Great "What If?"'s in Wrestling History

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Just like the old Marvel Comics series, let's bring up/discuss some moments we think could've changed the course of wrestling for good or ill. Not anything fantasy based ("What if Andre the Giant broke The Streak?"), but things that were just a pen stroke or injury away from occurring.

1. What if Bret Hart had signed with WCW in 1996?
Bret uses his head and takes Bischoff's initial offer in the summer of 1996. Vince probably buries Bret on TV, but there's no Montreal Screwjob. No Mr. McMahon, no McMahon vs Austin feud. WWF probably downsizes, or possibly folds up shop. The Monday Night War never kicks into the high gear that creates a true Boom Period, as WCW has cemented its victory long before the frenzy of 1998. It would have remained the number one company, but would still face (if not accelerate) the problems that led to its own eventual demise. For all our threads on Montreal, I've never really seen too much discussion on how Bret simply taking the first WCW offer would have been equally as earth-shaking in the long-run.

2. What if Daniel Bryan faced Brock Lesnar at Summerslam 2014?
The legendary squash of Cena was by all reports meant to be Bryan, before his injury took him out of action. Cena was able to bounce back within a month, but would Bryan? Would that be his shunting back down the card permanently for forcing Vince's hand to make him champion? Would the WWE Current board have been shut down over the explosion that would have occurred here? I do believe so!

[mauled]

Mar 4, 2018 9:02:30 GMT -5 Citizen Snips Has Left said:

Just like the old Marvel Comics series, let's bring up/discuss some moments we think could've changed the course of wrestling for good or ill. Not anything fantasy based ("What if Andre the Giant broke The Streak?"), but things that were just a pen stroke or injury away from occurring.

1. What if Bret Hart had signed with WCW in 1996?
Bret uses his head and takes Bischoff's initial offer in the summer of 1996. Vince probably buries Bret on TV, but there's no Montreal Screwjob. No Mr. McMahon, no McMahon vs Austin feud. WWF probably downsizes, or possibly folds up shop. The Monday Night War never kicks into the high gear that creates a true Boom Period, as WCW has cemented its victory long before the frenzy of 1998. It would have remained the number one company, but would still face (if not accelerate) the problems that led to its own eventual demise. For all our threads on Montreal, I've never really seen too much discussion on how Bret simply taking the first WCW offer would have been equally as earth-shaking in the long-run.

2. What if Daniel Bryan faced Brock Lesnar at Summerslam 2014?
The legendary squash of Cena was by all reports meant to be Bryan, before his injury took him out of action. Cena was able to bounce back within a month, but would Bryan? Would that be his shunting back down the card permanently for forcing Vince's hand to make him champion? Would the WWE Current board have been shut down over the explosion that would have occurred here? I do believe so!

2 Great What ifs are:

1) Austin’s neck break at Summerslam was so bad he could never wrestle again and didn’t come back from it. Vince’s Top guy who was starting to take off is cut short for good 😧

2) If HBK hadn’t got injured in 98 and basically killed Austin’s run Title run straight away and was politicking back to the belt by say Summerslam. Not to mention his own health with all the drugs he was doing 🤷‍♂️ Would he even be alive today ?

[hulksmash87]

What if Vince had chosen someone other than Hogan in the 80s to put the wwf machine behind say he chose Kerry von erich or someone else? What if watts had gotten the uwf on tbs instead of crockett?

[Milkman Norm]

What if Buddy Rogers never won the NWA title?

What if Ann Gunkel won the Georgia Wrestling war?

What if Bill Watts got the 6:05 Saturday Night TBS timeslot?

What if Wrestlemania bombed?

What if The Crockett's don't sell?

What if Sting doesn't tear his ACL in 1990?

[lemonyellowson]

What if hogan didn’t join nwo

[HisRoyalGreeness]

What if Magnum TA didn’t get in that wreck? What if Tully Blanchard didn’t fail that drug test on his way out of WWF? Those are my two big ones.

[mauled]

Mar 4, 2018 11:30:01 GMT -5 lemonyellowson said:

What if hogan didn’t join nwo

Wasn’t his contract negotiations coming up ?. Even Bishoff would hesitate to give creative control, again, to a guy whose clearly surplus to requirements. As for the NWO Savage doing the heel turn would be the next best choice.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

It's often forgotten that when Jim Crockett SR passed away, the company went not to Jim JR, but to Francis Crockett's husband John Ringley.

Shortly after that, he was caught having an affair and was forced out of the family and all their businesses, and Jimmy took over.

What if John Ringley had kept it in his pants?

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Mar 4, 2018 10:45:18 GMT -5 hulksmash87 said:

What if Vince had chosen someone other than Hogan in the 80s to put the wwf machine behind say he chose Kerry von erich or someone else? What if watts had gotten the uwf on tbs instead of crockett?

Rumor and innuendo says that VKM considered Dusty but ended up choosing Hogan. I think that Kerry would've overdosed in New York.

I have a couple what ifs I've been thinking about lately.

1) what if Tommy Rich stayed clean? Would he be remembered in the same breath as the greatest stars in wrestling?

2) what if Ole Anderson and Jim Barnette never had a falling out? I was listening to Kevin Sullivan in the Jim Ross podcast and he believes that the only way Vince was able to do the national expansion was with Barnette's help and influence. Cornette also said that back in the early 80s you could f*** with Vince that he wasn't anybody really just another promoter, but that you couldn't f*** with Jim Barnette. Would we be watching territorial wrestling still?

[hulksmash87]

What if fritz had gotten control of the nwa in the early 80s not Crockett and David lives does wccw flourish and Crockett stay regional

[SmashTV]

What if Ricky Steamboat hadn't asked for time off? Would he have enjoyed a HTM length reign as IC champion? On that note, what if Brutus Beefcake hadn't gone out parasailing and had his faced crushed?

[The Dark Order Inferno]

What if Vince had gone to prison after losing the steroid trial?
We would have seen the WWF slip deeper into McMephis territory, with Jerry Jarrett and Lawler gaining more power n the creative front as the company struggles even worse than it already was, with wages being slashed across the board. There would ave been a mass exodus to WCW, Kliq, BSK and Harts leaving en masse and the few guys that remain nowhere up to the task. Henry Godwin would likely have gotten a title shot in 96, think about that dark timeline and weep.

What if Turner had chosen Jim Ross over Bischoff when choosing who to head up WCW?
WCW would have ended up closing it's doors as there's little chance JR would have rolled the dice on signing Hogan, not when there are footbawl, NWA and Oklahoma guys to sign.

What if Kip Frey was given time and the co-operation of wrestling people when he was in charge of WCW?
Kip Frey is a very, very smart guy, and would't have been as willing to write off the good ideas that came down fro Turner, like doing local house show loops so talnt can drive between events, rather than crisscrossing the country by jet. He also wouldn't have made racist or antisemitic comments to talent like his successor, Watts, or driven off guys like the Steiners with lowball offers and slashed medical care. He had a progressive attitude that would have greatly improved the onscreen product over time, continuing hispolicy of rewarding talents for having the best match each night and locking down guys like Pillman who were the future, which would have started the turnaroud.

[Deleted]

What if HHH and Chyna has stayed together? So many things at play here. Chyna would probably not have gone down that dark path, who would Stephanie have married?, no Executive H likely means no NXT, PC, Indy deals, and whole ton of other things that are taken for granted.

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

For me, it will always be "What if Magnum's career hadn't ended in that car crash?", because Magnum's injury wedged open the door for Sting to become the face of the nascent WCW, and that's such a crazy world to think about.

[rnrk supports BLM]

Ted Dibiase's mystery partner... Hector Guerrero!

Mark Calaway bursts out of the egg in a turkey suit.

[Squirrel Master]

What if Randy Savage submitted to George The Animal Steele's flying hammerlock for the I.C. title? What if Elizabeth left the territory with George and they took the belt to Puerto Rico with the Animal booked as a babyface to feud with Bruiser Brody, Carlos Colon, Hercules Ayala, Abdullah, Stan Hansen and Chicky Starr?

What if George defeated them all and came back to WWF a year later?

[Joe Neglia]

What if the Bladerunners stayed together? How does that affect what the two became separately? Without that forked road, does their remaining a team mean Sting doesn't change his lifestyle and gets serious about learning the business, or does Rock (Warrior) get himself under control and improve alongside Sting? Does Watts keep them as a tag team, and with the influx of Demolition and the Powers of Pain, is there even a market for them now as a team? Do they end up going the same way of the Maxx Brothers? Would their biggest accomplishment of being some of the worst workers ever through Mid-South/UWF next to Korchenko be the only footnote we remember of them? Or do they even stay in UWF? When Rock bolted, what if Sting went with? They end up in World Class as a tag team in a company that is fading fast. Do they get Vince's attention there like Rock/Dingo did? Where does this leave Hogan passing the torch? Where does this leave WCW and their need for a fresh babyface icon?

[toodarkmark]

What if Barnett doesnt nix Bret Hart to the NWA in 89, and the build to Starrcade 1989 is Bret Hart versus Ric Flair?

What if Owen Hart was allowed to leave WWF when Davey Boy and Jim Neidhart did after the screwjob?

What if Austin and Pillman join the 4 Horsemen in 93 instead of Paul Roma? What if the Hollywood Blondes arent broken up for no reason?

What if Paul Heyman was given part ownership and full book over TNA in 2009?

[El Pollo Guerrera]

What if... Verne Gagne had decided to put the AWA title on Hogan? I was watching a DVD that had a couple of Hogan AWA matches and the audience was just packed. If Gagne had managed to keep Hogan, then does the WWF national plan take off without having Hulkamania as it'd centerpiece?

[Rave]

Mar 4, 2018 11:19:07 GMT -5 Milkman Norm said:

What if Wrestlemania bombed?

If you play EWR (and I believe the latter's been adapted for TEW), the NWA Domination and iDomination mods spin this into a pretty fascinating alternate universe.

Something I've always wondered: what if Hogan wasn't the third man?