Just Some Guy Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Can I flip this topic around to a time when the booking should have been changed on the fly and wasn't? Summerslam '97 - Once it's obvious that something has gone seriously wrong with Owen's piledriver on Austin and he couldn't carry on, Owen should just have covered Austin for the win. The pin makes Own look like a chump! The resulting tournament was OK IIRC, but an Owen Hart title run would have been fun at that time and he could've dropped the belt to Mero a month later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 He didn’t even need to pin him, just call the match off. Was Mero back from injury at that time? No reason why they couldn’t have just kept the belt on Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew "the ref" coyne Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 9 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said: He didn’t even need to pin him, just call the match off. Was Mero back from injury at that time? No reason why they couldn’t have just kept the belt on Owen It's easy saying that with hindsight. When stuff is going on then and there at a million miles an hour it isn't that straight forward. You can clearly see Austin communicating with the ref and may of said "yo Earl, I'm hurt, can you tell Owen to back up and I'll roll him up" not realising HOW hurt he was. Nowadays there would be way more strict with these sort of things (thank god), but in the mid 90s not so much. And on a weird side note, that match did have a stipulation where if Austin lost he had to kiss Owen's ass live at Summerslam. I'd like to think WWE wouldn't think of that as an issue in a serious circumstance, but during a confusing scenario it's not entirely out of question that Hart, Austin and Hebner were thinking "well shit... Austin has to win". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 36 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said: He didn’t even need to pin him, just call the match off. Was Mero back from injury at that time? No reason why they couldn’t have just kept the belt on Owen Mero didn't return until the Raw after Badd Blood 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 3 hours ago, Just Some Guy said: Can I flip this topic around to a time when the booking should have been changed on the fly and wasn't? I’d rather you didn’t. Especially if it involves Owen dropping the title to Marvelous Marc instead of (one way or another) Steve Austin, the future of the business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted April 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted April 5, 2021 That audible was absolutely the right one, as long as Austin was capable. Sure, it was messy pin but Austin became what he was going to and Owen was what he always was regardless so that says everything. There's no need to rewrite something that did no (further) harm to anyone involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Guy Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Yes, I'll hold my hand up here. I was confusing Mero's tournament victory of the previous year with the one after after Stone Cold's injury. As you were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 The title was vacated in almost the same time frame in '96 and '97. Both years had a tournament to crown a new IC Champion 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 37 minutes ago, Perry said: The title was vacated in almost the same time frame in '96 and '97. Both years had a tournament to crown a new IC Champion As did 1998, Owen winning one tournament on 05/10/97 and Ken Shamrock one on 12/10/98. October was a tough month to survive for the Intercontinental champ in the 90s - Shawn handed the belt to Dean Douglas in 95, the aforementioned Mero lost it to Hunter in 96, Jeff Jarrett lost it to Chyna in 99 on his way out the door. Fitting that when they briefly retired the belt in 2002 they did that at the October PPV too, and a year after that they had an episode of Raw in October where the belt changed hands twice in one night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Didn't Eddie Guerrero panic and change the result during his initial Radicalz match in the WWE? I heard he and Saturn were meant to go over but after the injury mid match he got Road Dogg to pin him. 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 12 minutes ago, Merzbow said: Didn't Eddie Guerrero panic and change the result during his initial Radicalz match in the WWE? I heard he and Saturn were meant to go over but after the injury mid match he got Road Dogg to pin him. Yes. They were supposed to win and later Benoit was supposed to win, giving them 2-1 win on the night and secure themselves jobs as babyfaces. The first being calling an audible, which I guess precipitated the change in booking plan of Benoit vs Triple H. It’s a bit mad that the WWF Champion was slated to get beat by a guy who’d just come over from WCW bang in between the Rumble and WrestleMania, but I suppose they could have done a DQ/run in finish with DX. I’d love to know what they’d have done over the next few weeks, I’m assuming the heel turn was a quick fix for the storyline contract offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Statto Posted April 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted April 5, 2021 FWIW, on the podcast Prichard has suggested that they were always supposed to go down to defeat on that first night, although it was supposed to be 2-1 rather than the whitewash that occurred due to Eddie's injury. The story of "how do they get back in now?" was always planned. 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 48 minutes ago, Statto said: FWIW, on the podcast Prichard has suggested that they were always supposed to go down to defeat on that first night, although it was supposed to be 2-1 rather than the whitewash that occurred due to Eddie's injury. The story of "how do they get back in now?" was always planned. To be fair, he probably knows best, I forget where I read the “Benoit wins” version although I have a feeling it may have been a Foley book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsfromlee Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Why didn't Eddie just tag out and let Saturn do the finish instead while he sorted his arm out rather that changing the ending? Fair enough if it was a singles match but being a tag he had someone else there to take over from him. 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 1 minute ago, wordsfromlee said: Why didn't Eddie just tag out and let Saturn do the finish instead while he sorted his arm out rather that changing the ending? Fair enough if it was a singles match but being a tag he had someone else there to take over from him. Probably the kind of clear thinking that eludes you when you’re in that kind of agony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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