I know that the concept of the “wrestling authority figure” hadn’t really been invented, and kayfabe would have been crucial at the time, but I still can’t believe that the guy who started the WWF could sit in the front row of MSG without anyone knowing who he was.
2. This one gets raised a lot, but who should have won the ’99 Rumble? Austin needs to be in the main event of Mania, but if he wins a third straight Rumble from no.1, it would kill the entire roster. On the other hand, was anyone over enough to eliminate him? Should they have taken a chance on HHH, as he was getting the push soon anyway? Could they have had Big Show debut a month early, or was he still under contract with WCW at this time? Kane? Taker? Golga? Anyone would have been a better winner than Vince, but I just don’t see a way out. Blame Russo.
3. Is it true that HHH was supposed to beat Taker at Mania X7 with Shawn’s help? I only heard this rumour recently, and couldn’t believe the Streak could have been ended before it became a key selling point of main every year, including last year, when HHH met Undertaker for the first time.
4. Is Savage/Steamboat the only *****-match that’s less than 15 minutes long?
5. They usually get celebrities involved at Mania, so given Vince’s world revolves around Twitter, why doesn’t he just throw money at Gaga or Bieber and get them to appear and plug the hell out of the event beforehand? The Little Monsters and Beliebers rush to buy the event, it does 4.6 million buys worldwide, and Vince’s genius is confirmed. It couldn't fail, right? Right?
Please don’t use the term “WWE Universe” on this blog.
1. Vincent J. never appeared on TV that I’m aware of. Most of the promoters of the time were strictly backstage, which kind of shoots down the whole “You have to be a wrestler to understand wrestling” argument, since I don’t think anyone would argue that Vince Sr. or Toots Mondt or the Crocketts didn’t understand wrestling. Of course, once the sport became primarily a TV outlet, then The Promoter became a TV character as much as anyone.
2. Big Show was definitely still under contract. They were cutting it really close by having him debut at the February show, in fact. That being said, Austin is the biggest star in the history of stars, so fuck the rest of the roster, he should have won the match for a third straight year.
3. It’s true that Shawn was supposed to get involved, but no one has ever said that HHH was supposed to beat Undertaker. I’m pretty sure that HHH was doing the job whether Shawn got involved or not, it’s just that Shawn was originally going to cost him the match and set up a HHH v. HBK feud.
4. Well, ratings are subjective, but it’s the only one that I’ve given ***** to.
5. He’d probably put Bieber over Dolph Ziggler, too.