Wrestlers/Angles That Got Hot & Ruined Other Booking Plans

[tirtefaa]

Boy that John Morrison sure got hot out of nowhere at Vengeance 2007.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

CM Punk’s cash-in on Edge in 2008 to win the WHC was always a warm-up run to introduce him to the main roster, but Jericho’s Anton Chigurh influenced heel turn caught fire and he rode that momentum to keep Punk away from the belt for nearly a year.

[Renslayer]

There's a lot of moving parts to this, but steve Austin heating up in 1996 - early 1997 helped throw a big ole wrench in the bret hart v hbk planned wrestlemania rematch build

[CMWaters]

Sept 20, 2022 18:36:17 GMT -5 sungod2020 said:

Is it safe to say Ultimate Warrior got so popular, he killed what should've been Brutus Beefcake's IC title push? Was the plan ever to make Bruti IC champion? I know he kept chasing after Honky Tonk Man throughout 1988, but Honky always cheated his way into keeping the gold, common sense would suggest that The Beefer would finally win it at Summerslam, but he was out via kayfabe injury at the hands of "Outlaw" Ron Bass, leaving HTM without an opponent.

Honky then issued an open challenge at the event, only for Ultimate Warrior to answer it and cream him in about 30 seconds, which is a fitting end to his 15 month title reign that consisted of him always escaping with the gold by the skin of his teeth. Don't get me wrong, it was probably the right choice given Warrior's growing popularity, but it's a damn shame for Beefcake since a)he was over with the fans and b)that's where the narrative was heading. It's almost like he was thrown under the bus.

If Beefcake wasn't in the cards, then how else would Honky's reign end? I can't picture anybody OTHER than Ultimate Warrior winning it, nor can I picture a World where he dosen't get the belt at some point.

Maybe if you want to give both(Beefcake and Warrior) an IC title reign, you can have Beefcake dethrone Honky at Summerslam, Honky wins it back at a Saturday Night's Main Event, only for Warrior to win it at The 1989 Royal Rumble maybe? Then again, I don't think it would be the same compared to what we got though.

Along the same lines...I wonder if Warrior's popularity being what it became hurt Mr. Perfect's potential in any way. The company seemed to be leading to Hogan/Perfect for the title before Royal Rumble...and then THAT stare-down happened. Now that part may have been planned, but who knows with Vince even if longer-term storytelling was more common back then.

[sungod2020]

Sept 21, 2022 0:13:58 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Sept 20, 2022 18:36:17 GMT -5 sungod2020 said:

Is it safe to say Ultimate Warrior got so popular, he killed what should've been Brutus Beefcake's IC title push? Was the plan ever to make Bruti IC champion? I know he kept chasing after Honky Tonk Man throughout 1988, but Honky always cheated his way into keeping the gold, common sense would suggest that The Beefer would finally win it at Summerslam, but he was out via kayfabe injury at the hands of "Outlaw" Ron Bass, leaving HTM without an opponent.

Honky then issued an open challenge at the event, only for Ultimate Warrior to answer it and cream him in about 30 seconds, which is a fitting end to his 15 month title reign that consisted of him always escaping with the gold by the skin of his teeth. Don't get me wrong, it was probably the right choice given Warrior's growing popularity, but it's a damn shame for Beefcake since a)he was over with the fans and b)that's where the narrative was heading. It's almost like he was thrown under the bus.

If Beefcake wasn't in the cards, then how else would Honky's reign end? I can't picture anybody OTHER than Ultimate Warrior winning it, nor can I picture a World where he dosen't get the belt at some point.

Maybe if you want to give both(Beefcake and Warrior) an IC title reign, you can have Beefcake dethrone Honky at Summerslam, Honky wins it back at a Saturday Night's Main Event, only for Warrior to win it at The 1989 Royal Rumble maybe? Then again, I don't think it would be the same compared to what we got though.

Along the same lines...I wonder if Warrior's popularity being what it became hurt Mr. Perfect's potential in any way. The company seemed to be leading to Hogan/Perfect for the title before Royal Rumble...and then THAT stare-down happened. Now that part may have been planned, but who knows with Vince even if longer-term storytelling was more common back then.

I highly doubt that. I know many smarks like to rag on Hogan for being a dirty backstage politician and maybe some of the time it is justified, but how it ended up happening(Hogan eliminating Perfect last) was the right call and him winning it helped legitimize the Rumble. I think it can be considered a push in itself to work with Hogan, even if it was to be on the receiving end. If Hogan thought Perfect was beneath him, then he wouldn't agree to have a program with him, let alone being in the final two of the match.

Plus, Perfect was a rising star and even though he jobbed to Beefcake at Wrestlemania that year, it didn't slow his momentum down whatsoever and won the IC title in a tournament shortly thereafter.

Also, taking workrate out of the equation, Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania came off more appealing to the casual fan(which there were far far more in that era) than Hogan vs. Hennig. Mind you, if the rumors were true, it was originally going to be Hogan vs. Zeus, which thankfully never happened. 

So yeah, I think Hogan halting Mr. Perfect's main event push was nothing more than NEWZ created by a workrate-biased smark who was just finding excuses to rag on Hogan. 

[kingoftheindies]

Zack Ryder and anybody going after the US title. Ryder got so over that anybody who wasn't him going after Dolph was booed

[theironyuppie]

Sept 20, 2022 0:42:49 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Becky getting so popular in 2018/19 ruined Vince’s (and Ric’s) dream of a Charlotte/Ronda Wrestlemania main event. Meltzer was reporting weekly from Jan 2018 that the long term plan was for Ronda to put over Charlotte in a historic first women’s main event at 35.

Becky was supposed to turn heel and be a feud for babyface Charlotte to kill a couple of months in the fall before she moved onto Ronda but Becky was the person fans wanted to see face/beat Ronda.

In the end powering ahead with Charlotte/Ronda with Becky lower on the card would have been like going ahead with the original plans 5 years earlier and having Batista/Orton main event while the people’s choice Bryan faced Sheamus. Crowds would have spent months shitting all over the build for the main event and chanted Bryan/Becky’s name at them.

I think it’s a little more complicated, just because even with Becky getting so popular, Nia’s botch was crucial. Without that happening, Becky/Ronda has already happened, (as great as Charlotte/Ronda was, fans could always imagine the Becky match being even better) and there’s no iconic ‘bloody Becky’ moment to send the Stone Cold comparisons into overdrive. Judging from the little ‘crisis of confidence’ story Charlotte had after losing at Evolution, I think Becky winning the feud was always the plan, but my guess is Charlotte was going to lay low until the Rumble.

[Mid-Carder]

Sept 21, 2022 0:04:12 GMT -5 Renslayer said:

There's a lot of moving parts to this, but steve Austin heating up in 1996 - early 1997 helped throw a big ole wrench in the bret hart v hbk planned wrestlemania rematch build

Shawn backing out (sorry, losing his smile) helped, too!

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Sept 21, 2022 10:01:25 GMT -5 theironyuppie said:

Sept 20, 2022 0:42:49 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Becky getting so popular in 2018/19 ruined Vince’s (and Ric’s) dream of a Charlotte/Ronda Wrestlemania main event. Meltzer was reporting weekly from Jan 2018 that the long term plan was for Ronda to put over Charlotte in a historic first women’s main event at 35.

Becky was supposed to turn heel and be a feud for babyface Charlotte to kill a couple of months in the fall before she moved onto Ronda but Becky was the person fans wanted to see face/beat Ronda.

In the end powering ahead with Charlotte/Ronda with Becky lower on the card would have been like going ahead with the original plans 5 years earlier and having Batista/Orton main event while the people’s choice Bryan faced Sheamus. Crowds would have spent months shitting all over the build for the main event and chanted Bryan/Becky’s name at them.

I think it’s a little more complicated, just because even with Becky getting so popular, Nia’s botch was crucial. Without that happening, Becky/Ronda has already happened, (as great as Charlotte/Ronda was, fans could always imagine the Becky match being even better) and there’s no iconic ‘bloody Becky’ moment to send the Stone Cold comparisons into overdrive. Judging from the little ‘crisis of confidence’ story Charlotte had after losing at Evolution, I think Becky winning the feud was always the plan, but my guess is Charlotte was going to lay low until the Rumble.

Once Becky turned heel, it caught on super fast and she was beating the shit out of Charlotte more so than anybody has at that point or still has at this point. Becky getting injured basically cemented her status as bad ass babyface and Charlotte also got a good rub by having a really good match with Ronda. Becky Vs Ronda was def written in stone once Asuka was inserted into the feud and won the belt and Charlotte was just an add on at the end to make Becky moment even bigger

[Stu]

Rusev would be WWE Champion by now if he got handsome hot and Vince accepted he could realistically be with Lana.

[Jindrak Mark]

Sept 21, 2022 10:01:25 GMT -5 theironyuppie said:

Sept 20, 2022 0:42:49 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Becky getting so popular in 2018/19 ruined Vince’s (and Ric’s) dream of a Charlotte/Ronda Wrestlemania main event. Meltzer was reporting weekly from Jan 2018 that the long term plan was for Ronda to put over Charlotte in a historic first women’s main event at 35.

Becky was supposed to turn heel and be a feud for babyface Charlotte to kill a couple of months in the fall before she moved onto Ronda but Becky was the person fans wanted to see face/beat Ronda.

In the end powering ahead with Charlotte/Ronda with Becky lower on the card would have been like going ahead with the original plans 5 years earlier and having Batista/Orton main event while the people’s choice Bryan faced Sheamus. Crowds would have spent months shitting all over the build for the main event and chanted Bryan/Becky’s name at them.

I think it’s a little more complicated, just because even with Becky getting so popular, Nia’s botch was crucial. Without that happening, Becky/Ronda has already happened, (as great as Charlotte/Ronda was, fans could always imagine the Becky match being even better) and there’s no iconic ‘bloody Becky’ moment to send the Stone Cold comparisons into overdrive. Judging from the little ‘crisis of confidence’ story Charlotte had after losing at Evolution, I think Becky winning the feud was always the plan, but my guess is Charlotte was going to lay low until the Rumble.

I don't think the Nia botch played such a key role as people think. She was always going to have to be in the Mania main event or fans wouldn't have accepted it. The Nia punch was in November. By that point Becky had already started The Man gimmick and been the most popular person in the company for 3 months. She was doing segments with legends like Edge and getting people to boo them if they went against her.

Even if Becky doesn't get injured and the match with Ronda goes ahead at Survivor Series, do you think fans come Wrestlemania season would have just sat back and said oh well, we already saw that match so we'll just accept the person we like best being in the midcard while Vince books the main event he wants?

Bryan faced Orton a ton of times in late 2013. They still revolted when it looked like he was being pushed aside for Orton/Batista. That's exactly what would have happened if WWE tried to go ahead with Ronda/Charlotte at Wrestlemania.

[theironyuppie]

Sept 21, 2022 11:42:51 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Sept 21, 2022 10:01:25 GMT -5 theironyuppie said:

I think it’s a little more complicated, just because even with Becky getting so popular, Nia’s botch was crucial. Without that happening, Becky/Ronda has already happened, (as great as Charlotte/Ronda was, fans could always imagine the Becky match being even better) and there’s no iconic ‘bloody Becky’ moment to send the Stone Cold comparisons into overdrive. Judging from the little ‘crisis of confidence’ story Charlotte had after losing at Evolution, I think Becky winning the feud was always the plan, but my guess is Charlotte was going to lay low until the Rumble.

I don't think the Nia botch played such a key role as people think. She was always going to have to be in the Mania main event or fans wouldn't have accepted it. The Nia punch was in November. By that point Becky had already started The Man gimmick and been the most popular person in the company for 3 months. She was doing segments with legends like Edge and getting people to boo them if they went against her.

Even if Becky doesn't get injured and the match with Ronda goes ahead at Survivor Series, do you think fans come Wrestlemania season would have just sat back and said oh well, we already saw that match so we'll just accept the person we like best being in the midcard while Vince books the main event he wants?

Bryan faced Orton a ton of times in late 2013. They still revolted when it looked like he was being pushed aside for Orton/Batista. That's exactly what would have happened if WWE tried to go ahead with Ronda/Charlotte at Wrestlemania.

It’s certainly possible, but I think depends on what the SS match was like and how it ended. That we hadn’t seen that match was a powerful argument at the time. I also point out the botch cause that’s the same week Meltzer reported Ronda wanting Becky at Mania, which also added momentum.

[Jindrak Mark]

Sept 21, 2022 12:17:58 GMT -5 theironyuppie said:

Sept 21, 2022 11:42:51 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

I don't think the Nia botch played such a key role as people think. She was always going to have to be in the Mania main event or fans wouldn't have accepted it. The Nia punch was in November. By that point Becky had already started The Man gimmick and been the most popular person in the company for 3 months. She was doing segments with legends like Edge and getting people to boo them if they went against her.

Even if Becky doesn't get injured and the match with Ronda goes ahead at Survivor Series, do you think fans come Wrestlemania season would have just sat back and said oh well, we already saw that match so we'll just accept the person we like best being in the midcard while Vince books the main event he wants?

Bryan faced Orton a ton of times in late 2013. They still revolted when it looked like he was being pushed aside for Orton/Batista. That's exactly what would have happened if WWE tried to go ahead with Ronda/Charlotte at Wrestlemania.

It’s certainly possible, but I think depends on what the SS match was like and how it ended. That we hadn’t seen that match was a powerful argument at the time. I also point out the botch cause that’s the same week Meltzer reported Ronda wanting Becky at Mania, which also added momentum.

Becky facing Ronda was only one part of the equation. It just so happened that was the match that fans wanted but the bigger deal was that Becky had become the most popular person in the company and it had been rumored for a year or so that they were going to have the first ever women's Wrestlemania main event. How could you do that and leave out not only the most popular woman but arguably the most popular person male or female in the company?

Like no one freaked out about Charlotte/Ronda this year because Becky/Bianca felt equal or bigger. In 2019 though if they tried to do Charlotte/Ronda in a historic main event while Becky was put in a meaningless match fans would have been livid. I keep using the Bryan 2014 example but that's literally what it would have been like. Becky being the people's choice and ending up in a tag title or battle royal match would have been like going through with Bryan facing Sheamus in the midcard at 30.

[DSR]

Sept 20, 2022 16:23:37 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

Mason Ryan also messed up a fan vote but it might be a stretch to say that was due to his popularity.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the story I always heard was Kelly Kelly won the previous fan poll that night so hard that it had an effect on the Mason Ryan fan poll.

[Jindrak Mark]

People cheering Hogan over Rock at Wrestlemania and him turning face ruined HHH's planned babyface title reign which surely wasn't originally going to be one month long after that massive return he had.

Hogan wasn't getting any younger though and he always ends up falling out with Vince so if they wanted to get a title run out of him they had to do it pretty much immediately.

[theironyuppie]

Sept 21, 2022 12:31:08 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Sept 21, 2022 12:17:58 GMT -5 theironyuppie said:

It’s certainly possible, but I think depends on what the SS match was like and how it ended. That we hadn’t seen that match was a powerful argument at the time. I also point out the botch cause that’s the same week Meltzer reported Ronda wanting Becky at Mania, which also added momentum.

Becky facing Ronda was only one part of the equation. It just so happened that was the match that fans wanted but the bigger deal was that Becky had become the most popular person in the company and it had been rumored for a year or so that they were going to have the first ever women's Wrestlemania main event. How could you do that and leave out not only the most popular woman but arguably the most popular person male or female in the company?

Like no one freaked out about Charlotte/Ronda this year because Becky/Bianca felt equal or bigger. In 2019 though if they tried to do Charlotte/Ronda in a historic main event while Becky was put in a meaningless match fans would have been livid. I keep using the Bryan 2014 example but that's literally what it would have been like. Becky being the people's choice and ending up in a tag title or battle royal match would have been like going through with Bryan facing Sheamus in the midcard at 30.

My guess is in that hypothetical she would have still been treated as a big deal and defended the Smackdown women's title against Asuka. I do think Becky wrestling Ronda at Survivor Series was in the works for longer than people thought, though. There was a report from January 2018 that the three women Ronda was secretly training with was Becky, Natalya, and Charlotte, and in hindsight that makes sense if they were the three big matches they had in mind for her. (Natalya was reportedly going to be Ronda's original Summerslam opponent before they pivoted for Alexa Bliss.)

[Bo Rida]

Sept 21, 2022 12:45:04 GMT -5 DSR said:

Sept 20, 2022 16:23:37 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

Mason Ryan also messed up a fan vote but it might be a stretch to say that was due to his popularity.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the story I always heard was Kelly Kelly won the previous fan poll that night so hard that it had an effect on the Mason Ryan fan poll.

That's what they claim. I think they might have actually done the preferred option the next week. But I think that's a cover-up, like King claiming the crowd are chanting "let's go Sheamus".