WWF/E Tidbits from the past

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

The WWF took a big risk in booking WrestleMania IX in an outdoor arena. What backup plan did they have in place in case it pissed rain? I watched the DVD last night and I didn't see any tarps or anything just in case in rained. What would they have done if it rained?

 

Another thing, Taker's WrestleMania streak has been pretty impressive. Was the streak ever in trouble? At what point did the WWF realize, "hey this guy is unbeaten at WrestleMania, let's keep this going?"

 

 

WM IX was in Las Vegas. I'm sure it rains in Las Vegas but its probably rare. Wasn't WM XIX outdoors too? I know Safeco field has retractable roof and I thought it was open.

 

Let see the Undertaker beat...

 

Snuka

Roberts

Giant Gonzales

King Kong Bundy

Diesel

Sid - I know during this match, the commentators brought up Undertaker's unbeaten streak at WM.

Kane

Bossman

HHH

Flair

Show/A Train - I thought the streak was in troble here. Maybe someone else can elaborate because it was supposed to be Taker/Jones vs Show/A Train. I supposed Nathan Jones could have been pinned and Taker's streak could have ended.

Kane II

Orton

 

So, Taker has wrestled a few old guys, an awful wrestler, a fat guy, a lazy guy, the master of the powerbomb, his brother, a guy the Undertaker killed, the real boss man, a living legend, a guy with a WM losing streak, the fake Kane, and a future main eventer.

[Chui 0]

Why did Sid end up getting the big push in late 1996 instead of Vader?

[bob_barron 0]

I remember they started mentioning Taker's streak around WM 12 or 13 I believe.

[Guest Fook]

I heard the orginal plan for HHH/Taker at WM17 for HHH to win due to Shawn Michaels, but Michaels showed up in "no condition to perform" on the Raw where he was supposed to be reintroduced, so they scrapped those plans, sent HBK home, and changed the match to Taker winning.

[Aero 0]

Why did Sid end up getting the big push in late 1996 instead of Vader?

 

I think it had something to do with HBK not wanting to drop the title to Vader at Survivor Series, so they switched him with Sid. Vader was supposed to get the title at Series, and that's why the Dec. 96 IYH was nicknamed It's Time.

[JHawk 0]

Why did Sid end up getting the big push in late 1996 instead of Vader?

 

I think it had something to do with HBK not wanting to drop the title to Vader at Survivor Series, so they switched him with Sid. Vader was supposed to get the title at Series, and that's why the Dec. 96 IYH was nicknamed It's Time.

 

Vader injured his foot/ankle around the time of Buried Alive, so I think there were concerns he wouldn't be able to compete at Survivor Series.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Re: Shawn-Hunter-Undertaker at WM X-7

 

The original plan was Hunter losing due to Shawn interfering but that was changed when Shawn showed up at the taping to start the angle in 'no condition to perform'.

 

Re: Vader getting bumped in favor of Sid

 

That was done at the request/demand of Shawn.

[Chui 0]

Any particular reason Shawn didn't like Vader?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

There was a messed up spot in their Summerslam match, which saw Shawn throw a mid-ring fit. I'm guessing Shawn was still angry over that. Shawn was incredibly immature that year.

[strummer 0]

In regards to Shawn/HHH from WM-17 didn't that cause them to not speak to each other for almost a year? I believe Hunter was upset because he had to a clean job without the Shawn run in. When Shawn came back in the Spring of 2002 I believe they made nice-nice

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I think Shawn has said that he and Hunter didn't talk for a long time after that, but Shawn didn't blame Hunter. And I think if anything Hunter was happier about doing the job clean, because it made him look like more of a good solider.

[JMFabiano524 0]

I remember this one from one of the Apter (or otherwise) mags: Charles Wright was originally going to be a character named "Sir Charles" instead of Papa Shango. Anyone have any insight about this, and what that gimmick was supposed to be?

[Placebo Effect 0]

In Rick Steiner's shoot he mentioned that John "Berzerker" Nord watched the door while Nailz choked out McMahon.

 

And now we have a good reason why that character got dropped.

[Jericholic82 0]

1) In the old WWF mags, they had this ridiculous set-up for the Savage-Flair match at VIII, with Flair doctoring photos of Savage and Elizabeth. Was that even mentioned on tv? The pictures were done really well for 1992. They could have been from two seperate photoshoots, I guess, but don't squash my dreams.

 

- I'm pretty sure it was two separate shoots. They made a huge deal about the photo doctoring on WWF TV, and even said Randy Savage was trying to buy up all the copies of the magazine, etc. Personally, I think it was a really well done angle (heck, anytime Flair and Savage has feuded, it's been good).

 

You should check this out:

 

http://www.youtube.com/w/Ric-Flair---She-w...rch=ric%20flair

 

 

I ha dthe mags back then, they were proved to be fake, cuz the pic of flair and liz in a house which was supposed to be "before savage and liz was together" showed a coliseum videotape on the mantle, which came out in mid 91 when svage and liz were back together. they even showed "the real picture of savage and liz"

 

Thanks for this. I remember it now. I have that magazine and the next issue where Savage "proves" that they had been doctored, by like, showing his WWF belt on the mantle in the background or something. Good stuff.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

In Rick Steiner's shoot he mentioned that John "Berzerker" Nord watched the door while Nailz choked out McMahon.

 

And now we have a good reason why that character got dropped.

 

Nailz and Nord were in the AWA together, so I can buy that kinship

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

According to people actually there, nobody 'watched the door'.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Were the Steiners even around at the time?

[Si82 0]

Halloween with Roddy Piper (1985)

 

Funny stuff.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I heard Shawn didn't like Vader because he was too stiff in the ring.

[Guest drdrainoscott]

I remember this one from one of the Apter (or otherwise) mags: Charles Wright was originally going to be a character named "Sir Charles" instead of Papa Shango. Anyone have any insight about this, and what that gimmick was supposed to be?

 

I think that was his Indy gimmick or something. At the very least, that is the character he used in dark matches prior to debuting.

[claydude14 0]

What was the plan for Wrestlemania XX if Angle couldn't make it? I know they almost had him drop the title to Brock on Smackdown! a few weeks before, until Angle decided he'd wrestle and so they did a bait and switch with Eric Angle. I remember hearing rumors of Cena/Brock at the time, anyone have any idea?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I can't remember exactly, but I think there were rumors of doing Benoit/Brock. I can't remember exactly how it was to play out, but I think Benoit would turn heel and win the belt on Smackdown and drop it to Brock at Mania.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

That's exactly what the plan was. I was SO pissed at the idea of Benoit being made into a one-week champion.

[The Tino Standard 0]

For clarity's sake, all that was supposedly going down around WM XIX, not XX.

[claydude14 0]

Yea my bad. Good thing didn't ruin Benoit's first title reign, but it woulda been a sick match.

[Hawk 34 0]

It should have been done the other way around, Angle gets cocky and decides to put the title on the line 2-3 weeks before Mania (as they did with the Eric Angle switch) and then Brock would snap and take Angle out and injure him and win the title, with help from reuniting with Paul Heyman.

 

Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle's biggest rival charges the ring and brawls with Lesnar.

 

Simple set up, the monster heel with no remorse against the seasoned veteran avenging the injury of his biggest rival. (That could be the plot of a movie! Nah, too far-fetched).

 

Benoit wins a classic and takes a 1-2 month reign and drops it to Lesnar and by that time Angle comes back and to start things off, they do Angle/Benoit Vs Lesnar/TBS (united via Heyman), setting up the big match with Angle and Lesnar at Summerslam. They do a rubber-match blowoff the next month, with Angle getting the final match.

 

From there you could go with Benoit/Angle based off Benoit stepping up for Angle after the injury.

 

In my little fantasy world, Angle would have taken the normal surgery and taken a year off instead, returning to face Lesnar (after winning the title back from Benoit) in his return match at WrestleMania XX.

[JoeDirt 0]

Why was the MSG Incident such a big deal to Vince in 1996? It's not like anything that ever happened at a house show was paid attention to in the past. Was it because it was at MSG and he was embarrassed they broke kayfabe there?

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

I was greatly amused to read in an old PWI from March 88 that Sam Houston and Danny Davis got to take their opening bout fued to new heights by meeting in a cage match main event. Houston had Savage and Strike Force as partners while Davis had the harts and Honky.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Guys, I just read that Hardcore Holly was given a WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble in 2004. I e-mailed the guy and told him he was full of crap and there was no way in hell that happened.

[JHawk 0]

Oh, it happened, my friend.

 

Lesnar had injured Holly on SmackDown in 2002, so Holly needed the one year neck surgery layoff. When he returned, Brock was still champion, so Holly got the shot by proxy.

 

It pissed a lot of the smarks off, but the storyline made perfect sense kayfabe-wise.