WWE Dropped The Ball On This One.

[butsecks]

Name the segment/feuds/matches that could have been successful but WWE decided to drop the ball, rather than go and run with it.Heres mine:

Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair. This match, as i understand, happened in 1991 in the WWE, but only in small shows/house shows, never on PPV. this match should have happened at Wrestlemania VIII, rather than hogan vs. sid or savage vs. flair. this was THE match that people were waiting for, and at the biggest wrestling stage of them all would have been perfect. and a great money drawer. world title match or not, it should have happened. WWE chose to scrap it soon after.

 

[Jason Riptide]

Can I mention a wrestler? There have been plenty of misdone matches, feuds, or segments amidst the WWE's consistantly successful and entertaining history. Very few are coming to mind though, because usually once the WWE drops the ball on something, it becomes forgettable, and well my expertise is definitely in an attitude-post attitude historian fashion, as opposed to being able to pull the what should've been instant classics from the 80's and the federation years from my memory. I'm just not old enough to really have a knock out answer like the first one mentioned, or like many that will probably be mentioned. So Ill talk about my favorite dropped ball on a wrestler...

But I'll always feel that one of the WWE (and WCW's) biggest drops was never utilizing the Raven character and giving him the main event and world title push he deserved. Here was a guy who could cut a compelling promo like no other, and could grasp a character and concept and elevate it to it's highest potential, as well as put on great storytelling matches with just about anyone. He is such an amazing talent and his character was one of the coolest and most innovative in wrestling. With just the slightest bit of creativity, he could be thrust into a deep, emotional, dramatic, and entertaining feud with anyone. That was the versatility of his character. Raven deserved more than to be a 27 time hardcore champ.

 

[Hillmania]

One name. Goldberg.

And I'm not even a huge fan of his. But they spent his entire run feuding with Kane and Jericho and HHH. The beginning with the Rock was brilliant, and the end with Lesnar should have been gold, but that was Goldberg and Lesnar who ruined that... But his whole year long run could have been done a lot better, and he really shouldn't have become HHH's bitch like everyone else in the company was at that time (and is now as well).

They gave away HBK vs Goldberg on FREE TV! Why do that when it could sell out a PPV? That's much more appealing than Goldberg/HHH 53. Undertaker would have been a better choice than Kane too. I get that they're all faces and they probably didn't want to have him beating everyone right off the bat, but I mean, they wasted time with him facing 3 Minute Warning... It's no wonder he wanted to leave. He didn't have to be the face of the company, but there was no way I could believe that HHH would beat Goldberg, especially with the struggles he had beating Scott Steiner and Kane.

 

[MrNoodles773]

A storyline that was supposed to launch the career of a great talent but ended up becoming a comedy skit. I'm talking about the McSon storyline. The set-up was decent, the anticipation was excruciating, and the finish was...well it was a WWE finish. This angle could have launched Mrrrrrrrrr. KENNEDY!.......KENNEDY!!! into a main event star with a great finish at WM 24. Imagine he comes out the day it is revealed and introduces himself as MRRRRR. KENNEDY.....McMahon. It would've been brilliant. He could have fought to earn his fathers love by fighting Shane O' Mac and eventually end with Trips at WM 24 with Vince as the ref. Kennedy becomes a main event star, the draw would have been huge, and imagine the matches. But the WWE goes and makes McMahon's son Hornswaggle. How stupid was that? What a total waste.

 

[LordJ]

One that immediately comes to mind was the whole Invasion angle following WWE's purchase of WCW. If handled properly, that could have been HUGE. Imagine the top guys in the WWE locking horns with the top guys in WCW at a PPV to unify all the belts. How about a match similar to the 'battle of the billionaires', where Vince McMahon & Eric Bishoff pick representatives. But instead of the winner getting to shave the loser's head, they would get control of the unified company. What could have been the BIGGEST storyline in decades, the WWE managed to drop the ball on... bigtime!

And on a related note, the way they handled the NWO crossing over really fizzled badly.

 

[thekingishere26]

A storyline that was supposed to launch the career of a great talent but ended up becoming a comedy skit. I'm talking about the McSon storyline. The set-up was decent, the anticipation was excruciating, and the finish was...well it was a WWE finish. This angle could have launched Mrrrrrrrrr. KENNEDY!.......KENNEDY!!! into a main event star with a great finish at WM 24. Imagine he comes out the day it is revealed and introduces himself as MRRRRR. KENNEDY.....McMahon. It would've been brilliant. He could have fought to earn his fathers love by fighting Shane O' Mac and eventually end with Trips at WM 24 with Vince as the ref. Kennedy becomes a main event star, the draw would have been huge, and imagine the matches. But the WWE goes and makes McMahon's son Hornswaggle. How stupid was that? What a total waste.

Well, simply put, the reason why they didn't put Kennedy as McMahon's son was the fact he just failed a drug test and was getting suspended. From what I read online that was the original plan, until he failed and got suspended. But I agree, they could of had something better then freaking Hornswaggle.

 

[suleman09]

A real match between Randy Orton and John Cena

they had a bit of a feud, but it wasnt big enough as they could've made it, cena got injured and it was done!

and they need a solid match, not "Cena is the baby face" and he wins and "Randy is heel so he loses"

they need a plain match!

 

[Diablosbomb]

The Kane carrying the sack storyline could have led to something. Either Masked Kane return, or the debut of a new superstar. Instead they had it begin a useless feud between Kane and ReyRey that didn't turn out doing anything for anyone.

 

[alexhmfc1]

Another kane moment.....when kane came back from his injury with the new mask and stuff and he was so OVER it was almost fake lol and he fueded with hhh and it came down to a title vs mask match and i mean they dropped the ball by not havin kane actually winnin the title that would have been one of the best moments on raw EVER and wed still have masked kane

 

[Arrynboot]

Im gonna have to agree with Raven, he was so over when he first arrived and had some great matches, but as WWE creative always does they ran out of ideas and they just had him sit in the background doing nothing until his contract expired.... idiots

Same can be said about R-truths original run as K-Kwik, he was so popular but they let him get away....foolish.

 

[Cebeards]

You guys all make great points....

Hogan/Flair would have been Epic

WWF/WCW crossover was depressing at best, what a let down. What a pointless main event.

Mr McMahon's son bit was great, it had a perfect build up, just the right amount of suspense....for what? They should have run with the idea of HHH being his son and have the family messed up over it and in the end have it be someone messing with them so set up a feud. Like maybe Vince switches the results because he doesn't want HHH in the family, that wouldn't be bad. The abandoned the Hornswaggle angle anyways, so what was the point?

Orton/HHH at WM25: That was terrible, an amazing build up for a typical, generic ending and now they are dragging it out for Batista's return. HHH needs a heel turn bad, really bad.

They wasted Goldberg, no more need be said.

Title's. Titles have been so watered down that they don't even seem important anymore. IC.....worthless (why does Rey have it and for that matter why would you let him beat bourne). Euro....has potential, a lot of potential now that it's on raw. Tag Team....I don't wanna talk about it, they were settled in a fuckin PPV dark match.

Build ups lately, either they ruin build ups with repetitive matches week in and week out, or they ruin build ups with weak climaxes.

Drafting Miz to Raw and Morisson to Smackdown....WTF were you thinking? What kind of thought did you have that convinced you that Miz was Raw material? He's not hated because of his character, he is hated cause he sucks. Morrison has the most potential of any young guy in the WWE (bourne/Kofi are up there too; if anyone says CM Punk, just kill yourself now......I'm not kidding, go)

DOWN PLAYING THE DRAFT WITH A TERRIBLE MAIN EVENT, AND FOR THAT MATTER HAVING KING OF THE RING ON TV AND NOT PPV. There are no more springboards for young guys, king of the ring doesn't matter (they gave it to Regal), IC championship doesn't matter (old guys got it again, and they suck to much to let go), Euro title, like i said there is potential there. ECW Title....is there anyone left in ECW? For that matter where is Monty Brown and why is Christian still on ECW and Miz on Raw?

and I'm rambling.....

But they have succeeded at a lot, just not much recently. Let's see what they do with this draft they threw together.....could be good.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

A storyline that was supposed to launch the career of a great talent but ended up becoming a comedy skit. I'm talking about the McSon storyline. The set-up was decent, the anticipation was excruciating, and the finish was...well it was a WWE finish. This angle could have launched Mrrrrrrrrr. KENNEDY!.......KENNEDY!!! into a main event star with a great finish at WM 24. Imagine he comes out the day it is revealed and introduces himself as MRRRRR. KENNEDY.....McMahon. It would've been brilliant. He could have fought to earn his fathers love by fighting Shane O' Mac and eventually end with Trips at WM 24 with Vince as the ref. Kennedy becomes a main event star, the draw would have been huge, and imagine the matches. But the WWE goes and makes McMahon's son Hornswaggle. How stupid was that? What a total waste.

From what we've seen out of Kennedy, as of late, I am not so sure that dropping him from the storyline was such a big loss, afterall. Triple H, though, would have been a much more intriguing choice than Hornswoggle, though. There were so many possibilities with that one.

The WWE has dropped the ball on so many storylines and characters throughout the years, that it is difficult to choose. However, if I had to limit it to one storyline they grossly dropped the ball on, it would be the Invasion Storyline.

So many mistakes made.


Teaming up WCW and ECW.

Making the McMahons the owners of the rival companies, when they should have used Heyman, and brought in Bischoff.

Making DDP the head of the WCW crew at the time.

I could write a book on how much they botched this one.

 

[KennedyKennedy]

ECW Title....is there anyone left in ECW? For that matter where is Monty Brown and why is Christian still on ECW and Miz on Raw?

Tbh ECW could be great, look at the roster: Swagger, Bourne, Christian, Kidd, Helms, Smith, Kozlov, Finlay (no Hornswoggle!!!), Dreamer, Natalya, Gabriel ect. That's not a bad roster for a one hour show.
And ECW can also see a big step forward for the tag division with the big possibility of a new Hart Foundation reforming. Not to mention the ECW title is turning into what the IC title used to be, a way to bring young up-and-comers into the main event, did you see how Swagger took it to Cena on Raw?
Oh, and to answer your question Monty Brown left WWE due to "family issues" but it was reported on WrestleZone not that long ago that he was in negotiations for a return which would be awesome.
And I totally agree with you on The Miz, stupid having him on Raw and Morrison on Smackdown but I think the reasoning on that is that on Smackdown there isn't as much main-eventers as Raw (big show, cena, hhh, Orton, Batista ect) thus whilst on Smackdown there's a chance Morrison can really shine in the upper-midcard/main event.

 

[rnzrkorip]

one name, KANE!!! every passing day, they think up of new ways to fuck him over. he just looks like a big man who loses to everybody. seriously, kane losing to mysterio was where they seriously crossed the line. does kane enjoy getting buried? was that the whole thing with bringing him in as taker's brother in the first place? taker buries people while kane gets buried? and of course when i refer to the deadman burying people, i mean literally, haha. but ya, real good vinnie mac, real good.

 

[KillBill]

Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair. This match, as i understand, happened in 1991 in the WWE, but only in small shows/house shows, never on PPV. this match should have happened at Wrestlemania VIII, rather than hogan vs. sid or savage vs. flair. this was THE match that people were waiting for, and at the biggest wrestling stage of them all would have been perfect. and a great money drawer. world title match or not, it should have happened. WWE chose to scrap it soon after.
__________________

I was at the house show in Springfeild, MA, the first time they fought. Weird thinking of Hogan at a house show, the place was nuts. But yeah, they dropped the ball with that 1. These guys were great, and could have had great matches.

From what we've seen out of Kennedy, as of late, I am not so sure that dropping him from the storyline was such a big loss, afterall. Triple H, though, would have been a much more intriguing choice than Hornswoggle, though. There were so many possibilities with that one.

I agree with the Kennedy part, it would been a bigger waste if he got that push, then failed. But as far as Hornswaggle, I know it was a letdown, but with the whole Benoit thing just a ew months earlier, I heard they did this to lighten the mood, kinda make things silly, happy, etc. It was a smart decision for that time, because the publicity and everything was killing them.

I for 1 am disappointed that we didn't get at least 1 match with Snuka and Manu vs Legacy. They got their butts kicked, it woulda been nice to see them get revenge, but whatever.

 

[bulldog76]

Kane unmasking. Probably the best thing he had going for him since his debut and inital rivalry with Taker. I understand why they went the direction they did (Goldberg and Triple H for the title) but I wonder what could have been with that momentum had Goldberg not been there; or at least would have signed more than a one year deal.

One minute he's fighting Evolution. Next he's chokeslamming RVD. Then he slams Bischoff off of the stage and follow that up with a brawl with Stone Cold in which Kane was split open and took a stunner but sat up to chokeslam Austin. After that, he set JR on fire which is where it started to go downhill for me. He went from a unpredictable and catastrophic 'tweener to just a flat out heel feuding with RVD and Shane O' Mac. There was some talk about a Goldberg/Kane feud from what I understand but there was a significant concern about their ability to carry the match; and even as a Kane fan, I could understand that.

 

[Tuck]

A storyline that was supposed to launch the career of a great talent but ended up becoming a comedy skit. I'm talking about the McSon storyline. The set-up was decent, the anticipation was excruciating, and the finish was...well it was a WWE finish. This angle could have launched Mrrrrrrrrr. KENNEDY!.......KENNEDY!!! into a main event star with a great finish at WM 24. Imagine he comes out the day it is revealed and introduces himself as MRRRRR. KENNEDY.....McMahon. It would've been brilliant. He could have fought to earn his fathers love by fighting Shane O' Mac and eventually end with Trips at WM 24 with Vince as the ref. Kennedy becomes a main event star, the draw would have been huge, and imagine the matches. But the WWE goes and makes McMahon's son Hornswaggle. How stupid was that? What a total waste.

They dropped the storyline because Mr. Kennedy failed a drug test and had to be suspended. But I agree . . . it would have been great.

 

[Diablosbomb]

Euro....has potential, a lot of potential now that it's on raw.

How much potential does the US TITLE have when you think it is the Euro?

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I was at the house show in Springfeild, MA, the first time they fought. Weird thinking of Hogan at a house show, the place was nuts. But yeah, they dropped the ball with that 1. These guys were great, and could have had great matches.

I don't think that house show in Springfield was the first time they fought. I believe their first actual match against each other was somewhere in California, that even Heenan was at ringside for.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

The biggest ball droppage in history has to be the entire run of WCW Monday Nitro. Instead of pushing guys like Jericho, Gurrerro, Malenko, Mysterio, Raven, and other young talent...they let politicians like Hogan, Piper, Nash, and others run the show.

It was good while the ratings lasted, but the fact that the WCW had the players to make a big run with the company and simply let Savage, Luger, and DENNIS RODMAN get more face time then the up and comers.

The ball was also dropped on the NWO. Letting the NWO get to a point to where almost EVERY wrestler was in either the NWO, Wolfpac, or NWO Japan. Mercy. Know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Bischoff simply ran a good thing into the ground instead of developing young talent. That's the ball drop.

 

[kingdirrtysouth1]

Booker T.: He was way over going into the World title feud with Triple H! The crowd would "sing along" EVERY time his music hit! He revived Goldust's career with those hilarious backstage skit! I wanted him nowhere near Goldy, but they won me over! The fans were ready for a new champ & Booker T. was really starting to shine! What do they do? They turn the world title feud about race & have Ric Flair Booker that he should be his chauffeur instead in the ring with him. Triple H always got the last word in and made him look weak at every turn. Instead of taking a chance & seeing if the fans would Booker as champ, they decide to have him job to a single pedigree AFTER Triple H kicked out of the ax kick! So they ended the storyline with put upon black man jobbing to the racist champ! I can't dig that, sucka!

 

[koolkeith1224]

WWE dropped the ball on ECW & Elijah Burke, He could have been ECW's go to heel, he could have been what Edge is for Smackdown or Orton for RAW. l would have loved to see him win the ECW title and have a real program with CM Punk, that can eventually lead to big matches at PPV's or even WM's. Instead they buried him, and eventually released him, he was gold on the mic, his character was dynamite. WWE should bring back the TV title for ECW, it could be their equivalent to the IC and US titles too. They could do so much with ECW without bringing in RAW or Smackdown guys. ECW shouldn't be a factory for future Smackdown and RAW guys. Lets see at Backlash how WWE handles this potential feud with Swagger and Christian, they're both talented in the ring and on the mic. I think that Christian can bring some credibility and prestige to the ECW title, lets see.

 

[joesgoingtoeatu]

i gotta say the NWO crossover, they turned Hogan way too quickly from the group, the NWO in its era was wrestling and you take the leader of it out of the NWO after only 6 months ??? They had plenty of storylines to use out of this but Hogan had to ride it out a little bit longer for it to be effective. Then towards the end HBK spoke of the clique when he tried to recruit HHH , i think they blew an opportunity to do the real clique as a faction on TV. They could have used "the clique is trying to ruin wrestling angle" and have all the faces try to stop them ?

 

[Skileman]

HBK vs Rock......very first smackdown....BAM sweet chin music to rock. That feud would have been GOLD!!!

 

[crimsonmask49]

Christian's return. They could've had some good hype around it or even have him make a run-in on Raw of Smackdown instead of just showing up on ECW,of all shows. I forgot all about ECW that night and luckily I switched over and saw him on there.