Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 8 hours ago, MEGABUCKS said: For me Steve Blackman would have made a good champion. Bad Ass Billy Gunn is another who should have been champion in his career Can't tell if serious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big7thletter Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 Fuck Samoa Jo, he's dreadful under WWE. Billy Gunn, MVP or Wade Barrett for me. Mostly Wade Barrett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 Definitely William Regal. Aside from the 2008 run, which could have easily led to a transitional run as a heel champion, there were plenty of times in the intervening years when he was mixing it up with top guys. It's weird to look back, thinking of Regal in the WWF as largely a midcard comedy act, but see that while doing all that he was also cutting promos on Hulk Hogan, having matches with The Rock and Austin, and it wouldn't have been unthinkable for him to have stepped up, had the roster of the early '00s not been so stacked. His mini-feud with Triple H over Eugene could have given him a short sympathetic babyface veteran win with the belt - have whoever Trips was properly feuding with cost him the match, Regal wins the belt, keeps it for a week or two before losing it back to Triple H in the rematch.  On a similar note, Jerry Lawler. I'd have had him beat the Miz for the title in that ladder match, have him keep it til the Rumble, and do the Michael Cole interference then to cost King the belt and get it back on Miz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Accident Prone Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 Kota Ibushi for me. As each year in New Japan passes, so do his odds at holding the big IWGP belt. All this mess regarding Omega and AEW certainly won't help matters unless they offer him the strap as a bargaining chip. We all know that he's a free spirit and has no problem wrestling in a campsite instead of a jam packed Tokyo Dome so titles probably mean very little to him, but he's probably the best wrestler of this generation and deserves the recognition of a big championship win, otherwise he's just a New Japan Tommy Dreamer (and nobody wants that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacko Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 1 hour ago, BomberPat said: Definitely William Regal. Aside from the 2008 run, which could have easily led to a transitional run as a heel champion I think that was the plan until the steroid scandal got him suspended Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted January 10, 2019 Awards Moderator Share Posted January 10, 2019 1 hour ago, BomberPat said: On a similar note, Jerry Lawler. I'd have had him beat the Miz for the title in that ladder match, have him keep it til the Rumble, and do the Michael Cole interference then to cost King the belt and get it back on Miz. If this thread had had the loopholes of 'never held a World Title in WWE, in the 2000s' I'd mention Ric Flair in a similar vein. His second WWE run, particularly towards the end where the stipulations of his matches were 'if you lose, you retire', to give him one last thing with the title could have been great. The WWE Title was faffing around in that HHH-Orton-Cena triple threat at Mania 24 anyway, they may as well have added it to Flair-Michaels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members mim731 Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 35 minutes ago, Accident Prone said: Kota Ibushi for me. As each year in New Japan passes, so do his odds at holding the big IWGP belt. All this mess regarding Omega and AEW certainly won't help matters unless they offer him the strap as a bargaining chip. We all know that he's a free spirit and has no problem wrestling in a campsite instead of a jam packed Tokyo Dome so titles probably mean very little to him, but he's probably the best wrestler of this generation and deserves the recognition of a big championship win, otherwise he's just a New Japan Tommy Dreamer (and nobody wants that). In fairness, that's on Ibushi rather than New Japan. If he wanted to be their top star, and would sign up to exclusivity with NJPW I suspect he'd be pushed very strongly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 Ken Shamrock? I can't recall if he was actually there post 1999 but he always had that credibility about him and was over with the crowds. I got a kick out of the 'snap' gimmick and reckon there was some legs in him as a bad ass/not the sharpest knife in the drawer feud with the corporation. I'm picturing some Incredible Hulk type 'You wouldn't like me when I'm angry' stuff.  If he was gone before 2000 then you can slap me.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 12 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said: X-Pac would just about qualify for me too. He was done for by 2001, but if you’d struck while the iron was still hot in early 2000 he could have had a few weeks as champ before HHH/Rock really got going. Timing doesn't work for me, brother. A brief sympathetic two weeker on Raws in 99 before DX reunited maybe but not 2000. He was Hunter's lieutenant, you don't crown the second-in-command unless the storyline is going to centre around him getting Starscream'd - e.g. Orton after SummerSlam 2004. Rock doesn't play second fiddle to DX internal strife. Only Kurt Angle and a love triangle is THAT powerful. 1 hour ago, BomberPat said: His mini-feud with Triple H over Eugene could have given him a short sympathetic babyface veteran win with the belt - have whoever Trips was properly feuding with cost him the match, Regal wins the belt, keeps it for a week or two before losing it back to Triple H in the rematch. I never really considered this but it absolutely could have been a possibility. You'd have to have moved the belt from Ted Bundy to Hunter so that whoever (Shawn?) could cost him and it ends up delaying or derailing the ultimately fubarred Orton reign.... possibly no great loss. 33 minutes ago, Accident Prone said: but he's probably the best wrestler of this generation and deserves the recognition of a big championship win, otherwise he's just a New Japan Tommy Dreamer (and nobody wants that). Dreamer won the belt in the end, everyone seems to forget. 1 minute ago, HarmonicGenerator said: The WWE Title was faffing around in that HHH-Orton-Cena triple threat at Mania 24 anyway, they may as well have added it to Flair-Michaels. The faff was criminal because the storyline was so fucking obvious. Cena injured while feuding with Orton, wins the Rumble, comes back and wins it from Orton. Should have been a vintage Mania storyline. But they had to throw Hunter into it, just because. End goal was obviously for Cena and Raw to try and make Big Gold seem as important as the real title for the rest of the year, but that kind of focus shouldn't come at the expense of telling the right stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 Very few names come to mind and most of the ones mentioned here are really scraping the barrel in terms of guys deserving of a run. Probably Regal would be the top one. Kofi has never been at that level. Ryback just wasn't there for me either. On the whole there aren't many. There are probably more I'd take title reigns away from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 It's not Regal. I mean, it technically could be because the guy is incredible, but he was around at a time when there were always far bigger stars so I don't see any period where he should have held the belt. A short run against Trips in 2004 would have been a nice reward for him but in the grand scheme of things it would have been meaningless. It's a shame he's not five years younger (or just fresher) because that period after he stopped being a full-timer would have been perfect for a guy with his ability and credentials when they were looking all over for fresh main eventers and fresh champions. But it's swings and roundabouts because if he was five years younger, he'd not have got his education in the business and his breaks so he'd never have got near it in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 24 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: If this thread had had the loopholes of 'never held a World Title in WWE, in the 2000s' I'd mention Ric Flair in a similar vein. His second WWE run, particularly towards the end where the stipulations of his matches were 'if you lose, you retire', to give him one last thing with the title could have been great. The WWE Title was faffing around in that HHH-Orton-Cena triple threat at Mania 24 anyway, they may as well have added it to Flair-Michaels. This one. The whole "if you lose, you retire" thing didn't really make sense just because Vince said it. It would've made more sense if they'd done a storyline whereby Flair wins the belt, and Vince wants to fire him, but he can't because the board won't let him damage the prestige of the World title, or something similar. Would've been fitting for Flair's retirement to be centred around the big one, preferably the Big Gold belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 My choice is OHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMAAAAANNNNNNNNGGGGGGGAAAAAAA. I dug me some Umaga (well, before the possible rape thing) and would have loved if if he was 5/10 years later and squashing some of the imp-sized blokes on the roster nowadays. Fantastic worker when given the chance and I think there are various points where you could have slotted him in for a short heel title run. I mean, he was about during the time period when Khali was World Champ (admittedly, think he was on a different roster), so that could be one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 Just now, Gus Mears said: My choice is OHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMAAAAANNNNNNNNGGGGGGGAAAAAAA. I dug me some Umaga (well, before the possible rape thing) and would have loved if if he was 5/10 years later and squashing some of the imp-sized blokes on the roster nowadays. Fantastic worker when given the chance and I think there are various points where you could have slotted him in for a short heel title run. I mean, he was about during the time period when Khali was World Champ (admittedly, think he was on a different roster), so that could be one. Great choice. He was incredible. In fairness, a few names mentioned in the thread fit that period when they put the belt on that useless fucker Khali. Flair's last run would have been better and Umaga would have worked well too. It should have been HBK for me though. That he never got a run after that one month in 2002 has always puzzled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 10, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2019 1 minute ago, Gus Mears said: My choice is OHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMAAAAANNNNNNNNGGGGGGGAAAAAAA. I dug me some Umaga (well, before the possible rape thing) and would have loved if if he was 5/10 years later and squashing some of the imp-sized blokes on the roster nowadays. Fantastic worker when given the chance and I think there are various points where you could have slotted him in for a short heel title run. I mean, he was about during the time period when Khali was World Champ (admittedly, think he was on a different roster), so that could be one. Jesus. This is the answer. If they were happy with his part in Mania with Lashley and keeping the latter over during the nonsense with Vince and the ECW title, he should have had Khali's reign. Fucker could really go and didn't look out of place every time he was beating the shit out of Cena or HHH before narrowly getting squeaked past or making someone at the Jeff Hardy level look like someone he can cleanly beat. I'd have ran with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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