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Was it a fluke?

Hi Scott,

Everything WWE does that turns out to be successful seemingly turns out to be all due to happenstance and fluke, not due to good booking/writing. Or is this simply not true?

Was Austin's rise to the top planned? As mentioned recently regarding Royal Rumble 1997 it was Vince Russo who messed up and forced WWF's hand. Would he still have got there without the Rumble win and Mania 13 match?

Thanks.


​I'd say so.  He was clearly on the rise during 1996 and Russo was a big supporter, as was Bret, so they would have pushed through eventually with him.  It just happened that the WM match turned him into the biggest star ever rather than a really big star.  ​

Comments

  1. Many have stated before that Russo and Ross had to really push Austin to McMahon after King of the Ring. He really didn't get the 316 stuff

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  2. Was hard to ignore all those "Austin 3:16" signs, though. Those things spread like a virus.

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  3. I think that's always the case. No one knew just HOW big a star Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin would become. They knew they had a future star on their hands and took all the steps they thought they could to get them there, but a lot of it ends up dumb luck and happenstance.

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  4. I don't think the '97 Rumble win mattered much in the grand scheme of things. The Bret match absolutely did

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  5. Vince was still on the Hulk Hogan/Lex Luger Americana kick. In some ways he's never changed as he's that way with Cena.

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  6. I think he still gets there. If he goes over, say, Pillman at WM 13 I think it builds to the larger narrative of Austin fighting through the Hart Foundation to get to Bret. Hart was always headed toward the heel persona (in the U.S.), so when Austin eventually crossed his path again, it was gonna make Austin a huge babyface. The WM13 match certainly put it over the top, but I think you still get there either way, even if it's in a more "slow-burn" fashion

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  7. I can't see there being a decisive winner if Austin had faced Pillman at WM13 because Austin was building momentum, but at the same time WWF had a lot invested in Pillman so they couldn't job him either.

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  8. that was more about feeding more into the "I'm getting screwed" whiny-heel act Bret was turning into.

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  9. He was the last one to get the Attitude Era in 97. Shawn and HHH were begging him to let them work together, Foley was trying to convince Vince to take Mankind where he wanted to go as well as doing Cactus and Dude Love - Vince was the last one to come around to all of this. Russo, Ross, and Shane (from what I understand) where the big three pushing Vince in this direction.

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  10. As much credit as Russo and Bret deserve, Ross put Austin over like no announcer had ever done before. From everything I've heard on shoots and podcasts every indication is that Vince clearly didn't "get it" when it came to Austin and had to have nearly his entire staff - Cornette, Russo, Ross, Bret Hart, etc. push for Austin.

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