Rebooking the Wrestlemanias

[slabinskia 0]

The discussion about wrestlemania XI and with WM just around the corner it gave me the idea. I know this has been done before but I thought I would give it a shot. I am going to rebook every wrestlemania. Please provide some feedback. Here is the first one.

 

 

WRESTLEMANIA 1

 

1. BOB ORTON VS JIMMY SNUKA

 

Winner: JIMMY SNUKA 12:44

 

2. JUNKYARD DOG VS KING KONG BUNDY

 

Winner: KING KONG BUNDY 4:21

 

3. THE BRITISH BULDOGS VS THE MOONDOGS

 

Winners BRITISH BULDOGS 9:55

 

4. RICKY STEAMBOAT VS DON MURACO

 

Winner: RICKY STEAMBOAT 13:30

 

5. IC TITLE: GREG VALENTINE VS TITO SANTANA

 

Winner: GREG VALENTINE 19:47

 

INTERMISSION

 

6. TAG TITLES: U.S. EXPRESS VS IRON SHIEK/NIKOLIA VOLKOFF

 

Winners: IRON SHIEK/NIKOLIA VOLKOFF 12:49

 

7. ANDRE THE GIANT VS BIG JOHN STUD

 

Winner: ANDRE THE GIANT 6:23

 

8. WOMENS TITLE: LELANI KAI VS WENDY RICHTER

 

Winner: WENDY RICHTER 8:12

 

9. HULK HOGAN/MR. T VS RODDY PIPER/PAUL ORNDORFF

 

Winners: HULK HOGAN/MR T 13:26

[Guest BlueStang302]

Good stuff. I think having Snuka and Orton wrestle would be a great addition to a fairly tepid card. I read that Snuka was deliberately kept out of action, as he was the Plan B if Mr. T no-showed or backed out at the last minute. They needed someone to plug in with Hogan that the fans liked and respect and Snuka fit that description.

 

Nice to see the Bulldogs on the card as well. I don't know a whole lot about the Moondogs work, but the tag roster seems pretty thin in 1985 (judging by the WWF roster listed on obsessedwithwrestling.com).

 

I'd have kept Bundy vs. SD Jones cuz that was a fun squash. I remember watching it as a kid and being in awe of Bundy. I think it did its job of putting Bundy over as a monster. Can't really fault you changing it however. Could put JYD against Tony Atlas or Terry Funk or even Bourne or Executioner just to get him on the card. JYD should definitely be there in some aspect. I think Muraco should have been also, and you fixed that.

[humanoid92 0]

Good idea for a thread. Valentine vs. Santana definitely would have been tons better. No Hart Foundation? I know they were in their infant stages at that point (at least I think they had started teaming by then) but if we're doing this in hindsight, why not? I'll have to do a few of these for certain cards for the hell of it.

[humanoid92 0]

I love Wrestlemania VIII but I've always been intrigued by the supposed build up to Hogan vs. Flair. It hurts to erase Savage vs. Flair from history because I love that match, but they could have held off on that whole angle until Summerslam. So here we go:

 

Card:

 

WWF Title: Flair vs. Hogan

Career Match: Jake vs. Savage

Undertaker vs. Sid Justice

IC Title: Bret vs. Piper

Tag Titles: Money Inc vs. Legion Of Doom

Michaels vs. Big Boss Man

Tatanka vs. Martel

Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, Duggan, Santana vs. Natural Disasters & Nasty Boys

Owen Hart vs. Mountie

 

Explanations:

 

- Hogan vs. Flair for the hell of it as the supposed "dream match." Plus a Flair (cheap) win would really solidify Flair (they hadn't had a great top heel like him since the heyday of Savage) and give Hogan a built-in program for his return. And Warrior still could have returned here to chase off Flair and Perfect after the match and even up the score.

 

- If ever a Career match was warranted, it was here. Jake was leaving anyway. This would have been a better blowoff than what they ended up doing. It would have made sense for Savage to only be able to be reinstated if he could have this one match back to retire Jake. And you can still do the happy ending with Savage regaining the Title at Summerslam in Wembley. I guess they didn't want to give Jake a high profile match to go out on, but why not?

 

- With the other two matches in place, Sid/Taker is obvious. Sid was on his way out anyway so why not give Taker a big rub? And if you really wanted to have Papa Shango interfere here, well, Taker is a pretty natural opponent.

 

- LOD/Money Inc. was the big money tag match.

 

- Santana/Shawn was fine, but Boss Man had more of a rub to give at that point.

 

- The eight man tag could have been the catalyst for the Disasters' face turn.

 

- Owen/Mountie could have stemmed subtlely from the Bret/Mountie issue, which would have associated Owen more directly with Bret a little earlier and given him some more credibility than a win over Skinner did.

 

Booking:

 

Shawn d. Boss Man

Tag Titles: LOD d. Money Inc. via countout bullshit

Undertaker d. Sid Justice

IC Title: Bret d. Piper

Virgil, Slaughter, Duggan, Santana d. Nastys and Disasters via heel miscommunication

Career Match: Savage d. Jake

Tatanka d. Martel

Owen d. Mountie

WWF Title: Flair d. Hogan via bullshit shennanigans

 

Classic Flair and Perfect cheating with them destroying Hogan's knee with a chair and trapping in the figure four until the ref calls the match while Heenan gloats like a madman. Hogan hulks up but Perfect and Flair destroy the knee, setting up a returning Warrior to provide the happy ending, make the save, and beat up Flair and Perfect. Hogan then disappears for awhile to get "knee surgery." If you want to go with a more feel-good ending, move this to the midcard and put Savage and Jake on last.

[slabinskia 0]

Starting tomorrow I will do 2 per day. Here is my reasoning behind the first wrestlemania.

 

Snuka/Orton were pretty good workers at the time and would have been more useful than having guys like executioner/s.d. jones on there.

 

Jyd was a big name at the time but I didn't think he was the best opponent for valentine. He stays on the card as better competition for bundy. Bundy still goes over strong though.

 

I don't believe the harts were a team yet but I think the buldogs had just started teaming. Even an extended squash against a midcard team like the moondogs would have been decent considering how great the buldogs were.

 

Muraco should have been on the show one way or another. Why not put him in there with steamboat instead of matt bourne who was a jobber at the time. Plus they would have put on a good match.

 

Valentine and Tito were in a big feud at the time. This match would have stole the show from a workrate perspective.

 

The last 4 matches I kept the same because I saw nothing wrong with them. I gave more time to the tag title match because I thought they could have put a good match together. The last three had there place. Also, beefcake/Sammartino was extremely boring and I don't think any tears would have been shed if it didn't take place.

[humanoid92 0]

Wrestlemania IX. I've defended WM 9 in the past, but let's be honest- with their roster at the time, they could have done much better.

 

This one is kind of hard to do in retrospect because it depends on how strictly you stick to what they were hell-bent on doing at the time. Do you have to put Yoko in the main event or do you have to have Hogan return at all? I personally would have never booked Bret vs. Yoko and instead allowed Bret to retain the Title here. There were multiple opponents that easily could have worked in that situation.

 

1) Randy Savage. Before turning him into an announcer, have him do the honors for Bret in a face-face respect match. A fresh match that hadn't been done. Savage could have gone heel midway through the match a la Bret's face-face matches with Piper and Perfect. This would symbol something of a passing of the torch. And Savage wasn't exactly washed up at this point. He had been WWF Champion six months earlier. Savage always put Bret over huge on commentary anyway. Would have meant more if Savage had this match to cite in doing so.

 

2) Ric Flair. In my fantasy WM 9 card, I include Flair every time. There's no reason they couldn't have kept him around another two months until this show, especially considering they were so weak at the top of the card on the heel side. The original Bret Title win went under the radar. Why not put Bret over him for good on the big stage? Besides, did Flair even ever get a rematch of any note after dropping the Title?

 

3) Mr. Perfect. Perfect was red-hot after his return at Survivor Series. With all the history he had with Bret, they could have easily turned this into a marketable face-face match. Although if they were gonna go with a title match like this, they probably definitely would have felt they needed Hogan elsewhere on the card as an extra draw. Of course they did that anyway.

 

And if you really wanna get nuts...

 

4) Hulk Hogan. Hogan made a big return anyway, and it makes sense that he would have wanted to go right after the WWF Title. This was a heavily rumored program in '93 that never materialized. I've always been curious to see what a Bret/Hogan match would have looked like.

 

Depending on which opponent you choose, you can go in a lot of directions for the rest of the card but here are some possible options:

 

IC Title: Shawn vs. Marty. Still had heat, they had great matches with each other, the Sherri involvement makes more sense here, and this way you avoid the lame booking to simultaneously protect Shawn's Title and Tatanka's undefeated streak. If you want to add some intrigue, you can even make Marty a mystery opponent a la their later Raw match in May.

 

Tag Titles: Without Hogan and Beefcake challenging Money Inc., the Steiners are no-brainers as challengers.

 

Possibilities if you include Flair on the show:

 

- Career match against Mr. Perfect (self-explanatory)

- WWF Title match vs. Bret Hart

- "Dream" match vs. Hogan (I don't like this one by this point in time)

 

Possibilities for Yokozuna if he wasn't going to be in the Title match:

 

- vs. Savage to put him over a recent WWF Champion (they did do this as a mini-program leading up to the show)

- vs. Hogan in the upper-card. This could have been Hogan's return program.

- vs. Tatanka in a battle of undefeated streaks... Tatanka's streak ultimately went nowhere anyway.

 

Possibilities for Perfect:

 

- Career match against Ric Flair (self-explanatory)

- WWF Title match vs. Bret Hart

- IC Title match vs. Shawn Michaels

- Grudge match vs. Razor Ramon stemming from Survivor Series

 

Possibilities for Hogan:

 

- vs. Yokozuna in the upper-card.

- WWF Title match vs. Bret Hart

- "Dream" match vs. Flair (again, I don't like that at this point)

- vs. Lex Luger. Just being in the match would have helped establish Luger right away and perhaps his later pushes would not have seemed so forced. Build this one around the loaded forearm angle (perhaps Luger destroys Beefcakes face by knocking him out with it.)

 

But if you look at the top 20 guys they could have feasibly used for the show, there's really no reason why it couldn't have been a great card: Bret, Flair, Perfect, Savage, Hogan, Yoko, Shawn, Jannetty, Luger, Razor, Tatanka, Bigelow, Crush, Doink, Money Inc., Steiners, Undertaker. That's a really solid talent pool to work with.

 

So, that said there's a ton of possibilities. This is only one:

 

WWF Title: Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage

Career Match: Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair

Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Money Inc.

IC Title: Michaels vs. Jannetty (possibly billed as a mystery opponent)

Yokozuna vs. Tatanka

Lex Luger vs. Hulk Hogan

Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez

Crush vs. Doink

Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund

Headshrinkers vs. Smoking Gunns (I believe the Gunns had debuted by that point.)

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I actually had this thought today at work. Wrestlemania V from a modern perspective.

 

Hogan vs. Savage

Rude vs. Warrior

Demolition vs. Powers of Pain/Fuji

 

The three title matches, no need to change these around.

 

Ted Dibiase/Haku/Andre the Giant/Brainbusters vs. Brutus Beefcake/Hercules/Jake Roberts/Strike Force (w/ Donald Trump)

 

The Battle of the Millionaires! Why not? The show's at Trump Plaza, you've got Ted Dibiase. This combines four matches into one bigger match. You can still run the Strike Force split. This also allows an easy way to segue into the DiBiase/Roberts feud.

 

Mr. Perfect vs. The Blue Blazer vs. The Hart Foundation vs. Honky Tonk Man vs. Greg Valentine (Money In the Bank)

 

Another way to add combine two matches into one. This match would elevate Mr. Perfect into a future title match. The idea that popped into my head is for Mr. Perfect to show up at the end of No Holds Barred to challenge Hogan. Whether or not that's a good idea is debatable. It is too fun an idea to let pass.

 

Jim Duggan vs. Bad News Brown (Falls Count Anywhere)

 

This one ended in a double count-out. This time, let's just let it ride.

 

Dino Bravo vs. Ronnie Garvin

The Bushwackers vs. The Rougeaus

The Rockers vs. The Twin Towers

 

No real need to change these matches around.

 

Terry Taylor/Gorilla Monsoon vs. Brooklyn Brawler/Bobby Heenan

 

On Prime Time Wrestling, Brawler hit Taylor with a barstool and hit Monsoon as well. Here, the Monsoon/Heenan sniping comes to a head in the ring. Monsoon would be 52-53 at this point and still able to perform a few token spots.

 

We've reduced a 14 match show to a 10 match show and hopefully a hair under three hours. Some excitement has been added to the matches and some offer something different to the experience.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

Put Rock vs. Hogan on last and have Jericho retain.

[humanoid92 0]

I like it Al. Definitely gives it a modern feel with the ten man tag, the token ladder match, the Gorilla/Heenan involvement and the Falls Count Anywhere stip. Although, I've gotta say, Neidhart in a MITB match for #1 contendership?

 

As for my WM 5, just sticking with a typical card at the time without the modern twists, I've always felt the tag team booking on this show would have been better if re-shuffled:

 

- Put the Rockers against the Busters. The Busters going over former Champs put them over yeah, but the circumstances with Martel leaving Tito high and dry didn't exactly put them over since they basically won a handicapped match at the end. And fine... I'm just a mark for Rockers vs. Busters matches.

 

- Strike Force vs. Twin Towers. The Towers had already broken up the MegaPowers, so why not have them break up Strike Force here? Could have been a strange little gimmick- the team that breaks up other tag teams. Also, would have been ironic when they ended up breaking up the next year.

 

- Harts vs. Rougeaus. Blow off the Hart Foundation/Jimmy Hart issue.

 

- I never liked the Demolition/Powers of Pain match, but with the Fuji storyline it made perfect sense. Nothing wrong with this.

 

- And then you've got Bushwackers vs. Honky & Valentine, which was a pretty natural fit and in fact eventually happened. This is easily cuttable if you want to go with a cleaner 10-11 match card.

 

The rest of the card pretty much makes sense. Hogan vs. Savage and Warrior vs. Rude stays, like you said. Perfect vs. Blazer can stay as well. DiBiase and Andre could have worked as a team against Beefcake and Jake or Jake and Studd to cut another match out, but then again this card is already loaded with tag matches. Throw in Haku and maybe Hercules to make it a six man. Everything else was pretty pointless, but those were the days of the 45 match WM cards. If you absolutely had to cut it to 9 or 10 matches, and there was no modern twist, I'd have gone:

 

WWF Title: Hogan vs. Savage

IC Title: Warrior vs. Rude

Tag Title: Demolition vs. POP & Fuji

DiBiase, Andre, and Haku vs. Beefcake, Hercules, and Jake (Studd as ref)

Harts vs. Rougeaus

Towers vs. Strike Force

Rockers vs. Busters

Perfect vs. Blazer

Duggan vs. Bad News

 

Yeah, it's still way too heavy on the tag matches, but it gets rid of a good deal of the crap. Eh.

[Guest BlueStang302]

Was Flair still around by WM9 though? IIRC, he envoked the "leave if not booked as a main eventer" clause he had. I don't know the timing and how quickly he wanted to be let go. If he's still around, waiting until Wrestlemania for the Flair-Perfect blowoff seems natural.

 

I don't like Yokozuna much, and I don't like Hogan's "comeback" much. Skip having the title in the picture and just put these two against eachother. Let Hogan run with the giant killer angle, and tell him he'll get a shot at the title at Summerslam. Then I'd hope he would leave to do a movie by then.

 

Razor was coming of the Survivor Series, main eventing with Flair and Macho and Perfect. Why was he given 3 minutes against Backlund? I don't mind the match, but Razor didn't even win with his finisher it was a small package.

 

 

1. Bret Hart vs Randy Savage for the title. I like this idea, no reason it won't be a great match.

2. Ric Flair vs Mr. Perfect (Loser Leaves Town)

3. Steiners vs Money Inc (Money Inc loses the title if counted out or DQed)

4. Undertaker vs Giant Gonzalez

5. Crush vs Doink

6. Lex Luger vs Rick Martel (heel vs heel fued over who is the best looking in the WWF)

7. Hulk Hogan vs Yokozuna

8. Razor Ramon vs Big Bossman

9. Shawn Michaels vs Tatanka (ic title match) Tatanka was fairly over, and they had a good match.

 

Without really studying the roster, I think that's a decent card. Humanoid you did a nice job breaking it down. I'm not sure if all the contracts/injuries would allow ALL those guys being available, but it certainly seems like they could have done a better card than they did.

[humanoid92 0]

WM 13. Since I've been talking about how much I hate the real thing lately. I'm ditching the Bret/Austin match which will cause some controversy. Also, I'm assuming Shawn Michaels isn't "injured."

 

The card:

 

WWF Title: Shawn vs. Bret

No Holds Barred: Undertaker vs. Mankind

Triple Threat: Austin vs. Owen vs. Bulldog

IC Title: HHH vs. Rocky

Tag Titles: LOD vs. Furnas & LaFon (w/ Sunny)

Gauntlet Match: Ahmed Johnson vs. Nation of Domination

Sid vs. Vader (Special ref: Ken Shamrock)

 

And that's about it. If you have to include a token six man tag to stretch out the card, there's Goldust, Flash Funk, and the tag teams that participated in the real card's opener. Or maybe throw in a debut match for Ken Shamrock instead of using him as a ref. Go nuts.

 

Now this is far from the perfect card, but as a whole, I think it's an improvement on the real thing. And man, what a brutal roster once you get past the top 10-15 guys: Flash Funk, Headbangers, New Blackjacks, Godwinns, Rockabilly, Jesse James, Salvatore Sincere, The Sultan, etc. Yikes. This is what I mean when I call '97 overrated- as good as the good stuff was, everything else was hideous.

 

Explanations:

 

Taker and Mankind. True, they had wrestled a million times by then, but they had a really great brawl on PPV the next month so we're moving it up here to stengthen the WM card.

 

Ahmed vs. Faarooq. Bad as it may have been, it deserved a one-on-one blowoff. Have Savio and Crush run constant interference here. This also would have been suited for some sort of gimmick like No DQ and No Holds Barred, but we can't have this and Taker/Mankind stepping on each others toes. One brawl per show is enough. Come to think of it, maybe do the gauntlet match here that they ended up doing at a later IYH. Yes... I'm going to go change that now.

 

Tag Titles: I know- Furnas & LaFon were heatless. But at least they were a real team and solid workers. The other tag teams at this point (other than Owen and Bulldog) were all brutal. Pair Sunny with Furnas and LaFon in an attempt to get them over and to talk for them, because once they were in the ring they could have good matches. I thought about having Savio & Crush as the challengers here, but eh.

 

HHH vs. Rocky. Because it looks cool in hindsight. Yeah, Rocky was green but this eliminates two boring matches and replaces it with one marginally better match.

 

Sid vs. Vader. Heel vs. heel matches usually suck. But this is a better vehicle to establish guest ref Ken Shamrock as a physical presence. He couldn't really get involved in Bret vs. Austin because that would have ruined their story. Between the two of them, Sid vs. Vader had main evented Summerslam, Survivor Series, and the Rumble, so there's some star power there. Would have been easy to create an issue stemming from the aftermath of the Rumble and the Final Four IYH. I remember these two having a match at an IYH (possibly the fall of '96) and it wasn't even terrible. Vader could have used a major match like this at this point. Also, with Shamrock reffing a match between two heels, you can have him take no crap from both guys and establish him as a major face right away. This segues into the Vader vs. Shamrock feud nicely.

 

Bret vs. Shawn. Supposedly the original plan before Shawn got "hurt." Shawn had his run with the Title, with the only bump in the road being Sid. Meanwhile, Bret's been bitter. You can still continue the subtle heel turn with Bret here while having a mostly face vs. face match here with Bret going over, and then you pull the trigger with the Austin thing the next month. And no, I don't think the impact would have been lessened if it the real double turn hadn't happened at Wrestlemania, because the real Wrestlemania felt like a glorified IYH anyway.

 

And finally, the triple threat match. First of all, the idea of doing a triple threat match was still pretty new at the time so this could have been an interesting selling point.

 

The backstory: Owen had been involved with the Austin vs. Bret thing all along. It was Owen who urged Austin to challenge Bret at Survivor Series in the first place. Even though he was a heel against Bret, Austin also had a mini-feud with the heel Bulldog in late 96 and early 97 to establish the whole shades-of-gray thing. So in order to give fans a reason to cheer for Austin, which they were looking for, you have him going after Owen and Bulldog at various points. Meanwhile, you have the whole tension angle with Owen and Bulldog that they were pushing at the time, along with Bulldog going over Owen for the European Title. At some point, they also lose the Tag straps to LOD, either via miscommunication or at the hands of Austin. So you've already got issues between everyone.

 

When it comes to the match, all of a sudden, Owen and Bulldog appear to be on the same page and end up controlling Austin for a large portion of the match, building sympathy for Austin and giving the crowd someone to get behind. Meanwhile, the announcers question what the hell happened and speculate as to why Owen and Bulldog are getting along all of a sudden. You can still do a miscommunication finish with Owen intentionally or accidentally turning on Bulldog and Austin hitting both of them with Stunners to pick up the win.

 

So now the result is the same. There's still tension with Owen and Davey but now there's an extra layer to it. What happened before to help them get along? It's later that we find out Bret had been trying to reconcile them, for the reasons he actually did so and also because he wanted them to work together to take out Austin. The reveal for this can come up sort of the way it really did, OR the next month when Austin is challenging Bret for the Title and Owen and Bulldog end up reuniting with Bret to help him and screw Austin out of winning the belt. As much as I liked the fact that the Harts reunited, I always thought the way they did it with Bret coming to the ring and getting them to hug and make up out of nowhere was kind of lame. This scenario at least gives a little bit more of a backstory to the whole thing.

[humanoid92 0]

Was Flair still around by WM9 though? IIRC, he envoked the "leave if not booked as a main eventer" clause he had. I don't know the timing and how quickly he wanted to be let go. If he's still around, waiting until Wrestlemania for the Flair-Perfect blowoff seems natural.

 

I don't like Yokozuna much, and I don't like Hogan's "comeback" much. Skip having the title in the picture and just put these two against eachother. Let Hogan run with the giant killer angle, and tell him he'll get a shot at the title at Summerslam. Then I'd hope he would leave to do a movie by then.

 

Razor was coming of the Survivor Series, main eventing with Flair and Macho and Perfect. Why was he given 3 minutes against Backlund? I don't mind the match, but Razor didn't even win with his finisher it was a small package.

 

 

1. Bret Hart vs Randy Savage for the title. I like this idea, no reason it won't be a great match.

2. Ric Flair vs Mr. Perfect (Loser Leaves Town)

3. Steiners vs Money Inc (Money Inc loses the title if counted out or DQed)

4. Undertaker vs Giant Gonzalez

5. Crush vs Doink

6. Lex Luger vs Rick Martel (heel vs heel fued over who is the best looking in the WWF)

7. Hulk Hogan vs Yokozuna

8. Razor Ramon vs Big Bossman

9. Shawn Michaels vs Tatanka (ic title match) Tatanka was fairly over, and they had a good match.

 

Without really studying the roster, I think that's a decent card. Humanoid you did a nice job breaking it down. I'm not sure if all the contracts/injuries would allow ALL those guys being available, but it certainly seems like they could have done a better card than they did.

 

Flair was not around, but supposedly Vince let him out of his contract early so he could go back to WCW. But he didn't even end up wrestling for WCW until the end of the year. If he left because of envoking the "main event" clause, there wouldn't have been a problem because this would have put him in the co-main event at WM. Flair's release was supposedly mutual; Ric wanted to go back to WCW and Vince didn't think there was anything left for him to do in the WWF. Still, if they'd really wanted to put the career match off for two months, I'm sure they could have worked it out. I'm sure Flair wouldn't have minded a WM payday.

 

Razor did end up being the odd man out for this show, along with Bigelow. Without Marty, there were more quality midcard heels than faces without concrete programs at this point (Shawn, Luger Razor, Bigelow as opposed to basically just Perfect and Tatanka). It was unbalanced, which is probably why they ended up turning Razor a few weeks later. So yeah, Razor took a backseat this time. But the non-Razor's Edge finish didn't necessarily hurt him. I like that he didn't even need it to put away Backlund. As the Brain said, he beat the wrestler with wrestling.

 

I don't think Martel and Boss Man were still around by this point (although Martel returned that fall) and I'm not sure how Luger would have worked against another heel. If anything, they could have turned Razor face earlier (he was over as a face anyway at that show) and paired the two of them up. Although that would have robbed us of all the subsequent great stuff with the Kid and Money Inc.

 

They could have put Luger vs. Tatanka (another battle of the undefeated streaks) and then slipped Marty into the IC match with Shawn. Like you, I have nothing against the match Shawn and Tatanka had, but the title vs. streak aspect handcuffed them into the lame finish.

[Just John 0]

WM XIX:

 

I always thought this was the most frustrating wrestlemania. So much wasted potential, and it only needs a little tweaking to rank with the all time greats.

 

1. More time for Hardy vs. Rey

2. No Miller Lite Catfight Girls segment

3. Only one Limp Bizkit song

4. More time for the tag team 3-way

5. Jericho goes over Michaels

6. Hogan vs. McMahon goes lower on the card

7. Booker goes over HHH

8. Lesnar doesn't miss the SSP.

[Aero 0]

Wrestlemania 2000

 

- WWF Title: Triple H vs. The Rock

- IC Title: Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit

- Tag Titles: Ladder Match: Dudleys vs. Hardys vs. Edge & Christian

- Submission Match: Kurt Angle vs. Tazz

- Eddie Guerrero & Dean Malenko vs. Too Cool

- Kane & Rikishi vs. X-Pac & Road Dogg

- Hardcore Title: Crash vs. Hardcore Holly

- 20-Man Battle Royal: Big Show wins

 

WWF Title match

This is pretty self-explanatory. A lot of people would have preferred a singles main event rather than the four-way that was overshadowed by the McMahons. Rock gets the title here instead of Backlash, and they can have the rematch the next month with Austin inserted like he actually was.

 

IC Title: Jericho vs. Benoit

With this scenario, Angle never won the title at No Way Out, and he just furthered his feud with Tazz (more on that below). With only eight matches on the card, this should have no problem getting around 20 minutes, and Benoit goes over clean to solidify him as a serious threat.

 

Tag Title Ladder Match

Absolutely nothing to change.

 

Submission Match: Tazz vs. Angle

I didn't like how they handled this feud after the Rumble. IIRC, they had a couple confrontations and matches on TV, but not much was settled. Have Tazz continue to get the better of Angle through February, and then keep Angle off TV for a couple weeks. When he returns, he shows a vicious side for the first time ever (he was still really goofy at this point) by attacking and choking Tazz out. This is the blow off match that should officially put Tazz over.

 

X-Pac & Road Dogg vs. Kane & Rikishi

Kane and X-Pac needed to finish their feud, and they already did No DQ at NWO the previous month. This match was pretty inoffensive, and it served its purpose to get Rikishi and Road Dogg on the card. It would be kept just as short as it was at the actual show: around 5-6 minutes.

 

Eddie Guerrero & Dean Malenko vs. Too Cool

Just a hot opener to get the crowd going. Too Cool was insanely over still, and I'm sure this could have been a good match with at least 10 minutes. Either team could go over: Radicalz for the purpose of getting a win under their belt, or Too Cool to get the crowd going.

 

Hardcore Title: Crash vs. Hardcore

The battle royal at the real show was sort of entertaining, but it made very little sense since 90% of the guys were fighting everyone but the champ. Typical hardcore stuff here, but Crash wins because he's more popular. Not to mention he did just get the title back the next night in real life anyway.

 

20-Man Battle Royal

Yeah, it's a match that just throws all the remaining guys into one match for no real purpose. Big Show gets the obvious win, because the only other credible guys are Saturn (still not completely buried, mind you), APA, Godfather, D'Lo, Test, Albert, Boss Man, Buchanan, Al Snow, Blackman, and more.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

So would you have put Chyna in the proposed 20 man battle royal or left her off the show overall.

 

Remember, at the time, she was popular.

[Aero 0]

So would you have put Chyna in the proposed 20 man battle royal or left her off the show overall.

 

Remember, at the time, she was popular.

 

It wouldn't hurt, but she could also just be in Too Cool's corner.

[humanoid92 0]

I was thinking about WM 15 off the top of my head and I don't even know what they could have done to make that pile of crap better. This was Russo at his absolute peak of stupidity. Without thinking about it too much, I guess you've got:

 

- IC Title: Owen vs. Jarrett

The IC Title was a joke and random midcarders traded it every two weeks. It didn't get better until Jarrett gave it some credibility again in the summer and Jericho and Benoit came along. Even if this was heel vs. heel, at least it would have upheld the tradition of the IC Title with two great wrestlers going at it.

 

- Tag Titles: Outlaws vs.... the Acolytes?

The Tag Titles were also a joke by this point. And tag teams didn't really exist. These are two of them. This plays into the Ministry of Darkness vs. DX feud... or was the Ministry feuding with the Corporation? Or was it DX against the Corporation? I have no idea. I just know that a few weeks after this the Corporation inexplicably merged with the Ministry to become the Corporate Ministry. Whatever.

 

- Euro Title: Shane vs. X-Pac

I guess DX and the Corporation did feud. That must have also been the basis for HHH vs. Kane. I'd actually leave this alone because it was surprisingly mediocre and it was a nice way to ease everyone into accepting Shane as a wrestler.

 

- Hardcore Title: Holly vs. Snow

Because you know they just had to defend every title.

 

- World Title: Rock vs. Austin (Special ref: Foley)

The obvious main event. Foley gets to ref because it's not like there was any match of note for him to partake in.

 

- Big Show vs. Kane

Brutal. But a convincing Show victory may have actually presented him as a threat instead of the joke he quickly became.

 

- Undertaker vs. HHH

Because the Ministry didn't like DX. Or something.

 

- Gangrel, Edge & Christian vs. Test, Ken Shamrock & Big Boss Man

Because the Brood was sucking up to the Undertaker so they could join the Ministry. And the Ministry didn't like the Corporation. Or something.

 

Wow. Russo really did a number on this one.

[Hawk 34 0]

Wrestlemania XII

 

Pre-Show

Triple H Vs Bob Holly

-It’s not often that working a pre-show against Bob Holly can be considered an upgrade but it would have been better then getting a total squash on the main show to a guy who stuck around for 4 months. The card was already just tight especially with about only 2 ¼ hours to fill due to the main event match. Holly's just a random JTTS.

 

Opening Match

WWF Tag Titles

123 Kid and Tatanka Vs New Rockers

-Remember the New Rockers? The tag scene was a joke in 1996, consisting of roughly 3 actual teams. Anyways the actual match on the PPV wasn’t even on the show itself. The culmination of a tournament occurred on the pre-show between Donnas and Godwins. The New Rockers were a heel team in a technical sense but they could have worked just as well in a face manner. The Corporation was still intact at this point although hanging by a loose thread. Kid and Tatanka were regular partners. Not that great of an upgrade but enough.

Time: Eight Minutes

 

Steve Austin Vs Jake Roberts

-Of course, in hindsight we all know what occurred between these two just a few months later after this PPV but going back to that time, Roberts was on the comeback trail and Austin was the young arrogant self-absorbed wrestling machine led by Dibiase. Dibiase and Roberts, having a history adds to it. Dibiase makes an effort once again to use Roberts’ battle with addiction to buy him into the corporation leads into this match up where Austin gets a clear defining victory over an established name.

Time: Six Minutes.

 

Owen Hart Vs British Bulldog

-These guys always put on a good match and while Bulldog was a solid heel, he was always better in my mind as the super baby face. The tag team scene was dead at this time period as it was anyways and they ended up getting stuck in a pointless and horrible six man tag. I would have done the face turn for Bulldog right after the Royal Rumble. Just the usual split occurs, they lose the tag title tournament in the first round and Owen blames Bulldog for it. Bulldog resents it. Owen snaps because once again he couldn’t trust a family member. It might have been a slight rehash of the Owen/Bret storyline but they could have always put them back together down the road in the guise of respect after a series of hard fought matches.

Time: 12 Minutes

 

Vader Vs Yokozuna

-A issue had already been established here between the two and in a effort to put Vader over as a supreme bad ass heel, destroying a 550+lb former world champion was a good enough opportunity to pull that off. The match wouldn’t have been much but a short brawl match would have sufficed.

Time: Five Minutes

 

IC Title

Goldust Vs Ahmed Johnson

-Ahmed Johnson was Bobby Lashley 1.0 and actually got the crowd to care about him right away and probably was more inspiring inside the ring and hadn’t yet gotten in the habit of injuries. This program was done a few months later anyways, might as well have jumped the gun here and pushed it for Mania to give Johnson the big victory here. The Hollywood Brawl served no purpose other then to do a OJ parody and for the finishing sequence in the ring with Piper.

Time: Seven Minutes.

 

Ultimate Warrior Vs Razor Ramon

-Triple H was the young heel star of the company and hadn’t yet pissed off the company for breaking kayfabe. He was promised the KOTR victory in exchange for eating a squash by Warrior but there was no need for that type of burial, funny as it might be in hindsight. Ramon was on his way out the door and should have turned heel shortly after the Goldust program. Not much need for a build in this match. Razor meets the same fate that HHH did on that night.

Time: Two Minutes.

 

Casket Match

The Undertaker Vs Diesel

-Quite easily the highest profile match up to that point for the Undertaker at WrestleMania after years of JTTS, freak shows and big men. For the time, Diesel’s heel turn was quite edgy especially in contrast to the family friendly image WWE had emphasized at that time period, besting Austin’s transformation by a few months. The match wasn’t special but it really never had a chance to accomplish that. Nash was on his way and it was only fair he would put over UT and keep him strong. The show needed another top level match and this provided it. The casket played a pretty important role in the build, so might as well have the first WM casket match here.

Time: 10 Minutes.

 

Main Event

WWF Title

Shawn Michaels Vs Bret Hart

-Obviously this was the only true main event that they could have ran in 1996 given the complete lack of top level stars within the company and that these two were the absolute best at this period. The build was superb for this, considering the face/face dynamic. The only thing I would have changed is the booking of an Iron Man Match. While it managed to make this specific match pop out more in a historic sense, I’ve always hated this gimmick as it hurts a match, especially the opening and middle segments. I would have simply built this as a straight wrestling match, one fall all and had the match go 60 minutes. It would have likely made for better drama and without the established length of time, the fans whom were sitting on their hands for a good portion of this match until the heat spots came in. I think the gimmick forced a more methodical pace and that hurt what could have been something truly special. I’m not sure if I would keep the overtime ruling but either way, I think it still would have worked quite well.

Time: 61 Minutes.

[Hawk 34 0]

Wrestlemania XV

 

Pre-Show

Goldust and Blue Meanie Vs Acolytes

-Fluff comedy/squash match to put over APA.

 

Opening Match

IC Title

Val Venis Vs Ken Shamrock

-The addition of Road Dogg, after months of being built as the top hardcore guy in the company into the IC match a week before the event for no reason other then zany swerve awesomeness, maintains as one of Russo’s most dumbfounded moves. Goldust had no real reason to be involved. The real heat was Venis-Shamrock over Ryan Shamrock. A straight one-on-one match here would have been a fine move. Not sure what result occurs with Ryan at ringside, though.

Time: Eight Minutes

 

Hardcore Title

Al Snow Vs Bob Holly Vs Gangrel

-The title was a stable of 1999 and these guys were among the most active aspects of it. Just the typical plunder filled match.

Time: Six Match

 

Woman’s Title

Sable Vs Tori

-Not much else to do for Sable, whom was insanely over for the WWF.

Time: Four Minutes.

 

Grudge Match

Triple H Vs X-Pac

-The big deal at WM was that HHH turned on X-Pac to reunite with Chyna but the involvement of Kane wasn’t needed even though the interaction he had with Chyna were intriguing I just jumped the gun on the heel turn instead.. This offered more in the way of quality and heat. In fact, tease a angle regarding Chyna’s loyalty to either DX or Triple H. Of course, Chyna turns on X-Pac and sticks with HHH instead.

Time: 18 Minutes

 

European Title

Test Vs D’Lo

-Test, a member of the Corporation captures the Euro title from X-Pac thanks to HHH and D’Lo is the #1 contender. Not much needed for hype purpose.

Time: Six Minutes.

 

The Big Show Vs Kane

-How does it all set up? Easy. Kane was hired as the big muscle for the corporation but when Kane’s human emotion for Chyna got in his way, his ability to wreck havoc dwindled and his value to Vince subsided. Feeling as if Kane had become a bad investment, Paul Wight makes his in-ring debut here. The idea is that Kane was once again rejected by a father figure and this just leads him down a greater path of rage. The match would be atrocious leading to a double DQ finish to keep both men strong

Time: Seven Minutes

 

Street Fight

Mankind Vs Shane McMahon

-The McMahon’s screwed Foley and Foley sought retribution and instead of the average match that Shane had with X-Pac, might as well make it a real street fight with Foley instead. Shane was a great bumper as was Foley and the heat would have been nuclear had Vince gotten involved. Shane wins with some spectacular finish thanks to assistance from his corporation.

Time: 12 Minutes

 

WWF Tag Team Titles

Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart Vs New Age Outlaws.

-While Gunn and Dogg were doing singles stuff back then, I would have simply given Jarrett and Hart an actual tag team to work with here and have the NAO take offense to the heels proclaiming to be the best champions in the history of the WWF. Simple manufactured reasoning. Jarrett/Hart win to continue the collapse of DX when NAO aren’t able to work together anymore.

Time: Seven Minutes

 

Undertaker Vs Bossman

-Just a regular match here. The HIAC never really did anything at that event and since I already included a Foley street fight, another hardcore match and grudge match, it didn’t require that gimmick. Save it for the secondary PPV. Taker just goes about his usual WM ways.

Time: Eight minutes.

 

Main Event

WWF Title

Steve Austin Vs The Rock

-No doubt about it. One of the most obvious main events in the history of the PPV. Nothing else really needed change except for the Foley involvement. Just a straight Austin/Rock match right here.

Time: 15 Minutes.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Quickie thoughts...

 

Wrestlemania I: No changes. Everything here accomplished what it needed to. There were several memorable moments/angles, and nothing dragged.

 

Wrestlemania II: Obviously trying to outdo Starrcade by running a three arena show didn't catch on. A Muraco/Steamboat blowoff would have added to the event. Perhaps running a cage match in two sites would create some excitement. Also, kick Moolah/McIntyre off the card. You have a 62 year old woman defending her world title in a one minute squash? To hell with Moolah.

 

Wrestlemania III: No changes.

 

Wrestlemania IV: The only way to change this around in a meaningful fashion is not to run the tournament at all. You might have Hogan/Dibiase for the WWF title, HTM/Savage for the IC Title, etc. But I don't know if that is a real improvement, and the event as it stands elevated Savage proper.

[slabinskia 0]

Everyone has taken most of my ideas but thats ok. Here is wm 2. I will post wm3 later tonight.

 

WRESTLEMANIA 2 (one arena)

 

1. HART FOUNDATION VS KILLER BEES

 

Winners: HART FOUNDATION 17:24

 

2. BIG JOHN STUD VS HILLBILLY JIM

 

Winner: HILLBILLY JIM 3:05

 

3. DON MURACO VS RICKY STEAMBOAT

 

Winner: RICKY STEAMBOAT 14:46

 

4. TONY ATLAS/CPL KIRSHNER VS IRON SHIEK/NIKOLAI VOLKOFF

 

Winners: TONY ATLAS/CPL KIRSHNER 5:51

 

5. JUNKYARD DOG VS JAKE ROBERTS

 

Winner: JAKE ROBERTS 6:34

 

6. IC TITLE RANDY SAVAGE VS TITO SANTANA

 

Winner: RANDY SAVAGE 16:40

 

INTERMISSION

 

7. U.S. EXPRESS (spivey/rotundo) VS FUNKS

 

Winners FUNK BROTHERS 10:21

 

8. PAUL ORNDORFF VS BOB ORTON

 

Winner: PAUL ORNDORFF 8:03

 

9. ANDRE THE GIANT VS KING KONG BUNDY

 

Winner: ANDRE THE GIANT 5:36

 

10. TAG TITLES DREAM TEAM VS BRITISH BULDOGS

 

Winners BRITISH BULDOGS 19:15

 

11. GEORGE STEELE VS ADRIAN ADONIS

 

Winner ADRIAN ADONIS 1:49

 

12. WORLD TITLE HULK HOGAN VS RODDY PIPER CAGE MATCH

 

Winner: HULK HOGAN 16:50

 

 

My reasons for the changes:

 

I put the harts and bees together because they were having good tag matches with each other at the time. I felt they were better served here than in a battle royal. I decided against bret/steamboat because I thought this tag match would have worked well and steamboat would be involved in another good match.2 for the price of one.

 

Steamboat vs Muraco was logical since they were feuding at the time and they worked well together.A better match than Hercules.

 

Stud/Hillbilly Jim was a way to get them on the card without having a battle royal.

 

I changed the Volkoff/Kirshner match to a tag match to get another tag match on the card.Simple as that.

 

Jake/Jyd would follow the same formula bundy/jyd did the previous year. Jyd was better competition but served the purpose of putting over the new guy.

 

Savage/Tito was a no brainer instead of george Steele. Would have been one of the best matches on the card too.

 

With tito/jyd gone I needed someone for the funks to work with. I chose Spivey/Rotundo because they are two of the few the funks can get a good match out of.

 

Orndorff/Orton was a logical choice since they were feuding and would have been a better match than orndorff/muraco.

 

Tag title match needed no change other than an extra 10 minutes to put on the match of the night.

 

Andre/Bundy was put together to get them on the show since I didn't have the battle royal.

 

Adonis/Steele was filler to use in between the tag titles and main event.

 

I went with Hogan/Piper instead of Hogan/Bundy to give the feud a proper blowoff.It also would have at least been a passable match too.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

WM X7.

 

HHH vs. Angle:

Scrap the HHH running down Austin angle and have Hunter as the face against Angle in a feud over Stephanie. That's an angle that was hot and never resolved. Play it up as no one knows who she'll align with. Either you get the happy ending with Steph choosing face HHH, who then feuds with heel Austin for the belt, or Steph chooses Angle, Hunter snaps and turns heel afterward.

 

UT/Kane vs. Edge and Christian (tag titles):

UT and Kane would win the belts later anyone, so have them destroy these two at Mania.

 

Hardyz and Lita vs. Dudleyz (Bubba, DVon, Spike)

 

Eddie vs. Benoit:

The boiling point of the Benoit vs. Radicalz feud.

 

Jericho (IC champ) vs. Regal (Euro champ)

Title vs. Title

 

Jerry Lynn vs. Dean Malenko (Light Heavy Title):

Dean's long run comes to an end in a good match. Don't need any build, just have a great match with Lynn going over.

 

Big Show vs. All comers (Hardcore):

Big Show says he'll face anyone in a Gauntlet match, taking one challenger after the other in a 15-minute time limit. Rhino comes on last and beats a winded Show in the final seconds.

 

Shane vs. Vince:

WCW champ Booker T debuts, putting Vince down to setup Shane's big elbow and begin the WCW vs. WWF feud with a bang.

 

Rock vs. Austin:

Wouldn't change a thing about this match.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Everyone has taken most of my ideas but thats ok. Here is wm 2. I will post wm3 later tonight.

 

My reasons for the changes:

 

Andre/Bundy was put together to get them on the show since I didn't have the battle royal.

 

Adonis/Steele was filler to use in between the tag titles and main event.

 

I went with Hogan/Piper instead of Hogan/Bundy to give the feud a proper blowoff.It also would have at least been a passable match too.

 

I know this is just fantasy booking and its for fun, but that entire event was sold on the triple main event of the battle royal, T/Piper and Hogan/Bundy. Your card doesn't really have a match that can draw, especially for a Wrestlemania. Hogan/Piper wouldn't have had the heat to carry a show unless they'd done a title change a few months before, and even then I'm suspect.

[slabinskia 0]

WRESTLEMANIA III

 

1. CAM AM CONNECTION VS BOB ORTON/ DON MURACO

 

Winners: CAM AM CONNECTION 10:48

 

2. TITO SANTANA VS DANNY DAVIS

 

Winner: DANNY DAVIS 7:35

 

3. KAMALA/SIKA VS ISLANDERS

 

Winners: KAMALA/SIKA 4:21

 

4. KOKO B WARE VS PAUL ORNDORFF

 

Winner: PAUL ORNDORFF 4:17

 

5. ROUGEOUS VS DREAM TEAM

 

Winners: DREAM TEAM 12:56

 

6 RODDY PIPER VS ADRIAN ADONIS

 

Winner: RODDY PIPER 8:20

 

INTERMISSION

 

7. BATTLE ROYAL: Winner DEMOLITION 9:37 (last two left and they split the winnings)

 

Participants: Demolition,Killer Bees,Young Stallions,Nikolia Volkoff,Butch Reed,Junkyard Dog,Ron Bass,Harley Race,George Steele,Hercules,Billy Jack Haynes,Hillbilly Jim,King Kong Bundy,Dino Bravo,Blackjack Mulligan,Danny Spivey,Lanny Poffo

 

8. IC TITLE RANDY SAVAGE VS RICKY STEAMBOAT

 

Winner: RICKY STEAMBOAT 23:12

 

9. HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN VS IRON SHIEK

 

Winner HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN 7:40

 

10: TAG TITLES HART FOUNDATION VS BRITISH BULDOGS

 

Winners: HART FOUNDATION 18:16

 

11. JAKE ROBERTS VS HONKY TONK MAN

 

Winner: JAKE ROBERTS 8:05

 

12. WORLD TITLE HULK HOGAN VS ANDRE THE GIANT

 

Winner: HULK HOGAN 12:10

 

 

My reasons for the changes

 

There was little to change and if it stayed the same it would be fine. Since I decided to change every wrestlemania here is what I came up with.

 

I added more time to the opening tag match because they were putting something good together and an extra 5 minutes would have made the match much better.

 

I put tito/davis by themselves because I thought tito was a good worker and davis was over as the cowardly heel ref. The harts/buldogs could put on a great match by themselves.

 

Kamala/Sika vs Islanders was an excuse to get more talent on the show and I don't like midget matches.

 

I replaced Butch Reed with Orndorff because Orndorff went from being the #1 heel to not being on the biggest show ever.That wasn't right.

 

Dream Team/Rougeous was kept the same but given more time to build a good match.

 

Piper/Adonis was fine as it was.

 

Harts/Buldogs was made a regular tag match for the belts.Even with Dynamites injury they could have put on a great match.

 

Jake/Honky was kept the same.

 

I put Duggan/Shiek on there instead of the tag match because Duggan was new and would have got over with the crowd.

 

Savage/Steamboat was given more time just because.

 

I put in the 20 man battle royal because with an event that huge I felt it was only fair to have as much of the roster on there as possible. It was a way to get everyone on wm3. Demolition went over because they were a new team that was going to get a push anyway.

 

Obviously the main event was kept the same.

[humanoid92 0]

WM 6.

 

Had the big-show aura and is still looked upon favorably today, even though the breakdown of the show is as follows:

 

1 huge main event

1 tag title match

1 mixed tag

2 midcard singles matches (Perfect/Beefcake and DiBiase/Jake)

9 2-7 minute pointless/forgone conclusion/extended squash matches

 

My show surrounds Hogan/Warrior and cuts out the crap. 10 matches instead of 14. Gone from the card are: Koko B. Ware, Hercules, Bolsheviks, Orients, Bad News, Snuka, and Bravo.

 

 

- Perfect vs. Beefcake

- Submission: Martel vs. Santana

- Hart Foundation vs. Rockers

- Duggan vs. Earthquake

- Million $ Title: DiBiase vs. Jake

- Steel Cage: Piper vs. Rude

- Savage vs. Rhodes

- Tag Titles: Demolition vs. Andre & Haku

- Boss Man vs. Akeem

- WWF Title/IC Title: Warrior vs. Hogan

 

Piper and Rude gets extended a few months and blown off here instead of at MSG. No insta-feud with Bad News for Piper.

 

Scrap the Submission stipulation from the Valentine/Garvin match and give it to Martel and Tito here. New twist to blow off their long feud. Boston Crab vs. Figure Four.

 

Quake squashes Duggan and gives him the aftershock.

 

The rest remains pretty much how it was.

 

Let the girls get involved in the Savage match but leave the wrestling to the guys. Or make it a mixed tag if you think that will draw. Either way.

 

Throw the Harts and Rockers on there for a strong workrate match and an unofficial #1 contenders match. Harts go over. And yes, I realize this is two face vs. face matches on the same show.

[Hawk 34 0]

Did another quick one.

 

WrestleMania VII

This was quite the bloated event with only a pair of relevant matches. It could use some trimming and a little punch.

 

Opening Match

Bret Hart Vs Greg Valentine

-This would be Bret’s big coming out party as a solo performer and Valentine was as a good as any heel in the game at making someone look good. A good strong mid-card wrestling match to put over Bret.

Time: 12 minutes

 

Legion of Doom Vs Demolition

-Demolition had always been called a rip-off if the Road Warriors and for years had been the WWF’s most dominant tag team without question. This version was the Crush/Smash version which didn’t hold the same clout. Demolition and LOD had a feud going almost right off the bat but it never got as far as it could have. While that was in cause of a weak support. I still would have used this opportunity to blow the feud off on a big stage and give LOD a more credible victory as opposed to a quick squash over a JTTS team

Time: Seven Minutes

 

Jake Roberts Vs Earthquake

-Damien getting squashed into hamburger meat still remains one of the most vivid moments in most fans memory. For the sake of fantasy, I simply pushed this program up a few months in advance. This also becomes the event where Jake debuts Lucifer. Earthquake puts over the new snake and Jake gets the sneaky DDT for the win.

Time: 6 Minutes

 

Retirement Match

Ultimate Warrior Vs Randy Savage

-One of the better WM programs in history. Nothing gets changed here

Time: 25 Minutes

 

Eight Man Tag

British Bulldog, Bossman, and Bushwhackers

Vs

Warlord, The Mountie, Haku and Barbarian

-Just to condense the rest of the mid-card into one match. Warlord and Bulldog prolong their issues, while starting the Bossman/Mountie natural rivalry. The faces get the clean victory with Bulldog pinning Haku.

Time: Eight Minutes.

 

IC Title

Texas Tornado Vs Rick Martel

-Tornado won the title from Mr. Perfect in the late fall, allowing Perfect to move up to the main event leaving Von Erich as the new carrier of the IC Title. Rick Martel, by default was the top mid-card heel in place. The incident with Roberts already wrapped up and Martel sought after gold. This also allows the blindfold match to expire from our existence. Two solid mid-card acts here. Martel gets the deserved title reign via assistance from Arrogance.

Time: Ten Minutes

 

WWF Tag Team Titles

Nasty Boys Vs The Rockers

-I would have just hot shot the tag team titles over to the Nasty Boys upon their debut and allowed The HF split to occur at that point to send Bret’s solo career into motion. Rockers were a consistently over face team and the idea here is to keep the titles on Nasty Boys, so a good completive match here with the typical heel shenanigans to finish.

Time: 10 Minutes

 

Ted Dibiase Vs Virgil

-As it was in reality. A hot program that didn’t ultimately serve anything for Virgil aside from a couple big pops and a lifetime of JTTS-Ville.

Time: Eight Minutes

 

The Undertaker Vs Tito Santana

-The start of the streak right here for UT against Santana. No real reason I changed it from Snuka to Santana.

Time: Four Minutes

 

Main Event

Hulk Hogan Vs Mr. Perfect

-No. Really. The Iraqi War angle was beyond tasteless and just atrocious. I would have had Slaughter win the title on the 11/23 SNME over Warrior and blown the entire thing off at The Rumble with Hogan winning back the title. The heel roster for WWF in 1991 was spread severely thin but since this is fantasy rebooking, I’m going to Mr. Perfect capture the #1 contender rights by virtue of winning the Royal Rumble. Some might argue that Perfect wasn’t a real threat but he was a great heel and with Heenan on his side, it allowed for an increase in heel quality. Hogan feuded with Dibiase for awhile and Dibiase was never a big man either. Perfect was a superb heel and had the ability to play that spot.

Time: 18 Minutes

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

WM X7.

 

HHH vs. Angle:

Scrap the HHH running down Austin angle and have Hunter as the face against Angle in a feud over Stephanie. That's an angle that was hot and never resolved. Play it up as no one knows who she'll align with. Either you get the happy ending with Steph choosing face HHH, who then feuds with heel Austin for the belt, or Steph chooses Angle, Hunter snaps and turns heel afterward.

 

UT/Kane vs. Edge and Christian (tag titles):

UT and Kane would win the belts later anyone, so have them destroy these two at Mania.

 

Hardyz and Lita vs. Dudleyz (Bubba, DVon, Spike)

 

Eddie vs. Benoit:

The boiling point of the Benoit vs. Radicalz feud.

 

Jericho (IC champ) vs. Regal (Euro champ)

Title vs. Title

 

Jerry Lynn vs. Dean Malenko (Light Heavy Title):

Dean's long run comes to an end in a good match. Don't need any build, just have a great match with Lynn going over.

 

Big Show vs. All comers (Hardcore):

Big Show says he'll face anyone in a Gauntlet match, taking one challenger after the other in a 15-minute time limit. Rhino comes on last and beats a winded Show in the final seconds.

 

Shane vs. Vince:

WCW champ Booker T debuts, putting Vince down to setup Shane's big elbow and begin the WCW vs. WWF feud with a bang.

 

Rock vs. Austin:

Wouldn't change a thing about this match.

 

This would be one of the last PPV's I would change.

[humanoid92 0]

WM 11, just because of the other thread. Instead of tweaking this one, I'm scrapping a few major aspects: No Lawrence Taylor involvement and no Nash Title reign. Instead, Bret regains the Title from Backlund at the Rumble and Owen gets one last shot at WM in a Submission match.

 

- British Bulldog vs. Bob Backlund

Bulldog and Bret were involved in a feud with Backlund and Owen stemming from Survivor Series. Put Davey Boy over.

 

- IC Title: Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett

Outside of the finish, there was nothing wrong with this match. Jarrett retains.

 

- Women's Title: Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano

Normally I would never advocate a women's match but these two actually had good matches and they ended up doing a Title change the next night on Raw anyway.

 

- Tag Team Titles: 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly vs. Smoking Gunns

The tag division was weak and this would give closure to the whole tag team tournament/subsequent Title change that happened around the Rumble. I had thought Kid was injured at this point, but apparently he wrestled like five matches at the TV tapings the two days following WM 11, so he would have been good to go here. Including this match does shoot me in the foot though because it's four babyfaces and the face side of the roster wasn't very deep. I'd have liked to have gone with Kid vs. Hakushi instead in an opener, but with Owen and Bulldog in singles matches that gets rid of two tag teams and there's really not a whole lot else to do with the tag division. The Gunns retain.

 

- Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel

Even though it's not for the Title, this deserves a prominent slot on the card. Either go with the finish they used, or go with Sid powerbombing Nash to give HBK the bullshit victory, and then go with the HBK face turn the next night because he wanted to get it done on his own.

 

- Undertaker, Lex Luger, Headshrinkers vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, King Kong Bundy, Tatanka, IRS

The old eight man tag. They can still do the goofy stuff with Kama and the urn, which would actually be facilitated by the hectic 8 man tag environment. Perhaps a heel turn for Luger, leading to him joining the Corporation. It couldn't have hurt him at that point. And he could have taken the spot that eventually went to Sid... I never thought Sid needed the Corporation. Undertaker, of course, goes over.

 

- WWF Title, Submission Match: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart

Owen may have pinned Bret the year before, Bret may have escaped the Cage at Summerslam, Owen may have caused Bret to submit at Survivor Series against Backlund, but neither had ever made the other submit. This is the culmination of Owen's quest for the Title, and the final blowoff. Bret retains the Title, leading to Owen unveiling Yokozuna as his tag partner the next night/week/month and beating the Gunns for the Titles in a quest to accomplish everything Bret did (KOTR, Tag Champ, IC Champ) before he gets another serious crack at the WWF Title.

[Naked Snake 0]

The only thing I would change about X-7 is Rock would have kept the title going into Mania (instead of winning it at NWO '01...this also means Angle would not have won it at No Mercy '00) turned heel (Hollywood got to him), and Austin would have came back and beat him at the Astrodome (no heel turn with McMahon). The buildup for Austin/Rock II was not that strong in 2001.

[slabinskia 0]

WRESTLEMANIA IV

 

1. WOMENS TAG TITLES: JUMPING BOMB ANGELS VS GLAMOUR GIRLS

 

Winners: JUMPING BOMB ANGELS 14:36

 

2. DON MURACO VS GREG VALENTINE

 

Winner: GREG VALENTINE 9:51

 

3. BRITISH BULDOGS VS ISLANDERS

 

Winners: BRITISH BULDOGS 14:20

 

4. JUNKYARD DOG VS BAD NEWS BROWN

 

Winner: BAD NEWS BROWN 4:12

 

5. ROUGEOUS VS HART FOUNDATION

 

Winners: ROUGEOUS 15:38

 

6. IC TITLE HONKY TONK MAN VS RANDY SAVAGE

 

Winner: RANDY SAVAGE 12:50

 

INTERMISSION

 

7. BRUTUS BEEFCAKE VS DINO BRAVO

 

Winner: BRUTUS BEEFCAKE 4:08

 

8. TAG TITLES: STRIKE FORCE VS DEMOLITION

 

Winners: DEMOLITION 15:44

 

9. HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN VS ANDRE THE GIANT

 

Winner: ANDRE THE GIANT 5:22

 

10: RICKY STEAMBOAT VS RICK RUDE

 

Winner RICK RUDE 13:30

 

11. JAKE ROBERTS/BAM BAM BIGELOW VS BUTCH REED/ONE MAN GANG

 

Winners: JAKE ROBERTS/BAM BAM BIGELOW 3:07

 

12. WORLD TITLE: HULK HOGAN VS TED DIBIASE

 

Winner: TED DIBIASE 17:45

 

 

My reasons for the changes:

 

I turned this card upside down and shook it up and made something new out of it.It would require several booking changes.Things prabably worked out better in the long run but I thought I would get creative.

 

I dumped the tourney idea.

 

I put the womens match on there since they always had good matches together.

 

I put the buldogs/islanders together and gave them more time because I thought koko/heenan brought the match down.

 

I kept the tag title match the same and gave it more time. Nothing really needed to be changed there.

 

I would of had a double turn in the rougeous/harts match with jimmy hart turning on the hart foundation which would take care of bret's face turn.

 

I put jake/Bigelow in there against gang/reed to get jake on the show.

 

I went with muraco/valentine because it was a better match than muraco/bravo

 

I put beefcake in there with bravo to get beefcake on the show.

 

I did steamboat/rude because it would be a better match than jake/rude.

 

I went with bad newsjyd to get bad news over as the new heel.

 

Andre/Duggan was to get Andre on the show and duggan was a friend of Hogan so it worked.

 

Savage wins the ic belt to end the feud with htm.

 

Dibiase wins the belt in the main event. If you think the heel going over is wrong, that was the original plan. They could have ended it with dibiase/andre double teaming hogan and savage making the save and then the mega powers celebrate at the end.

 

Then after wm you could hotshot the ic belt back to htm with dibiase costing savage the belt. Then have Savage win the belt over dibiase at summerslam. Then you could still have the warrior squash htm at summerslam too. Yes all of this is far fetched but who knows what would have happened if honky didn't make a big deal out of jobbing to savage.