UKFF Questions Thread v3

[air_raid]

4 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

I’m guessing Bret vs Piper was always the plan then?

By the 03/12/91 tapings (This Tuesday In Texas) at the latest, that was already the plan. That’s the afternoon Vince told Bret that he’d be losing the ICT, only so they could really give him a rub by him winning it back from Piper (who had never been pinned on WWF TV or PPV) at Mania, before he’d lose it to Shawn at SummerSlam.

[AshC]

14 hours ago, air_raid said:

It’s a nutty show all over in terms of changes and plans. I’ve long been convinced they were also going to blow off New Foundation vs Beverly Brothers if Anvil hadn’t got himself canned in early March.

It's a good shout, they did that angle where the Beverlys roughed Neidhart up and then they both won at the Rumble. 

[air_raid]

On 8/16/2025 at 1:13 PM, boshealecta said:

Just watched Hogan and Sid vs Taker and Flair from Saturday Nights Main Event where Sid turns on Hogan (rightly so). Hogan has been chosen to face Flair at WM8 in a Tunney press conference, but had they already decided he wouldn’t be based on disappointing house shows? 
Basically when did they decide that Hogan vs Flair wasn’t happening and what was the plan for the rest of the card.

Just to follow up on the beefy part of the question. January is when it started coming out that plans changed. The steroid scandal/Arsenio had hit them hard and suddenly every Billy Graham and Dave Schultz you could name was coming out the woodwork to “expose” the steroid use in the WWF. Inside Edition aired Jan 3rd 1992 and it was awful for them, especially Hogan, who suddenly became the scapegoat. Hogan said in his silly book written in crayon that Vince changed the plans “a couple of weeks” before Mania but it was at least 2 months they knew The Hulkster needed a few months at the Winchester waiting for it to all blow over.

By the 3rd Feb Observer going to press, Meltzer already knew ;

”The planned Wrestlemania 8 card has been changed internally and Hogan vs. Flair will no longer be happening. The big reason is that Hogan is planning to take off for 5 months after WM and thus it wouldn't make sense for him to beat Flair for the title. So instead of jobbing Hogan out at Wrestlemania and having a heel leave with the title, they're just not going to do the match. Instead, it will be a double main event of Hogan vs. Sid Justice (who turned officially turned heel on Hogan at the taping for the upcoming Saturday Night's Main Event special) and Macho Man vs. Ric Flair for the title. On television, they are still planning to announce Hogan vs. Flair but they will later shoot an angle where Hogan pulls out of that match in order to get revenge on Sid instead.”

Of course, turning Sid (Hogans heir apparent but who’d lobbied to turn heel anyway), they were short a main event hero. Hilariously Dave adds ;

”Latest on Ultimate Warrior is that those close to him say he has no interest in returning to wrestling.”

Warrior vs Sid worked out fabulously for all concerned, you may recall.

[Chili]

If I was throwing together a Mania VIII card with absolutely nothing going wrong (getting themselves sacked), I'd have still kept some of the original card, because Hogan/Flair was never going to be negotiated to a finish anyone would enjoy and I love the Savage/Flair angle.

Hogan/Sid, Macho/Flair double main event.

Taker/Snake, Bret/Piper (IC), LOD/Disasters (No DQ, start the Jimmy Hart split here), Money Inc/Duggan & Slaughter (Tag Title), Michaels/Jannetty, Bulldog/Bezerker, Beverleys/New Foundation, Tatanka/Martel and 8 man with Nastyz, Mountie & Repo/Boss Man, Virgil, El Matador & Tornado.

An 11 match Wrestlemania X7 style card there. Great show Wrestlemania VIII on just all the fun alternative options alone.

Edited August 18, 2025 by Chili

[air_raid]

2 hours ago, Chili said:

8 man with Nastyz, Mountie & Repo/Boss Man, Virgil, El Matador & Tornado.

Unfortunately Kerry was not available at the time of Mania.

[TibBo]

Could have had Nailz debut a few weeks earlier to attack Boss Man at Mania?
Would have been nice to finally get that Tito vs Martel blowoff on a PPV.
Berzerker had just tried to stab Taker with his sword I think?  So that could have freed-up Jake to end his feud with Macho?
God knows what you would do with Flair then though :s  I guess Flair Vs Piper would have been logical.
Bret could have worked with anyone at that point and given you a great match.

[Chili]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

Unfortunately Kerry was not available at the time of Mania.

He was on the tapings doing matches two days later, plus I've even got the Anvil on there too and he'd been shitcanned for shot putting TV monitors IIRC 

[air_raid]

31 minutes ago, Chili said:

He was on the tapings doing matches two days later, 

Probably got my Observer notes mixed up. Between the Rumble and Mania they said he’d be welcomed back after rehab, but then he got arrested. But indeed, they pulled a Winchester and had him back for post Mania TVs then the European tour.

[boshealecta]

What I find crazy watching these old Wrestlemanias back (Hogans death got me nostalgic) was how short most things lasted but yet they are etched in my memory. Like Sapphire joined Dusty sometime after Survivor Series 89 (as she’s in the crowd) as his manager but had be bought off by SummerSlam 90. 
 

Sid turning heel at the beginning of 92 and then destroying jobbers on stretchers only lasted til Mania. 

Warrior hardly held the Intercontinental Title that long but to me that’s what defined him back then.  

And as I relied on tapes it’s not like I was catching all the weekly shows and updates. But still it made an impact on me a lot more than some current stuff (back in my day). It’s just I always presumed current stuff didn’t stick with me as much because they don’t stick with things long term but looking back the stuff I loved didn’t last that long at all. I think they just did a great job with recaps before the matches. No fancy video package, just literal chronologically what had been going down. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Warrior’s two IC Title reigns lasted near enough the exact same time

Run 1 - won at Summerslam 88, lost at WM V

Run 2 - won at Summerslam 89, effectively lost at WM VI when he won the WWE Title 

[air_raid]

The rate of change in terms of roster is remarkable to track through early WrestleManias, as I’ve been doing as I review them. “I”-VI it’s reasonably consistent, a handful of guys each year disappear at the end of their runs and newer talent fill in the gaps. At VII the change is far more noticeable ; you’ve got a couple of guys like Hogan, Tito and Valentine who’ve been there since the first and a few like Herc and the Harts who have since II, but there’s a big churn of long term guys who VII is their last and a fair few of the Mania debutants only do one more or don’t even get there. VIII is full of even more fresh faces and drop outs then IX is approx 50% a new cast entirely, before X-XII things calm down a little in the Bret/Taker/Kliq era before it ramps up strong again by XIII after the back and forth roster movements between the WWF and WCW peak.

Edited August 19, 2025 by air_raid
Pump it up pump it up pump it up

[hallicks]

I was reading Jeff Jarrett’s Wikipedia page to try and find out a bit more about the situation where he dropped the IC belt after his contract expired. He said the discussions with Vince were ‘cordial and in good faith’, but it was received wisdom for years after that he was blackballed by the fed because of how he negotiated the payoff for that one match, with Chyna saying he was in cahoots with the just-left-for-WCW Vince Russo. So, is it a case of JJ not quite grasping the ‘cordial and in good faith’ manner of Vince? Was he blackballed by WWE, or is that an internet myth? 

[TheScarlettChad]

Vince called him when Jeff's wife died to offer his condolences. So I don't think so. 

[tiger_rick]

35 minutes ago, hallicks said:

I was reading Jeff Jarrett’s Wikipedia page to try and find out a bit more about the situation where he dropped the IC belt after his contract expired. He said the discussions with Vince were ‘cordial and in good faith’, but it was received wisdom for years after that he was blackballed by the fed because of how he negotiated the payoff for that one match, with Chyna saying he was in cahoots with the just-left-for-WCW Vince Russo. So, is it a case of JJ not quite grasping the ‘cordial and in good faith’ manner of Vince? Was he blackballed by WWE, or is that an internet myth? 

Vince blows like the wind. He gave Randy Savage the classiest send-off they've ever done and then never brought him back. Jeff Jarrett only "held them up" for money he'd be owed anyway - in advance. Vince apparently offered him a contract to stay and blamed Jim Ross for fucking up his contract. For whatever reason, by 2001-2002, they had no interest in bringing him back. He came back eventually, so it wasn't an outright blackballing but they certainly saw no value in him by 2001.

[Dai]

Doesnt a lot of the rumours stem for the remark Vince made about him on the last Nitro? Certainly seemed like there was something a bit personal about that dig. Dont know how much you can believe internet rumours, but wasnt the amount he asked for to do the job to Chyna something silly like $100k+?