Fixing the WWF in 1995

[Liam O'Rourke]

So for this week's podcast we are returning to our booking committee format for a discussion re-booking the WWF from January 1995, in order to try and make something more out of what was the nadir of company history in the eyes of many, and we're looking to get some feedback on what you think needed to be done to make this company succeed during a period where popularity fell, and house show and PPV numbers sank to all time lows.

On the premise that you can do whatever you want with the talent there and the talent incoming (but can't do anything outside the boundaries of what was possible in reality), how do you realign everything in 1995 to save the year from the depths it sunk to?

As always, we'll be reading the best feedback/ideas on the show and crediting you accordingly. So what would you have done?

 

EDIT - The show discussing Fixing The WWF in 1995 and taking your feedback, is now online and available to listen to at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/6yfk8e/SCGRadio64-FixingTheWWFin1995.mp3

[tiger_rick]

You could write 12,000 words on this topic and still not get anywhere near it.

 

Firstly, Million Dollar Corporation would never go anywhere near The Undertaker or a main event. I wouldn't do too much different heading to WM XI other than make the Royal Rumble the correct length and re-run Bret vs. Owen at WM to get a good match on the Undercard. I'd also give Razor & 123 Kid a proper run with the tag belts in the really weak tag division.

 

From post WM, Taker would win the KOTR and take the title at SummerSlam and transition it to Bret at Survivor Series. Why anyone would have Taker pissing about in the mid-card while Mabel got a push is anyone's guess. I know it makes two face vs. fave mains in a row but that's what their strength was.

 

I'd run the Shawn/Sid feud until SummerSlam and have Bret & Shawn tagging in the meantime. I can't believe they never had more interaction. That was a wet dream of mine back then!

 

I would debut hardly any of the new guys in their terrible gimmicks. Particularly Candido, Kama, Issac Yankem and without being hindsighty, Goldust.

[King Pitcos]

Main thing, establish and maintain Diesel as a strong champion. At the Rumble, I'd have him beat Bret Hart instead of the shitty non-finish they did. Then work out some good opposition for him -- which means turn Razor heel to face him at SummerSlam. If Bret cries about having to lose at the Rumble, piss in his mouth.

 

That's all that immediately comes to mind, other than having someone better than Mabel win King of the Ring (maybe that'd be Razor) and having Undertaker spend the year doing something other than fighting shit Ted DiBiase henchmen. With hindsight, it's easy to just say to bring the attitude era forward. They weren't going anywhere good until that happened.

[truthofsin]

In a bit of a rush, but a couple of changes i would have made that year would have been..

 

- HBK going over at Mania as the cocky heel champion with Big Sid in his corner. I would have had him feud with Diesel through to SummerSlam first off, then Ramon through to a Ladder match at Survivor Series. HBK retains and shakes hands with Ramon out of respect. Sid destroys HBK the next night, Diesel makes the save (think the post Mania XI beatdown). HBK has to surrender the title. December PPV Bret Hart wins in a tournament. This would lead into the same HBK winning the Rumble and iron man match against Hart we got in 96. And Sid would be built as a monster going forward knocking off Ramon and Diesel (as they are leaving for WCW) before falling to the Undertaker at Mania.

 

- Shane Douglas being brought in as a character more in line with the heel Franchise gimmick. He would have been a great addition to the midcard in that form for feuds with Kid or Ramon.

[The Clint]

It wouldn't matter which way they brought Douglas into the company because the Kliq hated him and would've scuppered his character regardless.

[EdgarTheSlouch]

You could write 12,000 words on this topic and still not get anywhere near it.

 

Firstly, Million Dollar Corporation would never go anywhere near The Undertaker or a main event. I wouldn't do too much different heading to WM XI other than make the Royal Rumble the correct length and re-run Bret vs. Owen at WM to get a good match on the Undercard. I'd also give Razor & 123 Kid a proper run with the tag belts in the really weak tag division.

 

From post WM, Taker would win the KOTR and take the title at SummerSlam and transition it to Bret at Survivor Series. Why anyone would have Taker pissing about in the mid-card while Mabel got a push is anyone's guess. I know it makes two face vs. fave mains in a row but that's what their strength was.

 

I'd run the Shawn/Sid feud until SummerSlam and have Bret & Shawn tagging in the meantime. I can't believe they never had more interaction. That was a wet dream of mine back then!

 

I would debut hardly any of the new guys in their terrible gimmicks. Particularly Candido, Kama, Issac Yankem and without being hindsighty, Goldust.

Hakushi is one of the few new guys in 95 with any real potential. Keep him FAR away from Skip/Horowitz and maybe give him the undefeated streak that HHH had until the end of the year.

[Fanny Pack]

Razor heel turn was much needed after Mania, give him a little stable, originally Kid then Savio, stick the belt on him after a fued with Dielsel at SummerSlam, fued him with Bulldog, Bret and Shawn beats him in a ladder match at Mania 12.

 

1. We get fresh Razor with fresh fueds

2. Its sweetens Hall and Nash so they stay

3. We still get Shawn and Jose at the end of it

[air_raid]

Well, you're never going to have time to read this on your podcast, but here's my ideas, and you might get a kick out of them.

Your two biggest problems in 1995 are one in the same, in that you have no decent heels, with most of the attention being on the Million Dollar Corporation and King Mabel, where there is no star power and no match quality either way. On the flipside you had a lot of star power - Diesel, Bret, Shawn, Razor and Taker, but they were all babyfaces. I've had a go at building a year based around correcting some of the imbalances, having shows with a bit more star power at the top end, and hopefully still leaving plenty in the tank for 1996. I've got three ideas for the start, middle and end of the year - building the Corporation, maximizing the impact of Shawn Michaels, sympathetic babyface - and What About Razor?

At the Royal Rumble we still have Diesel VS Bret - Diesel wins this time, by pinfall. You need to have D looking strong so early in his run. Shawn wins the Rumble, much as he did in real life.

Next night on Raw - Bret cuts an impassioned promo apologizing to his fans, saying he came back too soon from his injury and clearly wasn't ready, that he wants to earn his way back into title contention so next time he gets his shot, he's ready. At this point you can have Owen come out and interrupt him and we make it explicit that Bret needs to exorcise the ghost of Survivor Series (wink wink) by going through Backlund and little brother in the near future.

The Sunday Night Slam you have Bret blow off the Backlund issue, because we don't want that going all the way to Mania. Since Sid was brought in to be a monster heel, we forego the Shawn bodyguard story and have him join the Million Dollar Team on the way to Mania.

At WresleMania XI we still have Diesel and Shawn for the belt, and Diesel wins, without Sid interfering and cocking Kev's sympathy up. Bret and Owen have the great match that in real life they had a few weeks before Mania on Raw, but actually AT MANIA. Instead of putting Bundy in there with Taker, I'd have him out there with Bulldog (because that seemed to be the feud they had brought Bundy in for). It's a good cheap way to pop the crowd at Mania - give lardarse 5 minutes with Davey before he gets short powerslammed, pinned and binned off. Similarly, they'd put a lot of effort into Luger fighting the Corporation, I'd have him blow the Tatanka story off at Mania rather than Sunday Night Slam. Have the Gunns defend the tag titles against Men On A Mission here because in my world, we aren't turning MOM heel to engineer a Mabel singles run. Piss on that. They can win the tag belts here. Undertaker fights Sid at Mania because it looks a proper battle on paper, but let's have a bullshit DQ because I'm not jobbing Sid just yet. Razor wins the belt back from Double J because that's what's supposed to happen at WrestleMania - most of the goodies win.

Mania card -
Diesel VS Shawn
Bret VS Owen
Undertaker VS Sid
Razor VS Jeff Jarrett
Luger VS Tatanka
Bulldog VS Bundy
Gunns VS MOM

No, there's no LT bullshit. There's plenty of celebrity juice without footballers if they had done it properly. Pam Anderson's tits all over the promos, the posters, everywhere, would have sold more buys to 18-35 year old males than Reggie White or Steve McMichael, I think. Fuck, have Pam and Jenny McCarthy guest on an episode of WWF Mania and have pretend to fight over Todd Pettingil. And their clothes fall off.

Have Men On A Mission go Corporation at some point. DiBiase buys them lots of bling and they say he saved them from the ghetto or some shit. Maybe they interfere in Sid/Taker? Who knows. Razor doesn't get injured during this run in my world because he's not pissing around with Jeff Jarrett in ladder matches on fucking house shows. The Raw after Mania Diesel and Shawn have a face to face and a grudging handshake but they aren't really friends yet, but both respect the fight they had the night before. They'll tolerate each other but for now Shawn's still very much a heel.

By King of the Ring I've got an eye on SummerSlam. For the title we'll do Diesel VS Sid - DiBiase buys a title shot for Sid, who cares how we get there. Sid still looks big and scary by this point, might as well let Kev beat him. Hey, have you noticed, three big 5 PPVs into 1995 and Diesel will have three nice clean wins under his belt? Three more than he did in real life! We can do Bret vs Hakushi here, because that was fuckloads of fun whenever they wrestled. Bret's still winning after the Owen feud has finished too.

I start to impress further upon the viewer the importance of Shawn as a total iron man - Shawn beats Adam Bomb (at this point still popular but expendable) in the first round then Bam Bam in the semi, in which against a big beast, Shawn has to play babyface by default. On the other side of the bracket, Lex Luger beats any heel you want in the first round then gets a buy in the semi when Bulldog goes double count out or time limit draw with Owen Hart. I want to create the situation where the fans are slightly split because Shawn has had to go through hell to get to the final but Luger has been lucky. In the end, the unlikely hero Shawn Michaels is tragically cut down when the Corporation come back down to ringside and Lex actually accepts their help and wins King of the Ring, earning a title shot in the process. The Corporation kick shit out of Shawn afterwards with Lawler banging on about being right about Lex all along, and just when you're fearing for Shawn's life, Diesel comes charging out of the locker room to save his little buddy from the Torture Rack, then we fade to black with Diesel checking on a prone Shawn, similar to after Sid smashed him in on the 3rd April Raw in real life.

So, SummerSlam is going to be Diesel/Luger, and in part revenge for the Corporate beatdown, Shawn/Sid. In your build, Luger's going to get Big Kev in the Rack a few times, because he's strong enough to do it, it looks great, and it will build Luger as a threat. You can have him beat some bigger babyfaces with it. Luger racking Adam Bomb on Action Zone sounds about right. On the way, Bret & Bulldog beat M.O.M. for the tag belts, Bret points out to Davey afterwards that he never got his rematch from SummerSlam 92, and we're going to have a nice babyface v babyface rematch just because I think it ups the match quality suitably. We'll also have Razor drop the Intercontinental title to Hunter here. He's riding with the Clique so I'll have Razor give him a leg up.

SummerSlam card -
Diesel vs Luger
Bret vs Bulldog
Shawn vs Sid
Razor vs Hunter
Undertaker vs someone Corporate (Bam Bam?)

Kid vs Hakushi can still happen because it was the balls. To pad the card out, maybe the Gunns get their win back on the beltless M.O.M. Hunter wins the belt and being an aristocrat, just maybe he joins the Corporation here. In fact he definitely does.

Have Bret and Bulldog lose the tag belts to the Corporation because that's where the heat is, and you make the Smoking Gunns look great when they win the tag belts back despite some interference from the others, on an In Your House. Also on an In Your House, Hunter works with Kid because Kid will make him look good. Shawn can take his revenge over Luger in the interim and he's gone over two big heels and is well on his way to being a top babyface. Unless Luger still leaves for WCW, but you might circumvent that and get him to sign a new deal when he learns he's getting the SummerSlam main event? You can probably do Bret vs Sid inbetween SummerSlam and Survivors too, to keep Bret ticking over.

At one of PPVs, Diesel promises Shawn the rematch next night on Raw but when the time comes he's shown in the back with the absolute shit kicked out of him, and the match never happens. Shawn needs a month or so off and there's no clues who did it. Next week on Raw, Diesel has to pick a partner for a tag match with the Corporation and chooses Razor in Shawn's absence. Razor pulls the big turn and he and whatever other heels are in the vicinity kick the shit out of Big Daddy Cool.

Razor's promo the week after tells you the story - so, he sat back and he saw Diesel win the World title. Then he saw Shawn get himself a title shot, and then he saw Shawn again be put into a postion where he has a title shot. What about Razor??? All these WWF title matches being afforded to these two guys who he spent most of 1994 BEATING? While he has to sit back and wrestle Double J (take a pop at Jarrett, he's probably left by now, as he had in real life). You've got him fighting relative rookies for the Intercontinental title when he should have moved past that, just like Diesel and Shawn did. Well, he's taking that spot now. There's a tremendous whiny promo in Razor - go watch that interview from just before Sunday Night Slam where he worries about something along the lines of "Double J, Backlund puts you in that Chicken Wing, he's got my gold. Then at WrestleMania, Backlund, Bret Hart puts you in that Sharpshooter, HE'S GOT MY GOLD! Hooray for Bret Hart, everybody loves Bret Hart!" The sneer in his voice when he's talking about Hitman - that's the kind of prick I want out of Razor when he explains he beat the crap out of Shawn because it's not Shawn's turn, and it's not Diesel's turn much longer. It's the turn of the Bad Guy.

I think I have Hunter lose the Intercontinental to Kid just before Survivor Series to play into a bigger storyline and - fuck it - Kid deserved it? Something soft like a Magistral cradle. Hunter can get his heat back by beating Kid up afterwards but once the ref gets Hunter off him the fans will love seeing the guy get back up. In all likelihood other Corporate guys interfere, maybe you have Bret and/or Bulldog save them as part of their crusade to get THEIR revenge on the Corporation.

Survivor Series is Diesel vs Razor for the title on top, naturally. In a big grudge eliminator, Bret & Bulldog captain a team vs The Corporation and win, and you think the Corporation's finally been put out, with no belts and losing the BIG Surviors match..... except DiBiase finally plays his trump card by his goons running interference in the main event and Razor wins the belt. Him and his new buddies have to flee the scene shortly after when an enraged and chair wielding Shawn comes back, but too little too late.

Next night on Raw Razor explains that he's finally seen the light and with having been the victim when Hunter went Corporate and won a title, he saw that it made perfect sense. Put Chico in a suit. Fuck, turn him into Don Johnson. Heap more misery upon the fans by having Hunter take the Intercontinental belt back from Kid. Here you have Shawn announce he wants the next title shot at Razor, but Bret says that he wants it because he wants to shut the corporation down personally and he finally feels ready to step back up and go for the belt again after his year getting back on form. Monsoon here makes them one on one for In Your House under top contenders, because Undertaker (who has been beating Corporate goons all summer) gets the next title shot. You'll have to trust me as to why I'm wasting the first Bret/Shawn serious babyface match on an In Your House.

At In Your House December, you have Razor cheat his way to a win over Undertaker with shenanigans from the Corporation - hey, you could even make it a Casket Match if you want to keep going back to that same finish they always did where twenty heels stuff Undertaker in the box or grave, whatever you want. Underneath, Diesel gets revenge on one of the Corporate cretins that cost him the belt. Maybe Sid, maybe Luger, maybe I don't care. You probably have Hunter go over Bulldog here because by now Davey might be reaching the end of his shine as a babyface. Most importantly Bret and Shawn have the 30 minute version of the match they had at WrestleMania 12 - maybe the match they SHOULD have had, but you go 30 minute time limit draw with the same finish as Mania 12, minus the overtime. The point of the match here is to listen to the fans, just as they did at the Rumble '94, and decide who the heir apparent is.

Into 96 your plan is for the Rumble, whoever gets more cheers out of Bret or Shawn wins the Rumble, whoever didn't, Razor can cheap shot for a win here. Have Diesel last out just like the real 96 Rumble in case you want to turn him heel. WrestleMania 12 is heel Razor VS Rumble winner Bret or Shawn, supported by either Shawn fighting Diesel after he just turned heel and you pay off the rematch at last, or Bret fighting Bulldog who you turn heel and do a rubber match, or the Diesel rematch that hasn't happened yet (unless you do it for In Your House February) or either of them vs the Undertaker. Or Vader.

You've got lots left for 96. If you don't turn Diesel, he has to get revenge on Razor after Razor loses the belt. Razor probably has to have Diesel or Shawn in a cage match. He also owes Taker a job by this point. Bret and Taker haven't wrestled on PPV yet, it might be time since Taker's beaten all the Corporate heels. You've still got Diesel/Taker in the bank. With the older, crapper heels being fazed out your Razor/Hunter corporation will need new blood. Maybe Razor twists Kid into joining or something. If the stars align the right way.... Hollywood Blondes? Fuck, I don't know.

But there's your 1995, anyway.

Additional bonus points - for most of early 95 I'd have Doink used sparingly on TV, only ever winning against your Brooklyn Brawlers, Quangs, anyone you want to bin off, but don't have him do any jobs. He's a bit of light relief, nobody's going to gain anything from beating him, so just let him win matches that don't matter for 5-6 months... then finally you have him come out on Raw for what the fans think is going to be a normal Brawler/Iron Mike Sharpe squash, then have Sid come out and fucking murder him. I'd love that heat so much.

Finally, since they've signed Tammy by this point, I'd get her on TV ASA fucking P. I don't know in what capacity... if I was keeping Shawn heel longer, she'd have been an awesome interference runner/sexy distraction piece for him. Younger, hotter Sherri for the New Generation. Whatever, I'd milk her for everything. In 1995 those Best Buns need to be on every lunchbox, bedspread, cheesecake calendar, ANYTHING. If I've sold you WrestleMania on the promise that Pam Anderson and Jenny McCarthy will fight and/or lez off, my SummerSlam poster is 1/3 "Diesel fights Luger and you're scared Diesel loses because OMG, Luger can get him in the Torture Rack" and 2/3 "Here's a glorious photo of Sunny in her bikini and you can kind of see her nipples through it, and if you buy this Pay Per View you might see her in the nude, but probably not, but you want to buy it anyway just in case!!!!! Also, some other wrestling matches." You'll need your Stridex pads after that.

[Jackpot]

We go down the same road with crowning new Tag Team champions at the Royal Rumble with the tournament thing they did, however we don't go with 123 Kid and Bob Holly as the winners. Instead we bring in the Kane character and team him up with Undertaker as a babyface. Rather than Taker leaving him to die, it was Taker who actually kept him alive. The Brothers of Destruction, with Paul Bearer, win the belts beating King Kong Bundy & IRS in the final. 

 

The Rumble itself is won by Owen Hart from the number one position, while Bret loses to Diesel. Elsewhere on the card, Razor retains the IC Title against Jeff Jarrett.

 

In the lead up to Mania, Owen talks about doing what Bret couldn't. How Bret had disgraced the name Hart. The entire Hart family (Foundation) turn their backs on Owen and side with Bret while Bob Backlund is the only one to take Owen's side and challenges Bret to the I Quit match we actually got. Razor agrees to defending his IC Title once again against Jarrett but only if Jarrett will put his career on the line in the process. Mr WrestleMania himself teams with Sid (in his first official match) to take on Kane and Taker for the Tag Team belts. 

 

The results were, Brothers of Destruction retaining the Tag Team Titles after Shawn hits a Sweet Chin Music on Sid by mistake. Bret beats Backlund. Razor retains against Jarrett, ensuring Double J has to fuck off because he's no loss whatsoever. And Owen does do what Bret couldn't, he beats Diesel becoming the new WWF champ.

 

Owen then spends weeks on end bragging about his victory. How the youngest Hart is the best. Very quickly Bulldog and The Anvil are grovelling to him, almost becoming his henchmen. The night after WrestleMania the Brothers of Destruction are defending their titles again against Sid and HBK, but this time Sid purposely drops HBK, turning Shawn babyface in the process. 

 

At in your house 1, Diesel is given his rematch for the title if he can first beat The Anvil, then Bulldog, then he'll get Owen. As Meatloaf would say, two out of three ain't bad. After getting past the other two, he loses again to Owen. Owen has also paid for a front row seat for Bret, who he mocks for not even getting on the card. Kane and Taker beat Men on a Mission. Razor drops the IC title to Hunter, who debuted the night after Mania in a win over Luger, then followed that up with a win over Yokozuna, impressing Razor enough to give him a shot at the title. Razor goes to shake his hand after the match but Hunter drops him again with a pedigree. Shawn beats Sid.

 

King of the Ring comes around and Owen refuses to defend his title, saying nobody has earned a shot against him. The matches at King of the Ring are four quarter finals, the two semis and the final mixed in with Hunter defending the IC title against 1-2-3 Kid. On the RAWS leading up to it, the eight men to qualify were Bret, Shawn, Razor, Diesel, Sid, Bulldog, Taker and Kane.

 

At the tournament;

 

Bret beat Bulldog.

Diesel beat Razor.

Shawn beat Taker.

Kane beat Sid.

 

Bret beat Diesel.

Shawn beat Kane.

 

Bret beat Shawn.

 

Hunter beat the Kid as well.

 

Bret finally had his match against Owen. But just before In Your House 2, Owen feigns injury saying he can't compete but he will be there on show. In fact he says he'll be officiating a rematch between Bret and Shawn to determine the true number one contender for his WWF Title as the official in the King of the Ring tournament got the call wrong. Razor and Kid start teaming up and challenge Kane and Taker who've had their own subtle issues of jealousy with Kane getting further in the KOTR tournament than Taker. Hunter defends the IC Title against Diesel in his attempt to get back on the right footing.

 

Owen cheats to ensure Shawn wins but Shawn hits the champ with a Sweet Chin Music. Razor and Kid win the Tag belts, furthering the rift between the Brothers. Diesel loses to Hunter and goes on the rampage afterwards, destroying everything in his sight. 

 

The next night on RAW, Monsoon says Owen now has two number contenders for his WWF Title and will defend it in a triple threat at SummerSlam. Tensions continue to rise between Taker and Kane, Hunter grows even more arrogant after defending the IC crown against Bam Bam, Sid, Bulldog. Diesel is fired for his actions at In Your House and isn't seen until a surprise entrant in the 96 Rumble, which he wins.

 

Hunter defends the IC crown successfully against a debuting Goldust at SummerSlam but only after a low blow. Taker's jealousy of Kane finally gets too much and he snaps, allowing Kid to pick up the victory. Owen spends much of his triple threat match outside the ring leaving Shawn and Bret to get to know each other quite well. Owen steals the victory over Bret though after throwing Shawn to the outside of the ring.

 

At In Your House 3: Family Ties, Shawn finally dethrones Owen. Taker, with help from Paul Bearer and the Urn, defeats Kane. Bret beats Bulldog. The Gunns become new Tag Team champions. And Hunter beats Fatu, before rubbishing family names in the business such as the Rhodes (who he's beaten) the Anoa'i Family, even the Harts themselves and the McMahons. 

 

In Your House 4 sees Bret finally get his chance to win the title in a one-on-one scenario when he Shawn go at it. Unfortunately, Owen costs his brother the match. Owen himself meanwhile, lost to Hunter for the IC Title, allowing his crusade against second/third generation stars continue. Kane got his win back over Taker. We also got a first ever tag team ladder match when the Gunns lost the belts back to Razor and Kid.

 

Survivor Series would see Bret and Shawn go at it in a Steel Cage, Owen would be added to the match if his Survivor Series team won against a team handpicked by Shawn and Bret. They chose, Kane, Razor, Kid, Goldust and a returning Mable to go up against Owen, Bulldog, Anvil, Yokozuna and Taker. It goes 5-on-2 very quickly with only Owen and Taker left for the heels. They make the comeback though and get it to them two against Kid. Owen gets cocky and arrogant thinking he's already won, Kid surprises him with a roll up and leaves it to just him and Taker. Taker wins eventually, allowing Owen to go into the main event. But because he got the definitive pin fall, Taker thinks he should be in the match as well. Monsoon disagrees though. Michaels still survives the Harts though, escaping the cage first to win while they're too busy with each other to notice. Elsewhere on the card, Hunter loses the IC title to the debuting Rocky Maivia.

 

Finally December 95. Owen and Bret agree to have one final match to settle their differences (although they end up 1 & 2 in the Rumble 96). Taker gets his match with Shawn but comes up short in the end. Goldust and Kane have issues from the Survivor Series match and compete in a Freak Show match. (I'm not sure what that is but it sounds like a WWF match). Rocky beats Hunter in their rematch. Razor and Kid beat Hart Foundation (Bulldog and Anvil). 

[tiger_rick]

Loads of stuff.

Top post raider. -1 for too much Million Dollar Corp. though. Those fuckers were 1995's biggest crime. And considering the competition, that's some charge.

[DraxSpago]

Million Dollar Corporation were only any good when DiBiase sacked everyone off and just had Sid and 1-2-3 Kid, thought that had potential to be a top level stable as they were both actually over but it fell apart pretty much straight away

[air_raid]

Top post raider. -1 for too much Million Dollar Corp. though. Those fuckers were 1995's biggest crime. And considering the competition, that's some charge.

 

I thought about that, but I've tried to avoid using names where possible unless it's specifically Sid, Luger, Razor, Hunter, Bam Bam or in tags, Men On A Mission. I didn't want anyone thinking "Kama, Tatanka, Bundy, Irwin" (at least, post-Mania for Tatanka and Bundy). Maybe even unconsciously I'm imagining that they picked up some better goons/cannon fodder, but I'm happy with the specific talents in particular big matches where they're named. Yes, even Sid.

[garynysmon]

Booking Diesel to be a smiley, happy character was daft. In fairness, it was the cookie cutter mentality that Vince thought his babyface champion should be.

But it was being a cool tweener that made his character popular in 1994 and ironically enough, what made Diesel so interesting after dropping the belt to Bret at the Survivor Series.

 

Not allowing Mabel anywhere near the main event would also be a must. Bloke was a reckless maniac and had no business being anything other than a novelty tag act.

[air_raid]

Not allowing Mabel anywhere near the main event would also be a must. Bloke was a reckless maniac and had no business being anything other than a novelty tag act.

 

Even that was risky when they had him in tags with Razor who had applesauce ribs at the time.

[Liam O'Rourke]

Some awesome stuff in this thread B-) Raid, I'm gonna do my damndest to get as much of that in as I can when we record tomorrow night...