Brian Pillman

[Guest Choken One]

Brian Pillman is the person who really kickstarted the attitude edge that Wrestling adopted in the late 90's back in WCW in 1995 as a Member of the 4 horsemen whose character of being a LOOSE CANNON...wasn't a character and is likely the only worker to ever get himself fired on purpose without trying to do it.

 

He managed to get Bobby Heenan to go "get the fuck off me" on live national tv and had that infamous "I respect you booker man" shoot at Sullivan and then after playing mind games with turner and the gang, he got himself released and did stuff with ECW...even further establishing his loose cannon status and then as a hot free agent, he signed with WWF but only to get in a vicious car accident at that time...So his big return was delayed but they still introduced him via a "press conference" where he berated everyone and established he was a unpredictable force of nature and appeared at the KOTR 1996 ppv and cut a promo where he claimed he would rape, purge and pillage the entire wwf roster.

 

In his Hometown of Cincinnati (and I was there), Steve Austin attacked his once former buddy and created a new term in wrestling terminlogy by "Pillmanizing" him, when he draped a chair over Pillman's injured Ankle and stomped on it...instead of becoming the sympathetic babyface...Pillman turned his obnonxiousness even further.

 

Then He had his infamous gun angle with Austin...and became a part of Bret's Hart Foundation stable...mainly by asscociation and finally had been cleared to wrestle full time that summer and went into that hilarious yet unusual angle with Terri Runnels and Goldust with the XXX Files.

 

Sadly, He died the night before Bad Blood 1997 ppv.

 

Anyone know what they had in mind for Pillman, had he survived?

 

I'd like to imagine that he would have had a mid-card I.C Title feud with Owen and then likely done a main event angle with Austin and likely would have burned out by Late 1998 and become a bitter jaded vet like Jake Roberts or killed himself in some way...

 

Pillman is one of the all time greats who seemingly always get forgotten and yet if it weren't for him, who knows if STONE COLD mania ever would have happened.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Pillman would be WWF Champion by 1999! (Wishful thinking)

 

You wouldn't be far off. Pillman would have been the IC champion and European champion as well as Tag Team Champion (with either Owen or Bulldog) at one point or other.

[cawthon777 0]

I think to have given Pillman a belt at that point would have been charity. He was a shell of his former self, had his ankle fused in place, and was reduced to a brawling offense.

 

He was a great voice piece at that point in time so perhaps a color guy on Raw would have worked out - especially in 1998 with the full blown explosion of the Attitude era. He easily could have gotten over as a more vicious and egomaniacal Johnny Polo in terms of working commentary.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I think Brian Pillman was lucky to be employed by the end of his life. Like mentioned, he could barely do anything in the ring without risking injury, and his health was a factor all the time.

 

I thought he was great back in WCW (1990-1995) but I didn't know of his previous health problems, but even as a mark in 96-97 didn't see anything for him to do.

[Gert T 0]

I always wished he had stayed in WCW because I thought a Pillman-Benoit tag team would have been sweet. But then again, since the nWo was coming in, it probably wouldn't have mattered.

[Guest Choken One]

I would have loved to see what type of shoot Pillman would have done during the NWO days.

 

If he really wanted to...He could piss(literally) right on NWO and not give a shit.

[Steviekick 0]

It would have been insane to see all of Pillman's shoot comments during the NWO era. I bet they would have severely cut out his mic time.

[Guest Choken One]

I bet they would have reduced him to the TV title zone...where the NWO never invaded into..for whatever reason because while the WCW was in shambles with NWO taking the world, us, tag and CW title...

 

Regal and that Prince Rocky Lookalike had that never ending thing for like 2 years and the NWO never bothered with that belt until like 4 years into it when Hall won it and threw it in the trash.

[Steviekick 0]

Now that I remember that, it didn't make any sense for the NWO to completely avoid the TV title. You'd think that to make WCW totally look like they were ˆ trouble that they would have every title.

 

Stupid WCW logic.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Actually, nWo Savage (w/ 6 or 7 members w/ him) challenged Iaukea for the TV Title on Nitro but it ended in a shmozz, probably w/ DDP running in . . . I don't remember.

[Guest Astro]

Randy Savage fought Prince I. for the belt the night after the NWO won the right to challenge for any title, any time

[Steviekick 0]

But still, they never really got the belt.

[Guest Choken One]

something about Savage going after the title just makes me go "wtf?".

 

I figured that would been more up in the Syxx or Konnan Area...not The former 4 time world champion.

[Steviekick 0]

Definitely. At that time, there were so many scrubs in the NWO camp that didn't have anything to do.

[Guest Trivia247]

Too many sick comedies of errors happened during and just before his joining the WWF. Had he had not died as he did, His phyiscal condition in the ring probably would have forced him out of wrestling full time anyway and made him more of a Manager aka a Johnny Polo style in the terms of Raven.

[landy1987 0]

wasn't Pillman commentating on Shotgun Saturday Night for most of 97? And when was this thing with Bobby Heenan? Was it at one of the Clash of Champions?

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

First Clash of 96 was the Heenan thing, I have it on tape uncut. It's really cool and Pillman was way ahead of his time with his smark/mark loose cannon stuff. Even in his book Austin writes how no one, not the wrestlers or front office, knew what was real and what wasn't.

[Australian Pride 0]

something about Savage going after the title just makes me go "wtf?".

 

I figured that would been more up in the Syxx or Konnan Area...not The former 4 time world champion.

Didnt Bret Hart also go after the TV title while he was a member of the NWO? Booker T was the champ at the time, i believe.

[Precious Roy 0]

Pillman would have been a huge asset during the attitude days. Even without wrestling he was must see TV, they'd have found some outrageous stuff for him to do. I can definitely see him being a part of the Austin-McMahon feud in a major way, probably on both sides at various points in time (like Taker, Rock and Mankind).

[Zack Malibu 0]

Given the fact that they were doing more of the "main event brawl" style due to the Attitude era coming to fruition, as well as helping protect certain weaknesses (Austin's neck), I think that Pillman could have easily maintained a top tier position in the Attitude era. I'd be willing to be that had he been alive, Austin/Pillman would have been the big feud right out of the gate once Austin won at WM14. Then you could have done a whole deal with McMahon backing Pillman, but Pillman not selling out to "the man", or pretending to do so and then still doing things "his way". Then the way UT and Kane could be brought in could be just like they were originally, only to be more of a "troubleshooting" duo for McMahon to also make sure Pillman didn't get out of line. Then Brian could go tweener/face and team with Austin to take on UT and Kane for a month or two. Would've ruled, that's for sure.

[The C Man 0]

I think I'm right in saying that Terri was scheduled to turn on The Little Clubberer and side with Pillman. God knows where that would've led.

[Guest Astro]

GoldDust and Terri were to reknew their wedding vows on RAW the night after the PPV on RAW.