Should bounty hunters be brought back to the WWE?

[CM Steel]

When a wrestler pays another wrestler or a group of guys to take out their opponent for later on. That's on some hitman-type of angle (no pun intended Bret Hart). It's been around for years in wrestling. Putting bounty's on other wrestler's. Going back to the days of the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, in where he put a hit on the then-WWF champion Hulk Hogan before their championship match around Wrestlemania 4. And into the 1990's with the first DX (HBK, HHH, and Chyna) when they stayed putting bounty's on superstars that they were feuding with at the time like Stone Cold Steve Austin and the late great Owen Hart when they would hire Savio Vega's faction to take them out.

I still can remember the feud between Stone Cold and "Mr. McMahon" going into the 1999 Royal Rumble in where Mr. McMahon put a $10,000 bounty on Steve Austin to any WWF/E superstar who eliminated Austin from that years Royal Rumble. And how can we forget the APA (Faarooq & Bradshaw)! When they started their own "protection agency" for fellow WWF/E superstars. If you needed protection, just hire the APA. And later on in the WWE years Triple H had put a bounty on the head of Bill Goldberg after big Bill defeated Triple H for the WWE world heavyweight championship at Unforgiven 2003.

Now in this new era of WWE. Should bounty hunters be brought back to the WWE?

Let's say that someone like the Big Show was running through the WWE locker room like a juggernaut on fire and he needed to be stopped! And someone in the back paid someone like a Ryback to be the one who stops him in the ring. Now that kind of story can work in this kind of era in the WWE! And when I say "bounty" I don't mean that New Orleans Saints kind of bounty hunting. I mean a bounty hunting in that hitman kind of sence.

 

[TakersBroski987]

It's a good idea, and could work, but not necessarily with the scenario you proposed. I think that the entire concept is best suited to a Heel taking out the Face.

It may work like this:

A young Face makes their debut (maybe someone from NXT). They gets a few wins under their belt, and start to gain a lot of support. Suddenly, they're taken out by a dominant Heel (ala Big Show/Henry etc). It's slowly revealed that the bounty hunter was hired by a jealous Face, and it leads to a heel turn.

I would say that a Face bounty hunter wouldn't really work. Taking out heels doesn't provide the viewer with the age-old story of overcoming an obstacle, and surviving insurmountable odds.

I like the concept, and think it would work in today's WWE. WWE would, however, have to be patient and wait for the right moment to pull off the reveal, as a slow build would probably be the best way to approach it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It's something that could work. It's something that'd never be accepted by a lot of smarks. That's nothing new though as so many smarks like nothing more than to crap all over everything. Probably the closest thing we've seen like that in WWE in a long time has been The Shield, after it was confirmed that they were "hired" by Paul Heyman to help CM Punk retain the WWE Championship during his feud with Ryback. In that context, it fit in nicely with The Shield as this group who would not only attack wrestlers as a means of making a statement, but could be paid to take them out under the guise of "administering justice".

However, the true angle of putting a bounty on someone would probably be labeled as outdated and hokey. Which, in all fairness, it probably is to some degree like just about everything else. Back in the day, Vince putting a bounty on Austin seemed perfectly acceptable. After all, the internet hadn't skewed our views of wrestling anywhere near the degree that it has now. Now, all anyone would have to do is point out how illogical it is because Vince is the boss and could simply fire Austin. Not to say that it couldn't still be entertaining, but you'd have haters popping up everywhere ridiculing it. Also, having heels put out a bounty on a babyface these days would also probably get railed on because of claims that it makes the heel look weak. Remember, we live in the age of smarks where heels are pissed on if they're not portrayed as a near superhuman badass who doesn't have to cheat his ass off to win matches.

 

[Jerichoholic_6]

I remember when Wade Barrett returned from injury with those awesome vignettes. He said something on Smackdown like "Next week Wade Barrett is open for business" which sounded like a kind of bounty hunter. Nothing eventuated from it so maybe I interpreted wrong or maybe WWE were thinking about it but scrapped the idea. I thought that would be a good gimmick for him, at least better than what he is doing now.

Bobby Roode also paid off (or attempted to) the Aces and 8s when he was in a feud with Jeff Hardy only lately but i think it backfired. (Sorry if this is wrong dont follow TNA closely.) Overall I dont mind the idea, can make for good television.

 

[Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.]

APA were the ultimate bounty hunters. I loved that angle. I would love to see a similar angle with one or more guys play out today. Honestly though, I think The Shield are sort of like bounty hunters. They're being paid off by Heyman right?

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

It would certainly give midcard guys something to do, and maybe even propel some of them to main-event status by putting them in the ring with some of the dudes who carry the show. It's a very interesting idea. I actually thought that's what they were going to do with The Shield, but they just ended up being just another group of psychopaths, babbling on about "injustice" that nobody other than them can see.

 

[Pedigree1]

JH beat me to it! True back in the day 1998 or 1999ish McMahon did put a bounty on Austin's head. The Internet back then was just a baby and the haters out there aka smarks were not as prevalent as they are today. In reality McMahon could have fired Ausin being the owner of the company but what they had was pure gold.

Closest thing to that was the Shield helping Punk retain his title. But if done right and the smarks wouldn't crap on everything yes i could see it work. But it would have to be something special something really gold. Like a major face taking on a major heel that sort of thing. But if the smarks again stayed out of it and rolled with the story yes I could see the angle work. But it would have to be something rather special

 

[EastCoastFan]

Actually, putting a bounty on another wrestler was fairly common back in the territory days. I seem to recall Bobby Heenan offering a $25,000 bounty to anyone who could beat Paul Orndorff in 1985 (Heenan was Orndorff's manager until his face turn after WM 1). He later upped it to $50,000 and Roddy Piper tried to collect at one of the Saturday Night's Main Event shows.

As for doing it today, it would almost definitely involve the Shield being paid by Paul Heyman to take out John Cena so CM Punk or Brock Lesnar could easily take the WWE title from him.

 

[Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.]

Actually, putting a bounty on another wrestler was fairly common back in the territory days. I seem to recall Bobby Heenan offering a $25,000 bounty to anyone who could beat Paul Orndorff in 1985 (Heenan was Orndorff's manager until his face turn after WM 1). He later upped it to $50,000 and Roddy Piper tried to collect at one of the Saturday Night's Main Event shows.

As for doing it today, it would almost definitely involve the Shield being paid by Paul Heyman to take out John Cena so CM Punk or Brock Lesnar could easily take the WWE title from him.

Nice, I didn't know anyone here actually knew history of pro wrestling. Exactly, this was a very common thing back in the day. I feel like there was a more recent instance of it, but I can't recall it.

 

[Salvador238]

Vickie Guerrero put out a bounty on Big E langston (Face) on NXT leading to wrestlers trying to take him out int he weeks that followed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBMb4EotUU0

 

[The Eighties]

Boba Fett vs John Cena for Mania, with Star Wars coming back to the big screen this will be money!

I kinda like the bounty idea if done well, the one Triple H put on Goldberg in that period where he lived out his NWA fantasy on worldwide TV every week was pretty well done even if it was collected by a member of his own group.

This could work with Cena I think if they had the right heel to utilize it. Heyman would obviously be no use as he wouldn't need a bounty when he has Brock but I could see it fitting someone like Sandow to weaken Cena before a title match. It actually could have worked pretty well for Del Rio when he was a heel and feuding with Cena and Punk.

 

[zhaff2004]

The million dollar man trying to buy the world title from hogan and then offering money to anyone who could win it from him was great stuff, however:

the one that sticks out to me that is yet to be mentioned was HHH offering to pay anyone who could take out Goldberg. Made Bill Goldberg look like a million bucks when half the roster would try take him out only to have him fend them all off. It also helped push Batista after his return from injury and allowed him to link up with evolution nicely. All in all, like most things in pro wrestling, if done correctly, it can be great.

 

[DirtyD79]

It seemed like that's the direction they were going with The Shield. It would depend on who's doing it, like it would have to be a manager, an authority figure, or somebody who you would expect to have money. It would have made sense for Alberto Del Rio to do it as part of his Mexican aristocrat character. Any normal heel, not so much.

 

[ChrisHelms]

I do miss the days of a good bounty hunter gimmick in wrestling. I really don't know who could pull it off in today's WWE besides the Shield, Show, or Barrett. Interesting topic and would love to see WWE pull something like this off.