Biggest Name To Never Work WWE

[Carbomb]

9 minutes ago, Sheffbag said:

Did El Santo ever work in a WWWWWWWWWWWF (or equivalent) ring? 

That said, you might be able to make a case for El Hijo del Santo, no? He's a pretty big star too.

EDIT: Seems he worked some stints for the WWF, on further inspection - single clause in the Wiki article, missed it on first reading.

[air_raid]

25 minutes ago, mim731 said:

You mean Sr, right? I can't imagine Jr was old enough to get a title match with Backlund?

Still would have been less incongruous than working a red hot Chris Jericho in 1998 when the latter was building heat for Goldberg.

[BomberPat]

El Hijo del Santo worked Super Astros for the WWF, there's a Hidden Gem on the Network of him against Super Crazy in a match that goes about three minutes.

Ignoring the Vince Jr rule, Santo's still a tough one to make a case for, as he was finished up by the early '80s, and most - if not all - of his US dates were in Texas relatively late in his career, so he just needed a quick hop, skip and a jump over the border to work a market that would have had a lot of support for a Lucha icon. New York would have been a harder sell - though Mascaras made his Garden debut back in '72, so it wouldn't have been completely unfeasible for Santo to have come in for a quick stint at the Garden or one of the bigger Philadelphia shows.

From what I understand, Vince Sr. used to book people for a three month run for their first stint in the company, and I can't see Santo at that stage in his career (he'd have already been in his mid-50s when Mascaras debuted in the WWWF) agreeing to a three month run in New York.

[Pier Six Brawler]

Did Riki Choshu ever have a match for WWF? I know he worked for AWA, not even aware of him working WCW which is strange since pretty much ever major NJPW star in the 90s had a WCW match at some point.

I think the best answers of the ones given so far are Magnum, Nikita and Muto. Nick Bockwinkel was still a major star after 1984 but he worked the famous Legends battle royale in 1987 for WWF so he's disqualified.

[wandshogun09]

It’s definitely Muta or Brody for me. I’m really struggling to think of someone who’s both a bigger name than those two and would’ve interested me more. 

Muta would’ve been ace for all the reasons mentioned already. And as Pat said, there are a bunch of periods where you could see him potentially having a hell of a run, all throughout the 90s and well into the 2000s. He’s one of very few Japanese wrestlers who I don’t think would’ve been held back by the language barrier. He had crazy charisma and presence, always looked fantastic throughout all the stages of his career and he adapted his in ring style as he got older and more limited physically and pretty much always delivered bell to bell. I think he’d have caught on as a babyface or heel in the WWF/E. We saw it in WCW but he was always in and out really. I don’t think he had a real lengthy sustained stint there, did he? Longest was probably 89-90 then he dipped in and out in 92 and 93 then resurfaced in the NWO in the late 90s. I guess that’s the crux of why a WWF run wasn’t likely. The WCW and NJPW working relationship allowed him to do both, whereas Vince would’ve wanted him exclusively. And even then, would he even have kept him under the Muta name and gimmick? 

And I’ve always been fascinated by Bruiser Brody. Just looked like a monster and an unpredictable maniac. Did Vince ever make a play for him in the 80s? You’d have to think a Hogan vs Brody run would’ve done huge business and been pretty special to see. Not sure how he’d have fit in, as they still had Andre at the time as the top monster but the 80s was full of big bastards and Vince couldn’t get enough of them. As well as the obvious series with Hogan, you could’ve had Brody vs Savage, Brody vs Warrior (that could’ve got very ugly), Brody vs Jake, Brody vs Piper, Brody vs Steamboat etc. And if he was still about into the early-mid 90s, Bret and Taker. 

How realistic would a Brody WWF run have been though? Would it have been a good fit or would he have been at odds with Vince, refused to put anyone over etc? And if he’d not died and he came into the WWF in say, 1989, does the Zeus thing still happen, or does Hogan vs Brody dominate the summer? Do we lose No Holds Barred?! Do they still go with Hogan vs Warrior at WrestleMania 6? Someone as big as Brody coming in would have to impact all that to some degree surely? You can’t have someone like Bruiser Brody just show up in a Survivor Series team and come in in the midcard against the Red Roosters and Tito Santanas of the world. 

[Grecian]

*takes a deep breath, prepares to be laughed off the board*

New Jack?

I'm thinking more in terms of modern guys, who may not have drawn the huge gates of an Onita or Muta, but have a reasonably well-known name in the business and are known by people. That's my logic!

 

[air_raid]

3 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

You can’t have someone like Bruiser Brody just show up in a Survivor Series team and come in in the midcard against the Red Rooster and Tito Santana. 

The Undertaker just showed up against Koko B Ware and spent six months crushing Valentines and Tornados. Sometimes you play the long game.

[wandshogun09]

Very true Raid. But would that have been more because Taker wasn’t very experienced at the time maybe? He hadn’t been wrestling that long in 1990, had he? Brody was well established elsewhere (granted, that didn’t always matter to Vince) and would’ve been coming in main event ready if they chose to go that route. 

You’re probably right though. They might’ve gone that way, having him piss through midcarders on the way up to the big boys. 

[Wrasslin]

I was looking through the list of WCW champions to see if there were any who have never wrestled for WWE. There are two . . .

The only WCW World Heavyweight Champs not to have a match in WWE . . . Vince Russo and David Arquette. (Although both have appeared)

[air_raid]

3 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Brody was well established elsewhere (granted, that didn’t always matter to Vince) and would’ve been coming in main event ready if they chose to go that route. 

This is one of the reasons I assume that had he lived, Brody to the WWF wouldn't have been meant to be anyway. He was notoriously stubborn and protective of his image and I think he and Vince would not have come to an agreement on how he'd come in. He'd have wanted to be a big deal immediately or not come, in my head.

[BomberPat]

While he wouldn't make the upper reaches of my list, New Jack's an interesting choice, and one you could definitely see having been brought in at a few points!

@Pier Six Brawler - Riki Choshu is another who worked the WWF/AJPW/NJPW Summit. Checking Cagematch, it seems he had three Madison Square Garden matches in November '82 teaming with Mr Saito, too. On the WCW front, he worked Starrcade '92 at the Tokyo Dome.

Brody is disqualified if we count pre-Vince Jr runs, though still counts otherwise. Hogan vs Brody has to be one of the big "What If?" programmes for the 'Fed, and Brody feels like the perfect heel foil for Hogan, either as a one-off "Monster Of The Month", or a much longer term rival. I wouldn't to be on the booking team negotiating who's taking the fall in that one, though, and suspect that Brody only ever would have signed if it was worth his while - he was, at multiple times in his career, the highest paid wrestler in the world, and knew he could walk out on any one promoter and make a fortune working for another. If Vince could have met his demands and kept him happy, we might be talking about a very different wrestling landscape, but that's a big if.

[JNLister]

1 hour ago, mim731 said:

You mean Sr, right? I can't imagine Jr was old enough to get a title match with Backlund?

Ooh blimey, yes - good spot.

[JNLister]

.

[ColinBollocks]

46 minutes ago, air_raid said:

This is one of the reasons I assume that had he lived, Brody to the WWF wouldn't have been meant to be anyway. He was notoriously stubborn and protective of his image and I think he and Vince would not have come to an agreement on how he'd come in. He'd have wanted to be a big deal immediately or not come, in my head.

 

I've heard Meltzer say a few times Brody was fully aware that if he came in he'd eventually get jobbed out to Hogan and pushed down the card. His plan was to have a run with Hogan in the WWF when he was planning on packing it in, with the idea that it's his last big payday. It's smart, if true.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I guess that’s similar to what Andre did. I remember Heenan saying on a shoot interview that Andre knew the Hogan angle leading to WrestleMania 3 was his last proper run on top and that, despite the doubts and fears that he might not play ball, he was always going to put Hulk over. 

I’m sure you’ve all seen it but if you haven’t this Brody interview is well worth 20 minutes of your time. Kind of an early shoot interview. Really interesting listening to Brody out of character and the contrast between his maniacal wildman in-ring persona and how calm, intelligent and well spoken he is here is pretty incredible.