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mikeoldmac

Planned champions

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Was they any point when Owen Hart,British Bulldog or Razor Ramon were being considered behind the scene to be the Heavyweight Champion

 

Not that I've ever heard of.

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Would it salvage this thread to turn the discussion towards title changes that were planned out months or years in advance in comparison to title reigns that were booked on the fly? For example, Homicide's ROH title run was months in the making (and I believe would have happened with or without Danielson's injury) and when Bret Hart won the WWF title he didn't know it was going to happen until he arrived at the building.

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Bret Hart won the WWF title he didn't know it was going to happen until he arrived at the building.

 

And, according to the horse via his mouf, may not have gone down had they waited until the next city/taping.

 

I still say that it's my favorite "on the fly" title switch- right up there with Foley and Edge.

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I recall a WWF magazine I had in the summer of '95, in which a Vic Venom notes column said "Why hasn't Razor received any title shots from his friend Diesel? He wants to know, and he wants to know now!", which seems to me he was at least considered for a main event push. He was certainly over enough. On the other hand, there wasn't a heel champion (save three days) for a span of about 30 months - essentially all of Razor's time as a face.

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Yeah, that's what I was thinking. There was never really a top heel champion for Razor to feud with for the title. Maybe if he had stayed with the WWF for another year or two, he could have won the belt.

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Certainly in today's environment with separate brand champions, a Scott Hall would've had a title run. But in mid-90s WWF, they ran with a champion for more or less a year at a time. Being the #2 option wouldn't cut it, and Hall jumped ship before he could've gotten an inevitable opportunity.

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Scott Hall would have been an excellent challenger for both Diesel and Shawn. The history was there, and they obviously had the backstage connection that would have lead to a good match. The problem with that is the fed was really committed to their choices of champions. It'd be extremely risky to turn your #2 babyface in the event that he became another flavor-of-the-month challenger, a la Mabel or the British Bulldog.

 

Every time we do one of those "should have been a world champion" threads, I always default to Scott Hall. He definitely had the look, the personality and the in-ring skills as a face or heel to carry a company. It's a shame that he never god the opportunity. Like Roberts before him and Jeff Hardy afterwards, the personal demons never allowed him to reach his full potential.

 

Had he stuck around in the WWF, he would have gotten the title eventually. Probably would have gotten a WCW run at some point had he not been an utter wreck. For as much as he derailed himself along the way, he also had a history of bad timing. I'm sure he'll take the money made in the NWO over a title run, though.

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It's also worth mentioning that even if the company wanted to turn Razor during this period, which probably wouldn't have been that great of an idea anyway, the Clique would have done their best to prevent such a situation, as that would have meant one of them (Hall in this case) would have to do a job.

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It's also worth mentioning that even if the company wanted to turn Razor during this period, which probably wouldn't have been that great of an idea anyway, the Clique would have done their best to prevent such a situation, as that would have meant one of them (Hall in this case) would have to do a job.

 

What the hell are you talking about? They'd job for each other if they saw benefits in it. Shawn jobbed to Diesel and Razor, Razor jobbed to Shawn and Waltman, Waltman jobbed to... well everyone.

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Yeah, it always seemed like the clique was willing to put each other over pretty frequently. Michaels and Nash would have been willing to put over Hall as the champion, I would think.

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Bret's given a number of interviews where he said he knew ahead of time he was getting the belt but not that it was going to happen where it did. He said he was called into the office one day and he thought he was going to be told he was getting fired but instead was told that they were having to put the WWF belt on a babyface to get things going and he was their pick. Apparently, there was a list of four people they were thinking of putting the belt on. I think the other three were Savage, Backlund and Warrior.

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... they were having to put the WWF belt on a babyface to get things going and he was their pick. Apparently, there was a list of four people they were thinking of putting the belt on. I think the other three were Savage, Backlund and Warrior.

 

I believe that the fourth guy was Curt Hennig, not Bob Backlund. The timelines are a little fishy, given the fact that Hennig didn't turn until they had already ruled Warrior out. Still, Hennig was the guy that I've always heard was the back-up plan.

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That actually would have been fucking awesome. Mr. Perfect turning face on Flair and beating him for the WWF Title? That would have been awesome.

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I think I remember Bret mentioning Backlund being in the running when he did an interview for the observer site a couple months ago.

 

He also mentioned that in his RF shoot, and also thought it was a rib when they asked him to drop it to Backlund in '94.

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Honky was at times out drawing Hogan with the secondary belt.

 

Yeah, I've heard it before and again. And even more after that.

 

I guess that is supposed to make it okay to not do what your boss asks of you.

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Honky was at times out drawing Hogan with the secondary belt.

 

Yeah, I've heard it before and again. And even more after that.

 

I guess that is supposed to make it okay to not do what your boss asks of you.

 

 

No, it doesn't make it ok, if the boss wants want you to drop his belt, you should drop it. Too bad a lot of people don't feel that way.

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