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Post by Viking Hall on Mar 2, 2015 17:37:43 GMT -5
In 1981 the WWF Light Heavyweight Title was created and defended in Mexico's UWA until January 1995 when the Lucha Libre promotion closed their doors. In reality the WWF lent the title to NJPW where it became a part of the J-Crown until 1997 when the WWF activated the title for the first time. However, if the WWF had decided in 1995 to create a Light Heavyweight division who would you have signed to compete? Obviously you can include anyone who's already on the roster and NJPW talent would be eligible too since they still had a working agreement until '97. A lot of the WCW Cruiserweights wouldn't have been signed yet either, so really the world is your oyster.
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Post by Porky's Butthole on Mar 2, 2015 18:01:28 GMT -5
Brian Christopher, 123 Kid, Hakushi...bring in Taka, I think Scott Taylor was there at the time..those guys that were in the shitty 95 Rumble would be good (at least a better way to showcase their talents)...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 19:37:15 GMT -5
I actually tried to do this in an EWR game once. I built the division around Owen and Kid, with Hakushi as a tweener trying to break into the mix. I had The Hardyz, Rey, and Psychosis in developmental, then brought in The Armstrongs to serve as filler talent so I wasn't booking the same three matches all the time.
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Post by Viking Hall on Mar 2, 2015 19:48:23 GMT -5
Might be worth noting that a certain Pegasus Kid Chris Benoit had WWF tryouts in early 1995 on the recommendation of Bret Hart. Being as he was considered one of the top Cruiserweights in the world at the time it's interesting to think how his timeline would have changed had the WWF been more suitable for someone of his size at the time.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 20:00:14 GMT -5
Might be worth noting that a certain Pegasus Kid Chris Benoit had WWF tryouts in early 1995 on the recommendation of Bret Hart. Being as he was considered one of the top Cruiserweights in the world at the time it's interesting to think how his timeline would have changed had the WWF been more suitable for someone of his size at the time. If that had been the case he would still be with us today no doubt, having never been demoted from the Horsemen to Raw.
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Post by Viking Hall on Mar 3, 2015 11:34:20 GMT -5
Had a look over the 1995 roster and I reckon there's decent base of talented workers there to get a division started, perhaps more so than two years later. Chuck in a few guest workers from NJPW and you've got yourself a world class Cruiserweight Division in my opinion.
WWF
1-2-3 Kid Aldo Montoya Chris Candido Hakushi Marty Jannetty Owen Hart
NJPW
Chris Benoit Dean Malenko Gran Hamada Great Sasuke Jushin Thunder Liger Shinjiro Otani
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Post by MrElijah on Mar 3, 2015 15:36:52 GMT -5
123-Kid Jushin "Thunder" Liger Owen Hart Hakushi Hyabusa Rey Jr. Ultimo Dragon Dean Malenko Psicosis Great Sasuke Juventude Gurrera Ohtani
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Post by Digital Witness on Mar 4, 2015 2:54:50 GMT -5
Might be worth noting that a certain Pegasus Kid Chris Benoit had WWF tryouts in early 1995 on the recommendation of Bret Hart. Being as he was considered one of the top Cruiserweights in the world at the time it's interesting to think how his timeline would have changed had the WWF been more suitable for someone of his size at the time. If WWE convinced Benoit to sign in 1995, then this is what I see happening. If the interest is truly there to build up the division, I see Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko, and Jericho coming as sort of a package deal. They were friends, they wanted to work with each other. I see WWE rounding them all up. I also see Lance Storm coming in through his connections with Jim Cornette and Chris Jericho. I could also see Jerry Lynn coming in to work with Waltman. Candido is still there, Janetty is still there. They can work. You also have Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor who can work. Even then, they still get Take Michinoku and perhaps work more with The Great Sasuke. To round out the division and to spice it up a bit, I also see them committing to Sabu and maybe bringing in Hayabusa as well. I'm not including Hakushi due to being a little big for a strict cruiserweight division. As a huge coup, they could to try to bring in Jushin Lyger or Shinjiro Otani, though I don't really see that panning out. I will say this. It would hurt WCW greatly if WWE got to all those guys before WCW did. Sure, WCW had the lucha connection, but I'm not sure they'd have had as much success with their division without Jericho, Guerrero and Malenko. Hell, if WWE picks them up, perhaps they also get Mysterio and Co. as well. WCW was lucky for things to work the way they did in that regard.
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Post by Viking Hall on Mar 4, 2015 7:54:56 GMT -5
That makes for one hell of a Light Heavyweight Division and arguably a much stronger one than either the WWF or WCW ever managed to put together. None of the names you mentioned are that far fetched either. As mentioned before, Benoit came close to signing in '95 and logic prevails that if they knew about Benoit then they knew about Malenko and Guerrero too. Both Storm and Jericho had worked for SMW the previous year which obviously had very strong connections to the WWF and both were on the verge of becoming international commidities so again it's easy to see how they could have been brought in for a run. It's also worth noting that Jerry Lynn was looked at in 1995 before he went full time in WCW and obviously had a strong connection to Waltman who in theory would be one of the top names in the Light Heavyweight Division so all the pieces are there really. Even Sabu, who to most is probably as far removed from your typical early nineties WWF wrestler as possible had history with the promotion at that point as in 1993 he had apparently turned down a contract with them. Now, while this might not have sat well with them at the time, by 1995 Sabu was one of the hottest properties outside of the big two on the planet and I could easily see them burying the hatchet to bring his unique and relatively new style to their burgeoning Light Heavyweight Division. All in all this is making me wish that the WWF had pulled the trigger on this two years earlier as the potential was there for a very entertaining and talented group of wrestlers.
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Post by BRAINFADE on Mar 4, 2015 13:43:13 GMT -5
Man, this thread makes me realize just how good WWF's roster could have been back then if they had only pulled their heads out of their asses in terms of recruitment. Forget a light heavyweight division (although it would have been awesome) Just some of the names mentioned here - Benoit, Sasuke, Malenko, Lyger etc. - put any of against Bret and/or HBK in 95 and it would have been magic.
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Post by Viking Hall on Mar 4, 2015 17:50:39 GMT -5
Man, this thread makes me realize just how good WWF's roster could have been back then if they had only pulled their heads out of their asses in terms of recruitment. Forget a light heavyweight division (although it would have been awesome) Just some of the names mentioned here - Benoit, Sasuke, Malenko, Lyger etc. - put any of against Bret and/or HBK in 95 and it would have been magic. Chuck The Eliminators into the mix too, they got a try out in 1995 as well... seeing Saturn and Kronus in the WWF circa '95 would have been insane.
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Post by Mike Bockwinkel on Mar 5, 2015 5:01:13 GMT -5
Storm and Jericho could have been in it. They were in SMW at this time, and were already working Well Dunn & The Heavenly Bodies
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