Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted April 23 Paid Members Share Posted April 23 I think running WCW as its own show was considered at least somewhat semi-seriously by WWF brass, and splitting the roster definitely made sense with having “rival” organisations. There were attempts to do so early doors with the WWF running WCW-branded house shows live events, and running a poll on WWF.com to choose the name of a WCW show that included atrocious options along the lines of Saturday Night Hard-On. The brand split may have also been thought of as a way to bolster the piss-weak “roster” they got with the WCW purchase. No one was going to tune in to a weekly show to see the likes of Hugh Morrus and Kanyon as main eventers, so they may have used the brand split to pad out the WCW roster with existing WWF superstars. However, this is the WWF. As soon as the Booker T vs. Bagwell match bombed on Raw and I think the one or two WCW shows they ran didn’t exactly break box office records, they saw it as a dead duck and just moved to sow the whole thing up as soon as possible, and went ahead with the brand split any way afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Power Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Christopher Daniels as the Greater Power. Fucking no chance. I've heard that story for the last 25 years now, and Conrad even brought it up on one of his recent podcasts (can't remember which one, they're basically the same). But in May 1999, there is no way that Vince is debuting a balding, 6 foot nothing, cruiserweight as a direct challenger to Austin and above Undertaker on the totem pole. This story has been mentioned for years in various places, but it's absolutely got to be bollocks. No chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 24 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 24 (edited) That’s a good one. Another reason, as if they needed one, was that viewers wouldn’t need that long a memory to recognise “Fallen Angel” as having done a job to Taka on Shotgun. He’s not coming in to play a starring role. It’s a weird one all ends up, if they didn’t find a spot for him at all as a wrestler, why they’d employ him in that position. For what he’d have delivered as a cult leader style character they could have just got Jackyl back in. Edited April 24 by air_raid Now you bow to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69MeDon Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 (edited) I seem to recall that there was reporting when William Regal first went to WWF from WCW, coming in as a Real Man's Man, that there were plans for him to be a big challenger for Austin. But that always struck me as surely not true, since that gimmick he came in with was so silly, that awesome theme song aside, that I could never imagine they'd have done any kind of serious program with him and Austin. Then a bit later it was said that didn't happen because of Regal's drug issues. Edited April 24 by 69MeDon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 On RAW becoming a WCW show, I suppose its possible they could have considered doing it for a couple of weeks as an angle. They take over RAW for a couple of weeks, WWF guys appear anyway to cause trouble, spin it off into Shane moving WCW to Saturday nights as Hot Box or whatever. There's a chance that people are curious about a couple of episodes of WCW Nitro under a WWE banner and it's a good way of hyping up your new Saturday show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 24 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 24 22 minutes ago, 69MeDon said: I seem to recall that there was reporting when William Regal first went to WWF from WCW, coming in as a Real Man's Man, that there were plans for him to be a big challenger for Austin. But that always struck me as surely not true, since that gimmick he came in with was so silly, that awesome theme song aside, that I could never imagine they'd have done any kind of serious program with him and Austin. Then a bit later it was said that didn't happen because of Regal's drug issues. You're conflating two parts of the Regal-to-WWF story. At the time it was indeed going around in the Observer etc that the WWF thought he might make a good opponent for Austin (and Steve might have gone to bat for Regal, they'd been friends), but it wasn't until later that he was repackaged. He first debuted on Raw in the June time as "Steven Regal" in his "Lord" persona in everything but name. They probably clocked reasonably soon thereafter that a combination of Regal not being in the shape they hoped for and a lukewarm reaction, were indicators he wasn't ready to be built up for Austin. He was repackaged as "A Real Man's Man" in the fall.. and you know the rest. Probably not as unthinkable as you believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Reverend Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 Tito Santana as World Champion. Heard this from several sources including Pritchard and Tito himself. It was supposedly going to happen in late 1991 because Vince wanted to expand into the latin markets. Utter bollocks if you ask me - they didn't add any extra latin stars in 1991 (or 1992 for that matter) and the only thing they did was make Tito more of a stereotype with the El Matador thing. With the talent they had in late '91 (Hogan, Savage, Undertaker, Flair etc.) I can't see this ever would've happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted April 24 Paid Members Share Posted April 24 (edited) 14 hours ago, Max Power said: Christopher Daniels as the Greater Power. Fucking no chance. I've heard that story for the last 25 years now, and Conrad even brought it up on one of his recent podcasts (can't remember which one, they're basically the same). But in May 1999, there is no way that Vince is debuting a balding, 6 foot nothing, cruiserweight as a direct challenger to Austin and above Undertaker on the totem pole. This story has been mentioned for years in various places, but it's absolutely got to be bollocks. No chance. I think for a lot of cases like this, it's an idea that was pitched, probably one among hundreds, and 99% of those ideas never make air. For some reason, people got really invested in this one, when chances are there were a hundred other names thrown around for that role. I assume that if they had run with Daniels as the Higher Power, he'd have been either a manager or ending up as the guy to take the bumps for The Undertaker to protect him, rather than positioning him as an actual challenger for Austin. The reason why I think it was at least pitched is that Vince Russo recycled it in WCW, with Daniels being revealed as Vampiro's Dark Master in a story that got immediately dropped. Russo basically treated Vampiro and Sting's feud as an excuse to recycle all of his ideas for Undertaker and Kane, and that was one of them. 2 minutes ago, The Reverend said: Tito Santana as World Champion. Heard this from several sources including Pritchard and Tito himself. It was supposedly going to happen in late 1991 because Vince wanted to expand into the latin markets. Utter bollocks if you ask me - they didn't add any extra latin stars in 1991 (or 1992 for that matter) and the only thing they did was make Tito more of a stereotype with the El Matador thing. With the talent they had in late '91 (Hogan, Savage, Undertaker, Flair etc.) I can't see this ever would've happened. The version of the story I heard was that with the downturn in domestic business starting, the choice was between Tito Santana, in an effort to reach out to the Latin market, or Bret Hart to try and make more money in Canada, and it was Bret also being really popular in Europe that helped tip the decision in his favour. So Santana not getting a big push doesn't necessarily prove that he was never planned for one, as by that point they'd opted not to go in that direction at all. Edited April 24 by BomberPat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 24 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 24 2 minutes ago, The Reverend said: Tito Santana as World Champion. Heard this from several sources including Pritchard and Tito himself. It was supposedly going to happen in late 1991 because Vince wanted to expand into the latin markets. I've heard that Tito was on the famed "list of 6" when they were scrambling to get in a new star when Flair was hurt and Warrior wasn't going to work out, where they ended up going with Bret. Of course, just because Bret was told "there are six names on the list and you're one of them" doesn't mean it was true. You know how these things tended to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinity Land Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 Its up there with Daniels I suppose, but Dr Death Steve Williams signing in 1998. Vince/WWF would have had plenty of chances to sign him up over the years if he really believed in him. Wouldn't have been put him in Brawl for All if there were any real plans. A favour hire and if it worked out 'great'. All the hype were his mates doing some wishful thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 24 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 24 15 minutes ago, Infinity Land said: Its up there with Daniels I suppose, but Dr Death Steve Williams signing in 1998. Vince/WWF would have had plenty of chances to sign him up over the years if he really believed in him. Wouldn't have been put him in Brawl for All if there were any real plans. A favour hire and if it worked out 'great'. All the hype were his mates doing some wishful thinking. Where’s the bullshit here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted April 24 Paid Members Share Posted April 24 Slightly off the track, but since he's come up, I call chinny-reckon on Regal's "you know what, it was a good thing that mega push I had after the King of the Ring got canned because of my steroid bust, because I was thinking some bad things after Heath Ledgering myself into the role". However you need to come to terms with it mate, but Jimmy Hill, Jimmy Hill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 (edited) 42 minutes ago, The Reverend said: Tito Santana as World Champion. Heard this from several sources including Pritchard and Tito himself. It was supposedly going to happen in late 1991 because Vince wanted to expand into the latin markets. Utter bollocks if you ask me - they didn't add any extra latin stars in 1991 (or 1992 for that matter) and the only thing they did was make Tito more of a stereotype with the El Matador thing. With the talent they had in late '91 (Hogan, Savage, Undertaker, Flair etc.) I can't see this ever would've happened. I'm not sure about the timing for Tito Santana in 1991. I know they brought in Konnan for tryouts around that time and that Tito gave Undertaker his first pinfall loss, so it's possible they wanted to do more in Latin America. I think as @air_raid pointed out, it was more likely in Autumn of 1992. WWF has just released Davey Boy Smith and Ultimate Warrior and Vince McMahon was of the mind that Randy Savage's days as an in-ring performer were drawing to a close. He needed to get the belt off Ric Flair and wanted to go in a new direction, so the options for a new champion were quite sparse. I imagine on that list that Bret Hart has talked about would have been himself, Curt Hennig, Tito Santana, Ted Dibiase and Bob Backlund. The thing to bear in mind with Tito was that Vince was looking outside of the the US for revenue streams as house show business in the States was not great. So set in that context, Tito as an international star appealing to Mexico makes sense as to why he would have been considered. Obviously though, Bret Hart was by far the strongest candidate given his broad appeal to North America and Europe in particular. Edited April 24 by Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 24 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 24 28 minutes ago, Roy said: I'm not sure about the timing for Tito Santana in 1991. I know they brought in Konnan for tryouts around that time and that Tito gave Undertaker his first pinfall loss, so it's possible they wanted to do more in Latin America. Well, only in terms of televised in Spain. Domestically they still acted like he was undefeated until This Tuesday In Texas. Which was double bullshit as thousand of fans attending house shows or TV tapings across North America had already seen him pinned by Hogan, Warrior, or a very privileged few by Macho Man, or the good people of Halifax, Nova Scotia, by Roddy Piper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted April 24 Paid Members Share Posted April 24 Hade Vansen ending the Undertaker's Wrestlemania Streak. Around 2003/4. I think they aired one video promo and he never wrestled on TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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