Scott,
With all the talk of guys who "should have been champ" or "could have been more", I wondered: Who would have benefited the most from coming up in the "other company?" You mentioned Curt Hennig likely seeing his peak in the WWF, but I think he could have been a World Champion in the NWA/WCW had he been down south during his prime. Nikita Koloff has been mentioned as another guy who would have been on top had he been in the opposite company (WWF). Sting is a guy who comes to mind: if he comes up in the WWF, do you think he gets higher than an Intercontinental title contendor type (without roiding up like Warrior)? Maybe BamBam Bigelow would have been a World Champ in late 80s NWA or early WCW?
Conversely, I think Sid, Luger, Vader are examples of guys who would have been up top regardless of which company they came up with.
Honestly, I don't know how or why Vince missed the boat on Lex Luger in 1986. If he had better talent scouting in Florida he would have been ALL OVER that shit. But given what a gigantic contract that Crockett gave him, maybe Vince just didn't want to match it, I dunno.
Sting was a better wrestler and more mentally stable than the Warrior. I wonder what could of been had Sting been the one to get that push in the WWF? The only thing is I can't imagine Sting being the out of control dominant type that Warrior was.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't going to hire him with all of his concussions, but I think Nigel McGuiness could have been a bigger star if he went to the WWE with Danielson. If he just would have waited until Aries signed with TNA again, he would have been a bigger star there. He's killer on the mic and was a better worker than Aries. Oh well.... Alex Shelly would be awesome in the new Russo-less TNA, too.
ReplyDeletenikita in 86... WM2 would have been super tits.
ReplyDeleteSting in the WWE would be a kind of disaster of sorts; he'd never get a chance to get over big until Hogan went away in 1992 and even then, he'd be competing against Bret Hart and Lex Lugar (and not having the on-camera history with Lex, let alone Ric Flair) and would be lost in the shuffle. Especially once the attitude era started, as far as Russo and Vince seeing Sting as a relic of the past and basically turning him into an idiot jobber who the New Age Outlaws beat the crap out of ala the Road Warriors, in order to get themselves over.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the possible nightmare scenario that it's Sting who dies at "Over The Edge '99" instead of Owen doing the whole "repel from the rafters" thing.
I know this is parallel universes...but in an alternate reality, would Barry Horowitz have had a storied career like Ric Flair?
ReplyDeleteI'd think that if Sting was in the WWF there would have been no "Crow Sting", and therefore no rappelling from the rafters for Vince to be inspired by (in other words, rip off) to begin with.
ReplyDeleteBigelow was in NWA in the late 80's. His push ended with a US title loss to Windham at Starcade '88
ReplyDeleteNow when I think about it, Rick Rude certainly would've made a good heel WWF champion, specifically in 1990.
ReplyDeleteIf Sting got Warrior's push in 1990 he would have been huge. But no way does Hogan put him over. The only reason he put over Warrior was because he knew Warrior would flop.
ReplyDeleteI think if Hillbilly Jim had signed with Crockett rather than Vince, the landscape of the 'sport' as we know it would have changed vastly. In WWF he was always bound to a second banana position because Hogan was etched in stone as the top guy. But in the NWA, they could have drawn on his southern every-man appeal and gradually built him up as the #1 face of the company. The possibilities for a feud between Jim and Flair are absolutely epic as it would have been the ultimate showdown between country-boy and playboy. After all, the company got a lot of mileage out of this archetype between Flair and Rhodes and Jim was always a much better worker than The Dream.
ReplyDeleteThey could have done an angle where Flair loses to Jim in a 'Trading Places' match and as a result Ric has to move to the farm while Jim take's up residence in Flair's mansion. Maybe this leads to a double-turn as humble living builds Flair's character while a rich and famous lifestyle inflates the ego of the man who now insists on being called Hill-William James. Then it all swerves back as the Horsemen rebuild Flair's confidence and burn down Jim's farm, causing him to return to his roots and dispense some southern justice, Wargames styles, alongside Dusty, Magnum, and "Cousin" Sam Houston. So much unrealized potential.
I've wondered before about what might have been if WCW had gotten Rude in 90 instead of 91. I feel like he would have been a more than sufficient payoff for the Black Scorpion angle. That could have changed things greatly: either Sting gets a hot angle so he doesn't have to drop the belt or Rude gets the title and keeps Sting chasing throughout the year. Either way, the Flair/Luger/Windham debacle doesn't happen and the title stays stronger throughout the NWA/WCW split. That would have been a huge profile bump for Rude too as he would have finally gotten the chance to run as a top heel, a position he never quite managed to claim in spite of all his potential.
ReplyDeleteumm No
ReplyDeleteEveryone forgets that Sting basically sucked against everyone not named Flair. Warrior would have been awesome if he had wrestled Flair for several years straight.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. His matches with Vader, Cactus, Muta, Regal, Rude..etc all sucked.
ReplyDeleteI wondered the same things also.
ReplyDeleteReally? Sting was a damn good worker in his prime.
ReplyDeleteAwesome.
ReplyDeleteNigel is a really sad case because he was primed for stardom if injuries didn't take their toll.
ReplyDeleteWas never a Hillbilly Jim fan but this is awesome and I want to see this.
ReplyDeleteI think Vince fucked up with Vader. He should have been a champion.
ReplyDeleteHere is another one. What if WCW got their heads out of their asses and decided to push Austin? Think a beer drinkin' bad ass Texan would have got over in WCW? Imagine how crazy/awesome it would be for Austin to come out every week Stunning every nWo member in sight and throwing beer bashes.
ReplyDeleteI think Sting would have gotten the spot like Savage had when he was face.
ReplyDeleteVince getting Vader at the time he did is another one of those example of getting a guy at the wrong time. The best move would have been for Vader to debut at the Rumble, destroy everyone and win and wrestle Bret at WM. But Bret/Shawn was set in stone so he was kinda in limbo for awhile.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your Hillbilly Jim rhetorical statements and hypothetical scenarios, and this one takes the cake. Hands down, the spit take moment was "Hill-William James." lol. I laugh just typing it.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for that post. This just straddles the line between brilliance and insanity the entire time. I'm not sure if the people here "get" it. I'm not even sure if I "get" it. But I'd like to think this is a stroke of comedic genius.
Shouda, woulda, coulda. No babyface got to look good against the nWo. You think Hall, Nash and Hogan are going to cower in fear against Austin?
ReplyDeleteThey cowered in fear against Sting every week.
ReplyDeleteYes, and the big reveal could be Alexandra York paying Terrence Taylor the $1 bet he won with her that it could happen
ReplyDeleteThe Sting-Owen thing is a stretch, even for you. There would have been no 'Crow Sting" hanging out in the rafters if it hadn't been for the whole angle with the nWo.
ReplyDeleteHard to say with Nikita Koloff. He could have taken the WM2 slot, but after the big payoff is he wrestling midgets at WM3? Most heels got fed to Hogan and headed towards midcard oblivion. Can you factor in his wife? You take away that issue and Nikita probably faired better in NWA. He had a better shot at the belt there than in WWF and a better chance at staying near the top of the card.
ReplyDeleteSting would have been just fine in the Warrior role in WWF. Definitely would have been the successor to Hogan. Bigelow had his shot in NWA, didn't do that much. Luger could have filled the Warrior role also if he came in to WWF in 87/88 and got built up. Vader was wasted in WWF. He would have been a better choice to be the first long term heel champ since Graham than Yoko ever was. By the time he arrived it just didn't work for reasons on both sides. Hennig would have been a great NWA champ. I think he could have been Flair like, going around the country winning by the skin of his teeth. Although his mic skills weren't as good as Flair, I could see him leading a 4 horseman group in the 80s too.
Sid sucked. He sucked in WWF, He sucked in NWA. He would have sucked in Timbucktoo. One of the oddest internet phenomenons (besides the rise of the anti-smark gimmick) is the revisionist love for Sid and the strange love for Scott Steiner, post tag team breakup.
Yeah, but they didn't get their ass kicked by Sting every week. Austin wasn't hiding in the rafters, he was drinking beer and busting heads.
ReplyDeleteIf Stone Cold Austin was in WCW he probably would have been in the nWo. His attitude would have been a perfect fit.
ReplyDeleteEvery week when Sting was the Crow, he would come out at the end of Nitro and clean house with a bat. Replace bat with the Stunner and replace the rafters with sitting in the back getting drunk.
ReplyDeleteHe's a great commentator though.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't every week. More like every month. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteEh? He was way too much of a lone wolf to fit into an organization as bloated and expansive as the nWo.
ReplyDeleteremember, Austin wasn't stone cold in wcw. Stunning steve could have worked without Hogan, but not once hulk came, not hogan it might have been a different story. Besides wcw is dumb enought to have screwed up stone cold, they only got really lucky with the NWO. . . .
ReplyDeleteI suppose, but Austin running around stunnering and beating the shit out of people reminded me of when Hall and Nash were attacking people with bats and lawn-darting Mexicans. I think Austin would fit in with Hall and Nash pretty well, the promos would be great. He'd even get to wear the same color scheme.
ReplyDeleteI liked the push they gave him with Hogan in WCW. He did everything possible to be #1 contender (win the U.S. title, battle royal) I would have done the same with either King of the Ring, Royal Rumble and had him win the IC belt.
ReplyDeleteThe love for Steiner, post Steiner Brothers, is more for the insane, incoherent promos.
ReplyDeleteThis is tremendous.
ReplyDeleteThank you good sir. I did start writing this as a joke, but now I'm totally playing mind movies of this angle. Gordon Solie describing the look on Flair's face after he loses the 'Trading Places' match is a thing of beauty.
ReplyDeleteI guess, but Austin never cut any real kayfabe breaking promos the way Nash and Hall did. He was more sociopath, less young punk.
ReplyDeleteSure he did, watch his brief ECW run.
ReplyDeleteIf Sting is in the 80's WWF, he also doesn't blow out his knee climbing that cage, so his workrate stays at its 1988-89 peak for a few more years. Sting would've been HUGE in the WWF.
ReplyDeleteWe talking Superstar or Stone Cold?
ReplyDeleteMan, parallel universes are confusing... Anyway, I think Stone Cold Austin would have done well as the straight man to Hall and Nash. Let them cut the insider promo, than have Austin cut the "We're gonna fuck you up" promo. Really, they were kind of the same thing, the original heels that got cheered, because they were against the company management, tt's just 2 different ways to go about it. I guess that's why I think they'd work well together.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I was about to type was "and he could have used a slice of that nWo t-shirt money", but I quickly realized that Austin is the one guy who that would NOT have applied to.
I guess, I think the Rock would be a better fit, honestly. He was cocky, he was flamboyant, he was much more of the over the top primadonna that to me, defined the nWo's street gang meets Hydra style. Austin was too...normal, too human.
ReplyDelete1,000 likes wouldn't be enough to truly convey how awesome that post was!
ReplyDeleteThis is hilarious, yet at the same time I'd legitimately want to see this angle.
ReplyDeleteI honestly love Sid. His promos have simply always entertained me. A few stolen catchphrases, a trailing off sell for a specific show, the fuck-ups he's infamous for...
ReplyDeleteAs a wrestler, he's lazy but he can be carried to something decent. The love for Sid isn't revisionist, it's quite obvious in his last full WWF run that the crowd loved him. His first world title win in MSG, 1996, got a massive face reaction despite him being the heel. There's been love there for a long time!
Much as I like Vader, I don't think that push is worth sacrificing Austin 3:16, even in an alternate reality.
ReplyDeleteYES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
ReplyDelete