The Road Not Taken

[Mustang Sally]

When considering the lives of celebrities or 'regular' people, don't we sometimes wonder about the paths they've taken.....and what changes in their destinies might have occurred had they made other choices? When it comes to WWE performers, it's interesting to consider how different paths taken by the employee or WWE management might have completely altered their professional careers.

Three examples I've wondered about:


Kevin Owens: This one is too recent to determine how things will turn out, yet what was WWE management's plan for him when making his first 'major league' appearance against John Cena.....and defeating him cleanly? Was the idea to establish him as an immediate main event contender? Was he supposed to start at the top and work his way from there? If so, think of the implications.

Okay, so what happened? Why is KO now fighting on the midcard? Did management find his performance unsatisfactory, thereby demoting him? That seems hard to believe, doesn't it? Did they decide his physical appearance precludes him from fighting at the top of the roster? Didn't they know this before putting him in against Cena? Was it their original intention to put him on the midcard after his series with Cena, regardless of how he did? If so, then why start him at the top?


Question: --The road not taken-- Had Owens won the rubber match with Cena and not been sent to the midcard, what do you think he would be doing now? Battling for the world title against Seth Rollins? Or would they take the title off the heel and give it to a good guy who might match up better with Kevin Owens? In either case, the entire main event scene might be different today. Would KO have been up to the task?



Randy Savage: I had always believed Savage betrayed Vince McMahon by leaving WWE for WCW, presuming the lure of more money brought it about. Since then, I've read that Savage never wanted to work as a ringside announcer; he wanted to be an active competitor.....but McMahon wanted him out of the ring.......so, Savage left.

Honestly, I never understood why McMahon would want to take one of the greatest performers of all time and not allow him to wrestle. Did he really think Savage couldn't bring it anymore? True, the guy was 42 in '94 and was never as good in WCW as he had been years before, but did McMahon have any idea Randy would leave when his contract was up, if not allowed to perform in the ring? Had he known, would he have done things differently?

Question: --The road not taken-- What if Macho Man had been allowed to compete in-ring and never left WWE? Would he still have been contending for championships or would he have become a 'talent enhancer?' Would programs still be built around him, especially if he had forced McMahon's hand by threatening to leave for WCW if he wasn't allowed to wrestle?



Christian: Almost all WWE performers who showed up in TNA were let go by Vince McMahon & Co. Christian was one of the few who chose to leave the big company. For awhile, he was featured prominently by TNA, but by the time he went back to Stamford, he had fallen back to the pack in the younger organization.

Question: --The road not taken-- What if Christian had never left WWE in the first place? Since he wound up winning a world title in his second go-around, do you think he would have attained the same heights had he never departed? Do you know why he chose to go to TNA? Was the whole thing worth it to him?



Do you have any thoughts on these three instances......or an example of your own of a WWE performer whose destiny might have been altered by following a different path?

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Great topic and I'll endeavor to return to your examples, milady, but I think the king of roads not taken probably needs mentioned...

Shawn Michaels: When Diesel and Razor Ramon left for WCW, HBK attempted to get out of his contract to follow but was turned down (typical of Shawn at the time, he very publicly huffed). Sometime later Bret Hart was released from his contract and made the jump.

Question: --The road not taken-- Shawn is granted his request. First lets make some reasonably safe assumptions (although y'all can dispute if you wish):

• Hunter leaves with/ shortly after HBK and McMahon/ Helmsley never happens.
• The Cliq forms the nucleus of the nWo.
• Bret never leaves the WWF.
• Neither Bret nor Shawn are involved in the matches that caused their hiatus.

What would have happened in WCW? What would have happened in the WWF? Would Hogan have turned heel? Would Attitude have happened? How would the wrestling landscape look now?

 

[Savior of Silence]

This is a really thought provoking thread. First one that came to mind was this:

The WWF: Vince McMahon came under fire in 1994 when he was indicted and accused of distributing steroids to his talent. The scandal put the wrestling business in a state of flux and it could have potentially destroyed the WWE. Due to a lack of evidence, McMahon was able to get off essentially scot-free.

Question: --The road not taken-- What if Vince McMahon had been found guilty of giving steroids to his wrestlers in 1994 and went to prison for a few years (probably getting paroled sometime in 1996 on good behavior)? What happens to the WWF (now WWE)? Would Ted Turner try to buy it and merge it with WCW? Who would have ran the WWF and Titan Sports? Does this butterfly away the steroid related deaths of some of the wrestlers?

As far as the OP examples:

1. If Kevin Owens wins the rubber match with Cena, he wouldn't be in the main event. He'd be United States Champion and would probably still be feuding with Cesaro at this point. Not much would have changed as of yet, but it definitely would have given him a bigger shine and more clearly defined potential for the future.

2. If Randy Savage had be allowed to continue competing in the WWF, he doesn't go to WCW. He may have gotten 1, MAYBE 2, more title wins but in my estimation the majority of his remaining career would have went something like HBK's after he returned in 2002. A phenomenal talent used to get the best out of the future of the company, and a talent that could be thrust in to the Main Event picture at any time and without question.

3. Outside of the Edge and Christian era, 2005 was probably Christian's peak in professional wrestling. He was one of the most over wrestler's on the roster with his Captain Charisma gimmick. Would he be a multi-time World Champion? Probably but Dolph Ziggler is also a multi-time World Champion. I don't see Christian's career panning out much differently in this scenario.

 

[AustinHartLesnarHBKTaz80]

As far as Kevin Owens is concerned, the immediate clean pin on John Cena at a major ppv helped establish him as a major player in the WWE. Even though he lost the next 2 matches versus Cena.

I think the WWE has big plans for him, huge plans---i'm talking #1 heel status in the company.

But NOT right now.

Right now is Seth Rollins' time.

You can only have one TOP heel at a time that you focus your shows on, and right now, that man is Seth Rollins.

He is on a tremendous run right now, an awesome year of ***** matches, mic work, character development, entertainment value-----you cant squash this now by elevating Owens into his position just like that.

And you dont want to turn Owens into a babyface, when he is perfectly cast as a dastardly heel.

I say roll with Rollins right now and milk him for all he's worth in the top heel position and see where the chips fall by next year's Wrestlemania.

Keep Owens spotlighted in high profile fueds with top babyfaces in the mean time, maybe even winning the IC title.

Owens' time will come, i predict around Summerslam next year. I see him possibly becoming the #1 heel by then and becoming the WWE champ

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Road not taken.....


Leader of the NWO : The original plan was to have Sting as the - third man - and turn heel to form the NWO as Hogan originally turned down the idea. Hogan was starting to run stale with WCW fans as he was booed regularly marching out in his Hulkamania colours. The Hollywood turn was simply the best heel turn in the history of wrestling and skyrocketed Hulk Hogan, WCW and everyone who rode with Hogan.

Sting as the leader of NWO : Sting was the man for years, Hulk Hogan came along and Sting was pushed to the background. This was a good time for Sting to make huge waves after all this time. But Hogan came along again and pushed him back again. Sting could've..

1 : Not arrived in The Crow make up thus Crow Sting never existing

2: Sting improving his mic skills 100 fold being the main voice of NWO

3: Clean Sting, dropping face paint and evolving into Hollywood Sting .

4: Heel Sting vs Face Hogan earlier main events, possibly more Sting belt runs

5: Sting adopting a more selfish attitude with more money piling in, this attitude vs
ME first --- fans second , COULD have brought Sting to WWE when Vince bought out WCW.

6: With #5. Being debatable in itself....Sting vs Undertaker could've happened earlier and both wrestlers could've had historic matches at Wrestlemania.

 

[Soulblazed]

To continue with Savior Of Silence's post about Vince going to prison for a few years because of the steroid scandal-With Vince in prison(say, til just before Survivor Series 97), it'd be Linda taking Vince's spot and bringing in more luchadores and Japanese wrestlers(both male and female), keeping the Women's division relevant to the point that Alundra Blayze never leaves the WWF(which means she never dropped the WWF Women's Title in the trash on Nitro). Luna Vachon ends up beating Blayze for the WWF Women's Title at Wrestlemania 12. Linda also would be using the smaller wrestlers such as Bret/Shawn, along with non-roided big guys such as Taker and Diesel. Linda ends up staying outta trouble during Vince's prison stint through constant good PR. Not to mention, it'd be perfect timing for Vince to get released from prison the morning of the 1997 Survivor Series, making a huge surprise return to the WWF at the conclusion of the Bret vs Shawn match to screw Bret. Imagine the heat Vince would get returning to the WWF at Survivor Series 1997, screwing Bret and the next night on Raw still debuting the Mr. McMahon character. That would've been a great angle. Vince could've cut a promo post-Survivor Series about how he "learned lessons in prison" to be even more cut-throat than he was before he was arrested, hence why he shows no remorse of screwing Bret the night before.


Here's my road not taken-If Mr. Perfect's back injuries never forced him to miss years of wrestling action (namely most of 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 if he stayed with the WWF), who would he have feuded with, would he have ended up winning the WWF Title, or just another IC Title? Would he still have jumped to WCW at the end of 1996 when Perfect was Hunter Hearst Helmsley's manager?

I think that if Perfect never had to miss years of wrestling due to his numerous back injuries, I see it like this

At Wrestlemania 8, Mr. Perfect would be involved in the very first Triple Threat Elimination Match for the IC Title, pitting Perfect against Bret against Piper. At Wrestlemania 10, instead of being a guest ref, Perfect could've wrestled Lex Luger to avenge his Wrestlemania 9 loss to him and in the process carry Luger to the best WWF match he's ever had. Perfect also would end up winning the WWF Title from Luger, who held the title since he beat Yokozuna by pinfall at Summerslam 1993. At Wrestlemania 11 Perfect could go against Shawn Michaels in a classic match which Perfect barely ends up winning. Wrestlemania 12 could've had Perfect going against Razor Ramon, with Ramon winning a hard-fought match after a Razor's Edge on Perfect at the 15 min mark. At Wrestlemania 13, Perfect could wrestle Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the IC Title to end the angle between them which started in late 1996 when Perfect first became Helmsley's manager. I'll stop there.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Ill ask most recent one that has been asked lots of times before:

What if Punk didnt leave in 2014? He left in and we got Danyel Bryan "Yestlemania". If he didnt left we would might got Punk/HHH, Batista/Orton and given Batista would not get face reaction maybe even Punk in that match. And Bryan would get Sheamus or in better case HHH. Or in better scenario Punk would get HHH and Bryan would get title shot. Would be completly different thing.

As for KO

Okay, so what happened? Why is KO now fighting on the midcard? Did management find his performance unsatisfactory, thereby demoting him? That seems hard to believe, doesn't it? Did they decide his physical appearance precludes him from fighting at the top of the roster? Didn't they know this before putting him in against Cena? Was it their original intention to put him on the midcard after his series with Cena, regardless of how he did? If so, then why start him at the top?

They wanted big start from him and they gave him clean win over Cena right away. Trouble is they dont look at him right now as mainevent thing(eventhough he is 10 years in bussiness he just comed from NXT) so WWE didnt want to give him too much too soon. Maybe smart decision but cant see how it would differ if he won US title over Cena. Cena wouldnt be hurt because he is Cena and he could still chalenge Rollins even without US title(that match was after KO and wasnt planned ahead because original plan before was Rollins/HHH) and KO could parade around with US title and still have Cesaro as opponent.

 

[chuckmdubya]

On Kevin Owens...

Getting to start off with a rivalry against 'the man' helped Owens a lot. Now he came in with a strong following from the Indy scene and NXT but had little fame with Raw fans who go no further than Raw or Smackdown.

It is common for a newcomer to get a strong push, but Owens got one bigger than usual. We often assume that a superstar's rise to the top should be linear, start at the bottom, and gradually work to the top. That just doesn't happen every time especially in kayfabe.

I believe that they wanted to push and test him at the same time, and now it's his job to get that linear push to the top. They brought him in, put him against Cena, who tested him in every way, and then set him on a path to earning it. He certainly passed the test and gained significantly in fame.

But if he were already in the #1 contenders spot he might as well have an expiration date of March 2017, because by then we will have been tired of him already. He certainly would have been up to the task, but he might have been too much too soon.

An example could be Del Wilkes, The Patriot. He came in super hot and had a title match within his first month or two against Bret Hart. I realize he was injured and retired, but he was losing his popularity before that. If a star rises to fast he burns out.

 

[Aquaman6686]

We often assume that a superstar's rise to the top should be linear, start at the bottom, and gradually work to the top. That just doesn't happen every time especially in kayfabe.

If a star rises to fast he burns out.

The sad part is, this is how WWE ruins all their new talents these days. They skyrocket them to the top with absolutely no patience, they peak too early, and then they're nothing special. WWE seems to have lost the ability to build stars slowly and correctly, especially since NXT became so popular. NXT is great for WWE in the short term, but it's going to kill them in the long term if they don't wise up. Everyone who comes up from NXT has to be pushed to the moon immediately. If it doesn't happen, NXT fans whine about how they're being "buried". If it does happen, once that initial mega-push is over and they settle into a more normal position on the card, they become just another member of the roster, at which point the casual fans have already accepted them as nothing special (which, in 99% of cases, they aren't), and NXT fans have already dismissed them as "WWE gave up on ______, he's been buried".

 

[Mustang Sally]

Shawn Michaels: When Diesel and Razor Ramon left for WCW, HBK attempted to get out of his contract to follow but was turned down (typical of Shawn at the time, he very publicly huffed). Sometime later Bret Hart was released from his contract and made the jump.

Question: --The road not taken-- Shawn is granted his request. First lets make some reasonably safe assumptions (although y'all can dispute if you wish):

• Hunter leaves with/ shortly after HBK and McMahon/ Helmsley never happens.
• The Cliq forms the nucleus of the nWo.
• Bret never leaves the WWF.
• Neither Bret nor Shawn are involved in the matches that caused their hiatus.

What would have happened in WCW? What would have happened in the WWF? Would Hogan have turned heel? Would Attitude have happened? How would the wrestling landscape look now?

This is a terrific example and it proves you're thinking larger than I am. While I was talking about how the road a performer doesn't take might affect him, you're talking how the actions of a couple of people could have turned the fortunes of the two largest wrestling organizations in the US.

To that end, it's probably easy to guess how Paul Levesque feels today that he wasn't alowed to follow his buddies to WCW 20 years ago.

 

[Makaveli31]

After SummerSlam 1991 Ultimate Warrior is essentially suspended for eight months by the WWF for his actions prior to 'Slam 91.

What if....Warrior had not been suspended by the WWF.

- his feud with the Undertaker and Jake Roberts is allowed to play out. Setting up for grudge matches at Survior Series '91, Royal Rumble '92, and WrestleMania 8. Some things to consider.

1. I think ultimately it would've been a Savage/Warrior pairing vs. 'Taker/Roberts at Series '91 so the Savage/Roberts angle would've played out the same (snake bite/reinstatement angle/Jake slapping Liz, etc...) but 'Taker would've never been turned babyface in order to face Jake at WM8. According to Jake the plan was to have Warrior/Jake semi-main event at WrestleMania in 1992 which would've been a big payoff for Jake. According to Jake, Warrior would've won the strap from 'Taker at Rumble '92 so the match between Warrior and Jake would've been a WWF Championship match.

2. Warrrior would've never lost his momentum. Warrior was as hot as ever coming off his feud with Savage and heading into his feud with "Taker and Jake. I would argue he was still 1A in terms of top babyface to Hogan. When he was suspended for almost an entire year it killed the momentum he had built for four years.

As a kid, I couldn't help but feel betrayed in a way by him taking off for so long (I didn't know the backstory till years later). I think most fans felt the same way and Warrior was never held in that same light again. When he came back obviously he didn't look the same (he had ceased his use of anabolic steroids and obviously wasn't killing it the gym night in and night out). He had also cut his hair. Standing next to guys light Hogan, 'Taker, and Sid he didn't have that same superhero look.

3. Warrior would've feuded with 'Taker, Jake, and Sid. Instead he had lackkuster feuds with Papa Shango, a WWF Championship match with Savage which had no pop (it didn't even main event 'Slam 92) a lackluster feud with Ric Flair then was put into tag team with Macho Man. According the plan was for him to face a newly heel-turned Warrior at Rumble '93 but Warrior was fired for HGH use.

 

[Stone Cold Tea]

This is a terrific example and it proves you're thinking larger than I am. While I was talking about how the road a performer doesn't take might affect him, you're talking how the actions of a couple of people could have turned the fortunes of the two largest wrestling organizations in the US.

To that end, it's probably easy to guess how Paul Levesque feels today that he wasn't alowed to follow his buddies to WCW 20 years ago.

Do you think he would have gone to WCW considering he'd already been there and it didn't work out brilliant for him from what I can remember from his DVD.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Do you think he would have gone to WCW considering he'd already been there and it didn't work out brilliant for him from what I can remember from his DVD.

It's true the whole 'Terra Ryzing' phase of his career wasn't a success, but wasn't he involved in a shoot interview in '96 or '97 where he commented on his buddies Hall & Nash going to WCW and how he wanted to join them?

As I remember, he was pretty upset that WWE wanted him to fulfill his contractual obligations......although things kind of worked out in the end, right?

 

[Stone Cold Tea]

It's true the whole 'Terra Ryzing' phase of his career wasn't a success, but wasn't he involved in a shoot interview in '96 or '97 where he commented on his buddies Hall & Nash going to WCW and how he wanted to join them?

As I remember, he was pretty upset that WWE wanted him to fulfill his contractual obligations......although things kind of worked out in the end, right?

Yeah you could most definitely say that. I had a thought that maybe if HHH was the only one of the Cliq left then maybe he would get a nice push up the card and possibly go on to win KOTR instead of Austin, but then i remembered HHH was in the doghouse with Vince.