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Post by David-Arquette was in WCW 2000 on Apr 22, 2024 14:48:45 GMT -5
Austin’s neck injury had the potential to be the all time one. Just imagine what would have happened if he had to retire in 97. It must have been bad timing anyway since it coincided with Austin’s hottest run (& arguably any wrestling characters ever) but he was somewhat limited in what he could do. Vince & everyone backstage must have been shitting themselves at Summerslam 97. Absolutely. A big angle between Shawn and Undertaker about to start, Bret Vs the US, and the Steve Austin being hottest name in the company. They were really starting to fire on all cylinders. Definitely. It worked out for Sting and he won the Title, but I wonder if he'd won it when it was planned, what would have changed. As for more modern, definitely the CM Punk Rumble injury. The WWE pulled off a great Wrestlemania and accompanying build, and Punk was able to be a big part of that, despite his injury.. but that must have been a huge knock to Punk himself. To have that hype and that moment at Survivor Series, then derailed in a matter of weeks. CM Punk's injury at the 2024 Royal Rumble is one of the WWE's biggest "Sliding Doors" moments ever. If he doesn't get injured... - The Rock doesn't (reportedly) push to return to the ring to face Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania XL in a (reported) effort to "save WrestleMania." - The (reported) injury angle to write off Cody Rhodes to give The Rock the title match doesn't happen. - The Rock doesn't turn heel. - Seth Rollins doesn't get involved in The Bloodline storyline. - The WrestleMania Saturday tag team main event never happens. - The WrestleMania Sunday main event doesn't happen and Cody Rhodes waits to finish his story. - Drew McIntyre doesn't get a WrestleMania championship match, who knows who he'd be facing and which other WrestleMania match would be altered because of it. - Damian Priest probably doesn't cash in his Money in the Bank at WrestleMania, because they'd want WrestleMania Saturday to go off the air with (presumably) CM Punk as new champion. I dare say that Punk getting injured was, not a good thing.. but led to what was I reckon a more intense, unique, and overall more interesting build to Wrestlemania than we would have got. The alternative would have been weeks of samey back and forth promos between Roman and Cody, and slightly more shooty promos between Punk and Seth. What we got was truly something else.
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Post by chronocross on Apr 22, 2024 14:51:22 GMT -5
Ahmed Johnson's initial injury in the summer of 96 in the middle of his Intercontinental Title reign.
He was over like crazy and the injuries began to pile on and never recovered from it.
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Post by Aceorton on Apr 22, 2024 16:06:26 GMT -5
Ahmed Johnson's initial injury in the summer of 96 in the middle of his Intercontinental Title reign. He was over like crazy and the injuries began to pile on and never recovered from it. The second one in '97 was equally as bad. Joins the Nation, is being set up for a title program with the Undertaker and then ... immediately messes up his knee in the first 10 minutes of the RAW where he justifies his heel turn. Taker gets Vader at Canadian Stampede for the 9,000th time, and the Nation beats the hell out of Ahmed when he returns.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Apr 22, 2024 16:09:01 GMT -5
Finn Balor. One day as champion. The end
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Post by sungod2020 on Apr 22, 2024 17:13:29 GMT -5
Brutus Beefcake getting injured in a parasailing accident right before his scheduled IC title match against Mr. Perfect comes to mind. He might've even finally got to win it since he was chasing it for the longest time. That's a huge "what if?" because what if it didn't happen? Would Brutus fizzle out as IC champ as quickly as Tornado or would he keep his hot streak going and hold on to it for a year? Where does he stand in 1991-1993 WWF if not being injured and limited on what he can do? I'm sure he leaves WWF with Hogan but would those 2-3 years 1990-1993 WWF show fans that he could stand on his own without Hogan? I always felt like he could stand on his own without Hogan, more so in WWF, but of course many feel otherwise including fans and wrestlers. I think it's a common misconception that Bruti was only over because of his friendship with Hogan, I mean it might've helped in 89-90 when their friendship became known to fans, but he was already over on his own, though you could say his association with the Hulkster helped him get a push early in his run. When he followed him to WCW, it didn't help him one bit, both in him getting pushed and getting over with fans. He was just there to appease Hogan and nothing more. Didn't help that he became a walking billboard for Wrestlecrap with all those name and gimmick changes. As far as what would happen if he won the IC title at Summerslam goes, I can see him having the reign Von Erich had only because Perfect needed to regain his momentum after two straight PPV loses to him. After that, I don't know where he would fit in the 1991 to 1993 scene. I'm guessing he would flounder in the midcard, or maybe he would turn heel on Hogan and have him cut some of his cut to start a feud into Summerslam 91. He can claim that he's tired of living in his shadow and prove that he can stand on his own and he plans on taking his WWF title only to lose before quietly being released. With or without the IC title, I don't see him going much further than he already did.
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tirtefaa
Unicron
If you wanna know the truth, you gotta dig up Johnny Booth.
Posts: 2,831
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Post by tirtefaa on Apr 22, 2024 18:50:31 GMT -5
Edge's 2004 return had several injuries racked up rather quickly, on top of being an absolutely bland character. I almost wrote him off for good around this time because he was so terrible. Thankfully he recovered in 2005 and was the best thing going in 2006.
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Post by David-Arquette was in WCW 2000 on Apr 24, 2024 17:45:33 GMT -5
Edge's 2004 return had several injuries racked up rather quickly, on top of being an absolutely bland character. I almost wrote him off for good around this time because he was so terrible. Thankfully he recovered in 2005 and was the best thing going in 2006. Yeah his 2004 was shocking
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Post by OGBoardPoster2005 on Apr 24, 2024 20:04:27 GMT -5
Brutus Beefcake getting injured in a parasailing accident right before his scheduled IC title match against Mr. Perfect comes to mind. He might've even finally got to win it since he was chasing it for the longest time. It was the end of his career for all intents and purposes. No disrespect to his work after he returned but he never reached that level of over again. His 1993 return was suppose to be a redemption story and instead turned into a half assed Hulk Hogan return that meant nothing because they lost the match anyways and Brutus never got mentioned again. His heroic return was meaningless. He got boo'd during his return promo and lost his return to PPV after 3 years and didn't get any sort of revenge on Money Inc who won and just moved on after that. Hulk meanwhile gets the WWF Title back at the end of the night and we don't see Brutus again til WCW. Fast forward to 1994 and Brutus suddenly is back in wrestling along Hogan's side against Ric Flair. They can't call him Brutus Beefcake though and he can't do any of the Brutus character so instead he's just Brother Bruti and has no character beyond being Hogan's friend in sunglasses. He turns Heel but this is such a weird turn because whereas in the WWF there was a lot of history with Hogan and Brutus, that really didn't exist in WCW. The fans knew who he was suppose to be but to bring him from someone who hadn't really worked a whole lot of matches between 1990 and 1994 to the Main Event follow-up feud to Ric Flair for Hulk Hogan in WCW was a leap. It could have worked in the WWF with the right angle but in WCW he just felt like some random challenging for the World Title in a company where the belt had always been treated like a prize you have to earn as oppose to just an object to put up just because. Perhaps if Brutus cost him the belt it would have been less of a leap but people don't realize that Starrcade 1994 was Brutus' first PPV singles match since Wrestlemania VI in 1990 and before that you have to go back to his match against Ted DiBiase at Wrestlemania V. He hadn't been in a Singles match of importance in nearly 5 years and suddenly was challenging for the WCW Title. It just sounds insane. After he just becomes a flunky for Kevin Sullivan with 100 name changes along the way til he's basically out of mainstream wrestling by the end of 1999. In less than 10 years he went from a rising Singles star to losing both parents, his wife, 3 years of his wrestling career, suffering a traumatic injury that causes him to basically go from a promising Singles run to a joke in the eyes of the Smart Marks. It's actually pretty sad because people take away Brutus' succeess prior to 1990 and just remember him as Hulk Hogan's buddy hire and while there was a relationship between him and Hulk Hogan that enabled him to have the career he had, to say it was only that is an insult to what he had done from 1987-1990 as a Singles. It's actually a tragedy and even though Brutus is looked down on, I'm glad the guy made it and pieced together some sort of life because he could have lost even more if he went down the path a lot of his peers did.
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Post by Mid-Carder on Apr 25, 2024 7:55:22 GMT -5
Balor getting injured in the match he won the Universal title. Soured Vince on him forever. This is the one. His career has been great but they never trusted him as a top guy again. I don't even remember his return from that injury
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Nr1Humanoid
Hank Scorpio
Is the #3 humanoid at best.
Posts: 5,484
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Post by Nr1Humanoid on Apr 25, 2024 9:18:43 GMT -5
Rick Rude. Arguably he had never been better or more credible when the career suddenly ends. Balor getting injured in the match he won the Universal title. Soured Vince on him forever. Because in Vince's world that was Balor's fault.
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Post by 'Foretold' Joker on Apr 25, 2024 10:34:27 GMT -5
We all joke about it but the Kevin Nash injury just completely derailed the WWE NWO storyline, who knows what we might have got if that didn't happen.
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Futureraven: Beelzebruv
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
The Ultimate Arbiter of Right And Wrong
Spent half my life here, God help me
Posts: 15,050
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Post by Futureraven: Beelzebruv on Apr 25, 2024 11:12:52 GMT -5
Brutus Beefcake getting injured in a parasailing accident right before his scheduled IC title match against Mr. Perfect comes to mind. He might've even finally got to win it since he was chasing it for the longest time. It was the end of his career for all intents and purposes. No disrespect to his work after he returned but he never reached that level of over again. His 1993 return was suppose to be a redemption story and instead turned into a half assed Hulk Hogan return that meant nothing because they lost the match anyways and Brutus never got mentioned again. His heroic return was meaningless. He got boo'd during his return promo and lost his return to PPV after 3 years and didn't get any sort of revenge on Money Inc who won and just moved on after that. Hulk meanwhile gets the WWF Title back at the end of the night and we don't see Brutus again til WCW. Fast forward to 1994 and Brutus suddenly is back in wrestling along Hogan's side against Ric Flair. They can't call him Brutus Beefcake though and he can't do any of the Brutus character so instead he's just Brother Bruti and has no character beyond being Hogan's friend in sunglasses. He turns Heel but this is such a weird turn because whereas in the WWF there was a lot of history with Hogan and Brutus, that really didn't exist in WCW. The fans knew who he was suppose to be but to bring him from someone who hadn't really worked a whole lot of matches between 1990 and 1994 to the Main Event follow-up feud to Ric Flair for Hulk Hogan in WCW was a leap. It could have worked in the WWF with the right angle but in WCW he just felt like some random challenging for the World Title in a company where the belt had always been treated like a prize you have to earn as oppose to just an object to put up just because. Perhaps if Brutus cost him the belt it would have been less of a leap but people don't realize that Starrcade 1994 was Brutus' first PPV singles match since Wrestlemania VI in 1990 and before that you have to go back to his match against Ted DiBiase at Wrestlemania V. He hadn't been in a Singles match of importance in nearly 5 years and suddenly was challenging for the WCW Title. It just sounds insane. After he just becomes a flunky for Kevin Sullivan with 100 name changes along the way til he's basically out of mainstream wrestling by the end of 1999. In less than 10 years he went from a rising Singles star to losing both parents, his wife, 3 years of his wrestling career, suffering a traumatic injury that causes him to basically go from a promising Singles run to a joke in the eyes of the Smart Marks. It's actually pretty sad because people take away Brutus' succeess prior to 1990 and just remember him as Hulk Hogan's buddy hire and while there was a relationship between him and Hulk Hogan that enabled him to have the career he had, to say it was only that is an insult to what he had done from 1987-1990 as a Singles. It's actually a tragedy and even though Brutus is looked down on, I'm glad the guy made it and pieced together some sort of life because he could have lost even more if he went down the path a lot of his peers did. Totally. Before the accident, he was over, he was a pretty decent worker. He had an association with Hogan for a couple of matches but no more than say, Hillbilly Jim or any other random Hogan friend. Afterwards he lost the ability and was never more than 2 feet from Hulk the rest of his career.
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Post by sungod2020 on Apr 25, 2024 17:06:11 GMT -5
Brutus Beefcake getting injured in a parasailing accident right before his scheduled IC title match against Mr. Perfect comes to mind. He might've even finally got to win it since he was chasing it for the longest time. It was the end of his career for all intents and purposes. No disrespect to his work after he returned but he never reached that level of over again. His 1993 return was suppose to be a redemption story and instead turned into a half assed Hulk Hogan return that meant nothing because they lost the match anyways and Brutus never got mentioned again. His heroic return was meaningless. He got boo'd during his return promo and lost his return to PPV after 3 years and didn't get any sort of revenge on Money Inc who won and just moved on after that. Hulk meanwhile gets the WWF Title back at the end of the night and we don't see Brutus again til WCW.
Interesting that you mentioned it. Hogan basically buried his "friend" and made it all about him. They could've at least briefly won the tag team titles so his comeback would've meant something.
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Post by KingPooper on Apr 25, 2024 18:33:51 GMT -5
Fandango.
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Apr 26, 2024 1:05:40 GMT -5
Jimmy Uso blowing out his knee in the ladder match on the pandemic WrestleMania, because that is what allowed Jey to get the singles matches against Reigns, where he really showed out as a potential singles star, and thus seen as the better wrestler of the two.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Apr 26, 2024 1:37:50 GMT -5
Jimmy Uso blowing out his knee in the ladder match on the pandemic WrestleMania, because that is what allowed Jey to get the singles matches against Reigns, where he really showed out as a potential singles star, and thus seen as the better wrestler of the two. On a similar topic... Rick BOOOOOGS destroying his knee by lifting both Usos at Wrestlemania pretty much doomed him...
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fw91
Patti Mayonnaise
FAN Idol All-Star: FAN Idol Season X and *Gavel* 2x Judges' Throwdown winner
Tribe has spoken for 2024 Mets
Posts: 38,961
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Post by fw91 on Apr 26, 2024 9:57:13 GMT -5
Seth Rollins in 2015. Feel like it was a major reason why mania 32 sucked so bad. I think we were going to get the Shield triple threat main event.
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Squirrel Master
Hank Scorpio
"Then the Squirrel Master came out of left field and told me I'm his bitch!"
Posts: 6,643
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Post by Squirrel Master on Apr 26, 2024 19:45:40 GMT -5
Brutus Beefcake Brian Pillman Mr. Perfect Sting Rick Rude Bret Hart Sid Vicious Joey Mercury Beth Phoenix Rhea Ripley
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Post by OGBoardPoster2005 on Apr 26, 2024 22:18:30 GMT -5
It was the end of his career for all intents and purposes. No disrespect to his work after he returned but he never reached that level of over again. His 1993 return was suppose to be a redemption story and instead turned into a half assed Hulk Hogan return that meant nothing because they lost the match anyways and Brutus never got mentioned again. His heroic return was meaningless. He got boo'd during his return promo and lost his return to PPV after 3 years and didn't get any sort of revenge on Money Inc who won and just moved on after that. Hulk meanwhile gets the WWF Title back at the end of the night and we don't see Brutus again til WCW.
Interesting that you mentioned it. Hogan basically buried his "friend" and made it all about him. They could've at least briefly won the tag team titles so his comeback would've meant something. If they had played up to any of that in the 1994 feud, it would have at least had some meaning. Have Brutus talk about Hulk not truly being there for him. Play up Hogan being the one who butchered the friendship. Hell bring up Hogan winning World Titles and pushing him aside in the crucial times. Instead Brutus takes the DQ loss and never appears again in the ring. At least he got inducted in the Hall of Fame and that was the ending he needed, but if you look at the larger story, its a tragedy of a guy who while he teamed with Hogan in Florida and they were friends coming up, they both had success in different directions before Hogan wanted him to be by his side because he wanted Brutus to succeed and felt he could make money for him by having him be a major player in his storylines. That isn't selfish or bad, I truly think Hulk wanted to help Brutus, whether that was being a Tag partner on the House Show loops or an eventual feud. Both would have made Brutus some serious money and both weren't bad career directions for what was an act based business at that time. They feuded in 1985 for the WWF Title, no reason it couldn't have worked in 1990 or 1991.
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Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
Surviving
Posts: 28,922
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Post by Sephiroth on Apr 27, 2024 6:32:57 GMT -5
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t part of the reason for the reign of terror dragging out the way it did was that Trips got injured a couple times?
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