What is the biggest missed booking opportunity ever and how would you rebook it?

[willross]

Going much further back, and I have rebooked this a few times int he past...

Wrestlemania 7...

In short, Rick Rude is the one to take the title from the Ultimate Warrior at the rumble (he stays cos he knows this is happening) instead of Slaughter, Savage still interferes, leading to a feud with Warrior while Hogan battles Slaughter. In short we have ourselves a similar scenario to WM10 with multiple matches to determine who faces Rude in the main event. Thanks to Heenan's machinations, Hogan must face Slaughter while Savage and Warrior must face off - no retirement stip.

Jack Tunney steps in to "even up" the situation by not allowing Rude a "pass" - he decrees he has to wrestle Big Bossman in the opening match first.

So Our Mania 7 card (which ended up with 14 matches anyway) goes something like.


Dark Match

Power & Glory defeat The Bushwhackers

Opening Match

Rude vs Bossman - Heenan helps Rude escape with the title but is caught and given "Hard Time" after the match. He is stretchered out and is now out of the final match, much to Rude's chagrin.


Jake v Rick Martel -still happens as it did in a Blindfold match

Texas Tornado & The Rockers vs Barbarian, Haku & Dino Bravo - now without Heenan

The Ultimate Warrior vs Randy Savage - Savage upsets Warrior when The Undertaker interferes and puts him into a Body Bag.

The Hart Foundation vs The Nasty Boys - Bret isn't getting the IC as soon here, so he and Jim retain the tag titles a little longer. They'll lose them to the Rockers at Summerslam.

Hulk Hogan vs Sgt Slaughter - Hogan prevails but General Adnan gives Slaughter a fireball and Hogan is also taken to the ER.

The Undertaker defeats Jimmy Snuka

Davey Boy Smith defeats Mr. Perfect for the IC title as Heenan is not present to help him.

Virgil beats Ted DiBiase as happened

The Mountie defeats Tito Santana

The Legion Of Doom defeat Demolition

Main Event

Randy Savage vs Rick Rude

Originally scheduled to be a triple threat match, with Hogan's injury this becomes a Heel vs Heel main event. Strangely the odds still seem stacked against Rude as Heenan is unable to return and his stable has splintered throughout the night as a result. Savage has the upper hand until Sherri shockingly turns on him by nailing him with her spiked stilletto and kissing Rude! Rude scores the pinfall and begins to rough up Savage with Sherri until Elizabeth returns... She sees off Sherri and Rude is quick to "ditch her" and start to walk to the back...

As Savage and Liz reunite and Rude skulks to the back - Jack Tunney appears onscreen from the back with Mean Gene... telling Rude his night is not done yet and he needs to return to the ring or be stripped of the title...

By the time we cut back, Randy and Liz have left and Rude is alone in the ring... Cue some unusual music...and a WOOOOO!

Ric Flair walks out accompanied by... BOBBY HEENAN!

The match goes about 10 minutes, showcasing Flair's best and ends with Rude submitting to the Figure Four leglock. New WWF Champion - RIC FLAIR!


SO... a Mania where Hogan and Warrior are not the main event, where Rude is built up to lose? and Flair didn't sign till August right?

It was clear Ric was coming to the end of his deal, and I always felt that had Vince truly felt he had a shot at getting him over there at that time, Rude would have stayed.

This booking sees Rude not quite turn face, but staying around to feud with Flair, much as Bret ended up doing two years later.

Why would it have changed the WWF?

Rude was a perfect guy to help build the smaller champion/main event push at that time. He and Flair, he and Savage, he and Bret Hart, Perfect, Davey Boy and perhaps eventually even Sting would have been exciting matches in the WWF... Not all would be for the title, but Rude having that run, being booked strong rather than the debacle that started with his loss at Summerslam through to Flair's win in 92 at The Rumble damaged the WWF more than the roid scandal did at that time.

Hogan and Warrior are still in the mix, but at 7 they had a golden opportunity to spend some money, get Flair in and shift the focus away from them... had they done so, many of the guys who got over still would have - but it's conceivable that a Curt Hennig or Davey Boy could have been World Champions in that era legit. There would also have been a Four Horsemen... Flair would have had Bossman as his "Enforcer", Davey and Bret Hart most likely as the other two. That stable would have been great for Hogan AND Warrior to feud with.

Having Rude on your roster through to around 94 or even longer, would have helped guys like Bret, Owen, Hennig, Jake, Kerry all develop in the ring and just think what it could have done for Shawn Michaels!!!!

To me it's still the biggest mistake Vince ever made, letting Rude walk.. he literally was the best heel in the business at the time for WCW and played vital roles in bringing on Sting, Dustin Rhodes, Steve Austin, Brian Pillman and in building WCW to the point they could GET a Hogan or Savage... him as champ in 90-91 would have brought Flair over... would have led to clinics and great title matches with Bret, DiBiase, Hennig just for starters... and prevented the problems the company faced later.

Cool, but I am not sure the concept of a triple threat match existed back then.

 

[willross]

The WCW guys were under contract from another company...I forget the explanation of it, but their contracts were still good.

Regarding the timing...I know, and that's why I mentioned it. What I'm saying is that Vince should've offered them all money on top of what they were getting paid by the other company since he wasn't paying them. That's the difference.

Sting didn't come over because of the way they treated the first guys coming in like Booker T. Had Vince put ego aside and went to work for the fans to give them what they wanted, everyone could've been happy. But I suppose he wasn't up for it and needed the time to get over things.

Had they done that, then Austin vs Goldberg could've happened at Mania 18. Even if they didn't, and making that issue separate from the Invasion, many here have talked about how they should've had Goldberg vs Austin at Mania 19. Austin only had an issue (although a really significant one) the night before Mania where he went to the hospital. He was fine before that however. Had they brought in Bill a couple months beforehand, they could've built it.

The reason those WCW guys sat at home cause they weren't marks so you can't entice them with "mark shit" like storylines or winning. Double their money and then they would come. But why would anyone work 300 days when they can make basically the same amount of money sitting at home chillen?

DDP went cause he was a mark for WWF, he admitted it himself. Booker T went cause he was under contract with WCW not Time Warner.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

I voted for the ending of Goldberg's streak. That should have been used to elevate a superstar to the top, instead it was used on a guy that didn't need it at all. And the way it was done hurt Goldberg(cause the streak is no longer there) and didn't help Nash at all because the focal point was on Hall for using the stun gun. Then to make matters worse the finger poke of doom happened right after. So they blew the streak for absolutely nothing.

If I had it my way I would have done it this way. First off here's a refresher on what was going down around that time. In the Fall of 98 Jericho kept taunting Goldberg, he basically kept coming up with ridiculous ways to "beat" him. I believe at one time Jericho was "3 and 0" against him. Of course none of them were legitimate and nobody took it serious but that was Jericho at the time. He was hilarious and over.

So with that said I would have Jericho continue to mock Goldberg off and on throughout the rest of 98 into early 99. Finally around Slamboree time in May they finally book a real match between the undefeated World Champ(and at that time probably kayfabe 200+ and 0) Goldberg and Chris Jericho.

Jericho being in the main event against Goldberg would instantly give him credibility but that would just be the start. I would of course have Jericho beat Goldberg. It would have to be dirty of course but Jericho would become the World Champ and the first person to beat Goldberg.

This would accomplish a couple things. First off it would instantly make Jericho a superstar in the eyes of WCW and their fans. Secondly and probably most importantly, this was shortly before his contract was up. He would of course have resigned if he was in this position at the time. So he wouldn't have went to WWE, and with him having this success it probably would have been motivators for guys like Benoit and Eddie to stay too. So none of them would have left. How different would WCW look in 2000 if all those guys were there?

So in closing if you did it my way you would get several more months out of the Goldberg streak draw, you could create a feud that would last over the summer, create a new home grown star and possibly keep several of your talent. Instead they just pissed it away on a guy that didn't need the belt.

 

[relentless1]

I voted for the ending of Goldberg's streak. That should have been used to elevate a superstar to the top, instead it was used on a guy that didn't need it at all. And the way it was done hurt Goldberg(cause the streak is no longer there) and didn't help Nash at all because the focal point was on Hall for using the stun gun. Then to make matters worse the finger poke of doom happened right after. So they blew the streak for absolutely nothing.

If I had it my way I would have done it this way. First off here's a refresher on what was going down around that time. In the Fall of 98 Jericho kept taunting Goldberg, he basically kept coming up with ridiculous ways to "beat" him. I believe at one time Jericho was "3 and 0" against him. Of course none of them were legitimate and nobody took it serious but that was Jericho at the time. He was hilarious and over.

So with that said I would have Jericho continue to mock Goldberg off and on throughout the rest of 98 into early 99. Finally around Slamboree time in May they finally book a real match between the undefeated World Champ(and at that time probably kayfabe 200+ and 0) Goldberg and Chris Jericho.

Jericho being in the main event against Goldberg would instantly give him credibility but that would just be the start. I would of course have Jericho beat Goldberg. It would have to be dirty of course but Jericho would become the World Champ and the first person to beat Goldberg.

This would accomplish a couple things. First off it would instantly make Jericho a superstar in the eyes of WCW and their fans. Secondly and probably most importantly, this was shortly before his contract was up. He would of course have resigned if he was in this position at the time. So he wouldn't have went to WWE, and with him having this success it probably would have been motivators for guys like Benoit and Eddie to stay too. So none of them would have left. How different would WCW look in 2000 if all those guys were there?

So in closing if you did it my way you would get several more months out of the Goldberg streak draw, you could create a feud that would last over the summer, create a new home grown star and possibly keep several of your talent. Instead they just pissed it away on a guy that didn't need the belt.

I like where youre going with this but Scott Steiner should have been the one to beat Goldberg, he was very believable as a nut gone loose and he could feasibly beat Goldberg one on one let alone with interference, then you have guys like Benoit, Booker, Jericho and Guerrero stepping up to challenge, along with Goldberg of course. Steiner should have won world war three and beat Bill at Starrcade 1998, not Nash.