Rebooking WRESTLEMANIA's Golden Years:1985-1995

[MMK]

Lately I've been revisiting some old school Wrestlemania's, and I feel that more than a few of the classics had some peculiar bookings. So here's how to make the golden years even better

WRESTLEMANIA 1: I feel the first Wrestlemania should have had a WWF Title Match. Piper vs Hogan for the title would have been perect. Mr.T and Mr.Wonderful could have still acted as managers and Mr.T could still get physically involved in the match, but there was no need for him to actually wrestle. To me that was just overkill. They could have accomplished getting mainstream press simply by having T involved in the match without him actually particpating in it.

WRESLTEMANIA 2: My only problem with this event is that they used 3 diferent venues, but seeing as how it was the 2nd Wrestlemania wouldnt 2 venues have made more sense?

WRESTLEMANIA 3,4,5,6: Perfect. Nothing to change hear. Wrestlemania 3 had the most logical and best booking of any of the Wrestlemanias. Hogan/Andre, Steamboat/Savage, Harts/Bulldogs, it was a perfectly booked event. A year later, Macho Man winning title at mania 4 was much deserved after he and Steamboat put on the greatest match of all time the year prior. A year later at WM5 Savage vs Hogan was yet another well built up main event, and Warrior vs Hogan the following year was even better. I conisder these 4 years to be Wrestlemania at its best.

WRESTLEMANIA 7: Here we have the first poorly booked Wrestlemania up to this point. This one had mistakes written all over it. Here's the tag team situation for that year:
LOD vs Power and Glory
Tenryu & Kitao vs Demolition
Hart Foundation vs Nasty Boys
Rockers vs Haku & Barbarian.

That's one talented tag team division, unfortunatley none of them are paired up with the right dance partners. Heres how it should have been booked:
LOD vs Demoltion: Loser leaves town match. They built this feud up from the moment LOD entered the WWF at Summerslam 90, yet it never had any payoff at a major event. This would have been a proper way to write Demolition off of WWF tv as opposed to having them job out to an unkown japanese tandom.
Speaking of which, Tenryu and Kitao should have faced Mr.Fuji's other team The Orient Express: Tanaka and Kato. Not only are they both Japanese teams, but the initials of the team members are both T&K.
Finally, The Rockers should have defeated The Hart Foundation for the tag titles. This was to be The Hart Foundations final match as a team, so why not pass the torch, and the titles, to The Rockers instead of the newcomer Nasty Boys, who would have been better off facing a team like the Bushwhackers. The Rockers had paid there dues and deserved to take over the top spot in the tag division now that the Hart Foundations run was over. The Rockers could have easily had a 3 month reign as champions from April to June, then drop the belts to The Nasty Boys who could then drop them to LOD at Summerslam 91.

But the biggest mistake of all at Wrestlemania 7 was the main event. It was Hogan vs Slaughter when it should have been Savage vs Warrior. The reunion of Elizabeth and Randy is the moment most people take away from this event, and its how the show should have ended. And instead of a career ending match, it should have been Title vs Career. We all knew there was no way Warrior was going to retire at that point, so instead of his career being on the line have him keep the WWF title and defend it against Savage. That way its Warrior title vs Savages career. I would have had Macho King win the Royal Rumble that year and advance to face Warrior at Mania. Seeing as how Macho King was Ring Royalty, he should have been a natural to win the Royal Rumble. The Hogan/Slaughter match didnt need to go on last nor did it need to be for the title. I didnt much care for WWF's exploiting the gulf war but if thats the route they were going to take then just make it a no holds barred Flag Match. Hogan doesn't need to be in every single main event competing for the title.

WRESTLEMANIA 8: Even more missed oppurtunities came our way the following year. What we got was:
Hogan vs Sid
Macho vs Flair
Undertaker vs Jake
and Bret vs Piper.

Here's what we should have got:
Hogan vs Flair:WWF Title
Macho vs Jake:Cage
Taker vs Sid
Bret vs Shawn:IC Title

Hogan vs Flair: The fact that this match never took place at this event tells me that one of them must have gone to Vince and told him that they refused to lose to the other. Egos must have got in the way, because I cant see any other reason for this dream match not taking place.

As for Macho, the match with Flair should have been saved for Summerslam later that year, but at Wrestlemania it should have been Savage vs Jake inside a Steel Cage to settle there awesome feud which had been built it up brilliantly for months but never received the kind of major ppv closure it so warranted. Seeing as how this was to be Jakes last match for a long time in the WWF, it's only fitting that Savage be the one who sends him packing after everything Jake did to not only attempt to end Savages career, but his life as well.
But instead they had Jake take on Undertaker, which was fine and all, but a better match would have been for Undertaker to take on Sid. Sid had recently turned heel while Taker had recently turned face. Why not save both their turns for the same match and pull of a double turn at Wrestlemania ala Austin/Bret a few years later or Demolition/Powers of Pain a few years prior.
And last but not least, while Bret vs Piper was a very good match, I can't help but feel that Bret vs Shawn would have been that much better. Both had recently left there tag partners behind to pursue solo careers and compete in the IC division. And seeing as how in my alternate universe, The Rockers and Hart Foundation met the year before at WM7, it would only make sense to have the two breakout stars from those teams meet the following year. This should have marked the first of many future encounters between two men whos careers so eerily paralleled one another.

WRESTLEMANIA 9:This was the Ceasars Palace event. An event that I can't help but feel had Ric Flair's name written all over it. If there was ever a Wrestlemania to have Ric Flair walk out to Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathus, this was it.
Unfortunately Ric Flair left the wwf just a few weeks earlier. Would it have killed him to stick around another month for Wrestlemania so that he could have been given a proper sendoff? The Ric Flair vs Mr.Perfect Career Ending Match from RAW in February 93 should have been saved for Wrestlemania.

Another match that should have been saved for 93's Wrestlemania, was Shawn Micheals vs Marty Jannetty. The match took place at The Royal Rumble but should have been saved for Mania. If they were going to bring Jannetty back in late 92, why not save the payoff match for the biggest event of the year instead of giving it away at the Rumble where it would only be overshadowed by the 30 man battle royal.

Then there's the Yokozuna/Hulk Hogan situation. If they were going to have this take place at Mania, then why not just advertise it and build up to it in the weeks leading up to the event instead of just slapping it on at the last minute out of nowhere. Hogan returned to the WWF because Money Inc had beaten up his buddy Brutus Beefcake and badly wounded his face. But why not have Yokozuna be the man to destroy Brutus' face via flattening him with several devastating banzai drops. Then have Hogan come back to take on Yoko. Because if you hurt Hogans friends and you hurt his pride, he's gotta take a stand, he can't let it slide.

If youre reading this you might be saying, so what about Bret Hart and the WWF Title? I dont think Yoko was ever a good opponent for Bret, there styles and sizes were just too different. Yoko wasnt a very complimentary opponent for Bret. So instead of having Yokozuna win the Rumble that year and go on to meet Bret Hart, I would have gone with The Narcissist Lex Luger. Instead of having Lugers Rumble debut consist of him simply cutting a promo and posing in front of mirrors, why not have him enter the 30 man event and win it? Its not like hes a guy who needed to be slowly introduced to the audience, people knew who Lex Luger was and where he came from. Besides, Wrestlemania 9 was all about ancient rome and the greek gods, so who better to play the role of a modern day greek god than Lex Luger and his rediculously roided up physique. Lugers not much better in the ring than Yoko, but at least he can move and be properly put in the sharpshooter. Its pretty hard to get a sharpshooter on Yokozuna. Plus, after Hogan left AGAIN a few months later, Luger was given a huge push which felt forced and out of the blue. Mostly because it was. And it handicapped Luger the entire way. A mania title match with Bret would have given his babyface push a few months later a lot of credibility.

WRESTLEMANIA 10: This is the first Wrestlemania since Wrestlemania 6 to get it right. Shawn vs Razor; Owen vs Bret; Lex vs Yoko: nothing to change here. All 6 guys were lined up with the right dance partner. Perfect booking. The only minor change I would have made would have been with Lex and Bret both getting title shots. Just have one of them win the damn Rumble that year instead of a lame draw. Either have Bret/Owen be for the title or have Yoko/Lex be for the title. But adding Bret vs Yoko on at the end seemed like over booking to me. It was overkill, much like adding Hulk vs Yoko the previous year. 1993 and 1994's Wrestlemanias were both hampered by WWF's inability to make a decision on who they wanted to be the face of the company. That indecisiveness hurts the product.

WRESTLEMANIA 11: Go back and look at the poster for this event. Does it not scream Undertaker circa 1995? The purple and black smoke? The ominious feel to it? I have a feeling this event must have undergone some last minute booking changes, because the poster leads you to believe that this is going to be Undertakers long overdue Wrestlemania main event oppurtunity.

Undertaker missed the previous mania with an injury, so why not make it up to him by having him main event the next one? He was clearly more over at the time than any other babyface. Instead they force fed the fans Diesel, who was rushed into main event status after the Lex Express experiment got derailed. Diesel vs Shawn is fine, but make it for the IC title. It has a certain Warrior vs Rick Rude feel to it circa 1989. It was a good feud. Just not a main event feud. The WWF Title Match that should have taken place should have been The Hitman dropping the belt to The Deadman. The Undertaker should have won the Royal Rumble that year and went on to face Bret for the title. Bret never should have lost it to Backlund just so Bob could drop it to Deisel a few days later. Rushing Diesel was a very bad idea. And Shawn didnt need to win 2 Rumbles back to back. Winning it in 96 would have been fine. In fact, I'd do the whole Shawn entering at #1 and winning it all angle in 96, instead of 95. Because when he accomplished that in 95, the fans popped for him when they were supposed to be booing him. That kind of overcoming the odds win is better suited for a babyface, which is what Shawn was a year later.
But instead of Bret vs Taker for the title, what we got was the Undertaker in a meaningless match against King Kong Bundy of all people. Meanwhile Bret Hart was left to face, yet again, Bob "YAWN" Backlund. WM 11 is without a doubt the worst mania ever. Mostly due to poor booking. They had the talent, they just didnt make the right matches. When LT vs Bam Bam is the main event, that right there should tell you just how wrong Deisel vs Shawn was as a WWF title match. Clearly they had no faith in Diesel as a top draw. The WWF championship should not be playing second fiddle to an NFL players one time appearance. When Hogan was WWF champion, he didnt take a back seat to the NFL players who participated in the Wrestlemania 2 battle royal.

Well, this is where I end my rebooking of the Wrestlemanias, as I feel that by 1996 Wrestlemania was no longer what it once was. With the introduction of those god awful In Your House events, the WWF switched over to a WCW style ppv calendar where a ppv is held every month. Which to me lessens the signifigance and big fight feel of Wrestlemania.

 

[willross]

I really like this post actually...I have a few factual issues with yours that I will point out throughout my post however.

I would keep WM1 - WM6 completely as is except for allowing Hart Foundation more time against The Bolsheviks at WM6, considering it was the biggest Canadian stars in Canada. Mr T actually wrestling was very important because he was there because of his feud on and off screen with Piper. People didn't know how big WM was gonna be at the time so pairing up your biggest superstar with the Hollywood star against the biggest villians in wrestling was the key to the entire event.

Wrestlemania 7 was done just about right but I would of switched Tenru/Katao to face Power and Glory and let LOD face Demolition, even though Demolition was not themselves.

Wrestlemania 8 was pretty good, unfortunately Jannetty had personal issues that prevented him to face HBK. Hogan/Flair was ideal but according to former ref Jimmy Korderas on his radio show in Canada, they ran it at house shows and it didn't get the reaction they were looking for and the crowds seemed uninterested and didn't seem to grasp that Flair/Hogan should be the big match, so they made the switches they did. Hogan was prepared to put over Ric Flair though. I would of done without the 8 man tag and let Nasty Boys vs Duggan/Slaughter.

Wrestlemania 9 was an event ruined by the talent. Jannetty again had a falling out preventing his rematch with Shawn (according to his book), Warrior got fired preventing him from facing Bret Hart in the main event (according to Bret's book), and Hogan deciding he wanted another short run and said he would put over Yoko at KOR. If all stayed then Yoko vs Tatanka would of taken place and would of been a great match building 2 undefeated stars against each other.

Wrestlemania 10 was perfect

Wrestlemania 11. OH MAN lmao. Diesel and HBK was fantastic until a Vince ordered spot where SCM got kicked out strong at a 1 count and the crowd and viewers became detached from the match. So I would remove that spot. Undertaker was in the feud with the Million Dollar Team bidding back to SummerSlam '94 so I don't mind his match though Tatanka would of probably been a better opponent for him. Bret and Backlund were held back by the agents telling them they could only use submission moves(according to Bret's book) so that match was doomed from the start. Bam Bam/LT was fine because it gave mainstream exposure, just put it on right before Diesel/HBK.


PS: 1985 - 1992 are widely considered to be the "Golden Years" while 1993 - 1996 were considered "The New Generation Years".

These are the kinda posts that should be on here, not "lets shit all over the current product and compare it to Attitude Era" posts.

Ok, enough of me blowing smoke up your ass. Minus a few research problems, your ideas aren't so bad

 

[willross]

Steel Cage for Macho/Jake is kinda unnecessary because their feud was selling itself and didn't need a gimmick. The cage probably would of held them back because psychology would of said for them to fight to the floor, use chairs, the guardrail, etc. probably would of even called for a Miss Elizabeth interference, low blowing Jake, poking him in the eyes, or something like that.

 

[DeathClutch]

Well I wouldn't re-book any of them apart from 11.
Mania 8 was at that time the biggest super show, Flair/Hogan probably should of happened but didn't but who cares? Macho/Flair, Bret/Piper, Tito/Shawn Taker/Jake even Hogan/Sid was pretty good. WWE's failed Mania being 9.

But I still wouldn't change the show as a whole, I'd just cut the Hogan title win and kept it for RAW or some other TV show.

Mania 11, if I was booking that show I would of had Shawn/Diesel, I also would of had Shawn/Bulldog and Bulldog/Diesel on the same show.

Bret/Diesel opening the show, Diesel gets DQ'ed because of Shawn and Jerry Lawer (Shawn wanting Diesel in the main event, this would also build on Shawn/Bret @ Mania 12 and Jerry costing Bret leading to their In Your House I and King of the Ring matches.) then I would of had HBK/Bulldog (This would of been the match they had on RAW in March 95, due to the whole Rumble 95 ending I would of had them face each other at Mania with the winner facing Diesel in the main event), which would lead to Diesel/HBK.

Undertaker/Bundy.. no
Razor/Jeff... sure.
Smoking Gunns/Owen & Yoko.. sure.
Bam Bam/LT.. NO i would of had Bam Bam/Undertaker with Bam Bam losing and being kicked out of the team.

 

[theHeadliner]

For WrestleMania 9 I agree having Michaels wrestle Jannetty instead of Tatanka because it would have been a great blow-off for the angle, and Jannetty was already established. I thought for the Main Event they should have turned Macho Man heel and have him put Bret over. Macho Man was super established and super over, and if he turned into the maniacal heel they could have tore the house down. The Lex vs Perfect match was boring. I agree keeping Flair around to wrestle Perfect for the career match instead. It would've meant a lot more at the biggest event of the year.

 

[willross]

LOL you my friend just some how made WM11 worse lmao. How can you have all those matches? You booked an interesting 2 weeks worth of RAW storyline but nothing that could ever be on the same show let alone a WM.

Props for doing what seemed to be impossible, the only way to make that show any worse now is to have LT just stand there and snort coke off the turnbuckles

 

[The Brain]

This topic pops up every couple months but its always fun so I’ll throw in my two cents. Actually I’m going to comment on the other posts as I thought the first ten years of mania were pretty well booked so I barely have any changes. I’ve posted in threads like this many times before so this may be very repetitive for some of you.

The WM1 main event should have been exactly what it was. I know it’s a popular opinion that the main event should have been Hogan vs. Piper for the title. For years I shared that opinion but I changed my mind about it a long time ago. WM1 was all about glitz and glamour. The WWF was trying to reach a new audience and Mr. T actually competing instead of being just a corner man was a huge key to the success of mania. Everyone was curious to see how a Hollywood badass would fare against the wrestlers. What you need to realize is sometimes (most times) the hype is more important than the match, especially at mania. WM1 wouldn’t have had nearly the hype if Mr. T wasn’t competing and hype was the whole key to the event. Also keep in mind that WM1 was not called WrestleMania 1. It was simply WrestleMania. It wasn’t meant to be around nearly three decades later. It was meant as a one time show and at the time the match was booked the Vince didn’t realize he was booking the beginning of a legacy.

WM2 was a strong card on paper but the first half did not deliver very good action. Even though the action was weak the matchups were right. WM3 was about as perfectly booked as a show can be.

I’m going in reruns now because I’ve posted this many times. The only change I have at WM4 is booking Ricky Steamboat to beat Greg Valentine in the first round of the title tournament. This would have set up Steamboat vs. Savage in round two. One year after their classic match at WM3 these two could have met up again by chance to give us another classic. This time both were face, and this time Savage would come out on top. Returning the favor to Savage and shaking his hand after a clean finish would have been the perfect way for Steamboat to leave the company as WM4 was his last night.

WM5 and WM6 were booked right. No changes.

I also think WM7 (the most underrated mania) was booked right but I have to comment on the op. Demolition was pretty much worthless by WM7. Once Ax left the team was nowhere near what they had been before. They did not deserve a match with LOD at that point. The Rockers challenging the Harts is an interesting idea but I thought the Nasty Boys vs. The Harts was a good match as was The Rockers opening against Haku & The Barbarian. I strongly disagree with your opinion on the main event. Savage vs. Warrior is one of my all time favorite mania matches and Savage’s reunion with Liz is one of my favorite moments. With that said there was no reason this should have been the main event. The moment was already as special as it could be. Making it the main event would have weakened the rest of the card. To have a moment like that go on half way through the show with a championship main event still to come made WM7 feel epic. Also in 1991 Sgt. Slaughter was more hated than anyone in wrestling ever had been. Putting him against Hogan in the main event was just natural.

I’ve always said Hogan vs. Flair didn’t happen at WM8 because WM8 was Hogan’s last night. Therefore he was going to either have to beat Flair and walk out of the company as champion of lose to the face of the rival organization on the stage Hogan built. Can you really see Vince allowing Flair to go over Hogan at mania? That would be saying the NWA had the better guy all along. Wasn’t going to happen. Had Hogan not been leaving I’m sure he would have wrestled and beat Flair at WM8. At least we got a great title match anyway. Flair vs. Savage was awesome. Nice idea about the IC match but Shawn Michaels was not ready for an IC match against Bret Hart at WM8. He had only turned heel less than three months earlier. Hart vs. Piper was such an awesome match I wouldn’t have changed it at all.

WM9 always gets trashed here but just think about the amount of talent turnover since SummerSlam 92. The New Generation was starting and this was the adjustment period. Saving Flair vs. Perfect for mania is a nice idea but Flair was leaving so it was beyond control. Similar circumstances for Jannetty. He just simply wasn’t around for mania. If we’re going to do this we should have to stick with the roster as it was available at that time.

WM10 was booked very well. I know what you mean about the whole Hart/Luger/Yoko thing but Lex’s star had fallen far by the time mania rolled around. Vince clearly wanted the title on Bret but also wanted to do Bret vs. Owen. It was a little unconventional but it worked.

WM11 could have benefited from a couple changes. I would not change the main event or the title match. Taker vs. Bundy was fine with me too as Bundy was a perfectly reasonable opponent for Taker at the time. My problem is with the opening match. Lex Luger & Davey Boy Smith vs. Eli & Jacob Blu does not say WrestleMania to me. I would have preferred to see Luger vs. Bulldog. I think Bulldog could have eliminated Luger from the rumble causing animosity between the two. There would be no heel turn, but they begin a friendly rivalry and settle it at mania. After a babyface match they would find mutual respect, shake hands, and begin their tag team together. To me this sounds infinitely better than what actually happened. I also think Bret Hart should have had a different opponent. I would have put Bret against Hakushi. I know Hakushi never did anything and wasn’t very memorable. He may not seem like a mania opponent for Bret Hart, but he would have been better than Backlund. Hakushi was new and already started a feud with Bret before mania. If he had been given that match at mania maybe the fans would have bought into him. It also would have been a much better match. WM11 attracted a lot of first time viewers and displaying Hakushi’s style instead of Backlund’s probably would have behooved the WWF.

Overall I was very satisfied with the first ten years of mania and really wouldn’t have changed anything. Now the next ten years is another story. I have lots of changes for those events but that’s a story for another day. Hopefully not all in one post though.

 

[dd23beatlesfan1]

First off, I'd just like to say this is a great thread. Kudos to MMK for starting an interesting and fun thread.

I like a lot of your ideas, but I also disagree with quite a few. Like I seem to usually find, I agree with a lot of the Brain's opinions, particularly in the cases where I disagree with MMK's proposed changes.

For Wrestlemania I, I agree with the Brain in that the main event should have stayed the same. As Brain pointed out, Mr. T participating in the match was such an important ingredient in drawing non-wrestling fans into the match. Non-wrestling fans were curious to see how he would fare against the WWF wrestlers. And we already got big-time championship matches between Hogan and Piper in the months leading up to it, such as the War to Settle the Score on MTV. By today's standards those wouldn't be considered big time matches, but back then there wasn't ppv, so being on MTV was as big back then as a ppv match is now. So the main event, I'd keep.

One of the few changes I would've made though is change the two matches between Tito Santana/Executioner and JYD/Valentine. Valentine and Santana was the hot I-C title feud of the time and thus should've been on the card. There really wasn't any outstanding wrestling matches on the card. Having Valentine and Santana would've helped tremendously. Then put JYD against the Executioner. It would've been a glorified squash match, and that's okay.


Wrestlemania 2, I would keep as is.


Wrestlemania 3, keep as is.


Wrestlemania IV. The only change I would have is have Steamboat defeat Greg Valentine (which IMO was the best match of the night from an in-ring standpoing) and advance to the 2nd round to take on Savage in a babyface-babyface match. If that had happened, that would've been the match of the night, hands down.


Wrestlemania V, keep as is.


Wrestlemania VI, keep as is.


Wrestlemania VII, I agree with both the Brain and MMK. On the main event matches, I agree with the Brain. Slaughter/Hogan was a perfect main event, as the event was billed as "Stars and Stripes Forever." The theme of the event was that of patriotism and Americana, and what exactly did the feud with Savage/Warrior have to do with that? The thing is that Hogan/Slaughter from a match standpoint needed the World Title as it's gimmick. A simple flag match, or a basic one-on-one match wouldn't have worked. Savage and Warrior already had Career vs. Career, so they didn't need the title to make their match more epic. The two matches were fine the way they were.

As far MMK's tag team scenarios though, I agree with pretty much all of them. While Demolition weren't at their peaks at that point, still it would've been a good way to close their run out, by having them lose to LOD. LOD/Demolition was always the tag team dream match of the late '80s and it should've happened even if Demolition were no longer the same. The Nasty Boys and the Bushwhackers wouldn't have been a 5-star classic of course, but it would've served it's purpose in getting the Nasty Boys ready for their eventual tag team run. And I love the idea of having a Hart Foundation/Rockers tag team title match. The Rockers should've gotten at least one run with the belts, and with the Hart Foundation about done, it would've been great for the Harts to put the Rockers over. And it would've been a potential match of the night as well, adding another classic to the card.


Wrestlemania VIII: This is where I disagree with MMK. Sorry buddy, but by making the card the way you had it, you went from turning one of the finest Wrestlemanias of it's first decade and into a card with hardly no classic matches.

Hogan/Flair should've happened, and it would've been a classic, but it just wouldn't work out. With Hogan leaving, he nor Vince were going to allow him to lose to Flair on the way out. And frankly Hogan/Flair would've had the greatness factor similar to Andre/Hulk. That of hype rather than in-ring action, although of course it would've been much better than Hogan/Andre. Instead we got Flair/Savage, the two best workers in pro wrestling of the late 1980's and early 1990's IMO putting on one of the best matches in Wrestlemania history.

While a conclusion to the Savage/Roberts feud sounds appealing, I'm glad they went with Savage/Flair instead. And having Roberts and Taker feud worked out for the best as well, as beating Roberts helped to put Taker over as a dominant force. Having Taker and Sid fight would've been a disaster of a match as neither guy was anywhere near their best at that point (Sid was at his best between 95-97), so if people think their match at Wrestlemania 13 was bad, it would've made a match between them at Wrestlemania 8 look like the epic Flair/Steamboat matches from 1989.

And as far as the I-C title situation, no way whatsoever do I agree with MMK. Shawn had just turned heel merely 3 months earlier, and was nowhere near ready for an I-C title match at Wrestlemania VIII. From a character standpoint. It would've been a fine match no doubt and would've been the match of the night looking at the card in MMK's version, but it wouldn't have been as good as Piper/Bret was simply because of the storyline. Bret/Piper was a bonafide classic and there's no reason at all to change it.


As for Wrestlemania IX, I'm going to agree with some of MMK's proposals and also add in my own.

While Hennig/Flair and HBK/Janetty would've been great matches (potential classic), we just can't go with them as Flair left and Janetty quit as well. So no can do on those. Luger/Hennig was fine (not as good a match as it should've been), and HBK/Tatanka was fine.

I love the idea of having Yoko be the guy to further injure Brutus Beefcake, and bringing Hogan out of retirement to fight Yoko and avenge his pal Brutus. Facing Hulk Hogan in a high calibre match at Wrestlemania would've done just as much wonders for Yoko's career as facing Bret in the main event title match.

As for the main event, Bret/Luger. Nope. I can do much better. Instead of having Yoko win the Rumble, have him come in 2nd place and eventually feud with Hogan. So who wins the Rumble and goes on to face Bret for the title? Anyone remember who finished 2nd in the 1993 Royal Rumble? That's right. None other than Randy Savage. Instead have him win the Rumble and we get Bret/Savage for the title in a babyface-babyface matchup. We have a potential match of the year right there. The match starts a year long feud between the two as they start out as allies and friends, only for Savage to eventually snap and turn heel on Bret and attack him and become the enraged lunatic we all now Savage was so great at playing.


Wrestlemania X? Perfect, no changes.


Wrestlemania XI? I'm actually very intrigued with MMK's ideas here. I like the idea of Bret and Taker in the main event for the title. Bret and Taker, up to that point were the top two faces in the company and they always had great matches. I would've loved to have seen Bret stay champion (or lose to Backlund as he did at Survivor Series and quickly win the title back instead of Diesel) and eventually drop the belt to Taker at Wrestlemania. This does leave Diesel in the I-C title picture with Shawn, and Razor, and Jarrett, but what can you do. Instead of having their match be for the I-C title, perhaps a simple grudge match would suffice that way Razor and Jarrett can still go at it for the title.

As for Bam Bam and LT? Keep it. It drew the majority of the buyrates that Wrestlemania XI got. And I don't care what everyone seems to say. It wasn't near as bad a match as people make it out to be. I just agree with it not being the main event and having Taker/Bret as the main event instead.

 

[Wolf Pac]

The only thing I will comment on since this topic has been done so many times and I've answered one of these before so I can't be bothered to do it again, is according to Powerslam Magazine Hogan vs. Flair were booked on house shows at the time and many people had the seen the match happen over & over again so they wanted to go with new matches, so I definitely would've kept Savage vs. Flair for that same reason. Plus I like Savage/Flair wars better than Hogan/Flair matches. I dunno if Flair & Savage faced each other before WM 8 but if they hadn't WM 8 was a fitting PPV to begin their long rivalry.

As for the main event though, I dunno if it could've worked but maybe Jake vs. Hogan instead? I know Jake wasn't great in the ring and a top star but neither was Sid but out of the two Jake was a top notch heel. Think about the build up Jake & Hogan would've had with each other. Jake with his mind-games and it would've been easy to play mind-games on him since Hogan was retiring, so his mind-games would get to Hogan leading into the match making it look like Hogan is likely to lose going into the match then in the match itself Hogan would come back from all the mind-games & go Superman on Jake till Papa Shango arrives for the DQ finish which could've lead to a Shango/Jake alliance which would've been good when you look at the two gimmicks and also with Ultimate Warrior returning in the match, it would've been a continuation of where the Jake/Warrior feud left off back in 91.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Major props MMK. I am on board with just about everything you brought up.

I love what you did with WM VII. If Warrior were to be the new face of the WWF then why did he only get a 9 month title reign in 90-91? Yokozuna as a heel in 93-94 got the same title regin. Warrior should have hald the title through the Rumble, set up the title v career match you proposed for WM VII and continued to hold the title until either his departure, or if him holding the title for over a year would have been enough for him to stay then he would hold it until the end of the year and go do with Taker what Hogan did with him.

Also love what you did with WM XI. Porbably the worst mania ever, with your revision it would have had a chance to be something special. I would have also added Razor to the Shawn/Diesel match for the IC title. Just seems to perfect and natural of a match to have. I know triple threat matches weren't done back then, but if there was a place for it to start before it did it would be here. All three men where friends and could talk Vince into it.

 

[rge2010]

Did somebody say they would rebook Piper/Hart at Wrestlemania 8 to that of Hart/Michaels?! Are you insane? Piper vs Bret was probably the best match on that card!!! I wouldnt touch that match. EVER.

Flair vs Savage was also a fantastic match. Everyone wanted Flair vs Hogan but that match delivered.

 

[BC1978]

Here is my shot at rebooking Wrestle Mania's 7 - 9

WWF Championship
Hogan vs. Warrior II

This was great at WM6 and frankly Slaughters win was forgetable and the Pro Iraqi stuff was a slap in the face.

Randy Savage vs. Kerry Von Erich

The Harts vs. The Rockers for the Tag Team Titles

The RoadWarriors vs. The Nasty Boys

Hacksaw vs. Slaughter


Wrestle Mania 8

First I would have kept Hogan as the WWF Champ after about 6 months of buildup and Flair finally becoming the No. 1 contender after winning the RR we'd get a Title Unification Match.

WWF Champion vs. World Heavyweight Champion
Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair

Hogan goes over (However after Ric's third attempt he would win the titles and put Hogan out of action.

Sid vs. Savage (No 1 Contenders Match)

Undertaker v. Jake Roberts

WWF Tag Team Titles
Dibiase & Rotundo vs. The Road Warriors

HBK vs. Marty Jannetty

WrestleMania 9
WWF Title
Bret Hart (C) vs. Hulk Hogan
Hart goes over after Yokozuna costs Hogan the title. This would set up the Hogan vs. Yokozuna match at KoTR with Yoko putting Hogan out of the WWE and holding the title until WM10.

Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage "Loser Leaves the WWE"
Same set up as the WM8 match... Flair claims to have slept with Elizabeth. Savage wins and Flair goes back to WCW.

Yokozuna vs. Tatanka (Yoko crushes Tatanka and kills his undefeated streak)

HBK vs. Backlund

DiBiase and Rotundo vs. The Steiner Brothers

Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair
Bret Hart (

 

[BC1978]

First I was at Hogan v. Flair in LA at the Sports Arena. Flair won the title but then it was overturned or the match restarted and Hogan was the Champ.

I dont think the WWF planned on putting Flair over Hogan. If they did why have Flair win the Title at the RR? Flair beating Hogan in the WWF makes no sense. You gotta show that your product is better so you put Hogan over Flair.

Go back and look at Race, Rhodes, Garvins, Steamboats, and Von Erichs WWF runs after they were NWA World Champions.

VKM had to put Hogan over Flair. The biggest fools were WCW for always allowing Hogan to beat Flair.

 

[HBKperfect23]

WM8 is my favorite mainia ever so I have mixed emotions about changing it. HBK wasnt ready for the ic title picture and had a good match defeating a verteran to get a push. Keep that the same unless Jannetty was available. Hart/Piper still stands as a top 5 IC match ever, IMO.

The other senario for the main events:
I have heard this no where, this is strictly my opinion but this had to be Vinces plan when he got Flair with the title: Unification match, WCW/Real Worlds Champion Ric Flair vs WWF Champion Hulk Hogan with Hogan going over. I think the steriod allegations, Hogan potentially leaving after WM8, and the WCW title not being allowed on tv all played part in not having the match play out like this. Having Hogan beat the face of WCW- RicFlair, for the WCW title would have been the ultimate fuck you to WCW. They still could have had the Warrior return after Hogan won the titles and got jumped by Flair/Pefect/Papa Shango

As great as Savage vs Roberts feud was the blow off wasnt great. Tues in TX had the big match feel more then SNME. A cage match blow off would have been great.

Undertaker vs Sid: This could have been done without the turns. Sid was supposed to be a huge face and Taker was doing really well as a heel newly in the main event scene.

I really liked the way WM came off so Im glad it ended up the way it did even though we didnt get Flair/Hogan. WM8 is still the best ever.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Ok so what to change?

WM1 - Main Event should have been a 6 man tag match, letting Orton be the 3rd man in the match. Personally, I choose to excise Snuka from all Mania's for reasons I have mentioned in other posts (if it's ok for WWE to do it to Benoit...) so I'd have brought in Ricky Steamboat to that equation rather than the match he had with Matt Borne. It would have allowed for more action that masked T's shortcomings and showcased Steamboat as a viable #2 in the Hogan era. Leave the IC feud as it was as the Tag titles changing hands was kinda the big change.

WM2 - Bundy wasn't really the right guy to face Hogan - I'd have gone with bringing in someone like Bruiser Brody or Abdullah The Butcher, who would have posed a more physical danger to Hogan.

I've covered 3 and 4 in another thread... 5 i'd have the same main event but with Hogan the heel, turning after the title controversies I'd suggested for Wm4/Summerslam 89 going Savage's way. Hogan would win, but would relent over the course of the match and the match would end with him helping Savage to the back.

6 - Forget the Warrior, hated him getting the title match then and the title v title thing but if you're gonna do that, use Rick Rude. He was hated, had the Brain and having upset the Warrior to retain his IC title and winning the Royal Rumble at Hogan's expense he would force himself into that match. I would get rid of the mixed tag in favour of a singles match with Randy v Jake and and DiBiase v Rhodes.

 

[HBKperfect23]

I've covered 3 and 4 in another thread... 5 i'd have the same main event but with Hogan the heel, turning after the title controversies I'd suggested for Wm4/Summerslam 89 going Savage's way. Hogan would win, but would relent over the course of the match and the match would end with him helping Savage to the back.

6 - Forget the Warrior, hated him getting the title match then and the title v title thing but if you're gonna do that, use Rick Rude. He was hated, had the Brain and having upset the Warrior to retain his IC title and winning the Royal Rumble at Hogan's expense he would force himself into that match. I would get rid of the mixed tag in favour of a singles match with Randy v Jake and and DiBiase v Rhodes.

5, It would be ridiculous to have Hogan heel. Late 80s into 1990 was still Hulkamania time. That was Vinces cash cow. Savage played heel so well anyway.

6, You could argue Dibiase/Rude/Perfect being great heels deserving Hogan at WM for the title, but the WWF was due for something huge like this. Face/Face, title/title, couldnt have had a bigger "big match feel" to it. Hogan/Warrior was the draw for 6.

 

[Wald]

Most of the changes I'd make if I went through this Mania by Mania would be personal preference ones, doesn't necessarily make them a good rebooking though so I'll stick to mistakes I think Vince made, which starts at Wrestlemania 7.

Wrestlemania 7

Everything about the Savage vs Warrior feud was leading to a world title match between the two, in fact Savage's issue with Warrior was that he wouldn't give the Macho King a shot he felt he deserved. So when Slaughter won the belt doesn't it make logical sense for Savage to want to face Slaughter and win the title? Luckily Warrior and Savage put on a great match at WM to make us forget about the shoddy booking but it should have been the main event for Wrestlemania 7 and for the title.

Hogan vs Slaughter could still have happened but it didn't need the title. You still would have had America vs Iraq with America coming out on top. Put this match on third last, stick the Hart Foundation vs Nasty Boys match on second last and have Warrior vs Savage go on in the main event. Savage reuniting with Elizabeth could have been the greatest closing shot of any Wrestlemania ever.

Wrestlemania 8

What a mess this show was. Bret vs Piper and Savage vs Flair saved it somewhat and to be honest the Flair vs Hogan showdown was never going to happen because of what was happening backstage with Hogan's contract negotiations. A mess but I struggle to find a way to fix it and keep within the realms of realism.

Wrestlemania 9

I would have had Bret vs Hogan for the first time with Bret getting the win to set up a return win for Hogan at King of the Ring and a final showdown at Summerslam. Granted this requires Hogan playing ball and knowing his time in the WWF was up so I may be straying out of realism with that idea.

Wrestlemania 11

Where to even begin with this. Without doubt the worst Wrestlemania of all time, headlined by two matches that had no business being in those positions. Make Diesel vs HBK a grudge match that isn't for the title. LT vs Bam Bam is fine but not in the main event slot and I'd go with Bret vs Owen 3 for the Wrestlemania 11 main event, with Owen winning the Rumble and saying that he beat Bret at WM 10, Bret fluked a win at Summerslam (Owen's leg hooking in the cage) and now Owen will prove once and for all that he's the best Hart.

Hell if Vince wanted to still see Diesel as champion they could have had Owen win the title for a short reign with Diesel taking it off him at In Your House or even on a Raw (this is around the time Nitro was in the pipeline, if Vince knew about it he could have started ramping up Raw)

 

[spaldoni]

I know this is an old post(lol) but I was just having some fun rebooking a Wrestlemania. I'm going to book Wrestlemania 7 with some differen't storylines goin in.

Ultimate Warrior(c) vs Hulk Hogan- World Title rematch.

Mr. Perfect(c) vs British Bulldog- IC title bout

Hart Foundation(c) vs Power and Glory-Tag Title bout

Roddy Piper vs Randy Savage- Same reunion ending with Liz and Randy

Hacksaw Duggan vs Sgt. Slaughter- Bootcamp match

Legion of Doom vs Demolition

Ted Dibiase/Rick Martel/Tito Santana vs Virgil/Rockers- ok Dibiase proves once again money can buy anything so he pays Martel and Santana to reunite Strike Force for one night to face Virgil and a team of his choosing. If Virgil and Rockers win, Virgil gets a one on one match with Dibiase at Summerslam. I just think it would of made for a great story all the way around.

Earthquake vs Greg Valentine

Undertaker vs Kerry Von Erich

Jake the Snake vs Jimmy Snuka w/Mr. Fuji- I have Snuka turning heel earlier in the year. The build and promos to this would of been great. Snuka could of been a savage heel telling Jake that he's not afraid of snakes and even loves to eat them. Fun stuff.

Bossman vs Mountie

Nasty Boys vs Bushwackers

Koko B Ware vs Haku w/Barbarian

 

[Killercam]

I would have to choose 15 to re-book
First you have The Rock Vs Foley for the WWF Title, (have Rock beat Austin with help from Vince at the Rumble that year and have Foley win the rumble). In this scenario you have a "feel-good" story with Foley chasing down the dream and it's a fresh match. I would have booked Foley to win, even if would have led to a short title run

For the "main-event" you have Stone Cold Vs Vince. It was the match that the wwf built around for over a year and then used it for the February ppv (the Wwe should have never started a ppv in February, because they should put more emphasis on Wrestlemania and not use the Feb ppv to settle feuds they have been building but instead use WM for the pay-off....this is a long running problem for WWE, it would also make WM feel bigger because of the 60-70 days without a ppv). In regards to the Austin-McMahon match, it should have been a cage match, and save The Big Shows debut for the ppv, and have him attack Austin after Austins intro therefore it gave Vince a leg-up on Austin and the shock factor of Bog Shows debut

The undercard for this Mania could have been really good too but they blew it. I would have booked Undertaker. Vs. Kane again but added "Hell in a Cell Inferno Match". Why BossMan got this match was beyond me.

Next, you have the "next big star" the WWF was building in Triple H, so you really need to get him over here so you use a legend to make that happen. I actually think if they could have pulled it off then they pay the Warrior enough money to make him come back to job to HHH and actually build this match up for a month or two and HHH gets revenge for the WM 12 debacle

New Age Outlaws were still the most popular tag team, so don't split them up into single matches like they did and book the first ever triple threat tag title match with the other teams being Owen/Jeff and D'Lo/Henry (both of those teams were over) so book it.

X-PAC. Vs. Shane McMahon was money so keep it as it was

Chyna and Sable were so over at this point in time, they should have found a way to make this match happen, as it probably would have been one of the top 3 or 4 most anticipated match on the card (which is saying a lot for a woman's match and probably the only time this could have been the case for a divas match)

With those issues adressed, here is the card (which in my opinion could have made 15 a top 10 mania as opposed to a bottom 10)

Main-Event,"Cage Match": Vince. Vs. Austin. (keep in mind Big Show is involved but it's a surprise)
WWF Title: The Rock. Vs. Mick Foley
Tag Titles: Jeff/Owen. Vs. New Age Outlaws. Vs. D'Lo/Mark Henry
I.C.Title: Ken Shamrock. Vs. Goldust. Vs. Val Venis
European Title: X-PAC. Vs. Shane McMahon
"Hell in a Cell": Undertaker. Vs. Kane
Triple H. Vs. Ultimate Warrior
Women's Title: Sable. Vs. Chyna
Hardcore Title Battle Royal: Have Butterbean win it, who cares, this is a filler match and gets a celeb involved, I think it's good to have one of these matches at WrestleMania.

 

[Terry Gyimah]

WrestleMania 9 for sure because if anything they should have set it up as a First-Time Ever Match for the WWF Championship with Bret defending the title against Hogan and since both of these men were like the most over, the 2 greatest faces in the company at that time you could have built it up in terms of hype as this match possibly even being the greatest match ever with this being a face vs face contest with this being a changing of the guard with Bret retaining the title and Hogan letting Bret have his moment

 

[theHeadliner]

Did somebody say they would rebook Piper/Hart at Wrestlemania 8 to that of Hart/Michaels?! Are you insane? Piper vs Bret was probably the best match on that card!!! I wouldnt touch that match. EVER.

Flair vs Savage was also a fantastic match. Everyone wanted Flair vs Hogan but that match delivered.

Exactly. Michaels wasn't over enough or anywhere near the status he would need to be to be put in a position like that.

 

[BLeonard]

WrestleMania: Leave as is. A lot of people want a Hogan/Piper title match there, but they had just met at "The War To Settle The Score" on MTV just a month beforehand. I also feel that, to sell the event as a "can't miss" to potential buyers, they had to have something that had never been done before... Mr. T getting in the ring and wrestling was that "something."

WrestleMania 2: Maybe I'm the only one, but I liked the 3 locations idea. If you were around in 1986, WWF was still very much a Northeast Territory, though their National Expansion had begun. By having an event in three different time zones, covering both coasts and the Midwest, WWF having WrestleMania 2 in three venues, literally brought their flagship event covering the entire United States.

WrestleMania III: No Changes

WrestleMania IV: Only change has been mentioned before, Steamboat over Valentine in the first round of the Tournament.

WrestleMania V: No Changes

WrestleMania VI: One match on the card bothers me to this day: Beefcake vs Perfect. Reason being, Perfect was still being billed as "Undefeated" at this point (The Genius took the pinfall in the Genius/Perfect vs Hogan/Warrior Tag match on SNME) and I can't for the life of me understand why they would have the "Perfect Streak" end at the hands of Brutus Beefcake...?

I have Perfect win here, go on to win the IC Tournament (as he did IRL) and then, you give an even bigger rub to the person that finally beats him and takes the title (which ended up being the Texas Tornado, subbing for Beefcake who was out with an injury).

In fact, it even makes more sense to have Perfect defeat Beefcake at Mania, if the original plan was to have Beefcake challenge him for the IC Belt at SummerSlam.

WrestleMania VII: No major complaints, as the WWF used real-life events (The Gulf War) to be played out in the ring when they booked Hogan/Slaughter and the Savage/Warrior feud was so white hot that a career match made sense there as well. If I want to nitpick, I'd ask why they even had the Demolition vs Tenryu/Kitao on the card. Tenryu and Kitao, at least to my knowledge, had never before appeared before WrestleMania and I don't recall them appearing afterward. There was no hype, promos, etc, that I can recall, either. All's that match did was tell everyone that Demolition was done as a tag team in the WWF.

WrestleMania VIII: Of course, pretty much everyone wanted Hogan/Flair, but for whatever reason, that didn't happen. Given the roster WWF had at the time, I feel they put on the best card possible, given the fact that we weren't gonna get Hogan/Flair.

WrestleMania IX: The once thing I would certainly change is no Hogan winning after the Hart/Yoko match. I could go a couple different ways:

Simple swap: Two changes. I have Perfect over Razor and Luger over Backlund. Perfect and Razor had been at odds since Survivor Series and after Perfect beat Flair, Ramon should have been next in line, IMO... I always felt the Luger/Perfect story was pretty weak. I also feel that, at that point, Luger had more to gain by beating a 40-plus year old Backlund than Razor did, as Luger was still relatively new, compared to Ramon, who just had a WWF Title Match against Bret Hart at the Royal Rumble.

If I really want to dissect the card, I go with Perfect as my Rumble winner setting up:

Perfect/Hart WWE Title Match - Either guy could win here and hold the belt until SummerSlam. I'm a Perfect fan and Bret had had the belt for about 5 months, IIRC, so I'd lean Perfect winning here. But again, I wouldn't complain if Hart retained. Either way, we'd get a great match, as we did at KotR 2 months later between these two.

Yokozuna then faces The Undertaker (Though that probably means no streak, as they were building Yoko bigtime). Gonzales never interferes in the Rumble, with Yoko eliminating Taker instead. This also sets up Yoko winning the belt from either Perfect or Hart at Summerslam, instead of having the Luger "I'll be your Hero" face turn.

Luger defeats Tito Santana (who was in the Dark match).

-Bill

 

[SilverBullet1929]

For starters, I'm gonna go a more realistic route on all of these. For example, I'm not gonna just say Flair had to be at WrestleMania IX because I think it would have made the card better. Fact is, Flair left the WWF in January '93, I wouldn't change that so Flair just simple cannot be at WM IX. Here we go...

WrestleMania - The Intercontinental Title match between Valentine and JYD is interesting that they went with the uber popular JYD as opposed to Tito Santana who was feuding with Valentine. Its very noticable in the early Mania cards that more went into the lineup than just who was feuding. Vince wanted the popular veteran Santana to kickoff the show in a squash to set the tone for the event. The ultra popular JYD is used as Valentine's opponent to basically leave Santana vs Valentine to run the house shows, which was pretty much the most important revenue at the time. Vince didn't wanna "waste" Santana vs Valentine on PPV so he just had Santana be involved in the Valentine/JYD match's result. While I get Vince's reasons, I'd still have put my biggest IC Title match on that card, and thus I'd have Santana challenge Valentine and JYD can do the opening match and squash the Executioner. Also a minor point on this Mania, anyone ever think about the talent that was left off this card? Off the top of my head, the Hart Foundation, the British Bulldogs, and Don Muraco were all part of the WWF and left off this show. Which I find interesting considering how many squash matches were on the undercard. Maybe Muraco could have replaced Matt Borne in facing Steamboat? Maybe a Bulldogs vs Harts match could have happened too? Next...

WrestleMania 2 - Ricky Steamboat vs Bret Hart was tentatively supposed to be on this card and was changed so that the Hart Foundation could be in the Battle Royal. I'd have kept Bret against Steamboat, its too good to pass up.

WrestleMania III - I can't think of a single thing to change but I have always questioned why Paul Orndorff was nowhere on this card. For that matter, Bruno Sammartino, while already a shell of himself, was still active at this time. I'm surprised he didn't get a match on here.

WrestleMania IV - Nothing to change here, people question why we didn't get Savage vs Steamboat but I can see Vince A) not wanting to push Steamboat since they had their falling out. B) not wanting to hurt Savage's push by having people cheer Steamboat in a face vs face match even though Savage was already quite popular. C) not wanting to exhaust Savage in a fast paced match against Steamboat when he still had to work two other matches including the main event. Not getting Savage vs Steamboat II here is just a matter of "it is what it is" and we just gotta accept it and move on.

WrestleMania V - Minor switching around here. The Harts and Rougeaus had a rivalry in late 88, surprised they didn't get a match here but I'm blaming the Bushwhackers who arrived in late 88/early 89 and jumped into a rivalry with the Rougeaus, which basically pushed the Harts towards Valentine/Honky as an extension of their rivalry with Jimmy Hart. Problem was that the rivalry with the Rougeaus was stronger and would have led to a better match. Also, Hercules vs Ted DiBiase was blown off a in mid-March on Saturday Nights Main Event to give way to DiBiase vs Beefcake in a pretty heatless rivalry. I'd have kept it going until Mania leaving DiBiase vs Hercules and Beefcake to face Haku. Vince has this obession with blowing off his longest rivalries just before Mania and then trying to build something new in the last month or so before the big event. I *get it* but I hate it. Its the same thing with WM 27 when it was Cena vs Punk and suddenly its switched up to Cena vs Miz to decent but much lesser success. Moving on... Why didn't they blow off the Duggan vs Bravo feud here? And the obvious one, with the same angles happening they should have done the Twin Towers vs Strike Force and the Brain Busters vs the Rockers. Busters vs Rockers would have been a better match, the two teams were already in a budding rivalry as is. And of course after being responsible for the break up of the Mega Powers, the Towers could have easily been responsible for the break up of Strike Force. Shocking that Vince didn't see that one himself.

WrestleMania VI - Santana vs Martel??? Geez Vince, that one was too easy. Still, in researching this one I found that after the Royal Rumble they were moving towards a Rick Martel vs Ronnie Garvin feud but Garvin left the WWF and this never happened, thus leaving Martel to tackle with Koko B Ware. If Garvin hadn't left, I'd say Koko was left without a match. Interestingly he was becoming more and more of a straight jobber because I noticed that with the exception of the Royal Rumble in 89 and 90, Koko didn't have any PPV appearances on WMania 5, SSlam 89, or Survivor Series 89, leading me to believe he would have missed WMania VI as well. FWIW, he also missed SSlam 90. Heck, WMania 7 too! Koko, you can thank Ronnie Garvin for this payday!

WrestleManis VII - Well, I think the question here is Rick Rude. He left the company in the fall of 1990, while starting a feud with the Bossman and basically Mr Perfect was slipped into his spot leading to Perfect and Bossman at Mania. So I've heard Mania would have been Bossman vs Rude but I'm not so sure about that. I'm guessing Rude vs Bossman would have happened at the Rumble 1991 and then Bossman still would have been directed towards Perfect at Mania. I say this because of the IC title. It fit "perfectly" with Bossman challenging for the gold. Thus, I'd say Rude would have had a different opponent at WMania had he stayed. But of course he didnt so I guess I'd keep this one the same. Others have wanted to rearrange the tag matches into Harts vs Rockers, LOD vs Demolition, maybe LOD vs Nastys... I dunno. While that would have been nice, I can see why Vince didn't go those routes. The Demos were shells of themselves, Vince loved the Nastys, and the Rockers vs Harts was the face vs face match that Vince didn't like pulling the trigger on. Plus he'd already done that match at least three times in 1990, (SNME in April, SNME in October, and in SWS Japan either in April or May.) Also, Vince had to want the LOD to get a squash win to push them towards the tag titles the same way he did with the Harts over the Bolsheviks the year before. Then again, they could have squashed the weaker version of Demolition and Power and Glory could have faced Tenyru/Kitao and had the same results. Ok so lets rebook this as Demolition vs LOD, Power and Glory vs Tenyru/Kitao, and then keep the Harts vs Nastys, and Rockers vs Haku/Barbarian.

WrestleMania VIII - There's a million ways to rebook this show... but if I'm sticking to realistic events, I can't change a thing. To rebook this one we have to "convince Hogan to stay, convince Vince that Hogan vs Flair is big money, convince Jake Roberts to stay, not get Marty Jannetty and Jim Neidhart fired, not have the LOD be in the limbo it was in, and allowed more time for the Bulldog vs Berserker." This is a discussion for another time.

WrestleMania IX - The Nasty Boys got booted off the tag title match to allow Hogan on the show... simply put I'd have squeezed the Nastys in with a win over the Beverly Brothers. Remember the 6 man tag on Raw that saw Tatanka with a pinfall over Shawn Michaels? The other four men in that match were the Nastys and the Beverlys, so just throw them on here.

WrestleMania X - If Ludvig Borga stays injured in this rebooking world, this card stays as is. Everything was booked logically and I wouldn't change a thing.

WrestleMania XI - Considering how shallow the talent pool was at this point, I really don't think you can change much here. As weak as this show was, it wasn't really a poorly booked event as far as the buildup... it was just a weak roster that had poor execution on that night. Think about it, LT Bam Bam was a good media attraction, Diesel vs HBK was a breakup of a hot duo, Bundy was an extension of Undertaker vs the Million Dollar Corporation, Owen and Yoko was perfect considering Owen needing a partner after Neidhart left, Razor vs Jarrett was a logical rematch from the Rumble, and Bret, with nothing else to do, only made sense to get revenge on Backlund from Survivor Series. Lastly the super popular team of Luger and Bulldog gets a simple win to open the show and pop the crowd. Looking at it that way, whats wrong with this card as far as buildup? Not much!

The end. Thanks.

 

[dWs]

I'd say the deal with WrestleMania VII and the original booking is that they felt the title program had to have THE hot feud in the WWF. To them, it was the Gulf War angle and Sarge. But I agree with you guys that Warrior should've had the belt and defended against Savage.

The thing is, Warrior/Savage was just kind of "meh" feud until Rumble '91. It seemed like they were just feeding Savage to Warrior and there was no real drama. They'd try to make Savage look like a threat, but Warrior would win in the end and continue his reign. Then Savage costs Warrior the title?! Whoa, suddenly the drama factor is amp'ed up!

By the way, one kayfabe reason Savage cost Warrior the title was because Slaughter agreed to give him a title shot, should Slaughter win the belt. But he never did! That vile villain!

For the rest of WMVII, I'd disagree with putting LOD/Demolition on. The ideal time to blow that off would've been Rumble '91. Even that would've been kinda' late. LOD had been tearing through Demolition since September 1990, so to drag it out until March 1991 seems excessive.

So what to do with the LOD? I like the Power & Glory match-up, but I would've had the match go a bit longer and end in a double DQ or something. I'd back-up the booking a bit and have the Rockers win the "Tag Team Battle Royal" and title shot in February 1991. They go on to beat the Harts at WMVII like you mentioned.

For the Nasties? I'd have them go over the Bushwhackers at WMVII. That MIGHT have saved us from those two teams matching up, endlessly, for the next year. Nasties then go on to beat the Rockers sometime in the summer and by that time the LOD has beaten Power & Glory long enough, and are in line for the title shot at SummerSlam '91. But I'm getting a little bit off-track, now.