Fix the wrestlemanias (WWF alternate history)

[stingersplash]

I'd have had Booker beat Hunter at Mania 19, he could have lost it later. I think he needed the win more, it took him years to recover and pretty much killed him as a babyface headliner.

 

Great shout, forgot about that. Utterly disgraceful from start to finish, that was. If I could wish AIDS to befall any wrestler from any time, HHH between Wrestlemania 18 and 20 would be the deserved winner. What a bloated awful shit. Gets me cross just mulling it over.

 

i agree (not on the aids thing) but that match and result was awful - i think it took trips like 30 seconds to pin booker after the pedigree.

 

also, and i dont think this is out of step either, but that match was the worst of the whole show.

 

also about mania 16 - i know it was a year when they tried a lot of different things - a mania with no singles match, the 32 man KOTR tournament that year.

 

but that card would need time and thought to get it right - ill think overnight and post a card that would be far better - but im sure we all could do that. except for the OP and his taker losing match.

[Ron Simmons]

Good idea for a thread.

 

I'd have had Booker beat Hunter at Mania 19, he could have lost it later. I think he needed the win more, it took him years to recover and pretty much killed him as a babyface headliner.

I agree - I'm guessing Hunter kept it because Goldberg was waiting in the wings, but this really was a make or break match for Booker, and it really did break him.

 

The most obvious fixes are Cole-Lawler and Hart-McMahon. I'd have had both run MUCH shorter with absolutely no offence from either McMahon or Michael Cole. They'd both get a fan pleasing beatdown and that'd be that. Although they could have prolonged Cole's heel character run if they really felt the need by having Lawler finish him off with a piledriver, an illegal move, hence the GM decision.

 

At some point Wrestlemania could have been used to propel Jeff Hardy into mega-stardom with a WWE title win in the main event. Given how things turned out maybe it'd for the best that didn't happen, but I do feel Wrestlemania hasn't really been used to "make" someone for a long time, in fact the last time that happened may have been when Cena and Batista won World titles.

[matbro1984]

Good idea for a thread, but OP what are you thinking?! Also you need some parameters otherwise you're just going to have people suggesting Eddie Guerrero and a non-murdery Chris Benoit featuring in main events long since they died. I'd recommend sticking with the same circumstances that the event had at the time, i.e. injured wrestlers are still injured and unavailable, dead people are still dead, and so on. I think leeway regarding whether theyre working heel or face would be acceptable to engineer a good card.

 

My suggestions, albeit not all of these are original

 

WRESTLEMANIA 8

Hogan v Flair main event: Flair retains following interference. Warrior makes the save during Flair and Perfect's post-match beatdown to end the event on the same high note.

Savage v Jake Roberts: This was the late 1991-early 1992 mega feud and really should not have been thrown away the way it was

This leaves Undertaker and Sid without matches. Without completely reshuffling the whole card, I'd have probably thrown them together although I'm not sure how I'd book it to have both of them coming out of it looking strong.

 

WRESTLEMANIA 9

It's a bullshit ending that HAS to be changed. I'd have gone with

Hart v Yokozuna: Hart wins, and challenges Hogan afterward for Summerslam. Some guff about having beaten the rest, Hogan's the one he still has left to prove himself against. Hogan accepts, handshake, happy ending and a build up for Summerslam ready-made.

 

WRESTLEMANIA 11

Bret Hart v Owen Hart: The Backlund match was shit and pretty unexciting on paper too, Bret still had beef with Owen, the tag match he was in wasn't great, so lump them both together. Preferably in some sort of "this is the final match" gimmick allowing them to end the feud properly and pursue different feuds afterwards.

Diesel v Michaels. Michaels wins. It wasn't the final match, bearing in mind this was in an era where Wrestlemanias always ended with a "happy" ending.

 

WRESTLEMANIA 12

This will be a controversial opinion regarding the booking of Hart v Michaels: End the match with Michaels refusing to give up in the Sharpshooter while 1-nil up, having scored with Sweet Chin Music a few minutes earlier. The restart bit was a bit rubbish in light of the usual "champion retains if it's a draw" proviso, so this lets Michaels still win clean and in heroic fashion without making Hart look a chump since he was dominant in the closing moments in the match and seconds away from Michaels giving up and evening the score, thus Hart retains.

 

WRESTLEMANIA 18

Rock v Hogan closes the show.

 

WRESTLEMANIA 19

Undertaker v either Big Show OR Albert, but not both. the original version was two huge guys being built up as dominant threats, in a handicap match, take on one guy and still lose. Even if that one guy is the Undertaker and he had outside help, they are still buried. Undertaker-Show should have been enough of an attraction at that time.

HHH v Booker T: Booker wins. Enough said.

 

WRESTLEMANIA 20

Lesnar v Goldberg: didn't suck, nobody knew they were leaving, and Austin isn't involved. Could have been great. Wasn't.

 

WRESTLEMANIA 25

HHH v Orton: The stipulation that HHH loses on a DQ totally blew the drama of the match. Here's a man bloodthirsty for revenge who is tip-toeing around the rules to keep things legal. At least it should have been a no-DQ affair or similar stipulation.

 

WRESTLEMANIA 27

Edge v Del Rio. Del Rio wins, the way it played out completely killed his momentum.

[Van Dammer]

Even though I love WrestleMania VIII, it should have been Hogan/Flair instead of Hogan/Sid in the main event.

 

This baffles me to this day, was there a particular reason why they never really did Hogan vs Flair?

[humanracer]

Even though I love WrestleMania VIII, it should have been Hogan/Flair instead of Hogan/Sid in the main event.

 

This baffles me to this day, was there a particular reason why they never really did Hogan vs Flair?

 

don't shout at me but Power Slam answered this question a few months ago. Flair vs Hogan had been done too much at house shows leading up to WM so Vince wanted something more original for WM.

[matbro1984]

Also theres some guff in a DVD somewhere where Mean Gene says that their matches weren't meeting expectation or something along those lines.

[air_raid]

don't shout at me but Power Slam answered this question a few months ago.

 

This is true, but bollocks, shout at him.

[stingersplash]

ok so here is my mania 16 card - had a think about how to do it, make the show better than it was and keep things on track for the future cards later on.

 

ok so first i would have a 16 man battle royal dark match - dvd extra if you like, and since it was mania 16 it makes sense and uses all the guys that clogged up the actual card.

 

Steve Blackman, Al Snow, Godfather, Dlo Brown, Headbangers, Kaientai, Mean Street Posse, Viscera, Test, Albert, Bossman and Bull Buchanan.

 

everyone gangs up on MSP and tosses them out, then Test and Albert throw out Kaientai and Bossman and Buchanan do the same to Headbangers, making them seem dominant. Viscera gets rid of Dlo and Godfather before the other 6 combine to eliminate him. Snow and Blackman are outnumbered, but Test and Albert screw over Bossman and Bull and throw them out, Bossman tris to get back in, Al throws out Albert and on the other side Test big boots Blackman out but is crotched on the top rope, Al throws head at Test and knocks him over, Al Snow wins, gets the crows happy and ready for the actual show.

 

Match 1 - Chris Benoit vs Tazz

 

Hard hitting match, lots of suplexes and submission attempts, Tazz wins, crowd happy after opener, Benoit still looks strong, and he only just joined the company.

 

Match 2 - Acolytes vs X-Pac and Road Dogg

 

Tag match to further the issues coming out of the Royal Rumble, a bit of a filler but with good names - X-Pac pins Farooq with X-Factor, gives the McMahon-Helmsley regime some steam going into the main event.....

 

Match 3 - Womens Title Match - Jacqueline vs Tori

 

Better than the womens match we actually got, story here is Steph doesnt win the title till the raw after mania rather than the one before, send Tori os the MHR to try first. Jacqueline retains, loses next night to SMH.

 

Match 4 - Triangle Ladder Match - Dudleys vs Hardys vs E+C

 

Exact same match in same place on the card, built up to it by having filler matches, same result too, E+C wins the titles.

 

Match 5 - Kane vs Big Show

 

Get the two big guys in one match, Shane tries to interferes to help Show, he screws up and Kane gets chokeslam win. Show and Shane then move forward with their feud which happened anyway.

 

Match 6 - Rikishi + Too Cool (with Chyna in corner) vs Radicalz

 

Almost the same match, but Chyna turns here rather than next night, helping Eddie pin Rikishi.

 

Match 7 - Eurocontinental Title Match - Chris Jericho vs Kurt Angle

 

Straight up 20 minute plus singles match, similar to what they had at KOTR 2000. back and forth action, Angle retains with top rope angle slam, since there is no need for jericho to get screwed vs eddie the next night (see it all makes sense, kinda).

 

Match 8 - Hardcore Title Match - Crash Holly vs Hardcore Holly

 

Plunder filled match to break up the Semi and Main events, Crash goes over, ending isnt screwed up.

 

Match 9 - WWF Title Match - The Rock vs Triple H

 

Single match, they have their usual good stuff, Vinnie Mac tries to screw Rock, Mick Foley comes out and gives Vince the Mr Socko treatment, crowd goes mad, Rocky hits Rock Bottom and wins the title, fans go home happy. Foley has retired for me, they can go forward with Rock and Trips still, just gives fans happy finish.

 

Its not perfect, hell its taken me more time to type this than i put into the matches, placement and finishes. But it beats the real one.

[stingersplash]

Also theres some guff in a DVD somewhere where Mean Gene says that their matches weren't meeting expectation or something along those lines.

 

True story of wm dvd/bluray actually - i guess vince knew best eh?

[King Pitcos]

Even though I love WrestleMania VIII, it should have been Hogan/Flair instead of Hogan/Sid in the main event.

 

This baffles me to this day, was there a particular reason why they never really did Hogan vs Flair?

 

don't shout at me but Power Slam answered this question a few months ago. Flair vs Hogan had been done too much at house shows leading up to WM so Vince wanted something more original for WM.

There's also the logistical problem of how to end it, especially if it's a WWF title match (and it should be). Hogan's fucking off after and Flair's staying, so one makes more sense as champion than the other. And yet, you can't have the NWA/WCW poster boy beating Hulk Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania.

 

An alternative would be making Savage vs Jake the title match, with Hogan and Flair eliminating each other from the Rumble. And then you've got Sid vs Undertaker, but that one would've been difficult. I don't think Sid was up for losing in the main event, was he? So he probably wouldn't have fancied getting Tombstoned halfway down the card.

[stingersplash]

Even though I love WrestleMania VIII, it should have been Hogan/Flair instead of Hogan/Sid in the main event.

 

This baffles me to this day, was there a particular reason why they never really did Hogan vs Flair?

 

don't shout at me but Power Slam answered this question a few months ago. Flair vs Hogan had been done too much at house shows leading up to WM so Vince wanted something more original for WM.

There's also the logistical problem of how to end it, especially if it's a WWF title match (and it should be). Hogan's fucking off after and Flair's staying, so one makes more sense as champion than the other. And yet, you can't have the NWA/WCW poster boy beating Hulk Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania.

 

An alternative would be making Savage vs Jake the title match, with Hogan and Flair eliminating each other from the Rumble. And then you've got Sid vs Undertaker, but that one would've been difficult. I don't think Sid was up for losing in the main event, was he? So he probably wouldn't have fancied getting Tombstoned halfway down the card.

 

taker wins by dq, everyones happy?

[sgmilne]

First thing that comes to mind is Ricky Steamboat should have beaten Greg Valentine and gone on to lose to Randy Savage at Wrestlemania IV.

 

Other than that I'd have had Legion of Doom vs Demolition at WM7 and a tag title match of The Rockers defeating Power and Glory (who should have been champs at this point)

 

If he hadn't been sacked, then Jannetty vs Michaels at both Wrestlemania 8 and 9. Oh, and at 9 as well I'd have loved it if the proposed Tenryu vs Jerry Lawler match had happened.

 

I would have liked a face Rick Martel vs a heel Adam Bomb (if you recall, they kept teasing the feud but nothing happened) at WM10, along with the Steiner Brothers vs Quebecers.

 

I'd have almost completely rebooked Wrestlemania 12 as well, because the Iron Man match was shit.

 

Based on who was around at the time, I'd have gone for...

 

Michaels vs Bret Hart

Diesel vs Undertaker

Goldust vs Roddy Piper

Ultimate Warrior vs Triple H

Vader vs Yokozuna

Owen Hart & British Bulldog vs Jake Roberts & Ahmed Johnson

Steve Austin vs Fatu (they could have played up the fact Fatu eliminated him from the Rumble)

Marty Jannetty vs 1-2-3 Kid (neither was being pushed but it would have been a great match for the time)

Godwinns vs Body Donnas

 

Oh, and one more thing - I'd sort out all the 'time issues' at so many of the Wrestlemanias that deprived us of a proper length Owen Hart v Skinner match & Bulldog vs Berzerker at WM8, Kamala v Bam Bam at WM9 and so many more.

[King Pitcos]

taker wins by dq, everyones happy?

I suppose (and the Papa Shango interference would've made more sense in a match with Undertaker), but then what does he do the following year? Pin Giant Gonzales on their first meeting? I suppose if we can do what we like, he doesn't have to face Giant Gonzales at all at WM9 anyway. He could beat Razor Ramon.

[matbro1984]

There's also the logistical problem of how to end it, especially if it's a WWF title match (and it should be). Hogan's fucking off after and Flair's staying, so one makes more sense as champion than the other. And yet, you can't have the NWA/WCW poster boy beating Hulk Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania.

 

This was my suggestion

Hogan v Flair main event: Flair retains following interference. Warrior makes the save during Flair and Perfect's post-match beatdown to end the event on the same high note.

 

and this is why I reckon it would have worked:

 

1. Hogan doesn't leave as champion

2. But he doesn't go out weak. Even sets up a possible return and rematch down the road.

3. I'm presuming Warrior's big comeback is still to be shoehorned into proceedings so that's still there.

4. Crowd still leaves happy.

5. It nicely sets up a Flair-Warrior feud to go forward with.

6. Most importantly, this frees up Randy Savage to have a match with Jake Roberts (i.e. THE hottest feud of the time, which should have been settled at Wrestlemania)

 

Also

 

I'd have almost completely rebooked Wrestlemania 12 as well...

 

... (the exact same card with only one match change, a change of opponent, and two new matches tacked on)...

 

"Completely rebooking it" is giving yourself a bit too much credit there pal.

[King Pitcos]

Aye, I can see it working for many reasons, but I can't imagine anyone at the WWF going for it. Purely out of interpromotional pride, as the result (regardless of chicanery or Warrior comebacks) makes NWA/WCW look like they had the better champion all those years.