Change a Moment in Wrestling History

[realblackhart]

This sounds a little weird but we all have had a moment in wrestling history that we probably weren't fond of. Maybe you didn't like the demonic Undertaker angle, Goldberg being undefeated, Ric Flair retiring, Hogan getting the win over Shawn Michaels, the Katie Vic angle, giving a plummer gimick for a wrestler, or a maybe it's not making the Blue Blazer come down from the ceiling that May 23, night at Over the Edge.

Choose a time in wrestling history that if you were around then you could change to something different. You can choose a gimmick, a storyline, or a decision of a match or whatever you want. The moment could make a drastic change in wrestling and still have an effect on it now, or maybe just affect wrestling at that time.

I would have to pick November 1997's Survivor Series. I would like to be at the Gorrila Position at the 1997 Survivor Series to change what really happened in Montreal Canada that night. I think it's funny after more than 10years that this moment is still being talked about. I would love to be there to tell the Hart Foundation that there was an order by Vince to create a disqualification. This might have changed a lot at that time. Does Bret really give the title to Shawn the next night? Does he throw the title in the trash on Monday Night Nitro ala Alundra Blaze? Does he pull a Ric Flair and call himself the real World Champion carrying the WWF title to WCW telivision? Does the Hart Foundation get fired for ruining Vince's plans? I guess we will never know.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Here's a few of the injuries that I think most people would agree would be good options for things you'd prevent in retrospect:

1. Owen's death. Nobody knows what would have happened if he could have survived that fall, but he had so much potential.

2. Shawn Michaels wouldn't take the plunge over the top rope that would injure his back.

3. Bret Hart's stroke.

4. Austin's neck injury from Owen's piledriver.


As for non-injury things, the only change I can think of that I would make is that I wouldn't have had Hornswoggle be Vince's kid. I wouldn't have had the angle at all, but if I had to, I'd have made it so the whole thing was a sham perpetrated by (someone) who could start feuding with McMahon. That way we wouldn't have Hornswoggle anymore, we wouldn't have had the lame Finlay/Khali feud, and we'd have had a better match at WrestleMania XXIV instead of Finlay/JBL.

 

[klunderbunker]

For me the easiest one would be changing the Invasion storyline so that the real stars of WCW would have been there. That easily could have been the biggest angle in the history of professional wrestling, but it flopped and it flopped for one simple reason: the WCW/ECW team was god awful. They had one big star on it and that was Booker. Change that Survivor Series team to Nash, Hall, Hogan, Goldberg and Booker, are you telling me that wouldn't have been one of the biggest matches of all time? For six months all we had was WWE main eventers beating up on Alliance midcarders. It was so far from what it could have been and that's a shame.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

NoFate mentioned it already (damn poster of the year garbage...) but I will echo and elaborate. I would unquestionably change SummerSlam 1997. Owen Hart had NO BUSINESS even attempting a tombstone piledriver - it wasn't his move and wasn't his place to try - and botching it, resulting in Austin's broken neck, shortened one of the greatest professional wrestling careers of all time. Lord knows we could use Austin back right now, and that night in New Jersey back in '97 (I was in attendance) cost us Austin vs Cena, Austin vs Orton, Austin vs Edge.

 

[jmt225]

Sly already answered this in his thread in the Barroom, and I feel the exact same way he does.

Starrcade 1997 was the biggest letdown in wrestling history. As Sly pointed out, all it took to make us fans happy would've been for Sting to dominate the match from start to finish, while also fighting off all the interference from the nWo. That's all it took for that match to live up to the hype… yet, WCW still managed to somehow complete fuck it up. And because of that, instead of feeling joy after what was suppose to be the biggest match in wrestling history was over, I felt confusion and extreme disappointment. I will always have a bitter taste in my mouth over that match.

 

[Shocky]

I'll go a little bit different of Direction. Wrestlemania 18, but a series of event that lead up to what ended up being once of the most disappointing Wrestlemanias as a whole in the history of professional wrestling.

WCW vs. the WWF, yes, it was fucked beyond all recognition. Instead of having the Undisputed Title match at Armageddon, fuck that, we go one better. The Rock wins the WWF title from Steve Austin, and the WCW title is still in limbo. I'm not sure who is champion, but imagine, the NWO come in, and Hogan wins the WCW championship.

Instead of having Triple H and his wonderful moment of holding up two titles, how about we get to see the match that people actually paid for. WCW champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. the WWF Champion the Rock to determine the one true Undisputed Champion.

I have tons more, but that's the first.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I would change the "loser retires" match between Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior at WM7 so that Macho Man never retired.

After the match. he became a TV commentator and fell out of fighting shape. When he eventually returned to the ring, he had to wear a shirt to cover his expanding gut.

Why did they do this? Was it management's idea or Savage's? They took one of the best wrestlers of all time and turned him into a talking head. It was hard enough listening to that voice of his (he sounded constipated), but the program also took him out of the ring during his prime fighting years. Why?

When he finally returned to the ring at Summerslam, he was never as good. If I could change something in wrestling history, it would be to have kept him as an active wrestler after WM7.

 

[Mr. TM]

Well I am going back in time almost twenty years and change something that kinda ruins Wrestlemania for me each year. The undertaker is always assured a win, what is the point of putting this match on if you know the winner. Sure he has had a pile of good Wrestlemania matches... well at least two, but it is repetitive. So I would go back to Wrestlemania 7 and have the match take place with Jimmy Snuka. Instead of beating Snuka, and adding nothing to his resume, besides beating an aging, at the time jobber, he would have destroyed him, and got disqualified for it. This would have put him over as a killing walking zombie and we would never have had the boring 16-0 streak that we are still stuck with.

 

[RabidChihuahua]

There are quite a few moments in wrestling that I would love to change, but the one's that I wish would never have happened.

1. Owen Hart's death at Kemper Arena - I truly believe that he was quickly on his way to Main Event status before his untimely demise.

2. Brian Pillman's death in a hotel room before Badd Blood - when we finally heard what happened we were thunderstruck.

3. Chris Benoit's murder/suicide - shocking to say the least and while I always enjoyed his matches, I know I'm probably not alone in saying I still can't really watch anything that he was involved in.

4. Darren Drozdov getting paralyzed - sure, I miss his puking on command..not, but he was getting better as an in ring performer until D'Lo messed him up

As far as actual in-ring/performance things go, here are a few that I've wished could have been different

1. Raven/Sandman crucifixion angle - while Raven had to come out and apologize afterwards, it pushed Kurt Angle to the WWF/E. How would the ECW have fared with a legit Olympic amateur as a headliner? We'll never know.

2. Road Warrior Hawk's "suicide" off the TitanTron - as a longtime fan of the LOD, it just completely sickened me at the time and I still get disgusted when I think about it.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

I think the thing I would change would have been the outcome of the steel cage match of Bret Hart vs. Sid in February or March of 97 I believe. Sid ended up winning and retaining his title because of interference from the Undertaker but I wish the winner would have been Bret.

The reason being is to alot of people championship belts are just props and mean nothing but not to me they dont. A match that involves the heavyweight championship just seems more important to me especially at Wrestlemania. And since Bret vs. Austin at WM13 was my favorite match if Bret would have won that cage match he would have been champion and it would have been the main event and for the championship. Instead of being the show stealer that it was it could have gone down as one of the best main events of all time. At that time in the WWF you really couldnt have asked for a bigger match to headline Wrestlemania then Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin for the World Heavyweight title. Now Im not sure if this would have effected anything or been good for business long term but this is just something I wanted to change from a selfish standpoint because like I said championship matches just seem more important to me.

By the way Im not counting the obvious changes people would make like preventing injuries and deaths Im just picking from an actual storyline related event.

 

[Mustang Sally]

1. Owen Hart's death at Kemper Arena - I truly believe that he was quickly on his way to Main Event status before his untimely demise.

In terms of his ability, this is true. But Bret and Anvil had already left for WCW and I figured that Owen would have joined them if he could. I presumed that he would be gone once his contract expired and if WWE knew this, they might never have elevated Owen to the top.

What I would have changed is to somehow convince him to do the angle involving an affair with Debra McMichael, which Owen refused to do. If he had, there would have been no Blue Blazer and no need to place him in a harness at the ceiling of the Kemper Arena.

 

[DC24]

Am I the only one who didn't have a problem with the Hogan vs Sting match. Hey I wanted Sting to win also but if you advertise this as the greatest match ever you can't have it one sided what I thought was going to happen happened except for the Bret Hart thing which added to it to me personally I was just mad I wasn't there with Starcade being in DC that year. But I wish WCW had never went under and end up being sold to Vince that ruined Wrestling and it took me years to actually start watching again. You need competition if you don't you get the same bullshit every Monday and Friday we get now. Also if Triple H never married Stephanie there's no way he should be a 12 time World Champ.

 

[CCS]

I would have changed a few things. Obviously i would change the angle that had Owen Hart repelling from the ceiling. He was a truly great talent and went way before his time. Another thing i would change is Curt Hennig's injury while he was in the WWF. Curt was an awesome talent. He had the look, the skills, and the charisma. I believe that if he wouldnt have been injured he would have got a push to the WWF title. That would have cememted his legacy as one of the greatest wrestlers ever.

 

[HBK-aholic]

I've seen it mentioned, but without a doubt I would change Shawn hurting his back at the Royal Rumble '98. People still see Shawn as great today, and talk about his achievements. Yet this is with him missing 4 years of what should really have been his prime. It hurt him, it hurt his fans. If he'd have had those 4 years, I'm betting he'd have been a bigger legend now than what he already is.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I've seen it mentioned, but without a doubt I would change Shawn hurting his back at the Royal Rumble '98. People still see Shawn as great today, and talk about his achievements. Yet this is with him missing 4 years of what should really have been his prime. It hurt him, it hurt his fans. If he'd have had those 4 years, I'm betting he'd have been a bigger legend now than what he already is.

That makes sense. It reminds me of Muhammad Ali during the 3 years he was denied the ability to earn a living in boxing while his case was going through the courts. As great as he was, he would have been even better without the forced inactivity during his prime fighting years.

Same with Shawn. At the time, I thought he was milking the injury in order to keep collecting his paycheck while not having to wrestle. I believed that he didn't even want to do some work for his salary by playing a general manager when he gave us that "I've lost my smile" garbage.

Turns out I was wrong. He came back and was great again, but he would have been greater if he hadn't missed those four years.

 

[2012isbs]

1. I would Change Brock Lesnar's decision to leave WWE he had such a bright future his HIAC match against Taker He coutered a Tombstone in to an F-5. Too bad he couldn't take the lifestyle of pro wrestling.
2. ECW originals getting released or not pushed.
3.Khali winning the Battle Royal to become WHC champion.

 

[Thriller Ant]

Am I the only one who didn't have a problem with the Hogan vs Sting match. Hey I wanted Sting to win also but if you advertise this as the greatest match ever you can't have it one sided what I thought was going to happen happened except for the Bret Hart thing which added to it to me personally I was just mad I wasn't there with Starcade being in DC that year. But I wish WCW had never went under and end up being sold to Vince that ruined Wrestling and it took me years to actually start watching again. You need competition if you don't you get the same bullshit every Monday and Friday we get now.

I used to love WCW, and I've seen the Hogan/Sting match on youtube. As much as I want to say it needed a clean ending, I think that ending would have worked if it wasn't botched. The ref didn't quick count like he was supposed to, and it made the ensuing action look ridiculous. I think that botch is one of many things that could be seen as the beginning of the end of World Championship Wrestling.

The thing I would change is the downfall of WCW. Its mere existence pushed both the WWF/E and WCW to put out the absolute best product possible. It also produced wrestling shows with a majority of their time spent showing wrestling, something that WWE does not do.

The final thing lost with WCW is the cruiserweight division. The NWO and Goldberg brought in viewers, but in my opinion, the cruiserweights kept them. The WWE had the belt up until fairly recently (I can't remember the year, sorry), but it wasn't the same. WCW actually allowed the guys to fly around and do crazy shit that completely blew my 10-year-old brain. You had real luchadores like Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis, La Parka, Eddie Guerrero, etc. If you go and watch a Rey Mysterio match then and compare it to him now, or even Evan Bourne who wrestles a similar style, there is no comparison. That is what I would change, the end of WCW and high-flying wrestling.

 

[realblackhart]

I guess everyone here is going to say more than 1 moment but I obviously have to go on record like most posters on this thread that I really think that Owen would have been WWF Champion once he served his blue-blazer punishment for not doing the Debra angle, and therefore he would not have taken that dive at Over the Edge.

I also have to add the Chris Benoit murder-suicide. I don't like the fact that Hulk Hogan came to Wrestlemania after Bret lost to Yokozuna to beat Yokozuna for the WWF Title. The Rock selling out to Hollywood. Vince killing Extreme Championship Wrestling. The WCW World Heavyweight Championship Title reigns of David Arquette and Vince Russo. The Muhammad Hassan angle, he was pretty good and could have held some championships and he had to leave because of WWE's creative decision to do this angle.

I got some more comming.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

1. Owen's Death: I think one of the things that's mutual among Wrestling fans is if they could repeat and do over one thing, it'd be to save Owen Hart from dying.. at least in the manner he did. I'd love to see where his career took him.

Would he of stayed with the W.W.F., would he of went to W.C.W. with Bret? Would he of ever became a World Champion? (I'm sure Sly would say no)

2. Royal Rumble '98: I'd tell Shawn to protect himself better, and eliminate the back body drop that ruined much of his career. I think if H.B.K. wouldn't of gotten hurt, he would've definately won the Heavyweight title back from Austin at some point instead of the way it ended up going.

3. X.F.L.: I'd of wanted to attempt telling McMahon to try it out as a "dark match" without widely televising it first, that way he'd quietly know it would flop.. instead of allowing the world to see it happen on television.

I wouldn't stop it from happening, because it did spawn some remotely interesting Football players that jumped to the pros. But, like the N.F.L. started, I'd of wanted the X.F.L. to get a try-out without all the television hype and build-up it had, that ultimately ruined it.

4. W.C.W.'s Demise: I'd want someone to help Eric Bischoff BUY W.C.W., instead of having his investor's cave and deny helping him. I'd rather see W.C.W. attempt to salvage themselves then see W.W.F. buy them out, and then cut 80% of the meaningful talent because of personal dislike for them.

 

[Mr. TM]

4. W.C.W.'s Demise: I'd want someone to help Eric Bischoff BUY W.C.W., instead of having his investor's cave and deny helping him. I'd rather see W.C.W. attempt to salvage themselves then see W.W.F. buy them out, and then cut 80% of the meaningful talent because of personal dislike for them.

This is probably the best non obvious one that has been mentioned yet. After reading Bischoff's book, all I could think about is what would have happened if Bischoff could have gotten a television deal and a major sponsor. He probably could have made a new WCW product that would have been able to compete better with the WWE, and keep it more economical. If that was the case however, I don't think that there would be a TNA today.

 

[Gelgarin]

So many to choose from, it's hard to pick just one.

I think expectation demands I pick something obscure from the golden age. The birth of Buddy Rogers is a tempting one (would have kept the NWA and the WWWF together, saved Vince Sr some face and meant that there was one fewer jackass on the planet).

WWWF's split for the NWA is another I'd like to pick. Actually, now I come to think about it, a better moment to change would be when the two promotions failed to get back together. If they had we'd have got Thesz V Sammartino, and professional wrestling would have entered a boom period a few decades early.

Overall though, I think I'm going to have to go with the Vietnam War.

All right, all right, technically it's not a wrestling moment, but as points in time go, the Nam war had a more profound impact on the business of professional wrestling than any other point in history.

You see, with large portions of their established talent base (such as Lou Thesz for the obligatory cameo reference) called up for enlistment, promoters suddenly found themselves without enough qualified guys to effectively stack a saleable card. The result of this was promoters (most notably Vince Sr) recruiting any guy they could find with the right "look", teaching them the bare minimum and getting them over by jobbing out the established guys.

I don't want to do a thousand word rant, but this shift in procedure basically pushed professional wrestling down the road it's on now (the road everyone but me seems to like, be were doing my opinion so what the hell. ). Where look and marketability trump athleticism and ability. Where nobody can be taken seriously as a champion unless their 6ft2 and built like a refrigerator. A business where nobody can sell a headlock properly, where most guys are incapably of going 20 minutes without relying on "rest holds", where the audience is asked to accept one thousand unnecessary and glaringly obvious continuity errors in every match because the illusion of reality no longer matters.

All the bits of professional wrestling that I personally wish would go away, began that day. Monster heels. Ridiculous drama/comedy segments. Promoters limiting performers. Everything.
The WWWF and the NWA made the discovery that they could sell a card just as effect without having any talent to back it up, so when the old guard came back from the war, Vince Sr said to hell with the NWA, split and founded his own promotion based around guys like Buddy Rogers and Bruno Sammartino.

Everyone knows what happened next. At least vaguely. The WWF took over the industry, institutionalised their own style with the fan base so they won't accept anything else, and the business is all the worse for it.

It's doubtful that there's anyone else who isn't wheelchair bound who feels this way, but I retain a level of confidence that, had the Vietnam War not happened, people would be much more amenable to my way of thinking.

 

[CDR]

First, I would not let most of the Von Erichs die. I think it was 4 that died, maybe 5. David was supposedly the best of the bunch and there was no telling how great he would eventually become. They say he was as good as Flair, maybe better. The fall of WCCW could be based soley on the deaths of the Von Erichs. "One dies, they're still with us, two die, they're still with us, three die, and they're kinda hangin' on, four die, and it's just way to much to handle." - Kevin Von Erich. World Class was the biggest thing in wrestling until they died and it could've been as big or possibly bigger than WWF if it wasn't for stupid moves by Fritz Von Erich, who at the time was running the company.

I would also change the fact that Fritz Von Erich wouldn't allow Kerry Von Erich to go to the WWF as a main eventer ( one of the dumb moves made by him). Vince McMahon's original plan was for Kerry to be the biggest guy in the WWF. But at the time World Class wasn't quite failing yet, so he stayed, at the orders of his dad. That's when Vince found Hulk Hogan, and the rest is history...

 

[MikePhotoGuy]

This is easy. I would have prevented the stupid Blue Blazer angle returning for Owen Hart, so that Owen Hart would never have fallen to his death inside a Wrestling Ring as he wouldn't be descending down on any damned stunt-line. Then he could have maybe had another 10 years entertaining all of us.

I also would have stopped the travesty that is the new ECW from re-forming. ECW is not ECW if it is not EXTREME Championship Wrestling!