Takers mania 9 opponent

[hulksmash87]

Was giant Gonzalez always the plan to be his opponent? If I remember correctly didn’t his feud with nailz begin around December until nailz went crazy and would sid have been an option had he stayed he was managed by Harvey whippelman

[nisidhe]

Jun 7, 2021 14:33:51 GMT -5 hulksmash87 said:

Was giant Gonzalez always the plan to be his opponent? If I remember correctly didn’t his feud with nailz begin around December until nailz went crazy and would sid have been an option had he stayed he was managed by Harvey whippelman

Giant Gonzalez was a pickup from WCW, where he wrestled babyface as El Gigante.

If memory serves, Nailz was long gone by the time the Undertaker had his program with Gonzalez.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

The stare down with Nailz took place in October, was on the January cover of the magazine but Nailz was gone by the previous December. Gonzales debuted at the Rumble.

It’s possible Nailz and Taker would have done something at the Rumble but they’d likely just do something at the Rumble and possibly a Raw main event. Maybe the first one.

[petef3]

According to someone on Kayfabe Memories who talked to Rick Martel, the planned programs were Nailz vs. Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez vs. Kamala, with Nailz-Undertaker climaxing with an Electric Chair Match at Mania. Tentative plans, obviously. But switching Kamala babyface only to have him feud with Kim Chee very much does come off as a Plan B, so I think there's something to this.

A magazine cover was a big deal--Bret discusses this in his book. They wouldn't have put a Nailz-Undertaker showdown on the magazine if they weren't planning to go somewhere with it.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Jun 7, 2021 20:24:30 GMT -5 petef3 said:

According to someone on Kayfabe Memories who talked to Rick Martel, the planned programs were Nailz vs. Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez vs. Kamala, with Nailz-Undertaker climaxing with an Electric Chair Match at Mania. Tentative plans, obviously. But switching Kamala babyface only to have him feud with Kim Chee very much does come off as a Plan B, so I think there's something to this.

A magazine cover was a big deal--Bret discusses this in his book. They wouldn't have put a Nailz-Undertaker showdown on the magazine if they weren't planning to go somewhere with it.

Yeah but Bret and Hogan over the belt is a different story than Taker and guy who isn’t over.

[petef3]

I'm talking about Bret's first magazine cover, in like 1988 or '89.

Edit: You literally made my point for me--Hogan/Bret didn't make the cover or the inside of the magazine. Undertaker/Nailz did.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Jun 7, 2021 22:08:21 GMT -5 petef3 said:

I'm talking about Bret's first magazine cover, in like 1988 or '89.

Edit: You literally made my point for me--Hogan/Bret didn't make the cover or the inside of the magazine. Undertaker/Nailz did.

They wouldn’t necessarily drag something from January to April then, especially with a brand new prime time TV show to promote. Even then, many feuds took place mostly on the road. Mania had had only one gimmick match, Hogan and Bundy in the cage 7 years previously.

I’ve also seen Martel say him walking out on Tito was a complete shoot at Mania 5, so I wouldn’t put too much into what he says.

[Viking Hall]

Jun 8, 2021 5:25:36 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Jun 7, 2021 22:08:21 GMT -5 petef3 said:

I'm talking about Bret's first magazine cover, in like 1988 or '89.

Edit: You literally made my point for me--Hogan/Bret didn't make the cover or the inside of the magazine. Undertaker/Nailz did.

They wouldn’t necessarily drag something from January to April then, especially with a brand new prime time TV show to promote. Even then, many feuds took place mostly on the road. Mania had had only one gimmick match, Hogan and Bundy in the cage 7 years previously.

I’ve also seen Martel say him walking out on Tito was a complete shoot at Mania 5, so I wouldn’t put too much into what he says.

An Electric Chair Match would be an obscure thing to lie about though if it wasn't the case. I buy it, feuds went a lot longer back then.

[repomark]

Jun 8, 2021 5:25:36 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Jun 7, 2021 22:08:21 GMT -5 petef3 said:

I'm talking about Bret's first magazine cover, in like 1988 or '89.

Edit: You literally made my point for me--Hogan/Bret didn't make the cover or the inside of the magazine. Undertaker/Nailz did.

They wouldn’t necessarily drag something from January to April then, especially with a brand new prime time TV show to promote. Even then, many feuds took place mostly on the road. Mania had had only one gimmick match, Hogan and Bundy in the cage 7 years previously.

I’ve also seen Martel say him walking out on Tito was a complete shoot at Mania 5, so I wouldn’t put too much into what he says.

There were other gimmick matches out with the cage match at mania 2 between mania 1 and 9. The most obvious is the blind fold match at mania 7, but you also had the slam match at mania 1; the bow to the king match at mania 3; career ending match at mania 7; two battle royals (2 & 4) and mixed tags (3 & 6). Probably forgotten a few as well.

[petef3]

Hair vs. Hair at Mania 3 also.

Again, the Kamala-Kim Chee feud really, really comes off oddly, so I completely buy that he was supposed to feud with someone else.

November to Mania hardly seems like a long feud for the era. Tatanka-Martel was a feud without much juice behind it the year before that stretched from post-Mania all the way to Survivor Series.

[Aceorton]

So you're telling me that at WM9, we missed out on execution by electric chair in ancient Rome.