Biggest "Drop the Ball" Moment in Ever

[TMC1982 0]

In other words, what particular moment in wrestling sticks out the most for being ready made for major success only to be totally botched in the end (due to politics, stupidity, etc.). Examples (at least in my estimation):

*Verne Gagne not fully capitalizing on Hulk Hogan's popularity in the AWA.

 

*No Ric Flair-Hulk Hogan match at WrestleMania.

 

*Kerry Von Erich's NWA Title reign. When I say this, I mean that Kerry messed things up for himself by getting himself doped up all the time to the point of being too unreliable.

 

*Bret Hart being misused in WCW. After Sting beat Hogan, WCW should've immediately had Bret Hart challenge Sting for the World Title. This would've been (just like with Flair and Hogan back in 1991-1992) a perfect opportunity to promote a WCW Champion vs. WWF Champion (since it could be argued that Bret never actually lost the title to Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series) match down the road.

 

*The Invasion

 

*Jim Crockett burying the UWF after Crockett Promotions purchased the UWF (foreshadowing what Vince McMahon would do to WCW nearly 15 years later).

 

*Sting not beating Hogan cleanly at Starrcade '97.

 

*WCW under Jim Herd letting Ric Flair go to WWF/E with the NWA belt.

 

*Rob Van Damn snorking up his World Title push (being the WWE Champion and the ECW Champion at about the same time) due to his love for Mary Jane.

 

*Pro Wrestling USA and the subsequent Super Clash III PPV.

 

*WCW not keeping a hold of Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, etc.

 

Another classic "drop the ball moment" if you ask me concerning WCW, was not having the Horsemen be a more formidable threat to the nWo. The Horsemen were perhaps, the original "bad boys of wrestling". They were the elite group that everybody feared during the old, Crockett/NWA era days of WCW. So basically, a Horsemen/nwo feud, if done properly, would've been a classic "old school WCW" vs. "new school WCW". Instead, the Horseman were seemingly, frequently jobbed out or humiliated (a la the infamous skit on "Nitro" poking fun of Arn Anderson's retirement speech) with little retribution.

 

 

[Ravenbomb 0]

I don't think any "drop the ball" moment has been as bad as the Invasion.

[Diamonddust 0]

I don't think any "drop the ball" moment has been as bad as the Invasion.

 

Hogan vs. Goldberg on free television comes to mind.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I don't think that match left nearly as much money on the table as Vince's fucking up the Invasion did.

[Diamonddust 0]

I don't think that match left nearly as much money on the table as Vince's fucking up the Invasion did.

 

Ehhh...

 

History should have told us all the Invasion was going to be doomed to fail (Look at the UWF/Crockett situation). Anyone who thought they were going to be on an equal footing and such were misguided (Myself at the time included). The Invasion angle might have failed, but the purchase of WCW, in my opinion, should be valued more for the tape library they got. They've been able to generate new revenue streams based on that alone (The WWE 24/7 channel and the subsequent DVD releases).

 

WCW was damaged goods going into the Invasion, and outside of them getting an NWO style push from the start... they were never going to be considered serious threats.

 

As for Hogan/Goldberg, that should have been the main-event at Starcade, and it could have been built as simply as Goldberg plowing through NWO members until reaching Hogan in December. The downside being is that WCW was too screwed up to realize that or even put a freaking rematch on pay-per-view.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I'm actually glad they did Goldberg/Hogan just the way it was cause if they would have scripted out a 6-month storyline for that heading into Starrcade, we'd have received something to the effect of the previous year's Hogan/Sting main event w/ a bullshit ending leaving people scratching their heads . . . oh wait, we got that anyway.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

The Invasion failed because the WWE couldn't take on the bloated WCW top talent contracts without blowing their salary structure out of the water at the time.

 

I'd vote never having Hogan vs Flair at WM as the biggest "dropping the ball" happening. Austin vs Hogan never happening is another one.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Yeah...the Invasion was doomed when they didn't bring in any of the real main eventers...I'm sorry, but Booker T and DDP were just not going to be seen as being the equals of Austin, Rock, etc. Eventually of course, Vince brought in the nWo, Goldberg, and Flair...so I think the argument that they couldn't afford it was just kind of BS. How pathetic was it when at the final apperance of "The Alliance" (a completely lame stable name if there ever was one), Kurt Angle and Steve Austin were the two top guys in the faction?

 

The Invasion could have worked if Vince had just checked his ego a bit and let the Alliance guys get over somewhat...but at every turn, the WWF pretty much handled "WCW" and "ECW" too easily. Also the booking of Steve Austin as the heel leader of the Alliance at the time was just asinine.

[The Buzz 0]

Starrcade 97 and the Invasion are the first two that come to mind.

 

I think not pulling the trigger on Tazz in WWE was a mistake. Fans wanted a reason to get behind him as a legit threat during some of his encounters with guys like Austin, Undertaker, and Triple H.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

Yeah...the Invasion was doomed when they didn't bring in any of the real main eventers...I'm sorry, but Booker T and DDP were just not going to be seen as being the equals of Austin, Rock, etc. Eventually of course, Vince brought in the nWo, Goldberg, and Flair...so I think the argument that they couldn't afford it was just kind of BS. How pathetic was it when at the final apperance of "The Alliance" (a completely lame stable name if there ever was one), Kurt Angle and Steve Austin were the two top guys in the faction?

 

The Invasion could have worked if Vince had just checked his ego a bit and let the Alliance guys get over somewhat...but at every turn, the WWF pretty much handled "WCW" and "ECW" too easily. Also the booking of Steve Austin as the heel leader of the Alliance at the time was just asinine.

 

I could be wrong, but Vince brought in Goldberg, Flair and the nWo after their Turner contracts ran out, meaning they were probably brought in under the wwe payscale and under wwe contracts not the guaranteed WCW variety. All those under Turner contracts were getting crazy money, probably much more than what the top wwe guys were getting at the time.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Yeah...the Invasion was doomed when they didn't bring in any of the real main eventers...I'm sorry, but Booker T and DDP were just not going to be seen as being the equals of Austin, Rock, etc. Eventually of course, Vince brought in the nWo, Goldberg, and Flair...so I think the argument that they couldn't afford it was just kind of BS. How pathetic was it when at the final apperance of "The Alliance" (a completely lame stable name if there ever was one), Kurt Angle and Steve Austin were the two top guys in the faction?

 

The Invasion could have worked if Vince had just checked his ego a bit and let the Alliance guys get over somewhat...but at every turn, the WWF pretty much handled "WCW" and "ECW" too easily. Also the booking of Steve Austin as the heel leader of the Alliance at the time was just asinine.

 

I could be wrong, but Vince brought in Goldberg, Flair and the nWo after their Turner contracts ran out, meaning they were probably brought in under the wwe payscale and under wwe contracts not the guaranteed WCW variety. All those under Turner contracts were getting crazy money, probably much more than what the top wwe guys were getting at the time.

 

 

Yes, but they could have waited till sometime in 2002 to start "the Invasion" with Vince getting more and more paranoid as the months went on knowing that his son was planning his demise, because "if anyone can beat a McMahon, it's another McMahon". THEN you get Nash, Hall, Hogan, Flair, Goldberg, and others that can be brought in with the undercard group and have the undercard be the ones that jump from side to side while the main core stays the same. They could have run the storyline for a solid year if not longer if it was booked properly and, as people have said, Vince checked his ego at the door. Of course, WWE would have inevitably been the victor in the whole thing, but the story getting to that point could have been done much better. Hell, done in a certain style there might not have ever needed to be a true winner, just an ongoing continuous state of war between the two or three main groups.

[Papacita 0]

Yeah, the main reason the Invasion didn't work was because they just got impatient. I seem to remember early talk pegging a WCW relaunch for late 01/early 02, but with HHH going down with the quad tear and their lack of faith in Benoit and Jericho, they just seemed to panic and pull the trigger early.

 

But yeah, if you're talking biggest ever, this and Starrcade 97 are easy winners.

 

Promotion specific, ECW fucked up big by not pulling the trigger on RVD/Tazz until after Tazz signed to WWF and had begun doing jobs to people right and left on ECW TV. Not to mention not giving RVD the World Title.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

The thing to remember about the Invasion is that originally it wasn't going to be an angle. WCW was going to be relaunched with a Saturday night program on TNN. It was only after they realized that they couldn't get additional programming that they decided to try to make some money off the name and utilize the wrestlers whose contracts they purchased. The actual angle came together haphazardly because there was no actual plan when they started it.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

I'll argue the WCW/Bret Hart scenario for several reasons...

 

1: You're coming off an event where Bret Hart essentially "got screwed" by the WWF, lost the World Title in his home country, and was proficient enough on the mic to keep up with the stars you had. This guy was arguably the face of the WWF from 1992-1997. It's like luring an in his prime Hogan.

 

2: He had plenty of feuds that could've been utilized at the time from mid-card level up to the elite tier if you wanted to build him up that way: DDP, Chris Benoit, Lex Luger, Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Ric Flair, Goldberg, and Sting. Many of these guys Bret had some familiarity with from his WWF days that could've been built up as well.

 

3: An ideal scenario would've been Bret coming in and joining up with Sting/Flair/Goldberg taking on the NWO in a fresh feud with the NWO featuring Hogan, Hall, Nash, and a fourth member of your choosing. He also had Bulldog/Neidhart coming in and you could've set that trio up as a third stable (throw in Benoit possibly) and have them feuding with the NWO with others on their own such as Sting and Goldberg.

 

4: You had several "dream matches" instantly: Bret Hart vs. a red hot DDP, Bret Hart vs. Sting, Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair, Bret Hart vs. Goldberg, and finally Bret Hart vs. Hogan. WCW could've easily milked those individual matches for at least 5-6 months each if not longer. You could've also had Benoit feud with Bret over the US Title to build him up, then move Bret to the top.

[garfieldsnose 0]

Austin vs Hogan never happening is another one.

 

"Dropping" the ball usually means there was a chance to do something pretty great in a lot of eyes, and then failing to do so or muffing it up. There was never a real chance to do Austin/Hogan at a WM since their two egos would make it impossible. The closest they could have gotten was WM 19, but I'm not sure if that should really be called dropping the ball.

 

Yeah, the main reason the Invasion didn't work was because they just got impatient. I seem to remember early talk pegging a WCW relaunch for late 01/early 02, but with HHH going down with the quad tear and their lack of faith in Benoit and Jericho, they just seemed to panic and pull the trigger early.

 

I think Benoit was also injured during most of the invasion if not all of it, so they had a lot of talent on both sides either not signed or injured. Angle and Austin joining the Alliance was pretty much the pits for that whole storyline.

[haws bah gawd 0]

As others have stated:

 

Goldberg vs Hogan on free TV - probably WCW's biggest fuckup aside from the finger poke. Of course, I didn't mind because I was an unemployed 17 year old, and was getting this HUGE match on free tv.

 

Vince botching the return of the nWo.

 

The Invasion

 

RVD never being ECW Champion during the promotion's heyday.

 

WWE not pushing Tazz to the moon after his debut.

[cabbageboy 0]

Again, dropping the ball on the Invasion would imply there was a ball to drop. I personally don't think there was. People need to realize this was not 1996-98 era WCW here. It was horrible, devalued, can't draw a dime 2001 era WCW. The promotion and its wrestlers were anti draws by that point to the point where no TV network wanted any part of a WCW show.

 

So what if they had in fact brought in Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, and Steiner earlier than before? They still wouldn't have done much aside from Hogan. Steiner would have still sucked, Goldberg would have still sulked and walked after a year, Nash wouldn't have been healthy, and Hall would have been fired for being drunk anyway. Most of those top WCW stars had been in the WWF anyway, hell the entire basis of the NWO angle was that it was the WWF attacking WCW. There were no "WCW brand names" aside from maybe Goldberg, DDP, and Booker. The distinct WCW brand died off around the time Hogan first came to WCW and made it a rehash of 1980s WWF.

 

The biggest missed opportunity of the Invasion era is something people often overlook. Take a look at all the guys the WWF got from WCW in the buyout. Then take a look at how many are still left on the roster now. They took every young guy and buried them all or released them, then look back now and see there's no fresh talent in the pipeline.

[Mos_Def 0]

I completely agree with CabbageBoy with his invasion analysis. WCW was in such a dilapidated state by the time Vince brought them. Their roster and image sucked. That said, they probably could have gotten more out of the brand, but in reality Vince actually did more with WCW than the NWA did with their UWF purchase. Man, those guys got buried IMMEDIATELY.

 

Hogan and Flair / and Bret in WCW are the ones. Man, hogan vs. Flair should have been the match of the century. Just hold it off and build towards Wrestlemania 8. There is no good explanation for why they messed that up. Bret was the biggest star in the industry when he jumped. They made him ordinary as soon as he appeared.

[TMC1982 0]

Austin vs Hogan never happening is another one.

 

"Dropping" the ball usually means there was a chance to do something pretty great in a lot of eyes, and then failing to do so or muffing it up. There was never a real chance to do Austin/Hogan at a WM since their two egos would make it impossible. The closest they could have gotten was WM 19, but I'm not sure if that should really be called dropping the ball.

 

Yeah, the main reason the Invasion didn't work was because they just got impatient. I seem to remember early talk pegging a WCW relaunch for late 01/early 02, but with HHH going down with the quad tear and their lack of faith in Benoit and Jericho, they just seemed to panic and pull the trigger early.

 

I think Benoit was also injured during most of the invasion if not all of it, so they had a lot of talent on both sides either not signed or injured. Angle and Austin joining the Alliance was pretty much the pits for that whole storyline.

 

Instead of RVD being given the belt and running with it (after Tazz, Shane Douglas, Raven and company left), he had to sit through the likes of Mike Awesome and Justin Credible as World Champs during the last few years of the old ECW.

 

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Instead of RVD being given the belt and running with it (after Tazz, Shane Douglas, Raven and company left), he had to sit through the likes of Mike Awesome and Justin Credible as World Champs during the last few years of the old ECW.

I thought Heyman's plan was to have a "World vs. TV" feud, with RVD holding the TV Title...but RVD got injured before he got the chance.

[haws bah gawd 0]

Instead of RVD being given the belt and running with it (after Tazz, Shane Douglas, Raven and company left), he had to sit through the likes of Mike Awesome and Justin Credible as World Champs during the last few years of the old ECW.

I thought Heyman's plan was to have a "World vs. TV" feud, with RVD holding the TV Title...but RVD got injured before he got the chance.

 

As random as it was, Mike Awesome as Champion was pretty entertaining, IMO. We got some great matches between him and Masato Tanaka, and it was always fun to watch him "ragdoll" Spike Dudley. I do agree though that if RVD weren't injured, it would have been time to give him the ball and let him run with it.

[Mos_Def 0]

Instead of RVD being given the belt and running with it (after Tazz, Shane Douglas, Raven and company left), he had to sit through the likes of Mike Awesome and Justin Credible as World Champs during the last few years of the old ECW.

I thought Heyman's plan was to have a "World vs. TV" feud, with RVD holding the TV Title...but RVD got injured before he got the chance.

 

Yeah, the plan was for RVD to chase Awesome for the belt, on TNN television, but RVD broke his leg and Mike Awesome jumped.

[Hasbeen2 0]

*Verne Gagne not fully capitalizing on Hulk Hogan's popularity in the AWA.

 

Your winner.

[TMC1982 0]

*Verne Gagne not fully capitalizing on Hulk Hogan's popularity in the AWA.

 

Your winner.

 

Verne Gagne was way too stuck in the past (only technical wrestlers like himself or Nick Bockwinkel should be the champ) to fully get behind Hogan. And that's one of the reasons why the AWA died because Verne Gagne always seemed too steps behind what Vince McMahon and to a certain extent, Ted Turner in WCW going into the '80s. So with Hogan gone, then AWA guys that were left behind ultimately started to use Verne's promotion as a glorified minor league for the WWF.

[cabbageboy 0]

One wonders with Hogan however....would the AWA have been big enough to sustain his ego? Or would he have eventually left for NYC and the big time anyway?

[CubbyBr 0]

Again, dropping the ball on the Invasion would imply there was a ball to drop. I personally don't think there was. People need to realize this was not 1996-98 era WCW here. It was horrible, devalued, can't draw a dime 2001 era WCW. The promotion and its wrestlers were anti draws by that point to the point where no TV network wanted any part of a WCW show.

 

So what if they had in fact brought in Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, and Steiner earlier than before? They still wouldn't have done much aside from Hogan. Steiner would have still sucked, Goldberg would have still sulked and walked after a year, Nash wouldn't have been healthy, and Hall would have been fired for being drunk anyway. Most of those top WCW stars had been in the WWF anyway, hell the entire basis of the NWO angle was that it was the WWF attacking WCW. There were no "WCW brand names" aside from maybe Goldberg, DDP, and Booker. The distinct WCW brand died off around the time Hogan first came to WCW and made it a rehash of 1980s WWF.

 

Hogan, Hall, Nash, etc were still huge names at the time. Remember the reaction they got during the Hogan nWo vs. Rock feud? And that was a full year later. Your're telling me that if Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Sting, Flair, Steiner, Jarret, and DDP all came in at once, as one group, and feuded with Austin, Angle, Undertaker, Rock, Big Show, Foley, Dudley Boys, etc that wouldn't have drawn? Goldberg vs. Undertaker at the time wouldn't draw? How about Austin vs. Flair or Hall/Nash vs. Dudleys? These guys were still huge names and, if put in the right situation, could have drawn huge money. Sure, guys like Hall/Nash wouldn't have lasted long but if they capatilized on them right off the bat they could have drawn.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Pro Wrestling USA and the subsequent Super Clash III PPV.

 

These 2 things are not connected. Super Clash 1 in Sept 85 was the Super Card not a PPV

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

*Verne Gagne not fully capitalizing on Hulk Hogan's popularity in the AWA.

 

Your winner.

 

Verne Gagne was way too stuck in the past (only technical wrestlers like himself or Nick Bockwinkel should be the champ) to fully get behind Hogan. And that's one of the reasons why the AWA died because Verne Gagne always seemed too steps behind what Vince McMahon and to a certain extent, Ted Turner in WCW going into the '80s. So with Hogan gone, then AWA guys that were left behind ultimately started to use Verne's promotion as a glorified minor league for the WWF.

 

This is a common error, Verne wanted the AWA World title on Hogan, but Verne also wanted Hogan to give him $$$ from his Japan deal since being an AWA champ would make Hogan a bigger star in Japan. That and he also sold some Hogan T-shirts and supposedly had no intention of giving Hogan a cut

[TMC1982 0]

Pro Wrestling USA and the subsequent Super Clash III PPV.

 

These 2 things are not connected. Super Clash 1 in Sept 85 was the Super Card not a PPV

 

I'm refering to the 1988 PPV (the first and only timet that the AWA got on PPV), which united the AWA with World Class and the Memphis group. I don't completely understand that these three promotions (they already had timeslot with ESPN), with their backs against the wall (in the face of the WWF and the NWA/WCW, who had Ted Turner backing them) didn't work better as a cohesive unit. But then again, egos and politics will always get in the way of good business sense.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Ok but that still wasn't Pro Wrestling USA