What If....

[FigureFourTapes 0]

Just thought I'd get the ball rolling with this one.....

 

What if Pillman had lived? What do you guys think would have happened with him in future years? Where would he be now?

[Guest Bobby Cox is God]

brian pillmas career was a bigger joke then that of Kerry von erichs. He had some skills, but his mind was gone. Personally I'm glad they found him naked and drugged up. The world is a better place without these kinds of people.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

You are without question a idiot.

 

Brian Pillman was a fantastic worker in his prime of 1990-1995, until he was scrambled with various injuries that did admitedly hurt his work in the ring. However he had the strong attribute of a fantastic ability to work a crowd, literally at times. One of the premeire promo guys in the business during his Loose Cannon era. In all likihood, had he stayed healthy; he would have worked the mid-card scene which was rather viable in 1997/1998. He was ruined by drugs that were prescribed to him for his injuries sustained in the car accident that should have killed him then; if he would have been able to hold off the addiction to the painkillers; there's not a doubt that he would have remained there for another couple years, thriving under the attitude banner of WWE.

 

Basically some would argue Pillman was a precursor to Austin's "Fuck You" rebel attitude. If he didn't survive as a worker which some believe his days as a worker was numbered anyways; he likely would have thrived in a Mangerial or another on screen role.

[Guest Bobby Cox is God]

Curt Henning was better in the ring and on the mic then Pillman. And we all know my opinions on Henning

[Guest LooneyTune]

This wasn't a freak accident... the guy suffered diseases his entire life, and was on heavy medication for most of it too. There is no way in hell he would've lived past the year 2000.

 

I never heard of this Henning guy, but that youngster from the 80's named Curt Hennig was pretty good.

[Guest Bobby Cox is God]

This wasn't a freak accident... the guy suffered diseases his entire life, and was on heavy medication for most of it too. There is no way in hell he would've lived past the year 2000.

And really we can only be grateful for that

[Guest Fook_Theta]

Flying Brian Pillman was the best thing on WCW mid-card.

 

I think he would have seriously hurt Austin's buildup. Perhaps would have absolutely killed Austin's career.

[Precious Roy 0]

I think he would have seriously hurt Austin's buildup. Perhaps would have absolutely killed Austin's career.

explain.

 

IMO, If anything, Pillman was the perfect compliment to Austin. Imagine him going corporate and siding with McMahon in the early days of that feud? Pillman was a heat machine, and an excellent actor. He wouldn't have even needed to work the way he'd been capable of in his prime, as the majority of Austin's matches at that point were gimmicky brawls anyway.

[spman 0]

They were pretty intent on burying Pillman during that Goldust feud, so I don't imagine he would have lasted much longer then 1998 or so, at least in the WWF.

[Guest Loss]

Austin probably would have wanted to do a program with him after he made it big. Had he been alive, though, Bret would have never punched Vince, because Brian would have beaten him to it, so maybe not. If he would have ended up back in WCW, he wouldn't have been any better off, especially with guys like Scott Hall and Louie Spicolli in the locker room.

[Precious Roy 0]

They were pretty intent on burying Pillman during that Goldust feud, so I don't imagine he would have lasted much longer then 1998 or so, at least in the WWF.

I'm pretty sure that wearing the dress was Pillman's idea. IIRC Pillman was meant to go over in the feud, with Terri Runnels turning on Dustin to become his valet.

 

I actually thought he was a pretty strong heel during that period, he was getting great heat.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Member Suspension: Result

 

Bobby Cox is God is suspended until... Dec 24 2020, 09:17 AM

[Youth N Asia 0]

He'd have stuck in the midcard till he screwed up bad enough to get fired. Maybe a tag title or IC run, but nothing more.

[geniusMoment 0]

What about this scenerio: Pillman never rolled his jeep, fucking up his ankle, and was the same worker he was in his younger days. Lets say he had a healthy heart as well. Would he have been a main eventer in the WWF?

[Guest LooneyTune]

I'm sorry, but that would be playing God, and only thing that would come out of it is an argument (or as Koko B. Ware would say, ar-goo-ment). The former about the accident that destroyed his ankle might've been prevented, but the latter... I wouldn't even touch that with a 39 1/2 foot pole.

[natey2k4 0]

is Louie Spicolli.. Hugh Morrus/Bill DeMott or am I completely off?

[Guest Trivia247]

Pillman may have followed Hart right back into WCW after the screwjob, if I got my timing right. even if they didn't like him, at the time the WCW was already starting to Deteriorate.

[CBright7831 0]

I always thought Brian Pillman would have been a great IC champ.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

is Louie Spicolli.. Hugh Morrus/Bill DeMott or am I completely off?

Louie died in early 98

 

Crash the Terminator = Bill Demott

 

Rad Radford = Louie

[Guest Mos_Def]

Austin probably would have wanted to do a program with him after he made it big. Had he been alive, though, Bret would have never punched Vince, because Brian would have beaten him to it, so maybe not.

 

I don’t know about that one. Pillman was sitting on a pretty big guaranteed contract. I doubt he would have been too anxious to get out of it on account of the Bret Hart/Vince fiasco. Remember, Pillman was crazy like a fox. As you referenced, one of his better friends in Austin was set for a huge push, so he probably would have saw the shifting WWF political landscape to his liking as opposed to WCW. But all that is just adding speculation on top of speculation.

 

Me personally, I feel as though the ‘loose cannon’ gimmick was tailor made for the WWF attitude era. Pillman would have had a field day in the WWF during the 98-99 years. I could have seen him flourishing in any number of the big angles at the time, in spite of his health issues.

[Jericholic82 0]

I would think that he would have had Foleys role as the first challenger to austin, or maybe he would have been the summerslam opponent for austin (more likely) Its too bad what happened to him. his death affected me alot because that was the first time since I had been watching wrestling, that a wrestler died while in the midst of being in the major companies. add that to the fact that I was a Pillman mark from the early 90s. Thats why I did my 11th grade English research paper on him as I mentioned in this forum a while back. there too I speculated what might have been, but hey we cant play god so theres no use in it.

 

Like anything else in life they are plenty of what if things about wrestling

[Guest LooneyTune]

Thats why I did my 11th grade English research paper on him as I mentioned in this forum a while back.

I hope you got an "F" for writing an english paper on a wrestler instead of someone who was important to whatever the topic was.

[Jericholic82 0]

Thats why I did my 11th grade English research paper on him as I mentioned in this forum a while back.

I hope you got an "F" for writing an english paper on a wrestler instead of someone who was important to whatever the topic was.

Nope infact I got an A. The report was not really that important, it was just to prepare us for college where you do huge research papers, and since it was english the only thing that mattered was to have good grammar and througouly cite the sources of media you used.

 

I wasnt going to do it on Pillman, but the teach said the only requirement was that the person was somehow famous and was dead for at least 2 years (no lying here either)

 

 

 

now that I think of it, it sounds lame, but Im proud that I got my teacher to somehow respect wrestling (My point was that Pillman was a great entertainer who showed a lot of courage throughout his life fighting throat cancer and various injuries as well as addictions-thus his courage and contributions to wrestling were admirable--infact my thesis word for word was was "During his life, Brian Pillman made tremendous contributions to the wrestling business and his courage was very admirable"

 

 

you think this sounds bad a month later I did an owen hart profile(owen actually died in the middle of me writing the pillman paper and I added a tribute to him there as well) in late 99 for my 11th grade spanish class (other kids came up with worse subjects tahn that so dont hate on me)the only point of it was to show I could write well in spanish.

 

In fact I wrote many things about wrestling in my school years

 

 

In my career explorations class, my partner and I did a presentation on opening a business, the business we chose? you guessed it: a wrestling company. we did an event poster and everything

 

In my high school senior essay, I picked watching the 1990 survivor series (which made me a fan) as a life changing moment

 

 

In college, I did a book report on Mick Foleys first book. Then in my creative writing class, I did a short piece of fanstasy booking the end of the hhh/angle/steph storyline (in my story angle won the feud and steph) . then for my last work in the class I did a TV sitcom Pilot for a show that featured Scott Kieth having Vince Russo be his new roomate (since he had just written a column bashing russo)dont believe me? Ill post that someday

 

Then when I was on the school newspaper staff in the spring of 2001 I did my first piece, a review of the wwf vol 5 cd for our entertainment section (which proudly hangs on my wall as we speak

 

 

sorry to go offtopic there but my point is, I have never been afraid to tell the world that I love pro wrestling and the fact that I managed to get good grades for doing schoolwork based off it makes it extra sweet.

[Jericholic82 0]

heres an excerpt from my Pillma report to further my point (note I wrote his carrer highlights in mostly kayfabed sentences, figuring it would be harder to research all the backstage stuff and I doubt my teacher would care)

 

 

 

 

"During his life, Brian Pillman made tremendous contributions to the wrestling business and his courage was very admirable. Brian Pillman, the wrestler of WCW

and WWF fame, was a man whose courage was simply amazing. We only knew the man on television, but Brian was much more than that. He had a rugged journey

through life. For Brian, life was one big challenge.

 

Brian Pillman was born on May 22, 1963 in Norwood, Ohio. Unfortunately, his

early years were much harder than the average boy's. Soon after his birth, doctors

discovered that Brian had throat cancer. He would need immediate surgery. Brian subsequently had to undergo the pain of 36 surgeries to rid himself of the cancer. It

would cause him a scar on his neck and a raspy voice for the rest of his life due to an artificial larynx. Brian was brave at that young age. He overcame this threat to his life

so early. But it was just the first of many challenges.

 

Brian would have a tough time growing up. His frustration built up due to it. He

found a way to vent his anger-sports. Despite his small size, Brian courageously chose to play football. He did great playing at Norwood High and would receive a football scholarship to the University of Miami (Ohio). Brian excelled in college,

becoming a two time All-American. Strangely, Brian was the only All-American not to be picked in the 1984 NFL draft. But this didn't deter Brian. Later that year, Brian

walked on with the Cincinnati Bengals and made the team. He proved that you didn't have to be the biggest guy to play in the NFL. Brian received a high honor for his efforts-The Ed Block Courage Award. Brian played for the Bengals for a year, and the

Buffalo Bills for another year. Soon after, Brian traveled to Canada to play for the Canadian Football League's (CFL) Calgary Stampeders. Soon, Brian would suffer a

career ending injury to his ankle.

 

Despite the setback, Brian turned the negative into a positive. While in Calgary,

he had become a close friend of the famous Hart family. They persuaded him to become a pro wrestler and Brian agreed to try. He was trained by Stu Hart in the

infamous "dungeon". Brian also trained with Stu's sons Bret , Owen, and Bruce.

 

Brian made his pro debut in 1987 for Stu's Calgary Stampede wrestling organization. Brian

soon teamed up with Bruce Hart to win his first title-The Calgary Stampede International Tag Team titles on April 6, 1987. They would hold the belts two times.

After gaining experience in Calgary and other places, Brian made his way to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Here was Brian, again competing in a sport made for the big guys. But his size didn't matter. This showed his heart and determination.

 

Brian loved being a part of a big company and getting exposure on national television and showcasing his talents for millions. He had an up and down career. He once left

and came back under a mask as the "Yellow Dog". He made his pay-per-view debut on July 23, 1989 at the Great American Bash. He lasted all the way to the end of the battle royal. Brian moved his status up on the contender's list. Brian got a shot at U.S.

heavyweight champion Lex Luger at Halloween Havoc 1989. This would be one of

his greatest matches and probably his breakthrough performance. He put up a great

fight against the powerful and seemingly unbeatable Luger. Brian lost the match, but was a winner in his defeat. Fans were noticing him for something else besides his

Bengal trunks. Brian had a big fan base and entertained them well with his aerial wrestling skills, which would earn him the nickname "Flyin' Brian". Brian had many

great matches against people such as the legendary Ric Flair.

 

Brian won his first NWA title- the U.S. Tag Team Titles with partner "The Z Man"

Tom Zenk on February 12, 1990. They were an impressive duo. They lost the belts on May 19, 19~and Brian again focused on singles action. In January 1991, the NWA became WCW (World Championship Wrestling). Brian showed his great courage at

Wrestle War 1991 when he stood up against the monster Sid in the War Games match and wouldn't quit. Ultimately, he passed out and lost the match for his team but heagain was a winner in defeat. Brian became the first WCW Light-Heavyweight champion by winning a tournament, beating Ricky Morton in the finals at Halloween

Havoc 1991"