"It Should Have Been _______"

[melina_mma]

Miz was getting so much heat at the time and he was cutting some great promos, its not such a big tragedy he was chosen to main event mania when that years mania was always essentially a set up for the next years Main Event (looking back now it was really wierd booking). Like somebody else said he was a solid supporting character who didn't suffer from having the audience more interested in Rock v Cena. Also the video that aired before that match was totally badass.

 

Here's my one, Bulldog should never have turned heel upon his return in 1999.  He came back and he was instantly over again, it was just coming off the back of Owen's death and he cut a promo saying he was back to win the World Title and the crowd were buying it.

 

While we are at Bulldog having him 'throw the bin at Stephanie' causing her miscarriage.....in England! Who booked that shit? Everyone always talks about Bulldog/Shawn being the big mistake WWE made in England but surely this was worst? It wouldn't have been so bad if it lead to a big feud with Test, if i remember correctly wasn't it settled in a steel cage match on RAW?

[King Pitcos]

It didn't cause a miscarriage, it caused amnesia, which I think was because the Stephanie/Test wedding was meant to be the next week and Russo had just left, so they wanted to give themselves more time to come up with something for it. It was weird that it was also an attempt to get Bulldog over as a heel in the UK, which seems like a pointless endeavour for a five minute nothing match with X-Pac, who himself was about to turn heel anyway.

 

I was at Rebellion that night but I haven't watched it since -- am I right in remembering the Bulldog's tantrum where he threw the bin was basically because he'd been promoted as getting the world title shot that night and they'd changed it to Rock vs Triple H a few days earlier?

[tiger_rick]

 

We can argue till we're blue in the face (again) about whether they should have thrown more money at the invasion agnle, etc but there's no odubting that the opportunity was there to go all out for Austin vs. Goldberg at that point.

There was no chance of it in 2001 -- to buy out Goldberg's deal would have meant completely destroying the WWF contract structure to the point of probably killing the company, and Kane would be running terrible WWF tribute shows now.

 

You think? I'm not so sure. Goldberg's guaranteed price was high but there's no way Austin, Rock & Trips weren't making more than that a year anyway after PPV bonuses and stuff. So if they'd structured the deal so they just paid the guaranteed money, it would have put him on par with other top guys.

 

Plus they'd just taken over the entire industry. No way was anyone else holding them up for money.

 

I think they'd have made the investment in Goldberg back ten times over if they protected him for matches with Austin, Rock, Taker and Triple H.

[melina_mma]

It didn't cause a miscarriage, it caused amnesia, which I think was because the Stephanie/Test wedding was meant to be the next week and Russo had just left, so they wanted to give themselves more time to come up with something for it. It was weird that it was also an attempt to get Bulldog over as a heel in the UK, which seems like a pointless endeavour for a five minute nothing match with X-Pac, who himself was about to turn heel anyway.

 

I was at Rebellion that night but I haven't watched it since -- am I right in remembering the Bulldog's tantrum where he threw the bin was basically because he'd been promoted as getting the world title shot that night and they'd changed it to Rock vs Triple H a few days earlier?

I havn't watched it since the air date also but i remember it as he threw a tantrum because he wasn't on the card?

[Sweet Clyde]

I think he helped oul Triple H in a match just before Rebellion with The Rock, helping him keep the title after being told he'd get a title shot. Hunter give him the ol "well, I lied" treatment, and at Rebellion the Bulldog brought it back up, flipping the lid. Which was gret.. "Wheres my title shot?!?!

[wandshogun09]

 

Don't know if anyone has mentioned that classic there but No Way Out 1998, instead of Savio? Really don't know maybe Kane pulling double duty or if he wasn't being a drugged up dick perhaps Michaels could have done it but never tagged in or been chased away by Austin. Or what about Tyson with a limited amount of in ring action?

There's no way it could have been Kane at that point, he was still in the key formative stages of the big monster (heading into the huge Mania match with Undertaker) and wouldn't have worked as part of a team in a match designed to showcase Austin. Tyson was already on massive money just to do what he did, putting him in a match would've added loads onto his wage and blown the wad with him too early -- him doing a wrestling match would have been bigger than him refereeing/enforcing a wrestling match. The Michaels idea seems like it could have worked though, and potentially helped build up the Mania match even more. I can only imagine they felt like everyone in the match had to put a shift in as the reason for the sub.

The only other option I could think of that might've worked would be if they could've brought in X-Pac a month sooner. But having him return the day after WrestleMania as part of the revamped DX probably had more impact.

 

The Shawn Michaels idea seems the best bet. But if it still had the old 'no holds barred unsanctioned' stipulation, how would they have protected his dodgy back in a match like that? It wouldn't be as simple as him not tagging in because a lot of that match was wild brawling around the ring.

 

Fuck, even throwing Chyna in as the fourth man would've been better than bringing out Savio though. You could've heard an ant piss on cotton when he walked out.

[King Pitcos]

 

 

We can argue till we're blue in the face (again) about whether they should have thrown more money at the invasion agnle, etc but there's no odubting that the opportunity was there to go all out for Austin vs. Goldberg at that point.

There was no chance of it in 2001 -- to buy out Goldberg's deal would have meant completely destroying the WWF contract structure to the point of probably killing the company, and Kane would be running terrible WWF tribute shows now.

 

You think? I'm not so sure. Goldberg's guaranteed price was high but there's no way Austin, Rock & Trips weren't making more than that a year anyway after PPV bonuses and stuff. So if they'd structured the deal so they just paid the guaranteed money, it would have put him on par with other top guys.

 

Goldberg was on two million or more a year on his WCW contract for sitting on the settee for years after they folded, and for months before that. Even when WCW was alive and he was active, his deal was extremely sweet in terms of contracted dates, guaranteed money etc compared to every WWF contract that had ever existed. To get him on the road at all, let alone full-time, McMahon would have had to make him an offer that would be vastly higher than his WCW contract, and would thus be completely insulting to the contracts that Vince's own stars had. Which results in either completely destroying the morale of his own stars ("lol sorry Steve & Mark, but Goldberg's a bigger star than you")... Or it means restructuring the top ten WWF contracts so that the inmates are running the asylum and half-arsing it in the fashion that knackered WCW.

 

They could've signed Goldberg if Goldberg had the same mentality as DDP, but he didn't. He had the mentality of Bill Goldberg.

[Flangedango]

Still think it should have been New Jack being the one who 'stabbed' Cena in that club during the fued with Carlito in 2004. Instead of the Jesus bloke. There seemed to be a bit of a rumour going around that the WWE were going to bring in Jack as the guy who did the deed. Shame it never panned out. I still think they should have signed him and stuck him in that hardcore division to really legitimize it again in 2002 when it became a parody of itself. Even if it was only for six months or so before they canned it.

[Loki]

Speaking of, that Jesus bloke got a shit deal - he was dropped into someone else's storyline, worked the PPV despite being injured, and then got shitcanned. AND he was one of Cena's mates IIRC.

 

In fact, being Cena's mate doesn't seem to even get you a cup of coffee in WWE does it? See Samoa Joe for example.

[LEGIT]

Bret should've came back earlier. Or, more importantly, his comeback should have been bigger and better. People, myself included, were waiting for years to see him back, but by the time it happened interest had faded and his wrestling career was over. It was a shame, IMO.

[melina_mma]

Bret should've came back earlier. Or, more importantly, his comeback should have been bigger and better. People, myself included, were waiting for years to see him back, but by the time it happened interest had faded and his wrestling career was over. It was a shame, IMO.

 

To me Bret truly returned when he accepted the HOF, that was the right moment. Interest was still really high and everyone wanted to see what he had to say

 

I also think Brets return to wwe TV was pretty good, he was bought in on the night the Monday Night wars were 'resurected', watching it live with Bret cutting a promo on the tv and Hogan cutting a promo on my laptop was really exciting stuff

[Liam O'Rourke]

Just wanted to thank everybody for the awesome feedback here - the show is now available to listen to, and was a hell of a lot of fun to do, as the panel debated your suggestions about the following missed opportunities and "Should Have Been" moments:

- Who should have ran over Steve Austin?
- Who should have ended Goldberg and Undertaker's Streaks?
- Who should have gotten Bob Backlund's title runs?
- How should Warrior's WWF Title reign have been saved?
- Who should have been a Horseman instead of Paul Roma?
- Who should have been the Black Scorpion?
- Who should have been the Higher Power?
- Should Ted DiBiase have won the WWF Title at Mania 4?

And a hell of a lot more on top of that. As always, give it a listen and let us know what you think!

 

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/x9ibgv/SCGRadio16-WrestlingsMissedOpportunities.mp3