80s Stars That Would Fit In Current Day WWE

[Wildcat66]

So at this point, we've talked about WWE/GFW/ROH stars in old day promotions such as WWF, (Rock N Wrestling or Attitude) WCW, ECW or even the territories of the 70s and 80s.

But let's flip the script a little. What if we took a list of stars from the past and put them in present day WWE? What then?

80s WWF:
Bob Backlund
Bruno Sammartino
Don Muraco
Haku
Jim Duggan
Mr. Perfect
Ted DiBiase

New Gen WWF:
Adam Bomb
Barry Horowitz
Diesel
Doink the Clown
Hakushi
Marc Mero
Razor Ramon

Attitude Era WWF:
Ahmed Johnson
Brian Christopher
D-Lo Brown
Ken Shamrock
Mankind
Savio Vega
Scotty 2 Hotty
Vader

Any guesses?

 

[bittermang]

What I would give to see Bray Wyatt walk in to the Snake Pit and have an interview with Jake The Snake Roberts. Would they be friends? Do the snakes follow the path of the buzzards? Or would they be bitter enemies, buzzard and snake fighting over a carcass.

I wouldn't even mind seeing today's Jake The Snake have a battle of wits with Wyatt, let alone a "in his prime" 80s Snake. It would just be incredible.

 

[Wildcat66]

What I would give to see Bray Wyatt walk in to the Snake Pit and have an interview with Jake The Snake Roberts. Would they be friends? Do the snakes follow the path of the buzzards? Or would they be bitter enemies, buzzard and snake fighting over a carcass.

I wouldn't even mind seeing today's Jake The Snake have a battle of wits with Wyatt, let alone a "in his prime" 80s Snake. It would just be incredible.

That would be amazing. I would also love to see Bray Wyatt go up against Mankind, whether in his sadistic side or his lovable babyface persona.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

As ever, none of them would "fit" because the modern WWE is based off of them.

Dolph was part Rick Rude, part Mr. Perfect... Bray is part Waylon Mercy, part Jake The Snake... Tyler Breezle is Rick The Model Martel done in 2017 and Fandango is basically Honky Tonk Man.

If you're referring to workers in their prime, it'd be easy to see some different talents rise to the top. Guys who could fly like Koko B. Ware, The Killer Bees and The Rockers would be bigger than they were then, but would also probably be "noise". In essence you'd be taking old school and transplanting it into an era that is far more spot driven... so very few would work as well unless they could do both effectively, The guys mentioned all had spots that would fit into today's product and still could sell etc...

Are there some characters that still could be redone? possibly... There hasn't been a good version of Rick Rude yet... Harry Smith coming back as The British Bulldog would work well... Braun Strowman is quickly becoming a latter day Bruiser Brody, a character the WWE Universe has never really seen.

There's still room for a Demolition reboot, with the name and everything... but none of these would need the original workers.

If in fantasy land I could take one guy in his prime and put him into today's WWE, it'd be 1991-92 Davey Boy. He'd be a massive star globally that he so nearly was back then.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

I am genuinely unsure if Mankind would get over today. Mankind was brutal and sadistic and one of the best WWF characters ever. But he was a very hardcore kind of wrestler and WWE do not promote that kind of action anymore. Not only that, Mankind/Mick Foley was one heck of a Promo guy and his Promo's got his matches over. With WWE now being so scripted it is silly, then I don't know if Mankind would get the right promo to help deliver his passion. I am currently reading Hardcore Diaries (I purchased this in 2007 and still have only just got around to reading it) and in the first part of the book he even mentioned the trouble with scripted promos (and also listed the benefits of them)!

I would love to see a Million Dollar man kind of character. I realise that Vince is the $bn king, but to have a $m man character that had loads of money.... they could bring him in and have him taunt long time performers like Orton, Cena, Taker etc and say despite he only just coming to the WWE he is already richer than them. He could stand in the ring and say to the fans "I am doing this for the passion. And I know these fans, these WWE universe members, are so very pleased to be here tonight to catch a glimpse of me. The pleasure is all mine, I realise how hard you people have it here in this town (Insert City name), and how inspiring I am to you all. It is my pleasure. Now if you can all refrain from your noise, I will show you how I deal with the poor scum like this guy (insert opponent name)". He could even start by addressing the crowed sarcastically by speaking to them as if they share the same view of poor people, and slowly become more agitated by the fans booing him, he turns on the fans even more so he becomes openly hostile and speaks down to them too. I think this would get over with the fans - a heel they would love to hate.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I think most WWF wrestlers back in the day with at least some moderate talent and success would do well in todays WWE.
The talent was so high back in the day that most decent wrestlers never even got a look in of the world title.
Particuarly wrestlers like the Dynamite Kid who I believe was the greatest skilled wrestler of all time and was way before his time would have had huge success in todays era.
In saying that I don't think they would put up with the behaviour now of some of the talent that they put up with back then, Its more a bunch of yes men now and its kind of do as they say or your out kind of company, For that reason alone I feel guys like Dynamite, Fuji, Andre, Albano, Ventura and Piper etc wouldnt last 5 minutes in the company if they started out today.