Hey Scott--
I know you're probably sick of these kinds of emails, but one of the reasons we read your blog is to get your thoughts on crap like this.
What are some wrestling rivalries you always wanted to see, but never materialized? My mind always goes back to what could have been with Hulk Hogan and Rick Rude circa 1989. Are there any "mark out matches" you never got to see due to politics, real-life animosity, ect.?
Rude v. Hogan did happen a few times on the house show circuit and it wasn't anything special. It's not a really good dynamic anyway -- Hogan's schtick works best against heels who are bigger than him so that he can make the big comeback. Rude's deal was never the bullying heel, it was the smarmy jerk who you wanted to see get killed.
I really, really, really should do the Book of Lists for y'all. Maybe self-publish or something.
Anyway, here's a few off the top of my head...
- Sting v. Ultimate Warrior. They just never crossed paths, which is a shame because it had all the backstory, star power, and facepaint you would have needed to headline a Wrestlemania.
- Rick Rude v. Randy Savage. They used to tear the house down in Memphis (or so I've heard second hand) and it would have been a perfect personality clash in the WWF, but Rude wasn't at the level where he could be taken seriously as a World title challenger in 1988, and by 1992 he was gone.
- Steve Austin v. Hulk Hogan, 2002. This one should have happened and was on the fast track but got completely derailed by Hogan's face turn and a truckload of politics. But man, if you thought the heat for Rock v. Hogan was off the charts, just imagine Hogan hulking up after the stunner. This one had backstory up the wazoo (they could have played the Steve-a-mania video from ECW!) and the promos would have been legendary. Oh well.
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Tags: Stupid lists
I regret not getting Brock Lesnar vs. Shawn Michaels. Michaels is the best at the big man/little man dynamic… and hell, if he can nearly bust out a five star match against Sid, imagine what it would have been like against Brock.
I was checking out an old WWF Magazine where Mr Perfect was sitting in for Bobby Heenan in Brainstorms. Ric Flair had entered the WWF and Perfect was matching Flair up against Savage and Warrior (I guess it must have been around Summer Slam 92). Anyways his line went something like “Warrior, please! Flair has been beating up face-painted clowns all his life”. While he could have refered to the Horsemen-Roadwarriors rivalry, I’m pretty sure it was a shot at Sting, which I guess is the only time a Sting and Warrior connection was acknowledged back then.
PS: While I do know that most of the interviews in the magazine were written without the involvement of the superstars, I’m pretty sure Heenan penned his own collumns.
PPS: I always found it weird that they never ended the first Taker-Hogan showdown with a Mania match, but I guess they had high hopes for Sid.
PPPS: Had he stayed in WWF long enough I think a Steamboat-Hart rivalry would have elevated Bret as a singles star sooner.
On the 3-Disc Bret DVD, there is a house show match featuring Steamboat and Bret at the Boston Garden.
I want to say that Bret mentions on the DVD feature that Steamboat turned him from a JTTS to a legitimate threat – but I can’t remember. Maybe I read too much into it. Anyways, he put that match on there because it took him to another level.
How about Perfect vs. Steamboat, circa 1991 for the IC Title.
Also, Jericho vs. Owen in ‘99/00 could have been awesome.
Owen/Jericho might have happened too, because by time Jericho arrived Owen would have been a babyface and the IC champ.
I guess the idea was he would have beaten the Godfather then gone into a feud with Jeff Jarrett.
There are all kinds “what might have been if we still had Owen” scenarios. My favorite is a Owen/Kurt Angle tag team circa 2000/2001. Can you imagine those two as the new heel Can-Am Connection? The dorky skits and incredible matches would have been awesome.
Gobbley Gooker vs. Bastion Booger. I remember Booger coming down to the ring chomping on a turkey leg. Gooker could’ve taken that personally, thinking it was one of his brothers.
Also, Mantaur vs. El Matador. Nuff said.
I’m sure there are more serious match-ups, but I just woke up, so I can’t think of any.
Personally I think doing Cena-Batista as a throwaway Summerslam undercard match is a wasted opportunity. This could be headlining WMXXV for the World Championship, but it’s quite clear Cena has pissed off someone backstage.
>>but it’s quite clear Cena has pissed off someone backstage.
“but it’s quite clear Cena has pissed off someone backstage.”
I highly doubt that. Cena & Vince are buddies, so it would have to be a case off Cena pissing off Vince, which I can’t see since Cena is arguably the company’s biggest money-maker.
I think it’s been pretty clear that as long as you’re making Vince money, it’s nearly impossible to piss him off. How else could Hogan, Savage, and Warrior have stuck around for so long?
Famous Jimmy Johnson story from the early 90s Cowboys. He had cut a special teams player for falling asleep during a film session. Asked what he would do if Troy Aikman fell asleep, JJ simply responded that he’d tap him on the shoulder and keep going with the meeting.
Either that or this is a dry run to see if they can do a big WMXXV match properly. It’s always hit or miss with DAVE~! yknow, and I don’t think CENA~! is the one to carry him, and they know it.
And Scott, do a book of lists, I’ll buy it. Hell you can just type it all up and sell the file as a .pdf or .doc or whatever for like $8, I’ll print it out at work
“Rude’s deal was never the bullying heel, it was the smarmy jerk who you wanted to see get killed. ”
Um, Scott…
Randy Savage…Paul Orndorff….Roddy Piper? Didn’t they all do some pretty big business with Hogan despite not being bigger than him?
I think Scott was saying that Rude was more of a chickenshit heel that spent of his time getting his ass kicked. Those guys you mentioned did a lots of asskicking themselves.
The Hogan nostalgia tour couldn’t have survived a match with Austin. The fans wanted to boo the Rock anyway…they never wanted to boo Austin.
Does saying that I would’ve paid big time to see a proper Midnight Express/Hart Foundation or Midnight Express/Bulldogs completely off subject? Well, maybe; but damn that would’ve been sweet….
I think that’s pretty on-topic.
How about Macho King vs. Roddy Piper?
See Wrestlefest 90 from Coliseum Video.
Or for a real shitty version of that match, see the 1998 Great American Bash.
I don’t think Piper really did anything worthwhile during his faceturn until the IC match with Hart at Mania. Being crazy in the head is really more of a heel thing.
i’ll throw a few out (working on the assumption that we’re matching up guys who worked at the same time as each other)
1. Fuck Warrior, Sting Vs. Undertaker would have been money and a half in 1997
2. Rock Vs. Shawn Would have probably been all kinds of awesome in about 2000 if not for the back injury, and the fact that Dwayne apparently HATES shawn (if anyone knows the backstory for that, i’d be interested to hear it)
3. Shawn Vs. Toshiaki Kawada may have saved Shawn’s babyface run in 1996 on it’s own if vince had brought him in as the ruthless foreign menace
4. Bulldogs Vs. Midnight Express. i think that one speaks for itself
5. Hennig Vs. Steamboat in about 1989.
if i think of any more, i’ll let you know (by the way, i didn’t mention hogan-flair or austin-goldberg because i figured it was too obvious)
Hogan-Flair? You mean during Flair’s “real world’s champion” run right?
exactly. people had been talking about this match for 10 years and it never got past house shows.
I know Flair said in his bio he was close to coming into the WWF in ‘88 to face Savage at Summerslam. That would’ve been great.
And speaking of Flair, I always wondered how he would’ve been booked had he come to the WWF in ‘98.
2. Rock Vs. Shawn Would have probably been all kinds of awesome in about 2000 if not for the back injury, and the fact that Dwayne apparently HATES shawn (if anyone knows the backstory for that, i’d be interested to hear it)
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IIRC the backstage hate is the result of Shawn being best buds with HHH and as such, Dwayne hating Shawn because Shawn takes HHH’s side against Dwayne.
At this year’s Hall of Fame ceremony, Rock said he wished he would have wrestled Shawn (Cena and Mysterio, too). I think “hate” is too strong to describe the situation.
2. Rock Vs. Shawn Would have probably been all kinds of awesome in about 2000 if not for the back injury, and the fact that Dwayne apparently HATES shawn (if anyone knows the backstory for that, i’d be interested to hear it)
I don’t know where I read/heard this, but it’s my recollection. Michaels acted like a jerk when working for Rock’s dad in the late 80’s, perhaps even calling Rock’s mum something. Anyway, Rock offered Michaels out, even though he would have been about 14 at the time. IMHO Rock would’ve kicked his ass even then!
When Rock went to WWE Michael’s and HHH really got on his back and didnt want anyone else to put him over. From Bret’s book:
“He was shy around me, a nice, bright kid who was still innocent as far as wrestlers went…..I wanted to see this kid make it, and I told him i’d help him all I could. I watched him in the ring that night, wrestling under the ring name Rocky Maivia, and I remember coming back to the dressing room and saing to everyone, “Mark my words, three or four yeas down the road, that kid will be the franchise.” He already had the look and the skill. If he learned to talk, he could be great.
…I was slightly relieved to know I wasn’t the only one he [Shawn] feared. Poor Rocky Maivia was also being buried by Shawn and Hunter for supposedly not wanting to job, for not selling and for stealing their spots. Rocky was a good kid, and he tried to be polite and respectful, but he couldn’t get them to like him at all.
…I was slated by the booking committee to challenge Rocky Maivia for the Intercontinental title, and Hunter was insisting I beat him. I didn’t see any need for me to beat Rocky; it wouldn’t build any heat for my new heel turn, and would only undermine a real talent. I insisted on a DQ instead, which infuriated Hunter. He and Shawn disliked Rocky intensely and were too myopic to see that Rocky was destined to become one of the all-time great megastars in the history of the business, The Rock. Looking back, i’m gld i got to work with him at least once.”
I know they wrestled once on Raw, but I would’ve like to seen a drawn-out feud w/ HBK & RVD, culminating in a ladder match.
Also, Austin-Goldberg would’ve been huge.
And for a Japanese match, Mutoh (circa ‘01) vs. Misawa.
I always wanted to see a nice, long Shawn Michaels-Eddie Guerrero program. Ditto Chris Benoit-Rey Mysterio.
thanks pure_dynamite, the ‘Shawn insults Maivia family, teenage rock forms blood grudge’ thing, was what i’d heard, but wasn’t sure if it was just one of those wild stories.
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