Paid Members air_raid Posted April 3, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2021 (edited) So, re-reading The Death of WCW today was I reminded of a few instances of booking getting changed on the day of the show - not including big Kev getting out of a job to The Giant at Starrcade 97 by faking a heart attack. Firstly, match order (which I imagine is chopped and changed quite a lot) - at Souled Out 98, Bret and Flair were originally going on last to make a big deal of the Hitmans first PPV match for WCW but on the day it was changed to Luger v Savage going on last due to bellyaching by Hogan who was doing a run-in, because he didn’t think he should be running in on a semi-main rather than the main. Secondly, Hall & Nash successfully got out of dropping the belts to The Steiners at Road Wild 97, suggesting too many title changes were devaluing titles (on the same night Hogan got the belt back six days after losing it). How many other examples do we know of where plans got changed right at the eleventh hour? It’s often been said that Booker T was slated to win the World title from Triple H until they decided on the day to leave it on Hunter as Goldberg was coming in, but I don’t think I’ve ever read/heard Booker or HHH confirm that. What others do we know of? And no, Montreal doesn’t count. Edited April 3, 2021 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Didn't Hogan change the booking of the World War 3 (95) battle royal in the ring? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted April 3, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2021 Yeah. Savage was supposed to win clean, but instead Hogan went under the bottom rope instead so he could give out about it at the end and steal Savage's spotlight again. Just like at Mania 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted April 4, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted April 4, 2021 HBK beating Bulldog after Bulldog dedicated the match to his terminally ill sister is top tier shithousery. What’s the definitive score with the In Your House: Mind Games main event? Did Vince re-book the finish during the match itself? I’m sure I’ve read something like that in the past, and I do remember Vince being visible on camera giving instructions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted April 4, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted April 4, 2021 Wasn't Hogan beating Triple H for the title a last minute decision? I remember reading that Triple H was really upset about it but Vince was determined to cash in on the big Hogan nostalgia run while he could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 4, 2021 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 4, 2021 6 hours ago, Supremo said: HBK beating Bulldog after Bulldog dedicated the match to his terminally ill sister is top tier shithousery. It was, but Bulldog was a pawn in the game of “I’m not doing jobs” “Well, I’m not jobbing to him either” between Shawn and Bret. They persuaded Bulldog to lose to Shawn to prove Shawn could trust the family to do business. The irony. I wonder how close to bell that Honky and Vince had their famous “There’s a million finishes but 1-2-3 in the middle of the ring ain’t one of them” conversation before The Main Event. One of my favourite “Wrestling of Future Past” is if Honky had just dropped the belt to Savage, Mania IV would have been Hogan v DiBiase on top, so DiBiase had Honky to thank for missing his big payday. Extraordinary to think they gambled 12 months of Hogan as champion house shows not knowing if Macho Man would be a draw.... because of Honky Tonk Man. But I guess if you can put the world title in one town and Hulk Hogan in another, you’ll probably do alright. Before anyone mentions the Steamboat/Reed/Honky deal, forced changes due to no show or injuries is not what I mean. Only genuine decisions to change plan. Scott Hall deciding on his own accord to do an unscheduled pinfall job to Chris Jericho live on Nitro for his own amusement was a good one, even if it stretches the boundaries of “booking.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 Was HBK winning at One Night Only done on the fly? I thought that was always the plan to set up the rematch (that never happened) at Mayhem in Manchester which I believe was originally meant to be another UK PPV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 There was that time that the referee decided to end The Undertaker’s Wrestlemania Streak when he changed the ending in the ring... In all serious though, Hogan is the king of on the fly/late change booking. The World War 3 Battle Royale has already been mentioned plus two separate occasions where Randy dropped the belt to Hogan on Nitro 24hrs after winning it, and of course there’s Wrestlemania 9. So the story goes, he was meant to return the favour to HBK and lose to him the month after Summerslam, leading to  a rubber match at Wrestlemania 22. Hogan goes all Apollo Creed at the 11th hour saying “there ain’t gonna be no rematch”, so Shawn decides he’s going to oversell everything Hogan hits him with, and welll, we’ve all seen what happened there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted April 4, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted April 4, 2021 Hogan going into the ring at WrestleMania 3 not knowing if Andre would put him over is the ultimate example. *wink* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chasingamymatt Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 Martel was meant to go over Booker at Superbrawl 98 but hurt his knee i think it was, it actually lead to his retirement. So Saturn faced Booker instead. Bret mentions in his book he was meant to face Steamboat at 4 but ended up in the battle Royale. Lesner beating taker at 30 was only decided a few hours before the show from what I remember. Pillman was meant to have 2 matches at Badd Blood but obviously they had to just sling a few random matches into the card to fill the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 4, 2021 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 4, 2021 5 hours ago, Perry said: Was HBK winning at One Night Only done on the fly? I thought that was always the plan to set up the rematch (that never happened) at Mayhem in Manchester which I believe was originally meant to be another UK PPV. That’s the plan that they came up with and how they sold the loss to Smithers, and you’re right that Mayhem was originally going to be a PPV, but the original plan was simply to have Bulldog win, hence him dedicating the match to Tracy on TV. Because when he said it, he thought he’d be winning. 4 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said: So the story goes, he was meant to return the favour to HBK and lose to him the month after Summerslam, leading to  a rubber match at Wrestlemania 22. Hogan goes all Apollo Creed at the 11th hour saying “there ain’t gonna be no rematch”, so Shawn decides he’s going to oversell everything Hogan hits him with, and welll, we’ve all seen what happened there. I’m pretty sure in his book Shawn says he pitched a series of three matches but the best Hogan would agree to would be a rematch in a cage at Unforgiven, which he would also win. 11 minutes ago, Chasingamymatt said: Bret mentions in his book he was meant to face Steamboat at 4 but ended up in the battle Royale. That was never the plan, much less the plan changed on the day. 1 hour ago, Chasingamymatt said: Pillman was meant to have 2 matches at Badd Blood but obviously they had to just sling a few random matches into the card to fill the time.  7 hours ago, air_raid said: forced changes due to no show or injuries is not what I mean. Only genuine decisions to change plan. Deaths included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 Ahh, see I’ve never read Shawn’s book. Figured his memory would be quite hazy as well as being a bit preachy having become born again. Fucking Hogan though, of course he was pitching to beat a guy 12 years his junior twice in a row Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 4, 2021 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 4, 2021 1 hour ago, WyattSheepMask said: Fucking Hogan though, of course he was pitching to beat a guy 12 years his junior twice in a row Of course he was. It’s Hogan. He only put Lesnar over as strong as he did because Vince let him think he’d get the win back at Survivors. 17 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said: Yeah. Savage was supposed to win clean, but instead Hogan went under the bottom rope instead so he could give out about it at the end and steal Savage's spotlight again. Just like at Mania 4. To be fair, Hogan’s actions at the end of Mania IV were specifically engineered to plant seeds for their eventual unraveling. Oops, I mean EXPLODING. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King Of Swing Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 I bet bookers had panic attacks every time Big Sexy phoned in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 5, 2021 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 5, 2021 9 hours ago, The King Of Swing said: I bet bookers had panic attacks every time Big Sexy phoned in. Especially when he phoned in about panic attacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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