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Post by AKIMan64 on Sept 25, 2022 18:31:35 GMT -5
How long do you suppose his reign as Intercontinental Champion would last had he not gotten injured? After beating the Rock at Summerslam in that hellacious Ladder Match, he had one successful title defense against Owen Hart on a random Raw before being sidelined shortly after. I believe they had him scheduled to face Mark Henry at the Breakdown PPV had it not been the case.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Sept 25, 2022 18:36:13 GMT -5
Probably doesn't affect the lineage of the title that much. Shamrock probably beats Hunter for the title to punctuate his new heel alignment, instead of beating X-Pac in a tournament.
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Post by Jindrak Mark on Sept 25, 2022 20:24:24 GMT -5
He won it in a classic match in the culmination of one of the best midcard feuds of the era and was obviously poised to eventually be a main eventer so you'd think he would have a decent run with the title...but this was the attitude era. Vince/Russo could easily have decided to have him lose it a few weeks later on TV with no build.
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auph10imitated
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Post by auph10imitated on Sept 27, 2022 8:35:12 GMT -5
I think Shamrock vs Hunter was the plan, so they would have traded the belt at some point I imagine.
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Post by Aceorton on Sept 27, 2022 12:23:27 GMT -5
Eh, Triple H was already pretty influential in the booking at this point. I think he'd have held onto the title until the Rumble, possibly as long as WrestleMania 15, around the time he turned on DX and started shifting toward the world title. The question is, who would he drop it to? Shamrock with the IC belt always felt like a stopgap to me because they had no one better in the wings who they wanted to elevate to that level. They didn't even pull the trigger with Billy Gunn when he was actually a viable IC contender.
In any case, the ripple effect into 1999 would have been interesting. Triple H keeping the IC for an extended time would probably wipe out a lot of the weird hot-potatoing they ended up doing from February to May with Venis, Road Dogg, Goldust, Godfather and Jarrett. You could even speculate it would have meant no Blue Blazer challenging for the title and no Owen in the rafters in Kansas City.
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Post by sungod2020 on Sept 27, 2022 13:38:27 GMT -5
Eh, Triple H was already pretty influential in the booking at this point. I think he'd have held onto the title until the Rumble, possibly as long as WrestleMania 15, around the time he turned on DX and started shifting toward the world title. The question is, who would he drop it to? Shamrock with the IC belt always felt like a stopgap to me because they had no one better in the wings who they wanted to elevate to that level. They didn't even pull the trigger with Billy Gunn when he was actually a viable IC contender. In any case, the ripple effect into 1999 would have been interesting. Triple H keeping the IC for an extended time would probably wipe out a lot of the weird hot-potatoing they ended up doing from February to May with Venis, Road Dogg, Goldust, Godfather and Jarrett. You could even speculate it would have meant no Blue Blazer challenging for the title and no Owen in the rafters in Kansas City. Interesting theory, although I do have some nitpicking... a)Ken Shamrock was on a roll throughout 1998 with his feud with The Rock, and King of The Ring victory. I feel in order to keep his momentum going, it was only necessary for him to win the IC title before the year was up, especially since he kept coming up short all year. b)I don't think Triple H getting injured had anything to do with the IC title being tossed around so frequently. Bare in mind, Russo had more control with the writing than he did the previous year, so assuming the company still gives him more leighway in 99, I can see the timeline resume as normal once Triple H loses the strap. c)As unfortunate as it was, I don't see Triple H not getting injured butterflying away Owen Hart's freak accident. Mind you, he was doing a variation of that stunt on the Sunday Night Heat before Survivor Series, which was three months before that IC title hot-potating so unless there was a major booking change that impacted Owen in some way, it still could've very well happened when it did. I could be wrong, but you can't prove what never happened. |
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Post by thegame415 on Sept 27, 2022 17:34:43 GMT -5
My guess is he drops it in October of 1998. Title reigns were really starting to get shorter around this time, so it makes sense.
I think he was scheduled to to face Mark Henry at Breakdown, I'm assuming he wins that match. Probably loses it to Shamrock like many have said.
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