What could have been

[CelticCorey]

So I was just reading klunderbunker's review of Nitro in 1998 when Goldberg beat Hogan for the title on free tv and what a dumb move that was. We know how TNA is rehashing a lot of the things WCW was doing. Despite his drug problems, Jeff Hardy is one of the biggest names in pro wrestling today. Yet he managed to fuck up beyond belief as there was the gaffe at Victory Road, perhaps TNA's Finger Poke of Doom.

He was the centerpiece of the Immortal storyline and while Immortal still runs, it has definitely lost its steam and direction especially since Hardy has been gone. It just makes you wonder what if Jeff Hardy managed to hold on to the TNA World Title for awhile, defeating Sting, Anderson, Van Dam, AJ and Angle in the process.

Meanwhile in the spring and summer of 2011, there is a hot young prospect in TNA that we all know as Crimson. Crimson introduced the Fortune raid onto Immortal and was a big part of the show. Now in the midcard, Crimson has been unstoppable by beating everybody in his path and is winning the crowd over week by week. He is undefeated and is the best young talent that TNA has.

What would have happened if Jeff Hardy didn't fuck up? TNA could have the undefeated Crimson vs. Jeff Hardy for the World Title at Bound For Glory 2011 with Crimson becoming champ and defeating Immortal. They could've hyped the hell out of this thing. I think if done right it could've been an outstanding storyline and all. Sadly, TNA would've dropped the ball and now this can't happen because of Hardy being a fuckup.

 

[jccool420]

I like crimson but I don't think comparing his streak to Goldberg's is quite the same... WCW had lots of TV time that they could use to enhance Bill's streak... It will take triple the time to get Crimson over...

And it really doesn't matter if Jeff has the belt or not... Crimson getting a shot at someone like Angle and surprising the world by winning the title would be great for him... but not the same level as Goldberg beating Hogan.

 

[CelticCorey]

I'm not necessarily saying that it would capture that sort of magnitude. There are a number of reasons that it wouldn't. But Crimson going on a hot streak and if TNA were able to capitalize on that hot streak could have built up steam with him being undefeated and winning the title at Bound for Glory, I think it could be or could've been the best thing to have happened to TNA in a long time. That's just me though.

 

[Save_Me1991]

That probably would have worked but I would rather put Crimson against a superstar who has legend status on TNA like Sting, Angle or even maybe AJ Styles.. But if Jeff hadnt fucked up 9 times out of 10, with the Russo/Bishoff/Hogan regime.. TNA probably would have fucked it up

 

[CelticCorey]

Angle, Styles and Sting would also have worked and I completely understand where you are coming from. However I know that Jeff was the centerpiece of TNA's biggest storyline and I think this could've been the night that the tables turn against Immortal and the red hot Crimson steps up to the plate to knock these guys down against one of wrestling's biggest draws and the top wrestling heel in the company.

You're right though that TNA probably would've fucked it up.

 

[sweetcosmicpope]

I wasn't around TNA for the Joe streak, but I remember Goldberg's quite clearly. Everyone I knew, including myself, were incredibly bored of watching squash matches every week. I even recall the IWC hating on Goldberg, and the fact that they couldn't get the crowd to chant, so they were piping in Goldberg chants. Somehow people have seemed to forget that.

Maybe I'm wrong, here, but to just watch somebody go through a bunch of squash matches until they get to a championship match and then win that is just boring and there's no payoff. No money shot.

I like what they're doing him and Joe to an extent (not really a fan of Joe, though). It makes sense and will have some excitement and a payoff.

Another way, which would be nice is to build him up with his streak (but for the love of god to make it nearly 200), and then bring in an underdog and have a truly epic battle between the two and let the underdog win. This can culminate in a fued and really put the two of them over.

 

[UFOcalling]

A better question would be: "What if Sting hadn't returned to TNA?"

I seriously doubt TNA would have kept the belt on Jeff for that long, regardless of his "personal problems". When Sting won the title earlier this year, it must have been written into his contract. I don't think they took the belt of off Jeff because of his "problems", they did it to appease Sting. I think that Sting would have won the title even if Jeff was as sober as a priest on Sunday morning.

The original plan must have been to keep Jeff chasing Sting (and the title) for a while, obviously the Victory Road main event squashed those plans. From everything I read, I think Sting was also supposed to go over Hardy at Victory Road (I mean if Jeff had been clean, and able to perform properly). In my opinion, Sting is the reason they took the belt off Hardy. I think that would have been the plan even if Jeff had been sober the whole time.

If Sting hadn't have returned, it's possible that Hardy wouldn't have shown up "unable to perform" at Victory Road. If Hardy would have still been the champ, he might have been able to wait until after his match to do his drugs. I'm not saying that something like the VR main event wouldn't have happened all together, but it might have delayed it for a while.

I'm really glad that it happened when it did, because no one got hurt and Jeff is (hopefully) staying clean and getting the help he needs.

The idea of building Crimson up for a while, then having him face Hardy for the belt at BFG 2011 might be cool. Crimson's undefeated streak would hopefully be handled better than Goldberg's was. Goldberg fought jobbers just about every week. It got boring, because you knew that someone like Van Hammer wasn't going to beat him! LOL! It was only towards the end of Goldberg's streak that it actually got interesting...because he started wrestling more main-eventers (guys who could actually be a believable threat to the streak). Guys like DDP, Nash, etc.

As long as TNA keeps Crimson fighting "stars" (instead of jobbers), a long undefeated streak for him might make him seem credible. After a few months of this, it would seem feasible for him to be able to win a match to become the number one contender (or whatever).

It would have been interesting though, if Jeff could have kept the title until BFG 2011. Hardy would obviously have to had not been beaten for an entire year to keep the title that long, so if Crimson had an undefeated streak of his own it would have made an interesting match.

 

[GrandSword]

First of all Crimson is horrible. What is this talk of a win streak, he's won like 4 matches wow, big woop. The guy is tall but I don't see him anymore impressive than Brutus Magnus when he debuted. And Magnus has a 1000x more charisma than Crimson. I don't want to cheer for this guy, he gives me no reason to.

Goldberg had the look, the tattoo, the intensity and the spear jackhammer combo. What does Crismon have, red hair that's what. If they really wanted to push him he should have been in a tag team with Amazing Red and worked him that way. The LAX type small quick man, big strong man stuff works and Red could have covered for Crimson's lack of ring skills.

Right now I don't care for him and I hope he gets beaten asap. What's the difference between Rob Terry and him besides Terry being more physically impressive and less tattoos...

Sting vs. Jeff Hardy, the field commander of Immortal vs. the Icon Sting the dark hero, should have been built up but as usual Russo's lightning booking and Bischoff's need for SHOCK surprises every five seconds screwed "what could have been". Immortal is finally defeated by Sting when he takes the title from Hardy after a nice 3 month build. Or Sting could have been the man to run interference on Hogan while RVD got his revenge on Hardy for orchestarting him being slcied up by Abyss and RVD regaining the title... That could have been a good "what could have been" ...

Creative are just short sighted and Hardy is a screw up... Crimson vs. Hardy doesn't make any sense to me OP sorry.

 

[CelticCorey]

Crimson vs. Hardy would make sense because of Crimson's streak TNA is hyping up and his history with Immortal (February 3rd) and it would be the biggest show of them all with the biggest part of the biggest storyline defending against the hottest guy. And Crimson is damn impressive. I think he is very talented in the ring.

And I loved Goldberg's streak. I think it was so cool how he was showcased and all and I loved Goldberg during this time. It could be perhaps that I was just a kid (I was six going on seven in 1998 when Goldberg won the title) so of course it was the greatest thing in the world and I was heartbroken when Nash killed his streak. Maybe if I was older I would've seen this differently. I don't know but that's when I thought kayfabe was real.


But is Crimson less believable because of his size?

 

[MoeIsBetter]

I love what their doing with Crimson. No way his "streak" is a main storyline yet but it eventually will be. If I had it my way I'd either:

a) Keep the win streak going for a little while and bring in Goldberg to face him before his streaks broken. A "you gotta beat the man to be the man" kinda thing. Plus Goldberg wants his son to see him wrestle a match. Or

b) keep the streak going and eventually become Immortals boy, eventually taking the title. I want an intimidating heel and Crimson could fit it perfectly.

I'd much rather see option A though if I had my pick

 

[Dagger Dias]

I could see something like that paying off very well for TNA. Hardy would have held onto the title for an entire year which is unheard of these days and Crimson could have been built up similarly to Goldberg with an undefeated streak of his own, taking down Hardy at the main event of Bound For Glory. The show would live up to its name for once. Unfortunately this would never be able to happen now, as Hardy messed up big time. That doesn't mean they can't still build up Crimson for a big match there though. Assuming that Hardy hadn't messed up with his choices and TNA wouldn't ruin this with insane booking, then it could have potentially been the best thing to happen to them in a long time because they would have a new top guy who would be massively over by that point.