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Different sides of different rings: Wrestling PODs and such
- Thread starter Qaz_plm
- Start date
I'm tempted to write "What if AEW had more than one women's match" from the first dynamite onwards out of spite
Huge POD - you can get more women's stars, it could mean more angles for factional feuds because their female members can have brawls, maybe you have less grotty locker-room stories because there's more work to go around
- Location
- Sandford, Gloucestershire
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- She/They
Huge POD - you can get more women's stars, it could mean more angles for factional feuds because their female members can have brawls, maybe you have less grotty locker-room stories because there's more work to go around
Somewhere in my google docs there is a plan I wrote in November 2020 for the first six months of the womens division in 2021.
note: I was in hospital and high as balls
Tidied up vaguely:
Hikaru Shida doing a regular open challenge with guest wrestlers from other companies
Abadon Vs Shida in a cage match
Shida Vs Deonna Purrazo in an open challenge
Shida Vs Stardom Wrestlers (although TJP would end up being AEW's chosen partner in the Joshi world)
Shida losing to Baker at Double or Nothing (got that right)
Baker doing the belt collector thing (before Kenny started it) with the Knockouts championship. Involving an invasion of Impact. Baker having her own faction with Nyla Rose and Layla Hirsh winning the Knockouts Tag Team titles.
sidenote: We get my much wanted Nyla Rose Vs Jordynne grace amtch
An AEW/Impact supercard long before Forbidden Door
The Spring 2021 supercard before I gave up
Kenny Omega Vs Josh Alexander (vs Rich Swann might be better actually)
Baker Vs Purazzo
Rose and Hirsch Vs Jordynne Grace & Rachel Ellering
TJP Vs PAC for the X Division belt
Goodbrothers Vs Proud and Powerful
The Young Bucks vs The Motor City Machineguns
Rosemary and Abadon teaming up, never did decide what to do with them
Hikaru Shida doing a regular open challenge with guest wrestlers from other companies
Abadon Vs Shida in a cage match
Shida Vs Deonna Purrazo in an open challenge
Shida Vs Stardom Wrestlers (although TJP would end up being AEW's chosen partner in the Joshi world)
Shida losing to Baker at Double or Nothing (got that right)
Baker doing the belt collector thing (before Kenny started it) with the Knockouts championship. Involving an invasion of Impact. Baker having her own faction with Nyla Rose and Layla Hirsh winning the Knockouts Tag Team titles.
sidenote: We get my much wanted Nyla Rose Vs Jordynne grace amtch
An AEW/Impact supercard long before Forbidden Door
The Spring 2021 supercard before I gave up
Kenny Omega Vs Josh Alexander (vs Rich Swann might be better actually)
Baker Vs Purazzo
Rose and Hirsch Vs Jordynne Grace & Rachel Ellering
TJP Vs PAC for the X Division belt
Goodbrothers Vs Proud and Powerful
The Young Bucks vs The Motor City Machineguns
Rosemary and Abadon teaming up, never did decide what to do with them
Actually, I've added a final paragraph to suggest that Suplex City isn't as moribund as its victims would hope.Glad to see these return!
A lot could go different in the intervening twenty years, but one can imagine instead of Team Taz any such stable being called the Suplex City Council or similar...
Hook in charge of parks and wreck.
In unrelated news, I'd love to glimpse a world where discussions between TK and Punk had broken down, just to see where AEW had ended up.
I'm Awesome
As the nineteen nineties drew to an end, two of the "big three" American wrestling companies were in dire straits. Or, if you prefer, one of the big two, and the biggest of the rest, were in serious trouble.
The shine had seriously come off WCW, where repeated attempts at warming over the remains of the NWO had met diminishing returns. They had also squandered the acquisition of Bret Hart, then pissed in the lightning in a bottle that was Goldberg. The company's biggest show, Starrcade, had been screwed by bad booking in 1997 (when an eighteen month build was sacrificed to creative control, brother), 1998 (wasted streak, anybody?) and 1999 (stupid powerbomb matches, screwy finishes up the wazoo, a Montreal rehash). Plus, the latter heralded the end of Bret Hart's career, as was discovered shortly afterwards. Gates were down, viewers were down, interest was down.
At the same time, ECW was undergoing its own travails. Wrestlers were going unpaid, television deals were hitting problems, and Paul E seemed to be running around with his hair on fire just to pay talent months later than advertised.
If you were an ECW star looking for a company on a firmer footing, WCW might be tempting, but Connecticut would be much preferred. Tazz went there, debuting at the 2000 Royal Rumble. It wasn't only ECW stars heading to Stanford. The Radicalz jumped ship from WCW at the end of the month, debuting on Raw on the 31st. The next big - in all senses - defection came at Wrestlemania 2000. While the sixteenth iteration of the show of shows is considered by most to be a dud, the debuting Mike Awesome was a huge silver lining, both figurative and literal. The man had only recently dropped the ECW title to Raven, and had an immediate impact on the WWF. He first entered appeared under the tron at the end of the Hardcore Title Battle Royal. While he expected to powerbomb Crash Holly to the deck as he retreated with his barely retained title, a timing error caused Hardcore Holly to win unexpectedly. So it was Bob who suddenly saw 6'6" of awesomeness blocking his entry to backstage. The plan had been for Crash to be squashed by Awesome, but Bob Holly was committed to the kayfabe and real impressions of him being as hard as nails, so he decided to throw some punches with Awesome before letting him hit the Awesome Bomb. As Holly closed for the first strike, he angrily shouted "Who the Hell are you?" Even today, there are debates as to whether this was a worked line. Bob wasn't expecting to be there, but Crash might have been fed the line before the show. However, when Awesome sent Holly crashing to the floor, he leaned over his prone body and screamed for the nearby camera, "Who am I? I'm awesome!" In hindight, beating a noted tough guy like Bob Holly was a much better debut than smashing Crash to the floor would have been. Not all botches are bad for the business!
This attack was conveniently used to protect Hardcore Holly in his loss to Crash the next night - a bandaged Bob gave a gritty performance against his kayfabe cousin, but succumbed to his injuries. This gave the commentary team an opportunity to further hype Awesome. Awesome's attacks on lower card guys across the coming weeks - many who had been stood in the ring during his debut when he pulverised Holly - added to the mystique. After finhsing a feud with Hardcore Holly for "losing him his Harcore title", he then attacked European Champion Chris Jericho, demanding a match. Thus he started as a monster heel, capable of smashing anybody he challenged. But Awesome's sheer agility and nimbleness in the ring started to get him over with the crowd. A gradual, possibly organic face turn over the latter half of 2000 was halted early the next year due to an injury. While this was, at the time, incredibly frustrating for Awesome, it became a blessing in disguise. He missed the majority of the dud Invasion storyline, before returning as Vince's secret weapon shortly before Survivor Series. This cemented the face turn, and positioned Awesome on the winning team - even allowing him to hit Stone Cold himself with the Awesome Bomb on one occasion. He cemented a place in the upper midcard, just when the company was about to lack babyfaces. With Austin and The Rock gone (for a while at least) and Foley "retired", somebody needed to step up to the likes of Triple H and later heels like JBL. Awesome was the man. In fact, his bloodying of JBL after the cowboy beat Latino Heat in a convoluted fashion was probably the biggest pop of his career.
While he never quite got a Wrestlemania main event - being co-main in 2002 before the Rock-Hogan match - his turn at 18 cemented Awesome as the first ever Undisputed Champion of the WWF. Awesome retired having also won one WWF title, 2 World Heavyweight titles, 3 intercontinental titles, and 3 tag titles (one with Kane, one with Jericho and two in his iconic partnership with RVD).
Retiring from the ring in 2009, Awesome now hosts the Awesome Wrestling podcast.
As the nineteen nineties drew to an end, two of the "big three" American wrestling companies were in dire straits. Or, if you prefer, one of the big two, and the biggest of the rest, were in serious trouble.
The shine had seriously come off WCW, where repeated attempts at warming over the remains of the NWO had met diminishing returns. They had also squandered the acquisition of Bret Hart, then pissed in the lightning in a bottle that was Goldberg. The company's biggest show, Starrcade, had been screwed by bad booking in 1997 (when an eighteen month build was sacrificed to creative control, brother), 1998 (wasted streak, anybody?) and 1999 (stupid powerbomb matches, screwy finishes up the wazoo, a Montreal rehash). Plus, the latter heralded the end of Bret Hart's career, as was discovered shortly afterwards. Gates were down, viewers were down, interest was down.
At the same time, ECW was undergoing its own travails. Wrestlers were going unpaid, television deals were hitting problems, and Paul E seemed to be running around with his hair on fire just to pay talent months later than advertised.
If you were an ECW star looking for a company on a firmer footing, WCW might be tempting, but Connecticut would be much preferred. Tazz went there, debuting at the 2000 Royal Rumble. It wasn't only ECW stars heading to Stanford. The Radicalz jumped ship from WCW at the end of the month, debuting on Raw on the 31st. The next big - in all senses - defection came at Wrestlemania 2000. While the sixteenth iteration of the show of shows is considered by most to be a dud, the debuting Mike Awesome was a huge silver lining, both figurative and literal. The man had only recently dropped the ECW title to Raven, and had an immediate impact on the WWF. He first entered appeared under the tron at the end of the Hardcore Title Battle Royal. While he expected to powerbomb Crash Holly to the deck as he retreated with his barely retained title, a timing error caused Hardcore Holly to win unexpectedly. So it was Bob who suddenly saw 6'6" of awesomeness blocking his entry to backstage. The plan had been for Crash to be squashed by Awesome, but Bob Holly was committed to the kayfabe and real impressions of him being as hard as nails, so he decided to throw some punches with Awesome before letting him hit the Awesome Bomb. As Holly closed for the first strike, he angrily shouted "Who the Hell are you?" Even today, there are debates as to whether this was a worked line. Bob wasn't expecting to be there, but Crash might have been fed the line before the show. However, when Awesome sent Holly crashing to the floor, he leaned over his prone body and screamed for the nearby camera, "Who am I? I'm awesome!" In hindight, beating a noted tough guy like Bob Holly was a much better debut than smashing Crash to the floor would have been. Not all botches are bad for the business!
This attack was conveniently used to protect Hardcore Holly in his loss to Crash the next night - a bandaged Bob gave a gritty performance against his kayfabe cousin, but succumbed to his injuries. This gave the commentary team an opportunity to further hype Awesome. Awesome's attacks on lower card guys across the coming weeks - many who had been stood in the ring during his debut when he pulverised Holly - added to the mystique. After finhsing a feud with Hardcore Holly for "losing him his Harcore title", he then attacked European Champion Chris Jericho, demanding a match. Thus he started as a monster heel, capable of smashing anybody he challenged. But Awesome's sheer agility and nimbleness in the ring started to get him over with the crowd. A gradual, possibly organic face turn over the latter half of 2000 was halted early the next year due to an injury. While this was, at the time, incredibly frustrating for Awesome, it became a blessing in disguise. He missed the majority of the dud Invasion storyline, before returning as Vince's secret weapon shortly before Survivor Series. This cemented the face turn, and positioned Awesome on the winning team - even allowing him to hit Stone Cold himself with the Awesome Bomb on one occasion. He cemented a place in the upper midcard, just when the company was about to lack babyfaces. With Austin and The Rock gone (for a while at least) and Foley "retired", somebody needed to step up to the likes of Triple H and later heels like JBL. Awesome was the man. In fact, his bloodying of JBL after the cowboy beat Latino Heat in a convoluted fashion was probably the biggest pop of his career.
While he never quite got a Wrestlemania main event - being co-main in 2002 before the Rock-Hogan match - his turn at 18 cemented Awesome as the first ever Undisputed Champion of the WWF. Awesome retired having also won one WWF title, 2 World Heavyweight titles, 3 intercontinental titles, and 3 tag titles (one with Kane, one with Jericho and two in his iconic partnership with RVD).
Retiring from the ring in 2009, Awesome now hosts the Awesome Wrestling podcast.
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This one literally started with just "I'm awesome!" and snowballed.
I know Mike hated WWF in OTL, but it might be different if he hadn't been chewed up by the binfire of WCW first. I also don't know how much "Awesomeness" he could get away with while Edge and Christian are reeking of it, but [shrug].
I know Mike hated WWF in OTL, but it might be different if he hadn't been chewed up by the binfire of WCW first. I also don't know how much "Awesomeness" he could get away with while Edge and Christian are reeking of it, but [shrug].
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- NYC (né Falkirk)
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- he/him
So did Awesome get the Undisputed Championship that he's in the co-main event of that WrestleMania?While he never quite got a Wrestlemania main event - being co-main in 2002 before the Rock-Hogan match, Awesome retired having won one WWF title, 2 World Heavyweight titles, 3 intercontinental titles, and 3 tag titles (one with Kane, one with Jericho and two in his iconic partnership with Angle).
Potential trio with the two Canadians?I also don't know how much "Awesomeness" he could get away with while Edge and Christian are reeking of it, but [shrug].
Other late night thinking - Summerslam 1997 might be one of the most consequential PPV's of all time.
Stone Cold's injury and the cooling of Owen Hart's career go without saying, but ther'es also the main event to consider. Shawn's backfiring interference while refereeing meant that Bret had the belt in the dying days of his contract, leading to Montreal and all that jazz. At the same time, costing Taker the title leads to their feud, which not only includes the first Hell in a Cell match (and thus the debut of Kane), but also the back injury on the casket at Royal Rumble 1998.
If Shawn spits his dummy out about refereeing (this is Shawn in the mid 90s, anything could have happened), then changing the card could have so many ramifications down the line. Even just changing the main event could be massively consequential, but if the ripples hit the IC title match, then who knows. I can't help thinking that a Shawn who stays "healthy" into 1998 probably ends up in a much worse place in the long run. Tongue in cheek, that might be WCW; in more serious terms, he could be dead without getting clean.
But yes, a WWF with a different Summerslam 1997 is potentially a very different place.
Stone Cold's injury and the cooling of Owen Hart's career go without saying, but ther'es also the main event to consider. Shawn's backfiring interference while refereeing meant that Bret had the belt in the dying days of his contract, leading to Montreal and all that jazz. At the same time, costing Taker the title leads to their feud, which not only includes the first Hell in a Cell match (and thus the debut of Kane), but also the back injury on the casket at Royal Rumble 1998.
If Shawn spits his dummy out about refereeing (this is Shawn in the mid 90s, anything could have happened), then changing the card could have so many ramifications down the line. Even just changing the main event could be massively consequential, but if the ripples hit the IC title match, then who knows. I can't help thinking that a Shawn who stays "healthy" into 1998 probably ends up in a much worse place in the long run. Tongue in cheek, that might be WCW; in more serious terms, he could be dead without getting clean.
But yes, a WWF with a different Summerslam 1997 is potentially a very different place.
1) Yes. I just forgot to mention it. Now edited accordingly. Don't think Jericho suffers too much for waiting a bit. He'll get to the top. PLus, unless my memory is playing tricks, that's the one where he was third whell in his own title programme after Trips and Steph. Get rid. Of course, HHH can have the belt back in time for Booker T to fuck him up the next year, wainting at least thirty seconds before pinning him. But Awesome and HHH go on before Hogan and Rock, so the crowd hasn't completely destroyed themselves.So did Awesome get the Undisputed Championship that he's in the co-main event of that WrestleMania?
Potential trio with the two Canadians?
2) Quite possibly, but I'd like them to avoid any foreign heel "Team Canada" bollocks, because it's nearly always shite.
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If anything I daresay his status as a main eventer in WWE might be boosted by not carrying the title(s) around that time.Don't think Jericho suffers too much for waiting a bit. He'll get to the top.
Fourth, actually. Behind Trips, Steph, and Hunter's bulldog, Lucy.PLus, unless my memory is playing tricks, that's the one where he was third whell in his own title programme after Trips and Steph. Get rid.
Agreed. Also tweaked his tag partners, because I think him and RVD could have been an insanely popular babyface pairing.If anything I daresay his status as a main eventer in WWE might be boosted by not carrying the title(s) around that time.
Fourth, actually. Behind Trips, Steph, and Hunter's bulldog, Lucy.
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Dumber idea: have his cousin Horace Hogan join in.Agreed. Also tweaked his tag partners, because I think him and RVD could have been an insanely popular pairing.
Actually,better idea: have heel Stone Cold form the Stone Cold Army and Horace becomes his version of Disciple,with Awesome and Horace having a feud that references them being related.
Bonus if their uncle Hulk joins in on it.
I made a conscious decision to keep both Hogans well out of this one.Dumber idea: have his cousin Horace Hogan join in.
Actually,better idea: have heel Stone Cold form the Stone Cold Army and Horace becomes his version of Disciple,with Awesome and Horace having a feud that references them being related.
Bonus if their uncle Hulk joins in on it.
- Location
- NYC (né Falkirk)
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- he/him
Could pro wrestling have had another boom period in the late 00s?
Thinking about some of the near misses around 2006 that could have been very good: Edge/Cena main eventing WrestleMania 22, RVD getting a proper title run, Jericho to TNA, TNA also getting Goldberg and/or Hogan for one offs, the WWE's ECW brand being booked by Heyman and based around CM Punk.
Suppose the elephant in the room that might prevent that is Benoit, or at least the horrific circumstances in OTL. Perhaps a bit grim to speculate on his death not happening the way it did.
Can't help but think though that 2006 was the last time I was properly interested in anything wrestling and wouldn't return for around 7-8 years. Maybe if the aforementioned opportunities that year didn't wind up either being wasted or cut short that, leaving aside Benoit for a moment, by the late 00s you could have professional wrestling regained some of its pre-2001 interest levels. WWE not spinning wheels, TNA providing an alternative if not competition, and ROH benefitting from the rising tide.
Thinking about some of the near misses around 2006 that could have been very good: Edge/Cena main eventing WrestleMania 22, RVD getting a proper title run, Jericho to TNA, TNA also getting Goldberg and/or Hogan for one offs, the WWE's ECW brand being booked by Heyman and based around CM Punk.
Suppose the elephant in the room that might prevent that is Benoit, or at least the horrific circumstances in OTL. Perhaps a bit grim to speculate on his death not happening the way it did.
Can't help but think though that 2006 was the last time I was properly interested in anything wrestling and wouldn't return for around 7-8 years. Maybe if the aforementioned opportunities that year didn't wind up either being wasted or cut short that, leaving aside Benoit for a moment, by the late 00s you could have professional wrestling regained some of its pre-2001 interest levels. WWE not spinning wheels, TNA providing an alternative if not competition, and ROH benefitting from the rising tide.
I actually can answer almost all of these and why they didn’t happen! (Apart from the RVD one,that one is obvious)Could pro wrestling have had another boom period in the late 00s?
Thinking about some of the near misses around 2006 that could have been very good: Edge/Cena main eventing WrestleMania 22, RVD getting a proper title run, Jericho to TNA, TNA also getting Goldberg and/or Hogan for one offs, the WWE's ECW brand being booked by Heyman and based around CM Punk.
Suppose the elephant in the room that might prevent that is Benoit, or at least the horrific circumstances in OTL. Perhaps a bit grim to speculate on his death not happening the way it did.
Can't help but think though that 2006 was the last time I was properly interested in anything wrestling and wouldn't return for around 7-8 years. Maybe if the aforementioned opportunities that year didn't wind up either being wasted or cut short that, leaving aside Benoit for a moment, by the late 00s you could have professional wrestling regained some of its pre-2001 interest levels. WWE not spinning wheels, TNA providing an alternative if not competition, and ROH benefitting from the rising tide.
-Edge/Cena didn’t happen because Vince wanted to redo the same success Triple H vs Batista had the previous year remember, that match brought the biggest by rate in company history since 2001. In order to have Edge/Cena,you’d need to change everything before Triple H’s Reign of Terror,before he even broke his quads the first time.
-Jericho openly admits in his second book he never actually wanted to sign a contract with TNA-just used them for leverage to get a better deal from WWE like Brian Pillman did with WCW/ECW and WWF. Him joining TNA was never on his mind because WWE had more money.
-Goldberg also never wanted to sign with TNA,he viewed as minor league and thought he was too good for them indie loserslike Jericho,he just conned them for a quick buck,profiting from the fact that they wanted to compete against the WWE and using it against Dixie.
Hogan didn’t because WWE offered him more money for the Orton match-by his own admission,Hogan only signed with TNA in 2010 because he needed money for his divorce.
-Heyman was never gonna be allowed to book WWECW because Vince wanted to control everything and eventually Heyman got fed up with it for a while-hence why he quit. On the ECW special DVD,Vince openly said he didn’t want the OG ECW,he wanted a marketable PG-13 ECW that could appeal to a wider,non hardcore audience and also just wanted to own TNA by just buying possible TV places that it could had. He never cared about ECW,he just wanted more money.
If anything,TNA was more respected of ECW’s legacy and willing to go full hardcore because they aren’t as big as the WWE.
It was also not based around CM Punk because Vince wanted Bobby Lashley to become the new Brock Lesnar and thus profit from it-everyone else was just meant to be fodder to him like the Cruiserweights to Lesnar in 2003. And even if Bobby stays on Smackdown,they planned to just have Test do that.
And let’s not forget Orton nearly joining ECW as a punishment.
Hell,most of the time being sent to ECW was meant to be a punishment/downgrade after a while like Heat or Velocity were. Being drafted to ECW was the company’s way of saying “you fucking suck,go stay with the losers til you are cool”. Punk won Money in the Bank specifically because WWE thought he wasn’t a ECW loser anymore and could play with the REAL stars.
Wembley last night was my second big non-indie event, the first being the WOS tour at York Hall. Which has me again wondering if WOS could last as a going concern, especially as they already had Ospreay (and Grado!). They have the talent, the hunger, and an ITV contract but you need a completely different editing & better booking in early eps.
- Location
- NYC (né Falkirk)
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- he/him
Oddly enough I find myself thinking more and more that WOS was doomed by coming along too early and any longevity it achieves when it was revived OTL suffers from far too many snakes in the grass. Even if it continues past that 2019 tour there's the pandemic and Speaking Out to look forward to that will probably tarnish the brand.Wembley last night was my second big non-indie event, the first being the WOS tour at York Hall. Which has me again wondering if WOS could last as a going concern, especially as they already had Ospreay (and Grado!). They have the talent, the hunger, and an ITV contract but you need a completely different editing & better booking in early eps.
If however, the idea had never gotten very far before all that then it seems the market would be very appealing to it now more than ever.
We're now four years into UK residents watching wrestling on terrestrial telly in the Friday night death slot, the market has readjusted from most of the major indie promoters going all Vichy for Trips, the industry has been cleared of most of the major creeps, US companies like GCW and Impact have started doing UK tours, there's a lot more international cooperation between promotions, and the owners of WOS have a working relationship with the second largest wrestling company in the world who just lured more than 80k people to Wembley.
Part of me was actually wondering yesterday if something might be announced about World of Sport because the market seems so primed.
He might have less of a chip on his shoulder about proving himself in real fights by getting into physical altercations with his co-workers?What if CM Punk doesn't make his laughable foray into legit MMA where he lost his first match in less than a minute?
Punk sounds fun to work with.
"WOS comes along later" would be a huge POD for British wrestling, as WWE started offering a lot of new contracts to head off the new foe at the pass and IIRC only after it was dead did they tighten up where NXT UK people could also show.
Could there be a POD where far fewer men are creeps and Speaking Out is less damaging? In an infinite multiverse of infinite PODs, no.
Oddly enough I find myself thinking more and more that WOS was doomed by coming along too early
"WOS comes along later" would be a huge POD for British wrestling, as WWE started offering a lot of new contracts to head off the new foe at the pass and IIRC only after it was dead did they tighten up where NXT UK people could also show.
Could there be a POD where far fewer men are creeps and Speaking Out is less damaging? In an infinite multiverse of infinite PODs, no.
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- NYC (né Falkirk)
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- he/him
30 years to the day since Lex Luger beat Yokozuna by count out and celebrated like he won the WWF Championship. Not since the Paris Peace Accords had an American treated what is charitably a draw like a resounding victory.
Had McMahon actually gone through with Luger as WWF Champion by going over Yokozuna clean, instead of having his cake and eating it too through Luger winning by count out thus not winning the title, would it have actually altered wrestling history that much?
Luger won't be The Guy because even if he does get over the fact he wasn't Hogan in the 80s over would make McMahon leery. Have this feeling the timeline might just correct itself by WrestleMania X: either the title going back to Yokozuna at Survivor Series or Royal Rumble then losing to Bret Hart at WrestleMania, or Luger turns heel and again loses the title to Bret at WrestleMania.
Suppose if Luger still shows up unexpectedly on the debut Nitro it will be a far bigger deal as a former WWF Champion. Perhaps enough to convince McMahon to keep Kevin Nash in the company lest another former WWF Champion jump ship? The Hart brothers feud will also be altered without Luger and Bret ending the 1994 Rumble in a tie. Apparently it took a lot of convincing for McMahon to okay the feud (believing brothers did not fight), so it might be butterflied entirely. Despite that, I can still see Owen as an opponent for his brother at some point even if it is not the length nor the number of great matches we got OTL 1994.
Wrestling With Wregret has done a retrospective review on YouTube I'd recommend checking out.Had McMahon actually gone through with Luger as WWF Champion by going over Yokozuna clean, instead of having his cake and eating it too through Luger winning by count out thus not winning the title, would it have actually altered wrestling history that much?
Luger won't be The Guy because even if he does get over the fact he wasn't Hogan in the 80s over would make McMahon leery. Have this feeling the timeline might just correct itself by WrestleMania X: either the title going back to Yokozuna at Survivor Series or Royal Rumble then losing to Bret Hart at WrestleMania, or Luger turns heel and again loses the title to Bret at WrestleMania.
Suppose if Luger still shows up unexpectedly on the debut Nitro it will be a far bigger deal as a former WWF Champion. Perhaps enough to convince McMahon to keep Kevin Nash in the company lest another former WWF Champion jump ship? The Hart brothers feud will also be altered without Luger and Bret ending the 1994 Rumble in a tie. Apparently it took a lot of convincing for McMahon to okay the feud (believing brothers did not fight), so it might be butterflied entirely. Despite that, I can still see Owen as an opponent for his brother at some point even if it is not the length nor the number of great matches we got OTL 1994.