Things you got very, very, very, very, very wrong

[Aceorton]

Inspired by the Red Rooster thread.

I think most of us understand the "rhythms" of wrestling and can spot where things are generally headed after years and years of watching. But is there anything you were 100% confident was going to happen that ended up being wildly, brutally off?

When they paired Terry Taylor with Bobby Heenan in the fall of '88 and put the Rooster in the Survivor Series main event, I was convinced he would either survive or be one of the last eliminated from his team in a questionable way, and would then be an upper mid-card or main event guy for a while, maybe even getting title shots against Savage. I mean, why else put him with Heenan and add him to that match if he wasn't going to get the up-and-coming star treatment?

Instead, he was the first eliminated (convincingly, by Savage) and the whole angle was that he was a failure who couldn't do what Heenan asked of him.

What are some of your biggest whiffs as a fan?

[jason1980s]

When Prototype was selling signed 8x10s on his website for $5.

I knew him from a WWF bio on TV of the new class of rookies with OVW. I'm not sure why I looked down on him selling 8x10s for $5 and I guess plus shipping. Companies were selling unsigned 8x10s for $5-10 though those were stars or legends.

Todd got one personalized "To Todd, Prototype" and I still didn't like the idea. Just a few years later he became John Cena, one of the most famous and important wrestlers and though he does sign a ton of autographs, it's mostly "JC" and I'm not sure many Prototype photos exist or are signed as such. I surely regret my decision at the time, in not buying 1.


Also, seeing pre Too Cool Rikishi and his TV debut, I figured this would be another failed Fatu gimmick and most likely his last one before WWF releases him-in a few months.

[tafkaga]

Little kid logic, but when Ken Patera returned in '87 and they had all those feats of strength promos, plus the Olympics theme and the American flag colors... I didn't think he could be beaten.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

Thinking Ted Debiase Jr. had huge potential

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

I thought Mr. Kennedy/Mr. Anderson would be one of the biggest stars in the industry. Basically up there with Cena/Orton/Batista.

[Jindrak Mark]

Within a year or so I completely flipped on them but at first in 2008 I thought Ted Dibiase would be like a Randy Orton level main eventer for years to come and Cody Rhodes wouldn't amount to anything.

In hindsight I get shivers thinking about the dirtsheet reports back then that Ted was strongly being considered to end Undertaker's streak.

[Mozenrath]

Oct 11, 2023 10:41:55 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

I thought Mr. Kennedy/Mr. Anderson would be one of the biggest stars in the industry. Basically up there with Cena/Orton/Batista.

More or less this, yes, like I thought he'd be bigger in WWE, at least. He still wound up having a successful career in TNA, but obviously never became the big deal a lot of people anticipated due to him making a number of mistakes.

[thechase]

Thinking Attitude Era Test was gonna factor big into HHH's ascension

[Urn Anderson]

As a kid, I thought Doink was going to be revealed to be Ax from Demolition.

It was how much Bobby Heenan hammered in that “those eyes looked familiar” as well as his feud with Crush. I thought it was going to end up being some sort of grudge over Crush taking his spot, and that there was going to be some sort of metaphor involved with him dressing like a clown.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

I thought CM Punk in AEW was going to be a can't-miss all-time feelgood run

[Cyno]

I really thought Cody Rhodes was going to beat Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 39.

[Psicofreak667]

The very first night I watched wrestling, I was fooled into thinking Psychosis was a major superstar.

Keep in mind I'd never watched WCW before, I didn't like wrestling as a little kid and what little I knew about it was the roster of the WWF Arcade Game, and bits and pieces I'd picked up from my friends who did watch. So I knew of the biggest names in the mid 80s WWF scene.

Well, here's this wrestler with this horned mask. It's the coolest thing I'd ever seen. It reminded me of a minotaur, and I was super into Dungeons and Dragons at the time. His gear was flashy. His entrance had pyros. He kicked his opponent's (Villano IV) ass.

Of course it was really almost an EWR style, "let's see if we can get this one guy's overness rating up a point or two by throwing him a meaningless win over someone who's overness rating we don't really care about" match.

Psychosis/Psicosis is my favorite wrestler to this day still, but man it was tough watching the likes of Prince Iaukea and Lenny Lane get pushed over him.

I'm also an Atlanta Falcons fan. Just throwing that out there because it feels peculiarly relevant.

[Ben Wyatt]

Oct 11, 2023 10:55:18 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Oct 11, 2023 10:41:55 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

I thought Mr. Kennedy/Mr. Anderson would be one of the biggest stars in the industry. Basically up there with Cena/Orton/Batista.

More or less this, yes, like I thought he'd be bigger in WWE, at least. He still wound up having a successful career in TNA, but obviously never became the big deal a lot of people anticipated due to him making a number of mistakes.

He *should* have been a big player. The combo of ill times injuries, being an idiot and injuring Orton (and someone else, IIRC) did him in. 

[James Fabiano]

Dustin Rhodes was going to be the mystery Million Dollar Team member.

Virgil would be revealed as borrowing money behind DiBiase's back, and HE was the one giving Sapphire the gifts.

Marlena/Terri would return at Mania 15 and reveal she was sending Sable the gifts. (it would be a kinda sorta proto-PMS team...)

Ultimate Warrior would retain at the Rumble and Hogan/Warrior II was a lock for WM7.

Disco Inferno was Paul Roma.

Rad Radford was Johnny Grunge.

Van Hammer was Ultimate Warrior.

[wildojinx]

I thought Batista was going to end up being bigger than Brock (techically, you could argue he did become bigger, but still,,)

[ace]

when Maclin was signed by Impact i genuinely dismissed it as a nothing lowest of the low WWE cast off signing who had nothing to offer and was probably just a favor for Deonna. Then his year long rise towards the title was like my favorite story in wrestling and he was awesome. Learned a real lesson.

[msc]

Kenny Dysktra would be a multi time WWE Champion.

[MiLB Fan]

I remember Hugh Morris wrestling on Nitro and his opponent was some nobody named Bill Goldberg. I thought to myself, “eh, we know who’s gonna win this match; let’s see what’s on Raw.”

When TNA was searching for yet another new cable home, I distinctly remember posting in a thread that TNT or TBS was a definite “no” because I believed WarnerMedia wasn’t interested in getting back into wrestling. I sure whiffed on that one, didn’t I?

(Keep in mind that this was long before AEW was even remotely an idea. We’re talking about the Destination America/Pop TV era.)

[Jaws the Shark]

Oct 11, 2023 10:41:55 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

I thought Mr. Kennedy/Mr. Anderson would be one of the biggest stars in the industry. Basically up there with Cena/Orton/Batista.

Oct 11, 2023 13:11:33 GMT -5 Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! said:

I thought CM Punk in AEW was going to be a can't-miss all-time feelgood run

These two were both mine too, and what's really shitty about them is that they were entirely avoidable disappointments, both absolutely could have happened, or at least Kennedy/Anderson could have been bigger than he was, and CM Punk in AEW could have been really, really, really good. And neither of them were, not because of bad timing or whatever, but because the individuals involved managed to sabotage themselves, and that's just so frustrating.

[Push R Truth]

I was completely convinced that Tiger Ali Singh was going to be a better version of the Million Dollar Man than Ted himself.



*hangs head in shame*