Actually, I disagree. Savage was not the number 2 guy, it was most definitely Warrior. Bash him all you want in hindsight, but Warrior was definitely ranked above Savage
No. It was Savage. Warrior was more of a 3 guy who Vince took a gamble on by giving him an "Irresistable Force" kind of gimmick with zero wrestle ability, and it just happened to work. If he ever was the number 2 guy, it was for a very short amount of time, as he was released 3 times in the 90s.
Knowing the history of Hogan and Savage and their WWF days, do you see:
1. similarities/comparisons with Cena/Orton personalities, characters, and abilities that we saw in Hogan and Savage
2. think that if there were two WWF shows in the 80s/90s that Hogan and Savage would be in the Cena/Orton mold
3. drawing/star power
4. how much Savage could have benefited more being away from Hogan
5. how superstars like Hart, Hennig, Rude, Bossman, Undertaker, Flair, and Warrior would have turned out
6. Which current current star would best suit the Warrior gimmick
What are your thoughts?
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Great question, and this is going to be fun!
1.) If we're talking Cena to Hogan and Orton to Savage, then here's what I came up with: Savage was by FAR the more superior worker to Hogan. It's the same with Orton, but to not quite as large of an extent. Cena and Hogan were both the top guys, while Savage and Orton were (are) like their understudies. Although now, Orton seems like a top of the mountain guy in his own right now that he's the top face on Smackdown, and he too, like Cena is starring in movies. Savage never had that flexibility (which I'll address in a bit). Other thing important to note is how whenever Hogan mixed it up with Savage, Hogan would always be the one to take clean victories, and ultimately win the feud. It was the exact same with Cena, and were you to book them together now, lets face it; it would be awfully difficult for Orton to go over cleanly.
2.) I do think that were there to be two WWF shows in the 80s, the two would be split up if, and only IF the brand split were to happen after their feud. If they were yet to feud, I do not see a dual-show style being possible, as the star power on show two would be very limited. It's really hard to say given that wrestling is handled a lot differently now.
3.) Both guys had unique enough characters to get over based on drawing/star power on different shows. That, I'm sure of.
4.) Once again, assuming the dual-show concept occurs after the feud, I do think Savage could have benefited being away from Hogan. First off, we'd hear his name in the same sentence as Hogan, Stone Cold, Flair, Rocky quite a bit more often, as he would have had his own world title to chase and win. I believe he only had a couple WWF title reigns anyway... all due to Hogan having to have the title as much as possible. That would have been different. He also could have made reinvented himself a little bit more, being the total focus of a second wrestling product. Because lets face it; it's one thing to be a main eventer, and another thing to be a larger than life figure like Hogan was. Savage would have had every opportunity to become just that, as well as feud with a lot of ex-Hogan rivals (ie Earthquake, Undertaker, Sgt. Slaughter, etc.)
5.) It's interesting, because some guys would have benefited more than others. I think were there to have been a brand split, Hennig and DiBiase would have absolutely been WWF Champions. Possibly Rick Rude as well. They may have even had face turns, depending on what the rosters for both shows looked like. Warrior would have gone unchanged, since he'd be on show one having the 'superbattle' with Hogan anyway. And then he would have inevitably gone crazy and gotten released, just as he did in real life. However, guys like Taker, Hart, and HBK would have been hurt by this, as having one title to chase after is far more significant than two. And WWF title matches created those legends. So I think you would have seen more stars born, fewer HUGE stars born, Warrior meeting his fate, and fewer guys jumping to WCW as well.
6.) Current star with the Warrior gimmick... it would be very hard to do, as people no longer see wrestlers as cartoon characters. But if I were to choose one, I'd go with Sheamus.
the same, although Ultimate Warrior might've been done differently
