The What If Topic...

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, it's a strange question since Goldberg would have lost to SOMEONE eventually. As in no one can stay undefeated forever. That said, I think WCW would have been okay had he simply won the title back not too long after losing it.

[King Kamala 0]

What if WCW never decided to do Nitro and compete directly with the WWF? Would they have still had a run at the top?

[cabbageboy 0]

I don't think WCW would have ever been flat out the #1 promotion, but they would very likely still be around. I can't imagine them losing 60 million dollars in a year or anything. They would have basically just kept cranking out semi decent Saturday Night shows and an occasional PPV.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

What if Hogan turned down WCW's offer in 1994 and decided to return to the WWF in the fall or the first part of 1995? How different would the promotions have looked?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

No Nitro... interesting.

 

WWE runs 1 hour Raw's forever and has no incentive to force a growth change or new business attitude, with main events like Flash Funk vs Billy Gunn amusing the 2.3 million people still watching. Steve Austin's natural charisma still cancels out his Ringmaster character (If he still goes to ECW as a transition it doesn't really matter (and obviously no Monday Nyquil promos) and he becomes a good TV, house show, and PPV draw (after all, no one is watching him fight main event opponents every week on TV) but the contraints of the company never going into full Attitude mode keep him from becoming THE draw of the 90s.

 

WCW maintains their wrestling-orietned fan base while Hogan brings in some casual fans from the Fed. He does some good PPV business early on but the old school WCW fans won't support him and the new WCW fans get bored his act. WCW and Hogan agree to turn him heel for a dream feud with Sting. Interest in WCW rises and Saturday NIght does some ok numbers for a weekend show. The Omni also does some good numbers for the touring Sting/Hogan feud. After a big PPV blow off (which Sting wins), Hogan really has nothing left to do and retires / makes cameo/nostalgia appearances for WWF.

 

ECW is never "raided" as badly as it actually was because without the Monday Night Wars, neither company needs to increase their roster size drastically. Established stars that stay longer result in more competitive PPV buyrates, especially when several fans become upset with the old and tired concepts WWF and WCW are putting forth. The rise of the internet ups ECW's awareness and word of mouth and PPV numbers go up again while their touring shows are financially sucessful. By 2000, both WWF and WCW begin to do refined, high-production value versions of what's going on in ECW. Fans seem to be really into this, especially Steve Austin. WWF goes for it while WCW remains family friendly. By 2002, though ECW still has some loyal fans, advertisers are not willing to support ECW, they have no TV deal, and they begin to lose money. Heyman's poor business skills and bounced cheques cause established stars to head for the big two. ECW eventually runs out of money and folds.

 

By 2004, the Attitude era is in full effect and Vince Russo, harbouring incredibly risque ideas for 8 years in his head, books the craziest stuff ever seen in wrestling. WWE has a huge money year with lots of high school kids buying shirts and talking about wrestling at school because it's just so cool. WCW tries to be edgey while following Time Warner's strict BS&P guidelines. They do well enough to stay in business but are obviously losing ground to the WWE.

 

By 2006 Vince Russo says he is "burnt out" and quits WWE. WWE has already lost several sponsors due to Vince Russo's booking and hope they can keep their large fanbase with a more wrestling based show. They do for a bit, but since in this scenario this happens in 2006 and not 2000 (meaning no Rock or Austin), their current stars only take them so far before business bottoms out in 2008. WCW also brought in Russo in 2005 and he violated every single one of the BS&P rules, causing WCW to have no TV and eventually fold. WWE buys WCWs assets and books an invasion angle that revitalizes their business.

 

 

[Boxer 0]

What if Goldberg and Brock were still in the WWE today? Would gwe get massive win streaks from the both of them? I guess we would be looking at the WWE and World Heavyweight Champions?

[King Kamala 0]

What if Goldberg and Brock were still in the WWE today? Would gwe get massive win streaks from the both of them? I guess we would be looking at the WWE and World Heavyweight Champions?

 

 

Goldberg-Brock at WMXX might have gotten nuclear heat in a good way. But honestly, I don't imagine Goldberg would have stuck around for very long. Goldberg has never seemed very interested in wrestling. Brock would probably still be a top guy. At some point, he would have fought Triple H (Maybe WrestleMania XXI) and he probably would have probably had another series of matches with Cena where Cena eventually comes out on top.

 

 

[Boxer 0]

So here's a good one.

 

What if the WWF kept WCW as a seperate brand and they DID in fact get a TV contract on Turner so Nitro lives. Would it still be a Monday Night War with WWF vs. WWF's WCW? Or would it be Raw is War on Monday and Thursday Night Nitro?

 

Or is the simple answer that WCW would turn into what ECW has become since they were brought back?

 

I think WCW would've worked if they kept it around and maybe guys like The Rock and Billy Gunn would've been sent down there, obviously for different reasons.

[RedJed 0]

There is alot of "what if" variables to that WCW question about it being a seperate company after WWE bought it out, and at its core, my answer would be that it would be very similar to ECW by the time all is said and done. But "what if" Vince truly wanted it to succeed and took all McMahon hands off the WCW product and had an entire seperate company basically run it from top to bottom (with the exception perhaps being the production)? Then it might have done something.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I'm sure if Vince wanted WCW to succeed he'd be very hands on. He was hands off the original WCW and it went bankrupt.

[RedJed 0]

I'm sure if Vince wanted WCW to succeed he'd be very hands on. He was hands off the original WCW and it went bankrupt.

 

We have seen how ECW has been with Vince's hands all over it......nuff said......

 

Yes indeed, because Vince wasnt able to run it before it collapsed, that led to its downfall......is that what you are trying to say? If so, WOW.

[BruiserKC 0]

Here's an older one. It has been long rumored that other wrestling promoters that were pissed off at Vince McMahon were preparing to pay Bruiser Brody to run-in at the first Wrestlemania before the main event and beat the hell out of Mister T in a shoot. Brody apparently denied them as the money wasn't right. If this was true and Brody had pulled it off...would this have effected the WWF and expansion at all?

[King Kamala 0]

Here's an older one. It has been long rumored that other wrestling promoters that were pissed off at Vince McMahon were preparing to pay Bruiser Brody to run-in at the first Wrestlemania before the main event and beat the hell out of Mister T in a shoot. Brody apparently denied them as the money wasn't right. If this was true and Brody had pulled it off...would this have effected the WWF and expansion at all?

 

 

Good one. They probably could have just painted Brody as a "crazed fan" who attacked Mr. T from behind and ignore it like most unplanned fan run ins. I don't think it would have made as huge an impact as the other promoters would expect.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Muhammad Ali was at ring side in the main event. If he was able to react fast enough, he could have KO'ed Bruiser Brody.

[King Kamala 0]

Nah, Muhammad Ali was already in the early stages of Parkinson's at WrestleMania.

 

 

More likely than not, it would have been a couple guys from the back charging at Brody.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I still think it would have been completely impossible for Brody to even get in the vicinity of the ring.

[cabbageboy 0]

First off, if Brody did jump out and attack Mr. T he would have had Hogan, Piper, Orndorff and everyone else kicking the shit out of him immediately. Brody may have been tough but I doubt he could beat down all those guys.

 

If anything Vince might have used it to his own advantage and signed Brody right after this, since it would have drawn wild heat (if people knew who Brody was). Feud Brody with Hogan, make more money with that feud, and fuck over the other rival promoters even more.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Brody seemed to be all about the money.

 

What if Andre decided not to sell for Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III?

[King Kamala 0]

First off, if Brody did jump out and attack Mr. T he would have had Hogan, Piper, Orndorff and everyone else kicking the shit out of him immediately. Brody may have been tough but I doubt he could beat down all those guys.

 

If anything Vince might have used it to his own advantage and signed Brody right after this, since it would have drawn wild heat (if people knew who Brody was). Feud Brody with Hogan, make more money with that feud, and fuck over the other rival promoters even more.

 

 

Let's not forget Billy Martin was at ringside too. I wouldn't want to fuck with that guy.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Brody seemed to be all about the money.

 

What if Andre decided not to sell for Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III?

 

 

To expand on that a little, let's assume sell also means jump for the bodyslam. If that's the case, Hogan's failed bodyslam (read: the one he DID hit in real life, as opposed to the two prior in the match that failed) clues Hogan into the fact that he's not lifting Andre up. Gorilla can put over how sore and banged up he must be from x amount of failed slam attempts, Jesse can say just how immovable and tough an opponent Andre is.

 

Hogan improvises a finish that works, hits the leg, and 3. The 'one' moment that makes it stand out is gone, however Wrestlemania still becomes a household name, especially with Gorilla and Jesse building Hogan as the underdog the rest of the match.

[LivingLegendGaryColeman 0]

I'm sure if Vince wanted WCW to succeed he'd be very hands on. He was hands off the original WCW and it went bankrupt.

 

We have seen how ECW has been with Vince's hands all over it......nuff said......

 

 

I'm not sure if I agree with that. WCW while slightly more wrestling based at times, was essentially closer to WWE in its peak popularity. ECW was a whole different creature. If Vince launched WCW, it'd be weird, it wouldn't be the same, but it wouldn't seem as bastardized as ECW. ECW is hated for being nowhere close to its namesake. It is hated on for being more like WWE, taking away the atmosphere and style of ECW. That wouldn't be an issue with a Vince-run WCW. WCW in regards to style and atmosphere was relatively similar to WWE.

[Boxer 0]

What if WCW, in a panic move, gave into Ultimate Warrior's demands? I don't know if this was one specific demand, but knowing Warrior it could be true.

 

He bursts into Bischoff's office, demands that he wins the WCW title and ends Goldberg's streak in the process.

 

So instead of Nash ending Goldberg's streak, we have Warrior do it and become the NEW WCW Champion. Obviously this leads to no finger poke of doom, but could the impact of a Warrior title run and ending the streak be worse than Nash doing it?

[King Kamala 0]

I don't see how it could be any better but it might not be any worse. If anything it would give dumb marks their dream match of Warrior Vs Goldberg.

 

 

I'm not sure if this is has been asked so ignore this if it has but here's a good one; it's late Spring/early Summer '94, you're Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan calls and says thanks but not thanks and decides to enjoy semi retirement and his C list action movie acting career. What do you do?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I'm not sure if this is has been asked so ignore this if it has but here's a good one; it's late Spring/early Summer '94, you're Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan calls and says thanks but not thanks and decides to enjoy semi retirement and his C list action movie acting career. What do you do?

 

I asked a similar question earlier in this thread (although in my scenario Hogan just returns to WWF), but go no responses.

 

I figure that Flair would have remained the babyface champion throughout the fall, eventually transitioning the belt to a heel Steve Austin at Starrcade '94. Austin spends most of 1995 defending against Flair, Sting and Savage (and maybe Steamboat if he doesn't get injured).

 

Guys like Duggan, Beefcake and HTM would have never been signed and the promotion would have looked much the same way as it did from December 1993 to May 1994.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

What if Chris Benoit never became smitten with Nancy and/or the split of Kevin & Nancy had been more amicable therefore providing Benoit a "better" relationship with the head booker and therefore Benoit would not have felt all "Fuck it, he's gonna fuck me over, I am OUTTA here" in January of 2000.

 

Chances are that more than anything caused Benoit's real hatred for Sullivan, and vice versa and essentially was the "last straw" for Benoit in WCW.

[Boxer 0]

Here's a darker what if.

 

What if Rick Rude stayed with the WWE and he would die under their watch in 1999? Would this excelerate the heat on the company, since the timing was so close to Pillman's death? Would Owen not be doing the stupid storyline if the media attention was all on Rude? What would be going thru the minds of the WWE if all that happened?

[King Kamala 0]

Here's a darker what if.

 

What if Rick Rude stayed with the WWE and he would die under their watch in 1999? Would this excelerate the heat on the company, since the timing was so close to Pillman's death? Would Owen not be doing the stupid storyline if the media attention was all on Rude? What would be going thru the minds of the WWE if all that happened?

 

Honestly, in short, I don't think it would have changed much.

 

 

Rude's death was about a year and a half after Pillman's, right? It would have gotten some media attention definitely (probably on the level of Eddie Guerrero's death) but you have to remember WWF had one of the hottest shows in the country and I think it would have been hard to bring it down. And I bet Owen would still do the Blue Blazer thing. The difference between Owen's death and Rude's death was Rude's death was the cause of years and years of steroid abuse and Owen's was a freak accident.

[Boxer 0]

What if Montreal never happened? What I mean is that, what if Bret just jobbed cleanly to Michaels with a superkick, 1-2-3, Michaels wins the title Bret goes to WCW, no hype.

 

Where would the business be?

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

What if Montreal never happened? What I mean is that, what if Bret just jobbed cleanly to Michaels with a superkick, 1-2-3, Michaels wins the title Bret goes to WCW, no hype.

 

Where would the business be?

 

Probably the same as it is now, minus the Bret Hart sob story. It really didn't change much, maybe Bulldog wouldn't have jumped to WCW and picked up the injury, but I really don't think it would have done much difference.

 

--

 

What affect would Vince McMahon accepting Eric Bischoff's challenge at Slamboree have on the westling world today - obviously, it'd depend on who won.

[Boxer 0]

What if WCW let DX into the building and on TV live on Nitro? Would they:

 

a) get their asses kicked by the nWo or WCW wrestlers

b) Hall and Nash align with DX

c) DX suceeds and creates havoc in WCW

 

If this happened, wouldn't WCW get the ratings since it was on THEIR show? How would WWE get ratings? This is something I've always wondered about because people would tune into WCW to see DX, thus helping WCW's ratings, so how does WWE benefit here?