Missed Opportunities

[Wald]

Was talking to a friend about how I think the Wyatt Family is fast becoming the next Straight Edge Society. A group that is a complete heat magnet that, if booked right, could be a fantastic heel element of the main event.

It got us talking about other times we felt the crowd were pulling for something and one that sprung out for me was Randy Orton in 2009 as we headed in to Wrestlemania 25. If you recall, Triple H was the WWE Champion at the time and his main challenger was going to be Randy Orton. The feud was built around Orton & Legacy taking on Triple H and the McMahons and is widely regarded as a missed opportunity anyway. Why it is is down to the build, which had Shane McMahon beating up Orton & Legacy on his own, and the Wrestlemania match itself, which was hamstrung by the stipulations involved.

The missed opportunity I'm talking about though isn't to do with the feud failing as it was. I'm more talking about the opportunity they had to turn Orton in to a tweener face character during the build. Have a look at this video:

[YOUTUBE]mc23MAJb57w[/YOUTUBE]

Listen to the reactions and RKO chants when Orton tells Vince that he doesn't want to fire him. This wasn't strange for this Orton character at the time. He had slowly developed in to the Viper character, an unhinged heel who could strike at any time, and comparisons with Austin's 1996/97 character were flowing.

I think the missed opportunity here was doing a double turn in the middle of this feud and having Orton head in to Mania as the face and have Triple H and the McMahons be the heels he would have to overcome to get the title. Orton was getting the reactions and all Triple H and the McMahons would have to do would be to tap in to heel authority characters that they'd played on and off for about a decade at that point. Had they done that I'm convinced Orton would have had a chance to supplant Cena as the number one babyface in the company through 2009 and in to 2010.

Any missed opportunities that spring to your minds?

 

[Showtime1386]

The entire year 2014 has been a missed opportunity

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Yup, there have been some huge missed opportunities over the years.

I'm going old school on this one, back to the NWA/JCP of the 80s:

Starrcade 1986 - Ric Flair was supposed to face Magnum T.A. in the main event with the rumor being that Magnum was supposed to take the title that night. Sadly, Magnum's career was ended a month before the event when he wrecked his car. In a brilliant move, Nikita Koloff, Magnum's enemy from the Great American Bash tour, was given a face turn to a huge reaction from the crowd and took Magnum's spot in the main event. The storyline built around it was kind of perfect really: Koloff helped rescue Dusty Rhodes in a steel cage match when he was taking a beating from the Horsemen. At that point, no one knew that Koloff was going to turn, but when he did, the arena came absolutely unglued. The actual Starrcade match should've been a huge confrontation between Flair and Koloff, and if Jim Crockett and Dusty Rhodes had any sense, they should've let Koloff go over and take the title that night. If there's one thing that Crockett and Rhodes never quite understood...you have to let the fans have their moments to bask in the victory of the good guys and the defeat of the bad guys. Instead, the match went to a tepid double disqualification, and instead JCP just kind of maintained a status quo over the next couple of years while the WWF began to beat their asses.

Starrcade 1987 - JCP tries to branch out a bit and has their PPV in Chicago, IL...far from their usual stomping grounds in the south. This was a big move for JCP, and it's one that they eventually paid the price for. One of the marquee matches was the Road Warriors challenging Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard for the World Tag Team titles. Now, to this point, the Road Warriors hadn't captured the tag team titles...in reality, they didn't really need the belts to get over, but they were due for a run with the straps by this point. The Warriors, of course, were billed from Chicago, IL, and even though only Hawk was truly from the Windy City, Chicago had become the de-facto home of the LOD. Do you think it would've killed Rhodes and Crockett to let the LOD go over in this match? Of course not...instead we got a lame Dusty DQ finish that left the fans booing. Another "moment" wasted.

Late 1989 - There's a new tag team in town, and they're the hottest thing going: The Steiner Brothers. The reigning bad asses of tag team wrestling are still in the WCW...The Road Warriors. A modern day booker would look at this situation and say, shit....give the Warriors the straps, and let these teams go to war, and let the new guys go over. By this point in time, it was likely that the LOD would be on the downside of their great careers, but they could definitely still go in the ring, and the Steiners never backed down from anyone. This match could've been a war. Instead of an instant classic, we got Starrcade 1989, and a weak sauce Round Robin tournament that gave us the match in completely inconsequential circumstances with little to nothing at stake. Starrcade 1989 killed WCW's momentum in so many ways...they were coming off some fantastic feuds: Flair vs. Funk, Sting vs. Muta, Steiners Vs. Doom and the Road Warriors vs. the Skyscrapers. They truly pissed away a great opportunity in a time when PPVs were more scarce and therefore should've been more special.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I think the WCW and ECW brands owned by the WWE were completely wasted, The letters ECW were still being chanted years after the company closed so I think the WWE could of really done a better job by keeping the company relevant even moulding it into a NXT sort of company that devolps new talent for the WWE with a few veterans to help them along with experiance kind of like what the original ECW was.
Also the crappy disapointing fued with WCW when they first invaded the WWE speaks for itself on a wasted oppartunity.

 

[JoeMallard]

Summer of Punk should and could have been done so much better. First mistake the WWE made was bringing Punk back a week after he won the title. Another mistake was bringing Kevin Nash back. Had Nash had not came back, Punk would have most likely beat HHH at Night of Champions. The other mistake was having Alberto Del Rio successfully cash in his MITB briefcase. Punk was on his way to becoming the anti-hero the WWE really needed. He could've been a much bigger star had those things not happened.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Mine is having Hollywood Hogan and Macho Man turn face against the NWO along with Sting and end up putting WCW back on the map as the conquers.

Instead, you have the NWO grow so big that people think it's another promotion and when it runs its course and there's nothing to build on afterward, WCW becomes expendable and eventually becomes property of the WWE.

 

[yourdamnluck]

ryback-should have been booked like a monster heel with zeb or heyman as mouthpiece, bnb-still not a lost cause can give a proper send off to brock, bray-cena feudbray should have won the first two matches cleanly......kane hurting bryan kane should have won the title and lesner could have then destroyed brothers of destruction......

 

[Judah's Lion]

so much of 2014 was a missed opportunity.

starting at the Rumble, Bryan should have faced Bray for a spot in the Rumble and won the match. then he should have entered early and won the whole thing. also, he should have faced Punk at Mania for the WWE Title. I bet Punk would still be with the WWE if that match happened. in the Main Event. both guys earned it.

Batista was booked so terribly. I think I would have made his Mania match a Triple Threat between Triple H and Orton and himself. then they can kinda make amends after the match and still have that super fun feud with the Shield in the coming months.

speaking of Mania, I would've done the Wyatt Family vs. the Shield. that was the 6 Man Tag Match that everyone wanted to see that we never really got to.

the Bray/Cena feud could have happened later. like say, NOW!!! after Bray destroys Jericho and gets some momentum and Cena loses to Brock, both would need something to do. this would be a perfect time for the two to feud.

I'm also thinking that Taker/Sting should have happened at Mania as opposed to Lesnar beating the Streak. just my opinion.

going old school, Hogan vs. Flair... shouldn't this have happened for the first time in the WWE? I'm not sure Mania 8 was the right time or place, but it should have happened for sure. maybe at SummerSlam that same year. or at the 93 Rumble. just a missed opportunity for the WWE.

this is a fun thread. but wow, too many options!!

 

[Wald]

going old school, Hogan vs. Flair... shouldn't this have happened for the first time in the WWE? I'm not sure Mania 8 was the right time or place, but it should have happened for sure. maybe at SummerSlam that same year. or at the 93 Rumble. just a missed opportunity for the WWE.

The way that story goes Vince thought the house show takings for Flair v Hogan were poor and so pulled the plug on their planned Wrestlemania 8 match. I think he honestly panicked too much and should have gone with the initial idea because promoted right there was a lot of money in Flair v Hogan still, as WCW would prove a few years later.

Couldn't have happened at Summerslam 1992 or Royal Rumble 1993 either because Hogan was on a leave of absence in 1992 due to the steroid case and Flair was back in WCW by the time Hogan returned in 1993. Wrestlemania 8 was really their only shot at the thing

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

Wrestlemania 29. First of all, Punk should have never lost the title to the Rock and we should have Punk vs Cena vs Rock in the main event at WM29 for the title, with Punk winning and eventually feuding with Bryan for the title.

I'm willing to look past Rocky winning the title, but the main event should still be Punk vs Rock vs Cena. The match on Raw between Punk and Cena should have ended in a draw (keeps Punk as the guy who never lost to Cena when it counts) and makes for a HUGE WM main event. Punk gets his main event, we get a very exciting feud with 3 different elements and we are all happy.

Sure, we wouldn't get a very good match in Punk vs Taker, but we could have someone else (like Lesnar) take on Taker at WM29. Big chance missed there.

Apart from that, nothing else comes to mind really, especially in the programming of the past 10 years. Nothing seems so big anymore that would make a lot of sense etc.

 

[WBL]

Warrior in WCW was a huge missed opportunity.

Think about it. The WCW has secured the contract of yet ANOTHER guy who was synonymous with the company, another former WWE champion, another epic star. And they had Hogan, the guy he'd battled with in that epic Wrestlemania bout. Plus, better yet, he had the rights to the Warrior name, so they wouldn't have to change his name or gimmick a'la Hall and Nash.

And what do we get? Brutus Beefcake in bondage gear, an endless rambling promo, stupid mirror tricks, and a fucked-up fireball fiasco. And a run-in with a guy who nobody remembers anymore.

Warrior could have been a MASSIVE push for WCW.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Warrior in WCW was a huge missed opportunity.

Think about it. The WCW has secured the contract of yet ANOTHER guy who was synonymous with the company, another former WWE champion, another epic star. And they had Hogan, the guy he'd battled with in that epic Wrestlemania bout. Plus, better yet, he had the rights to the Warrior name, so they wouldn't have to change his name or gimmick a'la Hall and Nash.

And what do we get? Brutus Beefcake in bondage gear, an endless rambling promo, stupid mirror tricks, and a fucked-up fireball fiasco. And a run-in with a guy who nobody remembers anymore.

Warrior could have been a MASSIVE push for WCW.

Warrior was a horrible worker, completely unreliable, plus he was only signed (for big $$) for the one PPV match, he needed cash and took the offer, plain & simple. Warrior really hadn't been a big deal for more than 6 years at that point, out of sight out of mind, and he couldn't work in the ring to save his life. WCW got about what they could out of him, some interesting Nitro segments and one (barely watchable) PPV match that allowed Hogan to win via pinfall, which satisfied his ego.

The major loss in WCW at this time was squandering Goldberg. GB wins the WCW Title in July yet he takes a back seat on th3 next 3 PPVs, mostly behind Hogan's matches (who was no longer champ). GB was champ for almost four months before he was allowed to have a primary, well promoted, PPV main event (sharing Main Event Status with Hogan-Warrior) at Halloween Havoc 98. The only true front line storyline Goldberg had in nearly six month as champ was his run vs Nash, leading to his first loss.

After the loss, instead of being pushed as the major opposing force for the re formed, super heel NWO, he languished in mid card matches, never getting anywhere close to Hogan and only getting a re match with Nash long after he had lost the title, as mid card match on a random, non essential PPV. Right after that the NWO disbanded, Nash turned face, Randy Savage became the focal point of the company, it was a mess, LOTS of money left on the table with the re formed NWO circa early 99 vs Goldberg, especially considering the change in the storyline dynamic (Bischoff no longer controlled the company, Flair did, and he was a huge NWO nemesis) and the fact Sting & Brett Hart were on injured reserve in early 99, their return could have been huge in drawing out this fued.

 

[spaldoni]

Yup, there have been some huge missed opportunities over the years.

I'm going old school on this one, back to the NWA/JCP of the 80s:

Starrcade 1986 - Ric Flair was supposed to face Magnum T.A. in the main event with the rumor being that Magnum was supposed to take the title that night. Sadly, Magnum's career was ended a month before the event when he wrecked his car. In a brilliant move, Nikita Koloff, Magnum's enemy from the Great American Bash tour, was given a face turn to a huge reaction from the crowd and took Magnum's spot in the main event. The storyline built around it was kind of perfect really: Koloff helped rescue Dusty Rhodes in a steel cage match when he was taking a beating from the Horsemen. At that point, no one knew that Koloff was going to turn, but when he did, the arena came absolutely unglued. The actual Starrcade match should've been a huge confrontation between Flair and Koloff, and if Jim Crockett and Dusty Rhodes had any sense, they should've let Koloff go over and take the title that night. If there's one thing that Crockett and Rhodes never quite understood...you have to let the fans have their moments to bask in the victory of the good guys and the defeat of the bad guys. Instead, the match went to a tepid double disqualification, and instead JCP just kind of maintained a status quo over the next couple of years while the WWF began to beat their asses.

Starrcade 1987 - JCP tries to branch out a bit and has their PPV in Chicago, IL...far from their usual stomping grounds in the south. This was a big move for JCP, and it's one that they eventually paid the price for. One of the marquee matches was the Road Warriors challenging Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard for the World Tag Team titles. Now, to this point, the Road Warriors hadn't captured the tag team titles...in reality, they didn't really need the belts to get over, but they were due for a run with the straps by this point. The Warriors, of course, were billed from Chicago, IL, and even though only Hawk was truly from the Windy City, Chicago had become the de-facto home of the LOD. Do you think it would've killed Rhodes and Crockett to let the LOD go over in this match? Of course not...instead we got a lame Dusty DQ finish that left the fans booing. Another "moment" wasted.

Late 1989 - There's a new tag team in town, and they're the hottest thing going: The Steiner Brothers. The reigning bad asses of tag team wrestling are still in the WCW...The Road Warriors. A modern day booker would look at this situation and say, shit....give the Warriors the straps, and let these teams go to war, and let the new guys go over. By this point in time, it was likely that the LOD would be on the downside of their great careers, but they could definitely still go in the ring, and the Steiners never backed down from anyone. This match could've been a war. Instead of an instant classic, we got Starrcade 1989, and a weak sauce Round Robin tournament that gave us the match in completely inconsequential circumstances with little to nothing at stake. Starrcade 1989 killed WCW's momentum in so many ways...they were coming off some fantastic feuds: Flair vs. Funk, Sting vs. Muta, Steiners Vs. Doom and the Road Warriors vs. the Skyscrapers. They truly pissed away a great opportunity in a time when PPVs were more scarce and therefore should've been more special.

Oh man I always go back to Starrcade 89! I totally agree with you. That could of been one of the greatest pay per views ever. It had so much potential and they had so much talent. Huge missed opportunity!

 

[Darkshadow1234]

Missed opportunity, The invasion storyline in WWE in 2001.
Another one would be the Discember to disrember ecw ppv. Could of been a good ppv, if it wasn't for vince fucking it up.

 

[smizzy]

A major missed opportunity was Jeff Hardy missed out on ruining an entire WWE pay per view. Imagine if he was under WWE contract whenever he ruined Victory Road.

Yikes. Imagine the outrage.