Feuds That Could Have Happened But Never Did

[Guest The Showcase]

Randy Orton versus Eddie Guerrero.

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

[Silence 0]

CM Punk/Eddie Guerrero

 

Though if WWE had misused Punk or put him on a different show after calling him up if Eddie were still alive, the feud probably still wouldn't happen.

[Wrestlefreak 0]

Tajiri vs Hakushi

[Scroby 0]

Jarrett VS Austin

 

To be fair that didn't happen because Austin didn't want to wrestle Jarrett for the title, even through Jarrett had been verbally threating Austin over and over again on tv. I think that was one of the reasons why he jumped to WCW. I think I'm not entirely sure, yeah and Christian and Cena was a boat completely missed. Through WWE competely fucked Christian over.

[BruiserKC 0]

Jericho vs. Goldberg in WCW...would have definitely put Jericho on the map had ol' Whisker Biscuit actually wanted to do it.

 

Shane Douglas vs. Ric Flair...I know they had a match in WCW but considering the real-life hostility between these two and their work on the mic a full-blown feud would have been gold.

 

Steiners vs. Hardliners (Dick Slater and Dick Murdoch)...the storyline had gone that Slater and Murdoch attacked the Steiners and injured Rick...by the time Rick returned to in-ring action Slater and Murdoch had left WCW...this was in '91 IIRC.

 

Billy Gunn vs. Bart Gunn...they made it seem that when the brothers split you would never have known it.

 

Triple H vs. Hulk Hogan...The heat "The Game" would have received when he's telling Hogan it's time to hang up the boots and retire.

[Wrestlefreak 0]

Triple H v Hogan happened at Backlash 2002

 

Hogan won?!!

 

Worst booking ever!!!

[gwf0704 0]

Rick Rude v Mr Perfect would have been awesome as both were excellent technical wrestlers, both were great at the mic, and both had the arrogance to think they were better than the others. Keep them as heels fighting for the number one slot for Hogans belt and those matches would have been classic.

 

Edge v Christian would have been great as both also would have been good heels who would have played up their past with each of them trying to give the other a conchairto.

[gWIL 0]

Steve Corino vs Taz.

 

Definatley would have happened if Taz didn't go to WWE.

 

kinda a did happen. At an ECW house show I went to Corino came out to wrestle Taz backed out and brought out Rhino (Right as rhino was new in the company) who Tazz choke out within a minute before laying out Corino.

[Hawk 34 0]

CM Punk/Eddie Guerrero

 

Though if WWE had misused Punk or put him on a different show after calling him up if Eddie were still alive, the feud probably still wouldn't happen.

 

They had good stuff on the Eddie road to recovery tour but man considering how much of a mark Punk was for Eddie and Eddie for Punk, these two would've gone all out and that's just promos alone in addition to the work.

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

Steiners vs. Hardliners (Dick Slater and Dick Murdoch)...the storyline had gone that Slater and Murdoch attacked the Steiners and injured Rick...by the time Rick returned to in-ring action Slater and Murdoch had left WCW...this was in '91 IIRC.

 

It was Scott that got injured not Rick.

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

Steiners vs. Hardliners (Dick Slater and Dick Murdoch)...the storyline had gone that Slater and Murdoch attacked the Steiners and injured Rick...by the time Rick returned to in-ring action Slater and Murdoch had left WCW...this was in '91 IIRC.

 

It was Scott that got injured not Rick.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Vader vs Steve Austin (WWF circa 1997). They had one match on RAW, which was ok, but I thought a full blown, violent, feud between the two would've been great. Problem was Austin was already going into a feud with Bret Hart and Vader's stock was slowly starting to plummet...

 

Owen Hart vs Steve Austin (WWF 1998). This is the feud that should've happened eventually after Austin beat HBK for the WWF Championship. If Austin could've swallowed his pride just a little, they could've billed it as Owen being the only guy to ever put Austin out of action, coming for the title. Understandable why Austin didn't want to work with Owen, though.

 

Steve Williams vs Bart Gunn (WWF 1998). Ok, this wouldn't have been a main event feud or anything, but I think the matches could've been interesting, after the whole Brawl for All thing.

 

Dan Severn vs Ken Shamrock (WWF 1997). Well, they were both around at the same time. WWF wanted it to happen, but I guess Severn balked, which ended up with him leaving.

 

Al Snow vs Mick Foley (WWF 1999). After Al Snow's heel turn, this should've been a great feud. Al had a cool heel character, cool new black tights (and some AWESOME theme music WWF never should've stopped using), built up with his jealousy of Foley, but the feud just kind of peetered out before it had a chance to happen.

 

Steiner Brothers vs Hart Brothers (WWF 1994-ish). OK, either Owen would've had to stay face for a while longer, or the Steiners probably would've had to go heel, but the matches could've been insanely good. All they would've had to do was have Bret and Owen beat the Quebecers for the tag belts, and delay Owen's heel turn for a little bit.

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

Steiner Brothers vs Hart Brothers (WWF 1994-ish). OK, either Owen would've had to stay face for a while longer, or the Steiners probably would've had to go heel, but the matches could've been insanely good. All they would've had to do was have Bret and Owen beat the Quebecers for the tag belts, and delay Owen's heel turn for a little bit.

 

The closest they ever came was a match on one of the coliseum home video and in the match Scott busted out the Steiner Screw Driver on Owen.

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

Steiner Brothers vs Hart Brothers (WWF 1994-ish). OK, either Owen would've had to stay face for a while longer, or the Steiners probably would've had to go heel, but the matches could've been insanely good. All they would've had to do was have Bret and Owen beat the Quebecers for the tag belts, and delay Owen's heel turn for a little bit.

 

The closest they ever came was a match on one of the coliseum home video and in the match Scott busted out the Steiner Screw Driver on Owen.

[DangerousDamon 0]

I don't know why, but a Punk/Danielson feud in RoH would have been awesome.

[Guest messiahtype]

Perfect/Bret for the World Title during Bret's second or third reign would have ruled, but Perfect wasn't wrestling at that point because of his back.

 

Savage/Bret never really feuded either.

 

If the Screwjob never happened there could have been a bunch of interesting ones for Bret: Foley, HHH, Benoit, Jericho, Angle, etc.

 

Same thing if Owen had never died.

 

As was mentioned, Owen/Shawn in '98 definitely should have happened. There was so much they could have done with that. In the storylines, Owen/Shawn, Shawn/Austin, and Owen/Austin all hated each other. If they book Owen vs. Shawn for the Rumble instead of the Casket Match, maybe Shawn never screws up his back and who knows what chain of events that would have set off. Even if they had Owen come up just a bit short at the Rumble, and still put Austin over Shawn at Wrestlemania, the fallout would have been tremendous. Instead of all the Undertaker/Kane garbage with the Title, they could have used Owen instead.

 

Imagine an Owen/Austin main event for Summerslam 1998. Owen, on a quest to regain the Title his brother never really lost, trying to do it against one of his biggest rivals, at MSG, where he had his first breakout win, not to mention at Summerslam, where he broke Austin's neck the year before. Of course, leading up to the event, Vince had already made it known that he didn't like Austin as champion, but he also doesn't want a Hart with the belt, considering Owen's motivation of doing it for Bret. So at Summerslam, Owen turns heel by aligning with Vince and becomes Vince's "corporate champion" (a la the Rock), as Vince screws Austin out of the Title. This makes Owen a mega-heel, as he aligns with the man that screwed his brother for his own benefit. Owen goes back into typical Owen mode, saying he was better than Bret all along and he really is the best there is, best there was and best there ever will be (this also fulfills his original goal from '94, winning KOTR, Tag Titles, IC Title, and World Title, just like Bret did). Of course, there's a lot of blurring between reality and storyline, but Bret would probably be okay with this since it would help Owen's career.

 

Of course, then the Rock never becomes "Corporate Champion" but that's okay because he obviously would have gotten over no matter what. And if they really really had to, they could always do another Survivor Series "screwjob", this time with Owen as the victim against the Rock. Of course that would have murdered his heat and made him no longer hated or popular, but they probably wouldn't have cared.

 

Either way, most importantly, Owen never gets turned into a comedy figure and never dies in the accident. Then we're only a few months away from the arrival of Jericho, Angle, Benoit, Guerrero, etc. and Owen, former Champion, feuds with them for a long time, really putting over the new guys in classic matches in the process.

 

But anyway, that was always my greatest "feud that never happened but could have and should have": Owen vs. Shawn, followed by Owen eventualyl w/ Vince vs. Austin.

 

this is one of the best hypotheticla ideas i have ever seen. major props..

[The Decemberists 0]

I'm sorry, but under no possible circumstance would anyone, ever, have picked to push Owen in the main event ahead of Rock. Ever. Owen, as good as he was, just did not have anything like the charisma and promo skills to be a legitimate top guy against anyone other than Bret.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah, I don't really see the Owen stuff either. Let's say Owen faces Shawn at the Rumble....what then? Owen would just have to job, Shawn doesn't beat anyone with the credibility of UT, and then Austin still wins the belt.

 

Shawn not getting hurt would have hurt more than it helped. I maintain that the WWF actually got popular again due to the stale 1993-97 guys either getting hurt or leaving (Bret, Shawn, and so on) and they had quite literally a new generation of stars.

 

Besides, Owen simply wasn't a credible world title contender in feuds other than against Bret (as stated above). And let's face it, if Owen still jobbed to Austin after breaking the guy's neck....how could he possibly stand a chance against a somewhat healthier Austin?

 

Also, the UT and Kane stuff vs. Austin drew huge heat and money in the Summer of 1998. Hell, Austin vs. UT for SS 98 is one of the best built matches I can recall.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

You guys are forgetting how insanely over Owen was when he was feuding with DX. He had main event level heat. When he reappeared on that RAW after Survivor Series '97, jumping Shawn in the ring, the place exploded.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

You guys are forgetting how insanely over Owen was when he was feuding with DX. He had main event level heat. When he reappeared on that RAW after Survivor Series '97, jumping Shawn in the ring, the place exploded.

 

But there was no way that Owen was going to be able to sustain that heat. He was okay for a holdover feud, but Owen just wasn't main event level material. Things turned out fine the way they were.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

You guys are forgetting how insanely over Owen was when he was feuding with DX. He had main event level heat. When he reappeared on that RAW after Survivor Series '97, jumping Shawn in the ring, the place exploded.

 

This was actually at D-Generation-X: IYH.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Hulk Hogan Vs. Rick Rude

 

Hulk Hogan Vs. Mr. Perfect

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Edge v Christian would have been great as both also would have been good heels who would have played up their past with each of them trying to give the other a conchairto.

 

They teased the break up all throughout the summer of 2001, and then had two back to back pay-per-view matches for the IC title at Unforgiven and No Mercy.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Austin/Benoit

That one kinda did happen and Benoit broke his neck as a result of it.

 

Jake Roberts/Raven might have been pretty fun if it ever happened.

 

Benoit had a hurt neck around that time but it was in the TLCIII match where he really screwed it up. Watch Benoit chop before and after that match. Sometimes he wasn't even chopping with his right arm. There was a big difference in speed thanks to the neck injury.

 

 

As for feuds that could have happened but never did I will go with an obvious one and say Chris Benoit vs Rey Msyterio Jr. About ten years now in the same organisations and they have only had one singles match on TV.

[humanoid92 0]

Yeah, I don't really see the Owen stuff either. Let's say Owen faces Shawn at the Rumble....what then? Owen would just have to job, Shawn doesn't beat anyone with the credibility of UT, and then Austin still wins the belt.

 

Shawn not getting hurt would have hurt more than it helped. I maintain that the WWF actually got popular again due to the stale 1993-97 guys either getting hurt or leaving (Bret, Shawn, and so on) and they had quite literally a new generation of stars.

 

Besides, Owen simply wasn't a credible world title contender in feuds other than against Bret (as stated above). And let's face it, if Owen still jobbed to Austin after breaking the guy's neck....how could he possibly stand a chance against a somewhat healthier Austin?

 

Also, the UT and Kane stuff vs. Austin drew huge heat and money in the Summer of 1998. Hell, Austin vs. UT for SS 98 is one of the best built matches I can recall.

 

On the first point, the finish could have been more creative than Owen straight-up jobbing. You don't always have to win the match to be put over. Owen could have come up just short, gotten screwed over, won by DQ, lost because of DX interference, a Vince screwjob (maybe with a fishy time limit draw), an unrelated questionable submission decision, whatever. As for Shawn not beating anyone with the credibility of UT, Shawn was already plenty credible and had already beaten him. Besides that, it was a Casket Match. It's not like that match made Shawn or anything. He was well established. That match did not need to take place.

 

Point #2: I agree with you. Shawn getting hurt was a blessing in disguise and that the roster was so drastically different definitely helped in the rise of popularity. But Shawn's injury also wasn't something they planned. If he had been 100% healthy, they weren't about to kick him out.

 

#3: It's all in how they push someone and the perception they create. I mean, I still don't think John Cena is a credible main eventer, but apparently he is because that's how he's treated. And don't forget, this was a really unique situation. Since the story was tied to Bret, and Owen now had direct storyline and real-life ties to Austin, Shawn, and Vince, I don't buy that a pro like Owen could not have been considered a legitimate title contender.

 

As for the point about jobbing to Austin after the broken neck, that's a stretch. That Summerslam match was an abberation. Unique circumstances. It wasn't supposed to go down that way. By that logic, sure, how could he be taken seriously against anyone after that? He layed down for a guy with a broken neck in the most awkward, embarrassing looking rollup in wrestling history. If I was going to consider that every time he came on TV after that, I wouldn't buy him beating Reno Riggins. But this is wrestling and that was a goof and we're not supposed to remember that. So I don't buy that reasoning at all.

 

#4: Well, I'm not saying it "should" have happened but something along those lines certainly "could" have happened. Obviously things turned out fine for the company- they did make a boatload of cash during that time period. I won't argue that. But I question the assertion that Kane and Undertaker really had that much of an impact. Austin would have drawn against anybody in the ring at that point. The real sell was Austin vs. Vince.

 

In my scenario, Vince is conflicted because he doesn't want the belt on either guy for different reasons, and Owen eventually aligns with Vince which would have made him exactly the type of heel he was perfect at playing. The only difference between a program with Vince and Owen against Austin and one with Taker/Kane against Austin is that the former would have actually provided some great matches and already had a killer backstory.

 

I'm not saying Owen should have had a 2 year run on top or anything. But in the short-term after Montreal, it always bothered me how he was handled. Not even just because I'm an Owen fan, just because it came across so sloppily on TV. Here they've got this huge built-in program handed to them on a silver platter and they never did a damn thing with it... all of a sudden Owen is just inexplicably booted down the card to put over Shawn's lackey (HHH). It made no sense from a storyline perspective.

 

I will say this: if the WWE operated then like it was today, with what I call a "show-within-a-show" mentality then there's no way they wouldn't have run with the Owen thing. Look at the Matt Hardy/Edge situation. They felt like they had to bring Matt back just so they could run a worked-shoot storyline. Look at the fact that they're bringing back ECW. Look at all the random past stars that appear on TV (Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Kamala, Doink, anyone?). Look at all the re-hashes of the screwjob in the past couple of years. Look at the Ultimate Warrior DVD. Look at the Gimmick Battle Royale. Look at the Hulk Hogan comebacks. Look at the HHH/Cena storyline where supposed "backstage politics" made it on to TV. Look at the Shawn/Vince feud. Look at the Hall of Fame ceremony. Look at the Foley/Edge feud about "Wrestlemania moments" and "transitional champions." This company is obsessed with history, and nostalgia, and status, and behind-the-scenes dirt. The WWE is no longer a show. It's a show about a show. And if that mindset had been in place in 1998, we would have seen Owen doing something major, whether it was feuding with Vince or Shawn or Austin. He wouldn't have been farting around with X-Pac and Shamrock, that's for sure.

 

Like I said, to me this type of scenario is just one of those things I've always thought "could" have easily happened. I know that realistically at the time, Vince didn't want to push Owen because of how the Bret stuff went down and he didn't want to let him out of his contract either. He was content to let him flounder. And I know that Austin never forgave Owen for the broken neck and wouldn't have wanted to work with him. And I know they didn't exactly miss the boat because the direction they went in was very successful. But I still think it could have happened, and I personally would have loved to see it a lot more than Austin vs. Taker and Kane.

[humanoid92 0]

I'm sorry, but under no possible circumstance would anyone, ever, have picked to push Owen in the main event ahead of Rock. Ever. Owen, as good as he was, just did not have anything like the charisma and promo skills to be a legitimate top guy against anyone other than Bret.

 

I never said they should have given him Rock's push or that he was the next big thing. The timeframe I'm talking about with Owen in main event matches was while Rock was still a midcarder. The Rock didn't become a main eventer until Survivor Series '98, which in my proposed storyline, was where Owen would have been phased out of main events. In fact, that would have been the perfect ending. Vince screws Owen over against the Rock at Survivor Series and Rock becomes the Corporate Champion instead of Owen. Would have been very appropriate since it was the first Survivor Series after Montreal and they went with a pseudo-screwjob ending anyway. Why not have Owen be the one getting screwed? Nothing about Rocky's history changes, other than his program with Foley may have had to come up in a slightly different way. No big deal.

 

And then Owen becomes the loner-type, "Black Hart" guy that he became in early '98 except this time it makes sense. When he did this in reality it was just awkward and confusing because he needed to get fired up and kick Shawn's ass or Vince's ass, but instead he was a putz and just did nothing, which really killed his character. But in my scenario it makes sense because he's now a year removed from the initial incident and he's tried everything he could have tried, gotten some measure of revenge, but now has nowhere to go. Austin is the ultimate good guy and he's not about to start an alliance with him after all their history. He had sold out his family to align with Vince, but now Vince screwed him over, so that's done. He's got nothing left, so he becomes a loner. Rock has the Title, Austin is still on top, Foley's doing his thing, etc. This is when you phase Owen back down the card and have him put over HHH or whatever.

 

By the way, just to recap, my only proposed "main-event" matches with Owen are as follows:

 

- Rumble 98 vs. HBK: Hot off the screwjob, in real life this slot went to Undertaker, the Rumble is the selling point of this show anyway

 

- Summerslam 98 vs. Austin: 1 year after the broken neck, trying to win the Title his brother never lost, against their biggest rival, at MSG where Owen broke out of the shadow and Bret first faced Austin... come on, that's a great story. In real life this slot went to Undertaker.

 

- Sept. and Oct. 98: These slots went to Undertaker and Kane. Throwaway IYH-type PPVs anyway.

 

- Survivor Series 98 vs. Rock: Owen passes the "Corporate Champion" torch to the Rock and is phased out of main events.

 

So, I'm suggesting that he take a few PPV main events away from the Undertaker, and utilize built-in storylines that fall right into place, all without disturbing the rise of the Rock or fucking up Austin. I really don't think it's all that nuts. It wouldn't have been completely insane; that's all I'm saying.

[cabbageboy 0]

Owen going against Austin at SS 98 would have been oh so lame. Why on earth would anyone think Owen had a shot against Austin? He jobbed to the guy after breaking his neck. Then once Austin got back he basically squashed Owen at S. Series 97. And Austin had actually gotten more popular and dominant in the year after those events.

 

In the end it is all a matter of money. Austin vs. UT is a much bigger money drawing match than Austin beating Owen's ass.

 

I think if Michaels was healthy they could have done a throwaway PPV match with him vs. Shawn. Maybe at like No Way Out 98. After that, just go to the Owen/HHH feud. After all, HHH needed someone fairly notable to feud with at that point.

[deancoles 0]

Hulk Hogan Vs. Rick Rude

 

Hulk Hogan Vs. Mr. Perfect

Hogan/Perfect did happen.

[humanoid92 0]

Owen going against Austin at SS 98 would have been oh so lame. Why on earth would anyone think Owen had a shot against Austin? He jobbed to the guy after breaking his neck. Then once Austin got back he basically squashed Owen at S. Series 97. And Austin had actually gotten more popular and dominant in the year after those events.

 

In the end it is all a matter of money. Austin vs. UT is a much bigger money drawing match than Austin beating Owen's ass.

 

I think if Michaels was healthy they could have done a throwaway PPV match with him vs. Shawn. Maybe at like No Way Out 98. After that, just go to the Owen/HHH feud. After all, HHH needed someone fairly notable to feud with at that point.

 

They would have thought he had a chance because in theory, the match would have built up properly, and a major part of the storyline and build up would have been "Whose side is Vince on?" (a la Flair at Summerslam '92). Not to mention the build up that Owen has beaten Austin before (Canadian Stampede), broken his neck, Austin was Bret's biggest rival and responsible for his downfall, and that Owen became a star in MSG, that he's trying to gain revenge for his brother after the screwjob, and there had been a sublte ongoing thing for years that he was trying to accomplish everything Bret did (KOTR, 2-time Tag Champ, 2-time IC Champ) and the WWF Title was the last piece of the puzzle. It's the culmination of the Bret/Owen, Harts/Austin, Harts/Vince, and Austin/Vince (well not the culmination, but a major part of it) stories all at once.

 

You're assuming that in the real world, if things had happened the way they had except they'd thrown Owen into the main event of Summerslam, it would have seemed random and one-sided. You're right. But that's not what I'm proposing. In my scenario, there would have been a slow build up to this, and Owen would have been pushed into this position steadily and strongly after the screwjob. And he'd be coming off a high profile Title match with Michaels at the Rumble. He would have been accepted as a main eventer, not just some midcarder that walks into a Title match at Summerslam. If it had been promoted properly, it would not be hard to present it as an even match.

 

If you read my posts, you'll see I admit that it's a matter of money and they weren't incorrect to do what they did. I'm not saying they never should have done Austin vs. Taker. But they could have done that at any point. Either during the spring when they were actually running Austin vs. Kane or in the fall after Summerslam. And in fact, they did do that at many points in time, since they had boring rehashes of that feud in 1999 and again in 2001. In a vacuum, Austin vs. Taker will always be the bigger money match. But given the timing and circumstances, you're not going to convince me they couldn't have run with the Owen thing at that point. Maybe not all the way until Summerslam, but for a few months after the screwjob it definitely would have worked. Read my comments about the show-within-a-show complex. If the WWE operated the way it did now back then, there's no way we wouldn't have seen it explored on TV more prominently.

 

The Survivor Series '97 squash is a much better argument than your Summerslam one which is a major stretch for reasons I've already stated in my other post. But I still maintain that it could have worked. Again, it's not that they SHOULD have pushed Owen like this. But they COULD have. In the short term, it would have worked fine.