Storylines/details advanced by magazines

[James Fabiano]

I'll explain in a bit, but something reminded me how sometimes, not everything would be explained on TV...But! WWF Magazine would have an article or throwaway column that filled in plot holes from the shows.

The one that inspired it was when I was talking about Sapphire selling out, only to disappear altogether. It would appear that way...yet WWF Magazine was doing some kind of column on Ted DiBiase, shortly after, and mentioned him swaying her with the gifts. You can tell this was some time after the angle because IIRC she was just called "the manager of a popular WWF superstar" or words to that effect. Anyway, it was explained that he just took the gifts back and kicked her to the curb, basically.

I know there's other examples...can you remember any?

[Chiral]

I can't remember if it was WWE Magazine or just PWI doing booking fanfic but in like 03 one of them was heavily pushing the idea that Kanyon was going to become Mortis again over the summer and go on a tear.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Not really advancing onscreen stories, but didn't WWF Magazine do a piece with Hunter Hearst Helmsley trying to civilize Mantaur, and later, the Bodydonnas trying to get Mantaur in shape? WWF Magazine cared more about f***ing Mantaur than the company or the fans lol


EDIT: I literally just remembered the Apter Mags really pushing the "DDP is poor" angle with an article in one magazine and an interview in another. In the interview, Page was living in an alley infested with rats and living off of bread and mayonnaise lol

[fg]

Dec 2, 2021 21:41:21 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Not really advancing onscreen stories, but didn't WWF Magazine do a piece with Hunter Hearst Helmsley trying to civilize Mantaur, and later, the Bodydonnas trying to get Mantaur in shape? WWF Magazine cared more about f***ing Mantaur than the company or the fans lol


EDIT: I literally just remembered the Apter Mags really pushing the "DDP is poor" angle with an article in one magazine and an interview in another. In the interview, Page was living in an alley infested with rats and living off of bread and mayonnaise lol

It was the Bodydonnas who were trying to get Bertha Faye and Harvey Wippleman in shape. The article was somewhat funny as they said that Harvey has the pectorals of a pigeon, the triceps of a trout and the biceps of a beaver. They even showed Bertha holding a real non wrestling magazine (can’t recall what it was).

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Dec 2, 2021 22:06:24 GMT -5 fg said:

Dec 2, 2021 21:41:21 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Not really advancing onscreen stories, but didn't WWF Magazine do a piece with Hunter Hearst Helmsley trying to civilize Mantaur, and later, the Bodydonnas trying to get Mantaur in shape? WWF Magazine cared more about f***ing Mantaur than the company or the fans lol


EDIT: I literally just remembered the Apter Mags really pushing the "DDP is poor" angle with an article in one magazine and an interview in another. In the interview, Page was living in an alley infested with rats and living off of bread and mayonnaise lol

It was the Bodydonnas who were trying to get Bertha Faye and Harvey Wippleman in shape. The article was somewhat funny as they said that Harvey has the pectorals of a pigeon, the triceps of a trout and the biceps of a beaver. They even showed Bertha holding a real non wrestling magazine (can’t recall what it was).

Ah, now I remember lol

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Dec 2, 2021 21:41:21 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Not really advancing onscreen stories, but didn't WWF Magazine do a piece with Hunter Hearst Helmsley trying to civilize Mantaur, and later, the Bodydonnas trying to get Mantaur in shape? WWF Magazine cared more about f***ing Mantaur than the company or the fans lol

The HHH/Mantaur thing happened in the mag. I remember it from copies I found in my wife’s attic a few years back.

[sarkerpolseng]

[saneiac]

WWF Magazine had a hilarious article about Earl Hebner just after the angle where Ted DiBiase hired Earl to cheat and allow Andre to pin Hogan. It talked about how from childhood Earl had always pretended to be Dave in order to get Dave in trouble, including treating Dave's girlfriend like crap so she would break up with him and intentionally failing Dave's college entrance exams.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

After DiBiase, the next most notable feud was with Virgil was with WWF Magazine and even the magazine took the piss out of him. Finally, printing a fake cover on the back page with him.

[MiLB Fan]

Dec 2, 2021 21:41:21 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Not really advancing onscreen stories, but didn't WWF Magazine do a piece with Hunter Hearst Helmsley trying to civilize Mantaur, and later, the Bodydonnas trying to get Mantaur in shape? WWF Magazine cared more about f***ing Mantaur than the company or the fans lol


EDIT: I literally just remembered the Apter Mags really pushing the "DDP is poor" angle with an article in one magazine and an interview in another. In the interview, Page was living in an alley infested with rats and living off of bread and mayonnaise lol

Yeah, DDP was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the thread title. Pro Wrestling Illustrated ran an article about him being so desperate for money, that he agreed to work for them on the condition that the magazine would document his experience. He only lasted one day.

I vaguely remember that interview too—Page was living off a soup made from ketchup packets and water.

[thecrusherwi]

There was a Rockers vs Demolition feud in 1990-91 that basically only existed in the WWF Magazine. They fought on some house shows between Survivor Series and Royal Rumble and I think Demolition had an in-set promo about them during a squash match in December, but that was it on TV. Then for some reason, the cover of the March 1991 WWF Magazine had the Rockers on it and the feature article was about this war they were supposedly having with Demolition. By the time that hit newsstands, the house show program was basically over. I guess you could say the end of the feud on TV was the Rockers eliminating Demolition from the tag team battle royal on Superstars that determined the number one contenders at WrestleMania. And then Shawn Michaels beat Crush in a match on primetime. It's a shame, because that would have been a fun match to have had at WrestleMania VII.

[Phosphor Glow]

Dec 3, 2021 1:55:56 GMT -5 saneiac said:

WWF Magazine had a hilarious article about Earl Hebner just after the angle where Ted DiBiase hired Earl to cheat and allow Andre to pin Hogan. It talked about how from childhood Earl had always pretended to be Dave in order to get Dave in trouble, including treating Dave's girlfriend like crap so she would break up with him and intentionally failing Dave's college entrance exams.

what the f*** Earl

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

They teased a Boss Man/Bigelow feud in 1988 which was interesting as the two were barely in the company together during that period as Bigelow left the same month Boss Man debuted. As a matter of fact Boss Man's first appearance on Superstars was also Bigelow's last during that run (June 18, 1988). Even stranger when Bam Bam returned in late 1992 Boss Man was on his way out. That time though they at least were on the same roster for a few months and even worked against each other most notably at the 1993 Royal Rumble. Would've been interesting how their matches would've went in 1988 if they ended up having a program. I guess they would've had Boss Man go over to build him up for his feud with Hogan. However they really protected Bam Bam during his face run in 87-88. I think he only got pinned twice during that whole run and both times it was by Andre. I don't know if they would've sacrificed him to Boss Man at least not on a pinfall.

Dec 3, 2021 11:20:17 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

There was a Rockers vs Demolition feud in 1990-91 that basically only existed in the WWF Magazine. They fought on some house shows between Survivor Series and Royal Rumble and I think Demolition had an in-set promo about them during a squash match in December, but that was it on TV. Then for some reason, the cover of the March 1991 WWF Magazine had the Rockers on it and the feature article was about this war they were supposedly having with Demolition. By the time that hit newsstands, the house show program was basically over. I guess you could say the end of the feud on TV was the Rockers eliminating Demolition from the tag team battle royal on Superstars that determined the number one contenders at WrestleMania. And then Shawn Michaels beat Crush in a match on primetime. It's a shame, because that would have been a fun match to have had at WrestleMania VII.

I'm kind of surprised they didn't do Rockers/Demolition as it would've made more sense then Rockers against Barbarian and Haku. I'm glad how it turned out though as I always loved that match. Great match that was one of the better WM openers prior to the the more modern era with higher workrate and more bigger marquee matches being in the opener spot. Rockers against Demolition wouldn't have been nearly as good as Crush was still kind of green and Smash was pretty terrible during that stretch. Out of shape and just totally mailing it in. They also had the business agreement with Tenryu and the SWS so I guess they wanted to give him a match and a win as a favor.

[Feyrhausen]

In 2003 WWE Magazine had a mention of Mortis appearing on house shows. They also had a small story about Victoria and Stevie acting like royalty backstage and her demanding to be called Queen Victoria.

I believe this was her character in OVW and this was when she was aimless after losing the title at Mania (and before the dancing gimmick) so they might have been considering going with this as her new gimmick.

[jason1980s]

Dec 4, 2021 6:55:05 GMT -5 ThankGodForSidJustice said:

I'm kind of surprised they didn't do Rockers/Demolition as it would've made more sense then Rockers against Barbarian and Haku. I'm glad how it turned out though as I always loved that match. Great match that was one of the better WM openers prior to the the more modern era with higher workrate and more bigger marquee matches being in the opener spot. Rockers against Demolition wouldn't have been nearly as good as Crush was still kind of green and Smash was pretty terrible during that stretch. Out of shape and just totally mailing it in. They also had the business agreement with Tenryu and the SWS so I guess they wanted to give him a match and a win as a favor.

I always envisioned a different tag team scene at Wrestlemania VIII based on the feuds. Of course, the tag title match stays the same but I always thought it should be either:
Demolition v. Rockers
Power & Glory v. LOD same
Bushwhackers v. Orient Express
and Haku Barbarian are MIA on the card, only to be seen in the IC title match (sort of like "where is IRS" during Survivor Series 1994).

My original thoughts was always
Rockers v. Power & Glory
Demolition v. LOD
Barbarian and Haku squash Bushwhackers but the first two match would see 7 months worth of feud ending which seems like a bit too long.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Dec 4, 2021 9:55:52 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Dec 4, 2021 6:55:05 GMT -5 ThankGodForSidJustice said:

I'm kind of surprised they didn't do Rockers/Demolition as it would've made more sense then Rockers against Barbarian and Haku. I'm glad how it turned out though as I always loved that match. Great match that was one of the better WM openers prior to the the more modern era with higher workrate and more bigger marquee matches being in the opener spot. Rockers against Demolition wouldn't have been nearly as good as Crush was still kind of green and Smash was pretty terrible during that stretch. Out of shape and just totally mailing it in. They also had the business agreement with Tenryu and the SWS so I guess they wanted to give him a match and a win as a favor.

I always envisioned a different tag team scene at Wrestlemania VIII based on the feuds. Of course, the tag title match stays the same but I always thought it should be either:
Demolition v. Rockers
Power & Glory v. LOD same
Bushwhackers v. Orient Express
and Haku Barbarian are MIA on the card, only to be seen in the IC title match (sort of like "where is IRS" during Survivor Series 1994).

My original thoughts was always
Rockers v. Power & Glory
Demolition v. LOD
Barbarian and Haku squash Bushwhackers but the first two match would see 7 months worth of feud ending which seems like a bit too long.

Barbarian and Haku not having a match would've made their run in during the IC title match more impactful and surprising then it was with them already losing to the Rockers earlier in the night.

Bushwhackers would've went over Barbarian and Haku if they did that. Bushwhackers weren't a complete joke team quite yet while Haku was basically a JTTS at that point and Barbarian was at the end of his minor midcard singles push. They actually had a match on Prime Time in the summer where the Bushwhackers won. It was basically a match to build them up before they got fed to the Natural Disasters at Summerslam.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Dec 3, 2021 1:55:56 GMT -5 saneiac said:

WWF Magazine had a hilarious article about Earl Hebner just after the angle where Ted DiBiase hired Earl to cheat and allow Andre to pin Hogan. It talked about how from childhood Earl had always pretended to be Dave in order to get Dave in trouble, including treating Dave's girlfriend like crap so she would break up with him and intentionally failing Dave's college entrance exams.

What makes it more funny is that Earl ended up having a much longer career as a referee then Dave. Like why would this corrupt imposter get hired? Then on top of it he was often assigned World Title matches which would usually involve Hogan, the same guy he screwed. I really can't remember the details with the Hebners though. I think it might have been a case where both were refereeing but they would just say Earl was Dave. I know by Wrestlemania VIII only Early was refereeing and Dave had a backstage job as he's one of the suit goons trying to stop Elizabeth from coming to the ring during the Savage/Flair match. I'm pretty sure they were mentioning Earl by name by the mid 90's.

[wildojinx]

Dec 4, 2021 6:55:05 GMT -5 ThankGodForSidJustice said:

Dec 3, 2021 11:20:17 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

There was a Rockers vs Demolition feud in 1990-91 that basically only existed in the WWF Magazine. They fought on some house shows between Survivor Series and Royal Rumble and I think Demolition had an in-set promo about them during a squash match in December, but that was it on TV. Then for some reason, the cover of the March 1991 WWF Magazine had the Rockers on it and the feature article was about this war they were supposedly having with Demolition. By the time that hit newsstands, the house show program was basically over. I guess you could say the end of the feud on TV was the Rockers eliminating Demolition from the tag team battle royal on Superstars that determined the number one contenders at WrestleMania. And then Shawn Michaels beat Crush in a match on primetime. It's a shame, because that would have been a fun match to have had at WrestleMania VII.

I'm kind of surprised they didn't do Rockers/Demolition as it would've made more sense then Rockers against Barbarian and Haku. I'm glad how it turned out though as I always loved that match. Great match that was one of the better WM openers prior to the the more modern era with higher workrate and more bigger marquee matches being in the opener spot. Rockers against Demolition wouldn't have been nearly as good as Crush was still kind of green and Smash was pretty terrible during that stretch. Out of shape and just totally mailing it in. They also had the business agreement with Tenryu and the SWS so I guess they wanted to give him a match and a win as a favor.

See, I would have had Demolition/Rockers and for the Tenryu/Kitao stuff, have a mini-angle where they take on the Orient Express to figure out who Japan's top tag team is (in kayfabe at least).

[MolotovMocktail]

Dec 4, 2021 9:55:52 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Dec 4, 2021 6:55:05 GMT -5 ThankGodForSidJustice said:

I'm kind of surprised they didn't do Rockers/Demolition as it would've made more sense then Rockers against Barbarian and Haku. I'm glad how it turned out though as I always loved that match. Great match that was one of the better WM openers prior to the the more modern era with higher workrate and more bigger marquee matches being in the opener spot. Rockers against Demolition wouldn't have been nearly as good as Crush was still kind of green and Smash was pretty terrible during that stretch. Out of shape and just totally mailing it in. They also had the business agreement with Tenryu and the SWS so I guess they wanted to give him a match and a win as a favor.

I always envisioned a different tag team scene at Wrestlemania VIII based on the feuds. Of course, the tag title match stays the same but I always thought it should be either:
Demolition v. Rockers
Power & Glory v. LOD same
Bushwhackers v. Orient Express
and Haku Barbarian are MIA on the card, only to be seen in the IC title match (sort of like "where is IRS" during Survivor Series 1994).

My original thoughts was always
Rockers v. Power & Glory
Demolition v. LOD
Barbarian and Haku squash Bushwhackers but the first two match would see 7 months worth of feud ending which seems like a bit too long.

Those first two were good, or keep LOD vs. P&G and do Rockers vs. Demolition. Tenryu and Kitao could’ve gone over either Barbarian and Haku, or the Orient Express in a battle of Japanese teams.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Dec 4, 2021 16:20:56 GMT -5 ThankGodForSidJustice said:

Dec 3, 2021 1:55:56 GMT -5 saneiac said:

WWF Magazine had a hilarious article about Earl Hebner just after the angle where Ted DiBiase hired Earl to cheat and allow Andre to pin Hogan. It talked about how from childhood Earl had always pretended to be Dave in order to get Dave in trouble, including treating Dave's girlfriend like crap so she would break up with him and intentionally failing Dave's college entrance exams.

What makes it more funny is that Earl ended up having a much longer career as a referee then Dave. Like why would this corrupt imposter get hired? Then on top of it he was often assigned World Title matches which would usually involve Hogan, the same guy he screwed. I really can't remember the details with the Hebners though. I think it might have been a case where both were refereeing but they would just say Earl was Dave. I know by Wrestlemania VIII only Early was refereeing and Dave had a backstage job as he's one of the suit goons trying to stop Elizabeth from coming to the ring during the Savage/Flair match. I'm pretty sure they were mentioning Earl by name by the mid 90's.

They brought up the issue of Earl just being a ref now and isn’t that a problem? Vince said no one remembers that. So, Earl is there as ref in the title match of Mania 4, the whole mess he started.