Armchair Bookers: What if Brian Pillman...

[Zack Malibu 0]

Today's topic deals with my favorite wrestler ever. By spring of 1996, Brian Pillman had made himself into the most controversial superstar in wrestling thanks to the worked-shoot angle that he, Kevin Sullivan, and Eric Bischoff were proudly showcasing in WCW. Pillman knew that he needed to increase his exposure somehow so that he could get the big money that others in WCW were getting at the time, and this was his way to do it...although that big money wound up coming from the WWF once Pillman managed to swerve Bischoff into giving him a legitimate release, supposedly as part of the shoot angle.

 

Also in the spring of '96, Pillman wrecked his Humvee, getting thrown from the vehicle and messing up his body badly. It also led to an increase in his addictions, as he couldn't deal with the pain from the accident and tried to rush himself into better health to get back on TV and prove himself still worthy of the spot he made for himself. He was signed to a WWF contract and made appearances on crutches for months simply to prove his worth.

 

Now, we all know how Pillman's story ends...but...what if that wreck never happened? What if a healthy, active, ready to wrestle Brian Pillman was the one who made ECW appearances and signed with the WWF...not the one stuck in a wheelchair or on crutches? What would have happened if Pillman could have gotten right into the ring? With the losses of Hall and Nash coming up, as well as the punishment of HHH for a year, would Pillman just slide into one of their spots, or would he be humbled into starting from the ground up like oh so many wrestlers who jumped to the WWF from a competitor? Would he have been a superstar of the Attitude Era? Would he have stuck by his best friends, The Harts, during the Montreal Screwjob? Would he have had a dream feud with Austin once the latter's star took off?

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Unless his injury would have drastically changed things, I always pictured him in Foley's place as putting Austin over after his first title win. I think he would have stayed in the WWF despite the screwjob since the whole reason for him being there was to make money for his kids.

[Steviekick 0]

I think he would have stayed with WWE. Didn't he pretty much burn his bridges with Bischoff on his way out of WCW?

[cabbageboy 0]

If Pillman had stayed healthy and lived he was seriously about 6 months away from drawing big money in the WWF. He was ideal for the Attitude Era and brought a sense of chaos to whatever program he was in. I could see him feuding with Austin, but I think he would have been this crazy tweener type that was too deranged for the Corporation, yet too much of a nutjob to be a babyface.

[Diamonddust 0]

If his demons didn't get the best of him (Even without the crash increasing his dependency), I think he would have been the on again/off again foil for Austin like many people are saying. He might not have been a consistent main eventer during the period, but he would have definitely had a nice stretch against Austin... probably as a hired gun by McMahon with the line of logic:

 

Only someone as crazy and deranged as Austin can take him down.

[BUTT 0]

I'll just post what I wrote at the Pit:

 

You're saying this as though it's a given he would have gone to WWF. Pillman never wanted to leave WCW. He just wanted to make as much money as Luger was making (he had a weird hang-up about Luger). The reason why he didn't resign with WCW wasn't so much due to money as it was that Bischoff insisted on keeping the 90-day release cycle cause in his contract. Whether Eric would have been willing to budge on that if he wasn't in the accident, I don't know. But Brian wanted to stay in WCW.

[Zack Malibu 0]

He also didn't want to wind up as just another face in the crowd to Hogan and his buddies. When the Loose Cannon character took off and Hogan immediately wanted him put into the Doomsday cage match at Uncensored that year, he knew he couldn't risk something like that, as Hogan and co. would have killed the character. So that also led to him going to the WWF.

[strummer 0]

Pillman was included as being in the Doomsday match on the Pre-PPV hype show for Uncensored 96 so it must have been a last minute decision to take him out.

 

He was definitely right to get out of the match as he most likely would have done the job

 

I recall his last appearance on WCW programming being on an episode of Nitro where he was holding up smart-type signs in the crowd and Bischoff yelling "Get him off camera, get him out of here!"

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Didn't it have a hotline number on it?

[cabbageboy 0]

Just wondering but why would Pillman have done the job in the Doomsday match? The whole point of it was that Flair was the one who had to have his plans backfire and that he had to job.

 

If you believe Bischoff then Luger wasn't really making that much money during his 1995-96 run in WCW, so it makes me wonder what Pillman was making if he was pissed at not making as much as Luger.

[BUTT 0]

Yeah, well, I don't believe Bischoff. Of course he goes out of his way now to bury Luger and make it look like he only took him back because he REALLY HAD TO. Whatever he was making, Pillman's belief was that Lex was making around $400K at the time.

 

Pillman would have done the job because Hogan wanted to beat him. I guess Hulk thought beating an over heel would give him the rub or something (I know that doesn't make sense, considering we're talking about Hulk Hogan, arguably the biggest star ever, but when has he ever made sense?). Also, Pillman was hyped for Uncensored despite him never committing to being there. He told them he wasn't coming, but they still hyped him anyway because they thought he eventually would agree. He didn't.

[Gert T 0]

Another hypothetical that comes from that is, would Chris Benoit have reached his level (World Champ) without Pillman leaving? The fact that he "stepped in" to fight Sullivan at GAB '96 because Pillman "ran away".

 

That match put Benoit on the map.

 

 

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Benoit wouldn't have got the Sullivan feud, he wouldn't have got Nancy, he wouldn't...and so on. Wow.

[JN News 0]

I think if those tragic incidents in Pillman's life had never happened, he'd still be here, today, of course. But, I kinda think if he was still alive, Vince probably would've let Owen go with the rest of the Hart Foundation, and kept Pillman. Maybe he could've feuded with DX in 1998. Maybe he could've feuded with Triple H & Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley (w/DX) in 2000. I think the 2000 senario for Pillman would've been interesting.