What Feud Could You Have Made Work?

[Tenta]

Throughout history, there have been feuds that just never worked nearly as well as it possibly could have. Either the wrestlers did not click, there was a clash of personalities, or the matches just flat out stunk. So if you could have gone back in history and redone a one-on-one feud among two wrestlers, which feud would you have redone?

Mine would probably have been the fued between Steve Austin and Brian Pillman when Brian was first introduced into the WWF. Granted, I understand how limited Brian was due to his ankle injury. But the way I would have worked this feud, it would have spared Brian the agony of going into the ring, and probably would have saved his life. I mean, just imagine these two actually having a wrestling match against each other. Hell, can you picture the heated promos between these two? It would have been wrestling gold.

My first course of action would have been to keep the "Pillmanizer" on an episode of Raw, but for God's sake, I would have gotten rid of "Pillman's got a gun". That, to me, killed any long term potential feud ability with Pillman. I would have kept Austin in his feud with Bret up to Wrestlemania 13, keeping everything intact, including the I Quit match. Then, after Wrestlemania 13, much like what actually happened, Pillman would side with Bret Hart. Instead of a Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels feud being built up at Survivor Series, I would have built Bret-Steve to Survivor Series, giving Bret the strap. Austin would have had to go through every member of the Hart Foundation. The last man Austin would have to go through? Why, who else but Brian Pillman? At this point, it's good to point out that Brian will not have had ANY wrestling matches between this point and, I don't know, Summerslam. Steve's match against Owen was great, but I feel like a match between Steve and Brian could have been built up. Who knows, you also could have also avoided the Owen Hart piledriver that caused so many problems to Steve later in his career. Then, after this match, Brian keeps nagging at Steve until Bret faces Steve at Survivor Series. That way, you also could have possibly avoided the Montreal Screwjob. After all, I don't think Bret would have minded dropping the strap to Steve at the Survivor Series. After that, you could have had Steve drop the belt to Shawn in a screw job manner at D-Generation X, and build up the Wrestlemania between Shawn and Steve.

But at least that's the way I would have done it. Pick a feud you would have worked with.

 

[richardleaf20]

I'd have to say Triple H and JBL's confrontation from 4 years ago at Wrestlemania 21. That backstage segment right before JBL's title defense against John Cena was both funny and intense, and in my opinion gave off the impression that a possible fued would come out of it. It's hard to say how the fued would have played out, because it never actually happened (unless you count the mini-fued they had around the time Trips won the WWE Title last year).

 

[horsemen4ver]

I would have to say Ludvig Borga vs. Lex Luger from the early 90's. That feud could have gone somewhere. Ludvig Borga was the most underrated superstar of that time. That feud would have made a lot of money if pushed the right direction.

 

[FiveTymeWCWChamp]

The easiest feuds to build would be when great tag teams break up. For the most part, the feuds were worthless. I am looking forward to the Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy feud. Here is my list of wasted feuds.

1. Edge vs Christian...never happened
2. Road Dogg vs. Billy Gunn...never happened
3. Shawn Michaels vs Marty Janetty...good start, terrible finish.
4. Shelton Benjamin vs Charlie Haas...this could have saved Haas's career.

I do like the ludvig borga vs lex luger fued that died quickly. How about Tatanka vs Lex Luger. How about the 1st Randy Orton/HHH feud where HHH burried Orton quickly to take the title from Orton.
There are so many that we could go into that if booked right, could have worked. Not even including the feuds from WCW

 

[The Todd]

I would take the mid card feud between R-Truth and Benjamin to try and get them both over.

have R-Truth beat Shelton for US Title with a quick roll up. Next week have Shelton attack Truth backstage. The next week have SHelton retain the title with the use of an exposed turnbuckle. Then have Truth win the title back clean, but with Benjamin's rematch clause have him win it back cleanly. THen have Truth be on the verge of winnig the title back when Umaga returns and decimates both. THen have a triple threat at a PPV for the title. Umaga wins after Truth and Shelton cannot co-exist.

Then have Truth and Shelton forced to tag up for a few weeks and eventually win the tag titles. The crowd would hopefully get behind them. Then Benjamin gets a shot at Umaga's title, and Truth helps him win it. When all looks good, Shelton turns on Truth, and leaves him bloodied and decimated in the ring. He then calls for a tag title match and sits and watch a tag team take advantage of the lifeless body of Truth in the ring by pinning him. This leads to Truth wanting a match against Shelton, but he has to beat Umaga first for the shot.

Truth gets dominated but manages to scrape a win against the Samoan leading to a match against Shelton at Armageddon, which he wins after a violent clash which ends the feud with Truth as an over face, and Shelton as on over heel.

THey can keep teasing feud from then on with Truth eliminating Shelton from the Rumble. Shelton beating Truth for a place in EC at NWO, and then Truth winning MITB ahead of Shelton. This leaves the chance for the feud to restart at any time in the future.

 

[richardleaf20]

Actually, Edge and Christian did have a feud, back in 2001 during the Invasion. Christian joined the alliance and took Edge's Intercontinental title from him at Unforgiven. They then had a rematch at No Mercy that same year, where Edge won back the IC title in an amazing ladder match. So, sorry to inform you, but your statement is completely invalid about Edge and Christian. Sure, it could have been built up a little longer or gone on longer, but the feud itself did take place.

 

[Tenta]

Actually, Edge and Christian did have a feud, back in 2001 during the Invasion. Christian joined the alliance and took Edge's Intercontinental title from him at Unforgiven. They then had a rematch at No Mercy that same year, where Edge won back the IC title in an amazing ladder match. So, sorry to inform you, but your statement is completely invalid about Edge and Christian. Sure, it could have been built up a little longer or gone on longer, but the feud itself did take place.

Yes they feuded, but the point of this forum is feuds that could have been built better. Of course, it appears that feud was contingent of the Invasion, which we know how well that one went . But I can see where you're coming from. I would have definitely rather seen this match than Edge v.s. Test to unify the IC and US titles. Perhaps in a cage match (I feel this is a swerve from the ladder match they had already performed).

 

[FiveTymeWCWChamp]

that is why i said the edge/christian feud never happened because no many people remembered it, especially me. why didn't the two of them have matches that they two are know for? if they did, i don't remember any of them. did the two have a ladder match or a tlc match? i mean they were one of the top tag teams at the time and they should have done much more for that feud

 

[JJYanks121]

I'm going to go with a feud that has not yet happened, but should. For some strange reason, it seems an HBK vs. Taker Wrestlemania match is immiment and my question is WHY??? There's very little reason to do this as Shawn could do better things and face vs. face would not work. Instead, if you are going the Raw vs. Smackdown route, why not have Jericho face Undertaker.

Let's break it down a moment. Chris Jericho's character these days is one of an honest man who has values and morals (in his own mind). He has called out the likes of HBK and Cena for being frauds and caring too much about the fans. Given the realism of the programming these days, it would make sense for Jericho to target the Taker next. Imagine Jericho calling out Taker for being a "dead man" who has already been a living, breathing biker, for being a man that walks slow and pulls up the lights with his hands just to make the fans happy. This is the only man left trying to get the fans to believe in the supernatural in the arena. Maybe he should come clean to the fans he loves so much and explain that he has to pull those stunts because he no longer is the dominant Undertaker. Jericho would get great heat for it, and it could lead Mark Calloway, or Undertaker, to become a little more real and get over as a face that actually has a personality. Both these men could really make it work and it can go many ways.

I think this feud is perfect for the Jericho character and I would love to see it. Of course, i don't expect anything of the sort because the Undertaker is a nostalgic act, no matter how little he fits in with the grand scheme of things.

 

[MrBungle19]

Going back a little in time here (and showing my age, which I don't mind so much), the biggest potential feud in WWF/E history that was cocked up the worst was Hulk Hogan vs Bret Hart, when a 5-6 year build up resulted in a Forgettable WWF Title match between Lex Luger and Yokozuna. Allow me to explain.

From the mid '80's to the early '90's, during wrestling's biggest boom period and the dawn of the Wrestlemania era, Hulk Hogan was the undisputed and dominant champion. Sure he had periods without the belt (Savage held it for a year, Warrior little less) yet he main evented every Wrestlemaina from 1 to 9 (or at least shared a double main event bill, with the exception of Wrestlemaina 4) and was regarded as the greatest wrestler in the world (I don't personally think that, but the man drew money and to some people that is the definition of a great wrestler) and held the World title more often than anyone up to that point.

On the undercard during this exact same period was Bret Hart. I have yet to see an on-screen character evolve more naturally and with greater success than Hart's. He started at the bottom in the Tag ranks, but even during that period he was gradually pushed and allowed to get over with various, I guess you'd call them booking tactics. The main two that spring to mind:

1) During every match he was in, Jesse Ventura or Gorilla Monsoon would always mention that "Mechanically, he is the best wrestler in the world today". As a kid who wasn't clued in to how wrestling worked yet, it sold you on how good Hart was. You'd be sitting there watching and thinking "Best wrestler in the World? Isn't that suppose to be Hulk? Man this Bret dude must be really good for them to dis Hulk like that."

2) 1989 Survivor Series. Randy Savage, the only man to carry the World title in Hogans presence and universally regarded as one of the best of all time at this point finds himself the captain of a team booked against Jim Duggan's team, whom he was in an angle with at the time.

In those days, Survivor Series teams consisted of a Top star, a random mid carder, and a tag team. But in this instance, the two members of the Hart Foundation had been placed in different teams. Jim Neidhart was a member of the Ultimate Warrior's team who were booked against Andre and Co., and Bret found himself the fourth member of Duggan's team.

During the match, Savage's team have pretty much had their way, and Duggan and Bret are the only one's left. Bret steps in to face Savage, at which point the Macho Man proceeds to put Hart over huge by wigging out and refusing to lock up with him, jumping out of the ring, standing on the top rope and pointing at Hart as if Bret were about to put some kind of technical wrestling Magic Spell on him. Bret ends up getting eliminated, but the little mark at home is thinking "Damn, that Bret dude must be freakin awesome for Savage to be that scared of him. Savage wrestled Hulk at Wrestlemania and didn't freak out like that. And he was in the ring with Hulk Hogan!"

Hogan of course continued to be the main man throughout this period, despatching each new giant monster (Zeus, Earthquake, Undertaker, Sid Justice), Evil Corporate type (DiBiase), or War Criminal (Slaughter) that came along to threaten Hulkamania, with nothing more than a legdrop and an American Flag. While Hart, gradually as always, left the tag ranks, won the Intercontinental title and starting having the best matches on the card with the likes of Curt Hennig, The Mountie, Skinner, Roddy Piper and Shawn Michaels.

In late 1992, Ric Flair is the WWF Champion, Hulk Hogan is off on his 16th unsuccessful attempt to make something resembling a motion picture, and Bret Hart has just finished his second I/C title reign with a balltearer of a match with the British Bulldog at Wembley Stadium. At an un-aired house show, Hart beats Flair for his first WWF championship.

In the coming months, Hart is booked as the 'Fightingest Champion in WWF History' as he defends his title at every opportunity, even house shows in small towns, which could have been interpreted as a ploy to make Hogan look bad, while building Hart up. Either way, Bret carries the Belt to WM 9, at which point Hogan has also returned as Brutus Beefcake's tag team partner.

I won't go into detail as to what happens at Wrestlemania 9, I'm pretty sure everyone's aware, suffice to say Hogan wins his 5th WWF title in what stands as one of the dumbest endings to a PPV ever, but wasn't beyond repair at that point. At least not yet.

Hogan goes on to carry the Belt to the first ever "King of the Ring" PPV, something that I can only assume was designed to bridge the gap between Wrestlemania and Summerslam. Bret Hart becomes the first ever King of the Ring after winning a tournament that culminated in IMO one of the best matches ever between Bret and Bam Bam Bigelow.

Now, you're all probably pretty tired from reading this massive story, as I am from writing it, so I'll wrap it up as best I can. If Hogan had beaten Yoko that night to retain, Summerslam 1993 would be remembered as fondly as Wrestlemania 3 in terms of stature. Hogan would pass the torch to Bret in a classic Face v Face match that not only would have drawn a ton of money, but in reality was the match that wrestling fans of that era had been waiting a good five years to see, and which the WWF had, as I've stated above, built up themselves over the years.

Instead, we were treated to Hogan dropping the belt to Yoko and doing a runner, Bret put in an angle with a semi-active commentator, and Yoko getting counted out in a title defence with Luger at SS 93.

If I were Summerslam 93, I'd still be pissed.

 

[AgeOfOrton]

Goldberg & Brock Lesnar would have really worked if the outcome was actually a good match instead of that pathetic match at Wrestlemania XX

like it got really good with goldberg costing lesnar the title to eddie
but if the match at mania xx was better then that feud would have been amaizing

 

[The Palace of Wisdom]

I think RVD vs. HHH could have been a fantastic feud especially had RVD been able to chase HHH for the WWE title and eventually win it from him. And RVD vs. Cena could have been something pretty special for the WWE title had RVD not gotten busted.

Man I wish that dude could come back full-time.