I have to disagree with the board. I think Nikita did the right thing by staying with the NWA. Vince had and will continue to have the cold shoulder to anyone he doesn't make. For example, Dusty Rhodes a solid main eventer and former World Champion reduced to dancing in yellow poka-dots.
While there is some truth to the cold shoulder statement, I don't think it really applies to Dusty Rhodes in this case. By the time Dusty came to the WWF in late 1989, his best days were most definitely behind. Rhodes was in his mid 40s by the time he showed up and it was clear that he wasn't going to be a serious contender for any championships anytime soon. As for the yellow polka-dot gimmick, they were Rhodes' own ideas. On the Dusty Rhodes DVD the WWE put out a few years ago, he stated that the "Common Man" gimmick his idea. Vince was no doubt entertained by it and went forward with it so I can't put the grief on McMahon.
Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Kerry VonErich, all outside talent brought in to job to home grown wrestlers. Hell even Ric Flair wasn't used to his fullest potential during his first run (Wins the title in the Rumble, trades the belt back and forth with Savage only to lose the title to Bret Hart in a FUCKING HOUSE SHOW).
Just as with Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race's best days were well behind him when he came to the WWF. Race was in his mid 40s and his legacy was already established and secured. Having older wrestlers come in and put over young talent is a way of building new stars. Having Harley Race go over Randy Savage, for example, wouldn't have done anyone any good at all. WCW consistently had older wrestlers go over young talent and is one of the reasons why the quality of the product suffered so much in the late 90s and early 2000s.
As for Steamboat, he wasn't used to job to homegrown talent. He was built up slowly over the course of a few years but I didn't see him job out to any homegrown talent really. He won a match at the first WrestleMania, ultimately came out ahead of long feuds with Don Muraco, Mr. Fuji and Jake The Snake Roberts. He had a great feud with Randy Savage that culimated at WMIII with their legendary match in which Steamboat won the IC title. So no, Steamboat wasn't a jobber when he came to the WWF. However, Steamboat was fucked over by Vince McMahon in a classless way. He asked for time off to spend with his family, as his wife was pregnant at the time, weeks after winning the IC title. He was punished by dropping the title to the Honky Tonk Man and was buried thereafter pretty much. He was fucked over in the end, but Steamboa wasn't brought in and jobbed out.
Barry Windham is a mixed bag. When he came to the WWF the first time in late 1984, he and Mike Rotunda formed a successful tag team that won the tag titles twice in 1985. Windham left the company not long after that. So, Windham's first run has to be considered a success. His second came about in 1989 and little came of it as did his third and final run beginning in 1996. Windham was a great in-ring competitor, but he didn't have all that much charisma. I'm not saying that there weren't times the WWF didn't use him for shit, but sometimes storylines, angles and gimmicks just don't work out for the fans.
By the time Kerry Von Erich came to the WWF, his best days were also behind him. He was using an artificial foot that did hinder him to some degree, he'd been using and abusing various drugs for a number of years and all of it had taken its toll on him. When he came to the WWF in the Summer of 1990, it wasn't long before he had a several month run with the IC title, he had a good showing as a member of the Ultimate Warrior's team at the 1990 Survivor Series, lasted more than 30 minutes in the 1991 Royal Rumble, had a series of small but successful feuds throughout the rest of the year, had another good showing at the 1991 Survivor Series, had a decent run in the 1992 Royal Rumble. After that, it started downhill for him. He was jobbed out not long after that and he was gone by the summer. Had Von Erich made some different choices in his personal life, I feel things would have ultimately been different.
As for Ric Flair, the only mistake that was ultimately made regarding him was that he and Hogan never had a match against each other in the WWF. I don't see how winning the Royal Rumble and the WWF Championship twice, headlining WrestleMania and having several memorable feuds in the year and a half he was there can be considered a failure. As far as dropping the title to Bret Hart at a house show, so what? You have to remember that this is back in 1992. There was no Monday Night Raw, there was no WCW Monday Nitro. The WWF's television audience in 1992 was a fraction of what it is now and house shows were much more important in those days than they are now and title changes happened at house shows all the time. To be honest, title changes at house shows should happen more often as it gives a sense of unpredictability.
If Nikita jumped to the WWE, he would have came in with a strong push only to job to Hogan, then get lost in the mid card shuffle. No way he gets a title run
Well, it was said that Koloff was offered a lengthy run with the IC title or at least a lengthy feud with Hulk Hogan what would culminate at WrestleMania 2. Would it have happened? Nobody really knows for sure. This was back in the days when there were really no such things as contract guarantees. Ultimately though, I don't really think it would have mattered. By 1988, Koloff's passion for wrestling was all but gone. He was tired of the road, his wife had Hodgkins Disease and would die from it sometime in 1989. By the time he ultimately started to get his head together, he wasn't nearly the force he once was and any attempt to head to the WWF then was completely out of the question.
