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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 26, 2020 9:10:24 GMT -5
Preferably guys that you know never really had a main event run. I was just thinking about Haku/Meng. He’s always had such a great aura. By 1989 the WWF seemed to really take notice since he got slotted into tagging with Andre. Heck even today I’m tempted to go into EWR and give Haku a mega push as a grizzled old vet. But in the 1980s going into the early 1990s with Haku in his physical prime. That could’ve really been something
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Post by ianriccaboni on Dec 26, 2020 10:26:18 GMT -5
Still maintain Paul Roma had it and would have done fine in bigger opportunities.
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Post by Triangle Lancer on Dec 26, 2020 11:02:13 GMT -5
Off your timeline, but I can see a Rick Martel run against Warrior or Hogan from 1990-91, but you had Mr. Perfect coming unto his own around the same time. I'm not saying Rick would have created a miracle getting a good match out of Warrior, but he's a good hand with a rather fresh heel turn and worth a try. With only 4 PPVs though, kind of difficult to find a good place to have the match; SNME maybe.
But, if we're going to stick to strictly 80s, let's take a look at the malaise that was the WWF singles title scene in 1982. Backlund was your top champion and doing his part wrestling all sorts of different guys. Pedro was your IC champion the entire year as well; winning in November 1981 and losing in January 1983. If I'm going to do anything different, it would be to the latter. (Of course the main problem is that WWF imported mainly heels, not faces, so who would they defend against besides Pedro, Tony Garea and the Strongbows? But that's a different topic for another time...)
So, taking a little from column A (Backlund challengers from the year) and a bit from column B (Pedro's rather uneventful reign) you can come up with a guy that could break the 14 months, while setting someone up for a decent little build before Muraco would come back in late-1982. I'm sure a lot of people would just say "Just give Snuka the belt, then the turn happens and he loses to Muraco in January," but Jimmy was an attraction by himself. He was like Andre. You didn't need to give him either title. (Plus the word was out there Jimmy wasn't the best as far as being "reliable", wink wink.) He had matches with Pedro after the Backlund series ended and they were...not that hot. So, I've whittled it down to three guys you could feasibly give a short run with the IC title.
Adrian Adonis. Adrian came in at the beginning of 1982 with Jesse Ventura. Vince and Pat Patterson would joke about his body type often, but also put him over constantly as a great mat technician and a street brawler. His "Goodnight Irene" sleeper was put over as a definite match ender. (There's a match against Bob at MSG where he's got the sleeper locked in and Vince is screaming "The match is over! We'll have a new champion!") He was a great talker, and Fred Blassie was in his corner. Save for the look (which really wasn't that different than a lot of guys around the time, but Vince has to make it an issue), Adrian was a hell of a worker, would bump like a Superball for guys, a terrific heel. Probably the best time for a switch in May or June.
"Cowboy" Bob Orton. Mid-1982 saw the emergence of quite a few wrestlers coming into the company around the same time-Ray Stevens, Blackjack Mulligan, Bob Orton, then Buddy Rose and Billy Graham soon after-to challenge Backlund, but what hurt them was 1) the Backlund-Snuka series caught fire and they went 3 at MSG, then 2) Superstar Billy Graham's return in late-July/early-August. Orton was probably the guy most impacted because of this-Blackjack Mulligan was mainly brought in as an Andre opponent, Ray Stevens was part of the Snuka turn, etc. But Orton was a fine wrestler that Patterson would put over a lot ("I don't agree with the rulebreaking, but wow, what a wrestler!") and they even built a match based around Orton claiming Bob walked out on an amateur match they were supposed to have when they were younger because he knew he'd lose. The con against Orton becoming IC champion would be the timing; they didn't just flip the singles titles then, the reigns lasted a while. Orton would get a chance at Backlund, a handful against Pedro and one Andre match, then they just dropped him to a feud with Pat Patterson. They had fun matches, but this was just giving Orton something to do until he left. (Running the "Pat Patterson comes back to shut up another detractor" thing they've already run into the ground by this point, yet they still kept doing it into late-1983.) I think without Snuka throwing a wrench into plans, Orton could have done better. If Bob had come in sooner, you could make the Adonis case for his run as IC champion.
"Playboy" Buddy Rose. Like Adonis, good at everything despite having a rather "different" look; Buddy was a little less svelte than Adrian and not much of a brawler. He was more your chickenshit heel that could bump around. Buddy got his Portland vignettes played on WWF television, so he was treated as a pretty big deal from the get-go. Like Orton, timing is the main reason why you wouldn't do a change, plus it wasn't really known how long he would stick around; was he just there for Bob Backlund or was there a long range plan? (Did they know Buddy would be there off-and-on for the next couple of years? Probably not. Also to note: by this time, it seemed as if Vince Senior really stopped caring and just kept things at the status quo.)
There are more people you could point to as possible champions, but they are either: an issue with the timeline (Greg Valentine had a feud with Pedro at the end of 1981/beginning of 82, but Pedro just won the belt so Greg wasn't getting it; he was on his way out anyway), where they were slotted (if Mister Saito wasn't in the tag title scene I could make a case for him getting a run with it), not all that great in the ring (Ventura, Superstar Billy Graham...you say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to), Mulligan (he was mainly there for Andre, though he did wrestle Backlund in the smaller-towns...eh, no).
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Post by cassonova on Dec 26, 2020 12:50:12 GMT -5
There isn't much reason Brad Armstrong couldn't have been given at least a transitional run, Ronnie Garvin style, in the NWA. Man was smooth as butter, had a decent look, and had plenty of bsbyface fire.
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Post by sungod2020 on Dec 26, 2020 13:35:24 GMT -5
If Snuka didn't have the issues he had, I would've given him an IC title run from October 1983(the night he jumped off the cage) before losing it in the Spring/Summer of 1984 to either Greg Valentine or Roddy Piper. If he loses the belt to Greg Valentine, Piper could be involved in the decision by costing him it to help add fuel to their feud. Tito Santana would then defeat either man(Piper or Valentine) for the strap in July 1985(same as before) and then history would proceed as normal.
If Snuka's issues were still a problem in this Universe as well, I'd have Junkyard Dog win the IC belt from Greg Valentine at Wrestlemania 1 to become the first African American IC champion(10 years before Ahmed Johnson accomplished that feat) and then have him lose it to "Macho Man" Randy Savage in late 1985/early 1986. Same way Tito Santana did.
Given how championships were treated and the demons certain wrestlers had(The Von Erichs, Jake Roberts, etc etc), it's really hard to make adjustments to the history we got. I can't picture anybody else being WWF champion as long as Hulk Hogan is there. Not even him trading it briefly with Piper or Paul Orndorff would work as it would water down the premise of his match against Andre The Giant at Wrestlemania III, which was him being champion for three years straight at that point.
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Post by J. Hova on Dec 26, 2020 16:55:11 GMT -5
Touching on the alternative universe and no issues, I'd have absolutely strapped the rocket to Tony Atlas and made him the first black NWA world champion.
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Post by ianriccaboni on Dec 26, 2020 17:52:10 GMT -5
Touching on the alternative universe and no issues, I'd have absolutely strapped the rocket to Tony Atlas and made him the first black NWA world champion. He had it all! Don't know how to put this, though, that he had issues greater than foot fetishes (and honestly if everyone is consenting, nothing wrong with that). Two folks I know and trust profess to have smoked something that is smoked primarily from a pipe with him around the time he was intended to get the IC title in 1984. Both said he was the nicest man in the world, never missed a workout, ate clean as could be, but his other habits derailed him. He probably could have been the first black NWA Champion and allegedly would have been IC champ had he not had those alleged addictions.
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Post by Mozenrath on Dec 26, 2020 19:04:35 GMT -5
Touching on the alternative universe and no issues, I'd have absolutely strapped the rocket to Tony Atlas and made him the first black NWA world champion. He had it all! Don't know how to put this, though, that he had issues greater than foot fetishes (and honestly if everyone is consenting, nothing wrong with that). Two folks I know and trust profess to have smoked something that is smoked primarily from a pipe around the time he was intended to get the IC title in 1984. Both said he was the nicest man in the world, never missed a workout, ate clean as could be, but his other habits derailed him. He probably could have been the first black NWA Champion and allegedly would have been IC champ had he not had those alleged addictions. I could totally be remembering wrong, but I could swear Tony's talked about the pressure getting to him in the position he was in. Putting even more pressure on him might have broke him worse than he already dealt with.
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Post by Big BosskMan on Dec 26, 2020 19:22:12 GMT -5
There isn't much reason Brad Armstrong couldn't have been given at least a transitional run, Ronnie Garvin style, in the NWA. Man was smooth as butter, had a decent look, and had plenty of bsbyface fire. Many have said the same but added that Brad, while known to be very charismatic and funny in the locker room, couldn't talk a lick once the red light went on. Just not a compelling promo.
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Post by ianriccaboni on Dec 26, 2020 22:33:21 GMT -5
Thought of another one: Billy Jack Haynes. More than one person has said he was part of the original "if Hogan only stays around for a year or two" plan but it was Haynes who only stayed for one taping before helping his father who had fallen ill in 1984 before returning later in 1986.
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bob
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Post by bob on Dec 27, 2020 2:26:43 GMT -5
Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper, Mr. Perfect, Big Bossman, Million Dollar Man, Terry Taylor
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Futureraven: Beelzebruv
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Post by Futureraven: Beelzebruv on Dec 27, 2020 9:28:36 GMT -5
Owen Hart
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Post by dynamitekidd on Dec 27, 2020 14:51:04 GMT -5
Late 80s/early 90s WCW....Dr. Death, Shane Douglas, Hot Stuff.
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Post by Laces on Dec 27, 2020 22:07:31 GMT -5
Marty Jannetty....
Oh wait...you mean a metaphorical rocket. I'll show myself out.
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Post by Mozenrath on Dec 27, 2020 22:08:43 GMT -5
Marty Jannetty.... Oh wait...you mean a metaphorical rocket. I'll show myself out. I'd have said Max Moon, but this isn't '90s.
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Post by Manute Bol on Dec 27, 2020 22:35:33 GMT -5
Bam Bam Bigelow turns on Hogan after Survivor Series 1987, wins the belt on an episode of Saturday Night Main's Event, and Hogan chasing Bam Bam headlines WM 4.
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Post by Jaws the Shark on Dec 27, 2020 22:47:39 GMT -5
He had it all! Don't know how to put this, though, that he had issues greater than foot fetishes (and honestly if everyone is consenting, nothing wrong with that). Two folks I know and trust profess to have smoked something that is smoked primarily from a pipe with him around the time he was intended to get the IC title in 1984. Both said he was the nicest man in the world, never missed a workout, ate clean as could be, but his other habits derailed him. He probably could have been the first black NWA Champion and allegedly would have been IC champ had he not had those alleged addictions. I believe it. Cary Silkin claimed a few months back that they’d “smoked cocaine” together in New York in the eighties, and Atlas was into powder cocaine (like almost everyone else in the business at the time.) This is pretty much why a lot of these wrestlers didn’t get pushed. Atlas, Adonis, JYD, Snuka, Rose and Armstrong were all absolutely raging cocaine addicts. Adonis was also renowned for being a complete prick and a bully too. Most of them probably couldn’t be trusted.
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Post by koreycaskets on Dec 27, 2020 23:15:59 GMT -5
Ted Arcidi
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Post by Aceorton on Dec 27, 2020 23:56:32 GMT -5
The Rougeaus in '88 when they turned heel. They should have become the Honky Tonk Man of the tag division and been the first ones to cheat the belts off Demolition.
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Post by DerktheDerk on Dec 28, 2020 0:28:56 GMT -5
Arn Anderson would've been world champion if I had the booking power. Same for Mr. Perfect.
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