The post about the end game for the Hart Foundation/Austin angle got me thinking. Was Bret/Austin II the greatest blow-off match that never happened? It was a great angle but it never fully concluded satisfactorily. Austin got transitioned into the Owen feud, Bret was caught up HBK and then we all know what happened in Montreal so we never really got a definitive end. This is a question/discussion point for you and the other BODers; great angles that never got a proper end for one reason or another. Another one that comes to mind is Flair jumping to WWF before dropping the belt to Luger. Any others?
I'd say Austin-Hart was right up there as far as best laid plans falling apart, yeah. There's an endless list of DISAPPOINTING blowoffs (Goldberg v. Nash, Horsemen v. nWo, Vince McMahon v. The Government of the United States) but for a case where a storyline had built for a year and then was never mentioned again, I can't think of a better example than that one.
The Flair-Luger thing wasn't really a blowoff because Luger wasn't chasing the title in the first place and barely cared about it for most of 1991. I think a better one would be Midnight Express v. Midnight Express, where it built to a loser-leaves-town match at ChiTown Rumble and then Dennis Condrey quit the promotion, kind of negating the entire point. Another good one that people might not remember from the same era is Fantastics v. Sheepherders, which was obviously supposed to be the US tag title match at Starrcade 88 before Vince signed the Sheepherders away something like the day before they were scheduled to be in the finals of the tournament for the belts. That had been an entertaining undercard feud, back when the Herders were scary heels.
I was just thinking about how awesome it would have been if Vince had been doing the Mr. McMahon character on-screen during the steroid trial and would just troll the government on Raw every week.
ReplyDeleteHogan v piper deserved a real blow off match.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Or Maybe a Third and Final, decisive Hogan vs. Warrior.
ReplyDeleteWas there ever a decisive blowoff with Sting and Flair? or the Midnights vs. the R n R Express?
ReplyDeleteEven better would be if Vince took the stand and acted like he did in that Bob Costas interview. Wacking the prosecutors notes/papers and getting in their face all angry while insulting them.
ReplyDeleteTo this day I cannot get my head around that concept.
ReplyDeleteThe Bushwackers were scary heels.
For Sting and Flair, you could consider the last Nitro to be their final blowoff.
ReplyDelete"You know, Undertaker and Kane never really had that once-and-for-all blowout match. I sure would love to see those two square off again, just to settle things once and for all!" -- Nobody
ReplyDeleteDecisive blowoff between Sting and Flair? Sorry, man. Most dealers can't supply a "mountain full of coke, WOOOO".
ReplyDeleteI'd always hoped that when Johnny Ace came out to speak they sent out the Bushwackers to ask him to hold their flag one last time.
ReplyDeleteWhile there's no one match I can think of (probably because I'm both drunk as shit and high off my ass, and my brain isn't functioning on all cylinders), ECW in general needs to be mentioned. Heyman was never really able to understand the idea of the payoff to an angle.
ReplyDeleteJohnny "I've never heard of the Dynamic Dudes or the Sheepherders either" Ace?
ReplyDeleteDid Dreamer-Raven ever have a proper blowoff? Hardcore TV was preempted on MSG so much it could've happened and I missed it.
ReplyDeleteThat was just about the only ECW angle that had a proper blowoff, Dreamer finally pinned Raven in Raven's last match before he jumped to WCW. That would be the famous "Use my sign" match, and it really should have happened at Barely Legal.
ReplyDeleteYou're right! I forgot all about that. Why didn't that happen at Barely Legal? They built that rivalry for over a year just like Taz-Sabu. A garbage brawl with Dreamer overcoming all of Raven's minions and claiming the championship would've been just as good of a moment as Funk winning one last title, which they could still do further down the line.
ReplyDeleteThe Misawa-Jumbo feud that had been going for two years in All Japan was cut short due to Jumbo's illness. They had a tag match where he made Jumbo tap, so you could view that as an ending, but it lacked a definitive singles match with Misawa going over for the first time since their first match.
ReplyDeleteGoldberg and Nash did have a blow off as Goldberg destroyed Nash at Spring Stampede to get his win back in April of 99.
ReplyDeletePiper beat Hogan in a cage match at Haloween Havoc in 97to blow the feud off.
ReplyDelete"(probably because I'm both drunk as shit and high off my ass, and my brain isn't functioning on all cylinders)"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAgUfDIFIQ4
"You can't hold me in contempt! I'M VINCE MCMAHON, DAMMIT!!"
ReplyDeletePiper vs. Orndorff. Like it's been mentioned before, they really should've had a street fight or something to end the feud, especially if they did it at Wrestlemania 2.
ReplyDeleteThe real Conquistadors coming back to avenge themselves against E&C for stealing their gimmick.
ReplyDeleteRic Flair getting his revenge on Curt Hennig in a cage match (Starrcade '97?) seemed like an obvious blowoff we never got.
ReplyDeleteDid Rock and HHH ever have that definitive blowoff match?
ReplyDeleteAustin and Pillman. Never got a proper blow off when they broke up or feuded in the WWF.
ReplyDeleteI would've considered their Backlash 2000 match the blow-off but they kept the feud going with the Iron Man match and then that stupid 6 man tag at King of the Ring.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, they were badass mofos back in the day. They had a lot of bloody matches in barbed wire, cages, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason Flair didn't get a match with Hennig at Starrcade 97 was b/c he had an ankle injury or something. I thought we'd get a Flair/Hennig match at Souled Out 98 considering the fact that Hennig cost Flair his match against Bischoff at Starrcade 98. They put Flair with Bret instead which turned out to be a great match but I don't think Flair ever got any revenge on Hennig for turning on the Horsemen.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, how much does it eat at Shane Douglas that Johnny Ace is now more well known than he ever will be?
ReplyDeleteWell, Tommy didn't wrestle at the PPV at all, which makes me think he was probably injured. And at that point I don't think Heyman knew that Raven was leaving (though if remember right Raven and Stevie knew they were jumping ship), so I'm guessing the plan was to it at Hardcore Heaven.
ReplyDeleteA little help on this one, Scott?
Well, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, right?
ReplyDeleteFuck Shane Douglas.
But the correct title change went down at Starrcade 97 with DDP getting the US Title.
ReplyDeletec'mon; *that* doesn't count.
ReplyDeletethey probably LOOOOOVED their cushy, kid friendly schtick in the WWF. no sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteBecause they couldn't let Rock actually win the feud. Heaven forbid.
ReplyDeleteStill my least favorite non-blowoff ever. HHH at his politicking finest.
Sting-Hogan is the most disappointing blowoff of all time. Rock-HHH is probably the worst nonexistent blowoff.
ReplyDeleteI guess the cage match was the blow-off for the Hogan/Orndroff feud and helped build the Danny Davis heel turn and becoming a wrestling angle. Although, I keep thinking due to the "controversy" in the cage match - they may have done one last Hogan vs. Orndorff match at Wrestlemania if the Andre thing hand't happened. I doubt you could have Wrestlemania be as be with a Orndroff/Hogan blow-off though. (In a different era, sans-a egocentric Hogan - you have Orndorff win the world title at the Big Event - Hogan win it back in the controversial cage match - and Hogan destroys Orndorff at Wrestlemania)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes I'm on a big Hogan vs. Orndorff fix right now - please forgive me.
ReplyDeleteUh, nope. And I still think the rematch wasn't that bad. For a match being carried by the Ultimate Warrior.
ReplyDeleteWith that logic - Hogan blew off the feud when his buddy - ahem Mr. America destroyed Piper in 2003.
ReplyDeleteJericho over Triple H - should have happened. By the time Jericho was booked as a Main Eventer - nobody cared. I mean Jericho should have been a babyface winning the World Title around 2000 or early 2001 - and instead he wins it as a heel and ends up third-stringing a feud between Triple H and Stephanine. His face turn in 2004 was long over-do and by the time he could have been a great heel in 2005 - Jericho (in real life) had enough of wrestling and left to play music. His two comebacks have been strike-outs due to him being built like a light-weight (At least, in my opinion). It's sad because if you put the title on Jericho in 2000 for real - he's my favorite wrestler. By the time they did it, Jericho was very low on the food chain.
ReplyDeleteAlways found it funny the people Hogan would actually job to. I don't mean the guys he put over while champion by countout or dq either - because he shockingly put over a lot of guys back then. He was still putting over Savage somewhat during their 1989 feud. (Sure Hogan probably leg dropped Savage more times than Savage got a countout win - but still . . . )
ReplyDeleteHogan always would job for Sting. I don't think Hogan ever won a single match with Sting, ever. Their first match was a double DQ, and sure the Starcade match had Hogan "winning by a slow-fast count" before jobbing - but he cleanly jobbed at the TNA PPV that still shocks me.
At least the Iron Man match was good. That 6 man was stupid. I hate tag matches where the title can change hands by not pinning the champ.
ReplyDeleteOh I'm sure they did. Steady paycheck without having to carve their foreheads into taffy and get slammed into barbed wire every week.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. One of my favorite feuds of all time...except the end. I can deal with Rock not going over at WM, but there was no reason for him to not win the Ironman match.
ReplyDeleteInsert obligatory Booker T/HHH reference...
ReplyDeleteWait what kind of blow off are we talking here? Because I would love to see a blow off between say Lita and Trish if I was the judge!
ReplyDeleteRock pinned him at Summerslam to finish that feud.
ReplyDeleteYep. I always thought Vince missed the boat with them when he completely flipped their personas, but they probably got a longer shelf life with the Bushwhackers gimmick though it severely limited their upward mobility.
ReplyDeleteI had hoped that was the endgame for Johnny Ace: McMahon sez, "I'll give you one final chance. You v. Mystery Opponent, win and you're still Executive Vice President of Talent Relations (but NOT GM or Raw or SD), lose and YOURRRRRRRRRRRRRRR'RE FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRED!" and the mystery opponent is the Franchise, and he beats his ass while the announcers sell both guys as ex Dynamic Dudes.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I liked Shane for the most part. Bitch about his ego all you wish (and it's MUCH deserved bitching), but ECW doesn't get on the national map if Shane doesn't spike the NWA title and cut a really good promo.