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Thread: WCW WHAT IF....?

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    What the fucks up Dennys! Nash Diesel's Avatar
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    WCW WHAT IF....?

    Don't spend too much time worrying about the butterfly effect. Let's throw out some scenarios WCW could've done differently. Let's talk about talent that you wanted to see make the jump, whether it was 1992, 1997, maybe you wanted to see someone come in around 2000 that could've done wonders to change the minds of the AOL/Time-Warner execs. Really just a free for all type thread to kill time with some interesting takes. I don't care how obvious i.e. David Arquette shouldn't have won the WCW title, Finger poke of Doom, etc.

    I'll kick it off because even though it's obvious, a reel I saw of Jeff Jarrett wearing an nWo shirt made me think of this: They should've done nWo Hollywood v. nWo Wolfpac at War Games 1998, winner take all. I would've had Wolfpac go over, keep the red and black nWo log, they could even dabble back into the black and white to keep the merch sales flowing. Again I'm not going to get wrapped up too much in a mega butterfly effect scenario (not saying others can't). I just feel like the swan song happening at War Games for the nWo as we knew it would've been perfect for the War Games stipulation.

    I would have Hollywood be Hogan, Scott Hall, The Giant, and Stevie Ray (as he was getting the push as Hogan's right hand man it seemed at the time) v. Nash, Savage, Luger, and Sting. After it's all said and done you get get Hall back into the Wolfpac, but then I would also have them kick out Luger and Sting. Say they were only in it because they needed strength in numbers to end Hogan's nWo. I personally never liked Luger/Sting in the Wolfpac because they were the top 2 babyfaces feuding with the stable. You could throw in Piper too and that would've been dumb af if he had joined. Shocked he didn't considering Bret did. I just feel like the nWo with Hogan needed to die.

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    Top Hulkamaniac Bluegunn's Avatar
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    Hart Foundation stable for sure. Bret, anvil, benoit, and Bulldog. Having them feud with the horsemen could have been fun. Benoit would have to be switched out of horsemen. Possibly with Hennig.

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    GO ON LAD Fanny Batter's Avatar
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    Anything with Bret is the biggest what if if. He was the best wrestler in the world, at the peak of his powers, coming off the most controversial wrestling match of all time. It wrote itself. Sting beats Hogan clean at Starrcade, Bret comes out with his own title and continuing his Hart Foundation gimmick where he's a heel in America. Then you build to Sting vs. Bret unification at the Bell Centre with Bret reversing the Deathlock into the Sharpshooter and winning clean as a sheet. It wasn't that difficult. Pushing Bret means you park Goldberg which will have only helped him - keep him going through 1998 and eventually actually promote his title match at the Georgia Dome for Starrcade. Bret could have defended through Halloween Havoc where he drops it to Hogan, who transitions it to Goldberg. Nice 6 month reign defending against Savage, Flair, Nash (pay off their WWE chemistry) and DDP leading to red and yellow Hogan at Havoc. There you reform the nWo that died at the previous Starrcade, leading to Goldberg going through them en route to the Georgia Dome. 1998 WCW is the greatest example of bad booking - it didn't actively suck as a product at that point, but how poorly plotted it was killed it's momentum when WWE were on fire. It just needed to be simple.

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    Top Hulkamaniac Bluegunn's Avatar
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    If Russo was to be on TV. Brett would be the ideal guy to target. Brett made reverence to it on an episode of nitro blaming him for Montreal. "You screwed Brett" chants would be sent his way. Not sure why Russo never went that route. I know Brett was heel. But imagine Russo him debuting during a world title match and costing him the title and taking credit for Montreal.

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    What the fucks up Dennys! Nash Diesel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fanny Batter View Post
    Anything with Bret is the biggest what if if. He was the best wrestler in the world, at the peak of his powers, coming off the most controversial wrestling match of all time. It wrote itself. Sting beats Hogan clean at Starrcade, Bret comes out with his own title and continuing his Hart Foundation gimmick where he's a heel in America. Then you build to Sting vs. Bret unification at the Bell Centre with Bret reversing the Deathlock into the Sharpshooter and winning clean as a sheet. It wasn't that difficult. Pushing Bret means you park Goldberg which will have only helped him - keep him going through 1998 and eventually actually promote his title match at the Georgia Dome for Starrcade. Bret could have defended through Halloween Havoc where he drops it to Hogan, who transitions it to Goldberg. Nice 6 month reign defending against Savage, Flair, Nash (pay off their WWE chemistry) and DDP leading to red and yellow Hogan at Havoc. There you reform the nWo that died at the previous Starrcade, leading to Goldberg going through them en route to the Georgia Dome. 1998 WCW is the greatest example of bad booking - it didn't actively suck as a product at that point, but how poorly plotted it was killed it's momentum when WWE were on fire. It just needed to be simple.
    In my head I've always fantasized Bret coming in to WCW almost the exact same way. Sting beats Hogan clean, Bret makes claim as being the REAL world champion. Almost similar to Flair coming in to WWF just handled better. Sting v. Bret was a dream match for many of us fans especially when Bret started using the Sharpshooter.

    I always felt like you'd have those two work together and then you could start building the nWo split between Hogan and Nash underneath leading to what I had fantasy booked in my OP.

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    What if WCW were able to keep the Radicalz? I personally feel like that was pretty much the end all be all for the MNW. Raw had already been stomping Nitro, but once they acquired those 4 workhorses it was kind of like the backbone being ripped out of WCW's body. They lost Jericho, they lost Giant, Raven was a big loss, they weren't really acquiring anyone from WWF in return. I can't even think of anyone who jumped ship to WCW after 1999. I know WCW was only around for a little over a year after they left but I think at the very least WCW would've still been able to say the wrestling was still better.

    It's wild because I didn't watch a ton of wrestling in 2000 but you go back and it's like damn, they had the angles, they had the wrestling, it was peak WWF and they didn't even have Austin until October of that year.

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    Another what if....What if Bischoff kept the masks on the luchadores? I know Bischoff has that stupid reply of "You couldn't see their emotion!" Yet these motherfuckers were massively over. And all the cool dramatic stuff Rey did in his career, he did it wearing a mask. Vince didn't need to see his baby face (dude literally looked 10 until he was like 45). If anything unmasking Rey, Juvi, and Psicosis ruined the mystique and made them just another batch of high flyers.

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    GO ON LAD Fanny Batter's Avatar
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    The last 2 significant WWF > WCW guys were Goldust and Jeff Jarrett, I guess relevant in that they'd had important runs there before. By 2000 they were picking at ECW's bones and... pushing loads of green Power Plant guys. They went from having everybody that was anybody under contract with no plans, to having nobodies all over programming in a year. Mike Sanders, fucking hell.

    I guess if Jericho and The Radicalz hung on they'd have been in the World title scene in 2000. It was beyond meaning anything at that point though. The treatment of that title between Goldberg losing it to Nash and Steiner's reign is crazy. In 23 months, 30 title reigns and 8 vacancies. Outrageous. More than half those reigns lasting less than a fortnight.

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    What if.....WCW started 1 year earlier?

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    Top Hulkamaniac Bluegunn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nash Diesel View Post
    What if WCW were able to keep the Radicalz? I personally feel like that was pretty much the end all be all for the MNW. Raw had already been stomping Nitro, but once they acquired those 4 workhorses it was kind of like the backbone being ripped out of WCW's body. They lost Jericho, they lost Giant, Raven was a big loss, they weren't really acquiring anyone from WWF in return. I can't even think of anyone who jumped ship to WCW after 1999. I know WCW was only around for a little over a year after they left but I think at the very least WCW would've still been able to say the wrestling was still better.

    It's wild because I didn't watch a ton of wrestling in 2000 but you go back and it's like damn, they had the angles, they had the wrestling, it was peak WWF and they didn't even have Austin until October of that year.
    Dustin Rhodes and road warrior animal were the last 2 to jump ship to my memory.

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    Oh man the return of Road Warrior Animal was so terrible. Same with Rhodes. I swear the only reason I even bothered sometimes turning on WCW after mid 1999 was to see Kevin Nash and ICP/Vampiro. It was so fucking bad and they had a stacked roster, names galore, just a ton of weird ass booking decisions.

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    What if.....WCW was able to sign the Nation of Domination (or form their own)?

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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if.....WCW was able to sign the Nation of Domination (or form their own)?
    That would've been wild considering a couple of the lawsuits they had going at various times pertaining to racism. On one hand IDK if they would've gone that route but on the other it was right along that reality based vibe WCW were trying to give off.

    WWF had 2 "gimmicks" that at the time felt a little out of place in the over the top cartoon world they were transitioning out of and that was Goldust and the NOD.

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    What if.......WCW was able to capitalize on their cruiserweight division, perhaps adding in a few elements that would later be seen in TNA's X-Division?

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    Top Hulkamaniac Bluegunn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nash Diesel View Post
    Oh man the return of Road Warrior Animal was so terrible. Same with Rhodes. I swear the only reason I even bothered sometimes turning on WCW after mid 1999 was to see Kevin Nash and ICP/Vampiro. It was so fucking bad and they had a stacked roster, names galore, just a ton of weird ass booking decisions.
    The only good thing with Rhodes was when his daddy came back. Had to be up there with savage and Elizabeth considering how long they did not talk.

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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if.......WCW was able to capitalize on their cruiserweight division, perhaps adding in a few elements that would later be seen in TNA's X-Division?
    Elements as in Ultimate X? That would've been cool. I think WCW did capitalize on the division, it was always until the very end the most exciting-wrestling wise-on any of their shows.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bluegunn View Post
    The only good thing with Rhodes was when his daddy came back. Had to be up there with savage and Elizabeth considering how long they did not talk.
    Yep that was a moment for sure!

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    The Fresh Maker Mazer's Avatar
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    So, I've been listening to some of the Bishcoff 3 weeks podcast (intermittently), and my big What If....what if Vince Russo never comes to WCW?

    He was a huge mark for himself, and obviously was suited better to be the second in command, rather than the whole show. And really breaking down his first few months, it was a problem immediately. He was clearly yearning to be unchecked. Although he was later reigned back in some, the damage was done. Although WCW was headed for some tough times in any event, I'd argue that Russo accelerated what could have been a slow decline into a freefall.

    So....what if he never comes and Bischoff or a normal promoter run it through that time?

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    I think if we go off what Bischoff has talked about around the summer/early fall of 99 when he was completely burned out, then maybe promoting someone else from within might've helped in terms of the creative process. Bischoff was such a perfect middle man between the suits and the talent it's hard for me to think of anyone who could slide in that role but let's just say it was Kevin Sullivan, Dusty Rhodes, anyone but Russo right? I think that we would've seen less of the faux Attitude stuff Russo tried to do with a totally different cast of characters.

    What we didn't realize at the time is that the guy who also actually writes some of the show is an on-air figure was getting lame. The big 3 had it going strong: Paul E for ECW, Bischoff for WCW, and then the always late to the party Vince in WWF. Russo making himself part of the show was terrible. He can talk about how the ratings started to go up slightly and they needed like 6 months to really see it through blah blah blah but the fact is that shit he was trying to do fucking sucked.

    You know what we wouldn't have seen? Hulk Hogan v. Billy fuckin Kidman. "FTNB" didn't catch on for Hulk like the nWo or prayers lol. Just silly shit like that. WCW's biggest misake around this time especially with Russo was trying to match WWF doing WWF shit. Sadly WWF was just knocking it out the park it didn't matter how good WCW could've been.

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    What if .... instead of setting up ECW, Paul Heyman had prevailed over Cowboy Bill Watts, and Heyman was given the booking role of WCW.

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    What the fucks up Dennys! Nash Diesel's Avatar
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    I actually had a conversation on Twitter with someone about how different Paul Heyman with proper financial backing would be compared to how he booked with little to no budget. I feel like what made Paul a genius is he could work with what he's got, and make it into the best it could possibly be. If he had money, maybe he wouldn't have worked as hard, he would've been able to hire who he wanted instead of who he could "afford" for a couple days lol.

    For me I think Paul Heyman as WCW President would've been very interesting because he would've had more money to work with compared to what he had in ECW which is what we base 99% of his creative genius on. He wasn't booking in WCW to my knowledge, maybe helping with his own stuff and he had the Dangerous Alliance which was nothing but talent, probably the most talented stable in WCW history. There would've been no New World Order but I'm curious what he would've done in their place, what the big game changer storyline would be for WCW under his guidance. I don't think we see Hulk Hogan coming over even though alot of that had to do with Flair bumping into him than it did anything else so yeah imagine Paul Heyman booking Hulk Hogan in 1994-???

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    What would WCW have been like if Hall and Nash stayed with WWE? Would it have endured as long as it did?

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    If they stayed it would have killed the Austin run as I think HBK drops it to Razor or Diesel at WM16. Kliq replaces dx. Crow sting does not happen without Hall suggestion. Bret would benefit though as I think he leads an NWO type stable. Possibly like the 2000 version.

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    What if Ted Turner hadn’t sold up and WCW kept their TV slot? Given the state they were in by late 2000, could they have continued much longer?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Donald View Post
    What would WCW have been like if Hall and Nash stayed with WWE? Would it have endured as long as it did?
    I think so. The misconception is that Bischoff thinks WWE took a lot of stuff from WCW but that's not true. Before Diesel and Razor left you started seeing the anti-hero in Diesel where he's giving the middle finger to Taker, blurring the lines of reality talking about how his World title run made him a goof. You already had Goldust who was about to feud with Razor, this was all going into January 1996, long before the nWo was ever a thing.

    if anything I think WCW would've struggled even more. Go back and watch WCW pre-Scott Hall/Kevin Nash. March 1996 was the 3-tier cage Mega Powers v. Dungeon of Doom/Zeus/Bane/Luger match lol.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreyski View Post
    What if Ted Turner hadn’t sold up and WCW kept their TV slot? Given the state they were in by late 2000, could they have continued much longer?
    If the merger never happens, I would bet money that WCW would still be a thing today. Maybe not as "WCW" maybe they would've changed their name but as long as Ted has breath in his body, they would've been around. He loved wrestling. Even when they were bleeding money and getting 2.4 in the ratings, they were still the most watched show on TNT.

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    What if......Vince Russo ran a rival faction on screen to rival the other factions in WCW, but specifically Bischoff's nWo?

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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if......Vince Russo ran a rival faction on screen to rival the other factions in WCW, but specifically Bischoff's nWo?
    Depending on who's in the faction it could possibly work. I feel like a big mistake was Russo conning people into thinking he should be an on-screen character. He wanted to prove HE was really Mr. McMahon. But I think Russo coming in and having his own faction would be interesting just depends on who he would have and WHY they would be a faction. If he could've made a faction of guys who weren't shit in WWF that he liked who came to WCW and still weren't shit, that would've been interesting. IDK who would fit that, maybe Jeff Jarrett, maybe Raven? IDK.

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    Top Hulkamaniac Bluegunn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if......Vince Russo ran a rival faction on screen to rival the other factions in WCW, but specifically Bischoff's nWo?
    If he only knew how good aj styles actually was. Jerrett, Air Raid, Bret, Hennig.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dreyski View Post
    What if Ted Turner hadn’t sold up and WCW kept their TV slot? Given the state they were in by late 2000, could they have continued much longer?
    See TNA early years. I could see it being similar. We would get to find out the mystery man and masked sting.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bluegunn View Post
    If he only knew how good aj styles actually was. Jerrett, Air Raid, Bret, Hennig.
    I'm thinking the only way it would work is if the faction is made up of guys who would have no Earthly business joining up with Russo's on-screen character. I'm thinking guys like Finlay and Regal. I think having Russo as an on-screen character makes sense, but he has to do more than just being the power hungry jerk. I think they play up the death spiral angle and come together as the only ones who see the writing on the wall and claim that something is killing WCW. Russo sets his sights on everyone else, seemingly trying to avoid the nWo purposely, before he accidentally crosses them, then states that they were his true targets all along. However, it also needs to be clear that Russo needs the members of his faction to keep him in check as much as they need him. Almost entirely different than what happened with TNA.

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    What the fucks up Dennys! Nash Diesel's Avatar
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    Yeah that would be more like a What if Russo wasn't such a fucking mark for himself? His time in WCW was such a shitshow and I feel bad for the wrestlers who try their best to act like he wasn't given a chance or he gave guys tv time that maybe weren't getting it or getting enough of it.

    What if WCW read the room and didn't book Kidman v. Hulk Hogan? This is why McMahon was such a great filter for Russo. Russo was the guy that was like "Let's make Val Venis a World title contender" and Vince knew straight up it would never work. Vince kept that kind of "Attitude Era" talent in the midcard where they belonged just like you never saw TL Hopper main event Summerslam. The occupation gimmicks never saw the top spot. Just like Godfather, Val Venis, Goldust, they never saw it either. Russo, he would've had ICP trade the World title with Blue Meanie if he had the final say in WWF.

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    What if.....you had Bret Hart coming in to WCW feuding with Booker T and Harlem Heat?

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    If it's 1997 that would've been terrible. Booker T was barely on his own, Harlem Heat? Who would Bret team with?

    I liked Booker T v. Bret, good matches. If Booker T was a bigger name in 1997/1998 or Bret came over in 2000 that would've been a great feud.

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    What if......WCW is able to resign Paul Wight, Sean Waltman, Chris Jericho, and, particularly, Steve Austin?

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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if......WCW is able to resign Paul Wight, Sean Waltman, Chris Jericho, and, particularly, Steve Austin?
    When do we resign Austin? Before Stone Cold or after? If it's before, doesn't matter, dude would've been lost in the shuffle. If say Austin leaves WWF in 1999 and shows up in WCW, that would've no doubt shifted the tide even for a little bit. Losing The Giant was like the first real big jump to WWF imo. I think Bischoff actually just talked about Giant leaving for WWF basically saying he told Paul to go because they didn't know what to do with him at WCW any longer and that was true. Dude was coming out there smoking a cigarette getting fat as fuck by the minute.

    Jericho is an interesting case. He was probably going to get bumped into the US title scene eventually and I bet once Russo came over instead of Jarrett it would've been Jericho getting the massive World title run.

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    What if......WCW had debuted the Cruiserweight Tag Team Division earlier?

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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if......WCW had debuted the Cruiserweight Tag Team Division earlier?
    That would've been awesome. They had so many luchadores I'm actually shocked they didn't bring back the 6-man tag titles they used to have. Adding those tag titles around 1998 would've been smart. The talent they had from Japan and Mexico plus guys coming up in the US, Canada, England, you could've had a very good tag division. I would've made it almost exclusive to Saturday Night. Saturday Night became that weird rare gem show that you would see the most random matches and once they rolled out Thunder PLUS they were doing Worldwide.

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    Speaking of Worldwide....

    What if....WCW signed Hayabusa? They flew his ass from Japan to not even wrestle and then nothing happened for whatever reason. I wonder, had he signed with WCW, would he have been paralyzed and would he be alive today? Dude was one of my favorites, my sons were big fans of his. RIP to a legend.

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    Furry, Filthy and Fun Badger's Avatar
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    What if Hogan through shenanigans ended Goldberg’s streak in their first title match or at least a DQ? If the road to Goldberg’s first title win had been bumpier, would it have changed things? I know it was in Atlanta but still.

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    What if…..WCW had Mike Sanders after his time in HWA and TNA?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Badger View Post
    What if Hogan through shenanigans ended Goldberg’s streak in their first title match or at least a DQ? If the road to Goldberg’s first title win had been bumpier, would it have changed things? I know it was in Atlanta but still.
    I think if they had Goldberg beat Hogan by DQ it would've been better for Goldberg. They pulled the trigger too soon. I mean ffs, his first title defense at Bash at the Beach was a throwaway match against Curt Hennig. Wow.

    I feel like had Goldberg won the title in 1999 it might've worked out better. The flipside is that the MNW were so neck and neck in 1998 both companies didn't give a shit. They were putting Austin v. Vince and Hogan v. Goldberg on free tv. The MNW were awesome, but we know now that the business suffered tremendously because of it.

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    World Champion lotjx's Avatar
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    What if Ted Turner snuffed out that someone was selling his company to AOL behind his back?

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    It really is a shame that AOL fizzled out like 2-3 years after this merger. There was a cool interview JBL and Bischoff did talking about the merger being one of the worst business decisions in general, completely unrelated to wrestling, just the worst fucking merger ever.

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    What the fucks up Dennys! Nash Diesel's Avatar
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    What if WCW were able to secure the working relationship with ECW the same way they had one with New Japan and AAA? They had a solid talent exchange going in the early mid 90's I'm pretty sure that's how we saw Arn, Eaton, Simmons, the list goes on of signed WCW talent that were showing up.

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    What if…..somebody defected to WCW before they collapsed? Say, both Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels defect to WCW after the Montreal Incident, Shawn has a change of heart and is disgusted with his role in it and leaves WWF for WCW as a result?

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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if…..somebody defected to WCW before they collapsed? Say, both Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels defect to WCW after the Montreal Incident, Shawn has a change of heart and is disgusted with his role in it and leaves WWF for WCW as a result?
    Well the collapse of WCW doesn't really start until the Fingerpoke of Doom. 1998 they were still going strong, making money, shit even in 1999 they were still appearing on Jay Leno and all that stuff. But if we're talking late 1997-early early 1998, that would've been pretty big for WCW. Downside is Shawn was destined to get hurt his body was holding on by a thread so hopefully he would've been able to avoid serious injury. His knees were fucked, and it's sad because Shawn was not old he'd just been around for awhile doing crazy shit.

    If WCW could've continued the Bret/Shawn feud post-Montreal Screwjob it would've been insane. You would def put Shawn with the Outsiders. That would be the beginning of the nWo split no doubt with HBK/Outsiders because there's no fucking way Bischoff would've been able to, for a lack of better word PARENT all that fucking drama.

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    What if.....after the ratings declined, WCW decided to move Nitro off of Monday Night so it was no longer in direct competition with WWF? Like TNA did?

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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if.....after the ratings declined, WCW decided to move Nitro off of Monday Night so it was no longer in direct competition with WWF? Like TNA did?
    I don't think it would've mattered. TNA didn't benefit from being on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturday night. Didn't matter. If the product was good, people would tune in. WCW unfortunately were not only delivering a mid product, but WWF were just that much better and there's not a lot of room for a #2 in the mainstream. I feel like WCW would've been able to bounce back and had they been around a few more years I feel like it would've been close again. I think regardless the wrestling boom was going to die down that had nothing to do with WCW getting bought out. But I feel like we would've been back to maybe Nitro getting a 3 and Raw getting a 4 and going back and forth.

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    What if......Dustin Rhodes debuted the Black Reign gimmick for WCW?

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    What the fucks up Dennys! Nash Diesel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if......Dustin Rhodes debuted the Black Reign gimmick for WCW?
    He kinda tried with Seven but that went over like a fart in church as the old timers say lol

    I would say this....Dustin Rhodes should've came in as Dustin Rhodes and joined the West Texas Rednecks. Imagine him and Curt Hennig as a tag-team. That would've been incredible.

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    What if.......WCW was never able to sign Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash?

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    Quote Originally Posted by WWXChairman View Post
    What if.......WCW was never able to sign Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash?
    It would not have made it to Nitro era. Hogan's defection lead to Savage ie the person who could work matches joining up. Hogan and Savage gave WCW a boost even if the stories were rehashes of WM III, IV and VIII. They would survive but I doubt we get Ntro which means WWF has Raw which would be unwatchable with Hogan being on there taking time away from Austin, Foley and even Bret. WCW would be Saturday Night Wrestling with barely a crowd.

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    Without Hogan, there is no reason for Hall and Nash to return to WCW. 1992-1993 WCW wasn't terrible but it was starting to fall. I think Bill Watts lost his touch and what worked for his time wasn't going to fly by going 15 years backwards. I remember being 10-11 already thinking the top rope rules they had were stupid. His reasoning behind was dumb too.

    I don't think people truly understand the domino effect Hogan going to WCW had on the entire business. Of course people left WWF and WCW back then but would you have seen Macho Man go there? Bret Hart said that there was a time around 92/93 I think where had some talks with WCW but that wasn't World champion Bret. MAYBE they could've elevated him and he would've definitely kept WCW more toward wrestling than entertainment. But would Ted Turner even want to take a chance against Vince if he didn't have the roster he did going into 1995? He had Hogan, Savage, Flair, Sting, Vader....just removing the Mega Powers changes the game drastically. I wonder if Savage would've still left or would he have chilled at the booth knowing the money in WCW wouldn't be there?

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    Quote Originally Posted by lotjx View Post
    It would not have made it to Nitro era. Hogan's defection lead to Savage ie the person who could work matches joining up. Hogan and Savage gave WCW a boost even if the stories were rehashes of WM III, IV and VIII. They would survive but I doubt we get Ntro which means WWF has Raw which would be unwatchable with Hogan being on there taking time away from Austin, Foley and even Bret. WCW would be Saturday Night Wrestling with barely a crowd.
    See the crazy part is Hogan left and didn't really have any intentions at the time of returning to wrestling. It took a shit ton of money to get him to rethink his retirement. I wonder what would've happened if Vince, struggling, decided to work with Hogan again in the years to come? Imagine Diesel wins the title and he faces Hogan at WM 11. They're not going on 2nd lol. Maybe Hogan thinks a heel turn makes sense at that time who knows.

    I wonder if anyone like Austin, Foley, Goldust, do they even come to WWF? Does HBK get pushed in the World title picture if Hogan returns in 1994? It's so wild thinking how instrumental one single move changed the business for the best.

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    World Champion lotjx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nash Diesel View Post
    See the crazy part is Hogan left and didn't really have any intentions at the time of returning to wrestling. It took a shit ton of money to get him to rethink his retirement. I wonder what would've happened if Vince, struggling, decided to work with Hogan again in the years to come? Imagine Diesel wins the title and he faces Hogan at WM 11. They're not going on 2nd lol. Maybe Hogan thinks a heel turn makes sense at that time who knows.

    I wonder if anyone like Austin, Foley, Goldust, do they even come to WWF? Does HBK get pushed in the World title picture if Hogan returns in 1994? It's so wild thinking how instrumental one single move changed the business for the best.
    In that scenario, I can see ECW winning the war if they have Austin, Foley and most of the young cruiserweights due to WCW not wanting to push cruiserweights if there is no Bischoff.

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    What the fucks up Dennys! Nash Diesel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lotjx View Post
    In that scenario, I can see ECW winning the war if they have Austin, Foley and most of the young cruiserweights due to WCW not wanting to push cruiserweights if there is no Bischoff.
    It's interesting to think about ECW because they had no money, no presence on tv, they didn't put on too many shows. I don't think Austin would've stuck around he would've gone to Japan or probably wound up in WWF because he was tight with Kevin Nash. I'm wondering if Austin would've even been fired by Bischoff. There would've never been a war and ECW definitely wouldn't be part of it. They were just too underground.

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    The 'me' in 'team' Dreyski's Avatar
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    What if Regal had shot on Goldberg and got him to tap?

    Regal gets fired for sure, whether the fed would take him following this a is little more questionable, but he could have been promoted as a Dr Death/Ken Shamrock type character.
    Goldberg's streak is gone, unless they do a dusty finish or reverse the decision the following night. Nitro was live at that point right? So they couldn't not air the match and pretend like it never happened...

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    Furry, Filthy and Fun Badger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dreyski View Post
    What if Regal had shot on Goldberg and got him to tap?

    Regal gets fired for sure, whether the fed would take him following this a is little more questionable, but he could have been promoted as a Dr Death/Ken Shamrock type character.
    Goldberg's streak is gone, unless they do a dusty finish or reverse the decision the following night. Nitro was live at that point right? So they couldn't not air the match and pretend like it never happened...
    Aye definitely fired, wouldn’t be a shocked if via Fed-Ex or phonecall either. Regal didn’t have the prototypical “superstar” look so doubt if he’d gone any further regardless.

    If Goldberg’s streak had gone on (though I think DDP was a great choice earlier, but say this went on) and not ended at hands of Nash then fingerpoke of doom didn’t happen, how far could they have taken it and who would’ve been the one to beat him to benefit the company?
    Last edited by Badger; Yesterday at 4:10 PM.

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