Characters that should NEVER be allied.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Some good examples...but really, when has any promotion ever displayed consistent, logical character booking?

 

I do enjoy imagining Sting forgiving Luger everytime he turned on him though.

[hbkhhhmark4life 0]

maybe i didnt see it previously, but what about jericho/stephanie mcmahon early 2002

[The Tino Standard 0]

First thing that came to mind was Austin/McMahon.

I agree, and it makes 2001 all the more frustrating in retrospect because they set up a BRILLIANT angle and pissed it all away...

 

You had Austin, the reigning alpha dog of the company returning from injury who was trying to win back his championship. Rock, meanwhile, had become The Man of the company in Austin's absence.

 

Austin, a little slower and now on the downside of his career, knew he might not be able to beat the Rock as he had in the past. But Austin was so desperate to get back on top of the mountain, he was willing to do ANYTHING to get there, even if it meant aligning himself with his archnemesis, Vince McMahon. This was foreshadowed beautifully in that face-to-face studio interview just before Wrestlemania, where Austin told Rock, "I NEED this match Rock... More than you'll ever know."

 

Everything building up to and including the turn itself at WM was executed perfectly, and the next night on Raw they began blowing it. Some of it was bad booking, some was bad timing, other parts were just bad luck. Consider:

- Austin immediately aligned himself with Triple H, a man he'd just been feuding with for months.

- The WCW buyout made the Invasion the company's top priority, and Austin's turn, which easily could have been the focal point for the year, had to be shoehorned into WWF vs. Alliance angle (which was botched on so many levels I don't know where to begin).

- Austin was injured by Booker T. at the KOTR, forcing him out of action for an extended time over the summer. He was left doing comedy skits with Angle instead of being an ass-kicking monster heel.

 

They sort of got back on the right track with Angle being the virtuous face stepping up to challenge Austin by SummerSlam, with Austin going to desperate lengths to keep his title, but with everything mixed into the tanking Invasion angle, it fell flat.

 

The real money storyline they had there was Austin, the past-his-prime legend being so desperate to get back to the top he'd align with McMahon. The next step would have been McMahon manipulating him into doing things to further his own agenda (after all, what's in this alliance for McMahon if he can't get Austin to do his bidding finally?). Once Austin started doing that, he would have become the very thing he'd been fighting against for years. He'd have been a fallen hero corrupted by power. THEN (and on my imaginary timeline here, I'm saying around the road to the following WM), you have the new babyface step up to take down Austin.

 

Austin, having lost his title at WM18, gets pushed around by McMahon for the last time shortly after, finally snaps and reverts to his old ways, kicking McMahon's ass, leading to some sort of a blowoff match at Summerslam against, perhaps, a new McMahon goon. Austin wins there and can ride off into the sunset with his hero status restored.

[Guest futureproof]

THE GREAT KHALI AND WORKRATE.

[Cran Da Maniac 0]

On that note:

 

futureproof and wit

[Guest futureproof]

On that note:

 

futureproof and wit

 

BUT IT'S TEH FUNNY CUZ GREAT KHALI JUST STANDS THERE AND GOES YEEEEEEAARHREHCFEIBFIEBF!" AND MAKES EVERYONE ELSE DO STUFF! GET IT? lolllers@!

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Oh my god. Can we ban this guy please?

[Guest futureproof]

Bruno Sammartino and Gearge "The Animal" Steele because their combined back hair would be better used to provide clothing for the homeless.

[Hoff 0]

AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. I'd have a hard time seeing them on the same side after "I don't respect your code."

[Guest netslob]

Hoff and babies.

[evilhomer 0]

First thing that came to mind was Austin/McMahon.

I agree, and it makes 2001 all the more frustrating in retrospect because they set up a BRILLIANT angle and pissed it all away...

Dude, I agree with you 100%, but you just depressed the hell out of me by reminding me how two of the (potentially) best angles in history got tossed into the shitter.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Austin and McMahon teaming is what, along with the botched Invasion angle, helped really kill things in 2001.