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Money in the Bank

Curious what interesting choices you and everyone thinks would've been for Money in the Bank winners before the concept existed?

I think George Hackenschmidt having the briefcase and coming out to challenge Frank Gotch after a grueling 90 minute title defense would be tremendous.  He could dispatch Gotch in a quickie 30 minute battle by using his devastating finish, the armdrag takedown.  

Anyway, other choices:

- Jake Roberts in the 80s would have been awesome.  Hulk Hogan survives a beating from King Kong Bundy in MSG and does a stretcher job, Jake comes out, wham DDT, new champion.  Tailor made for the gimmick.  

- DDP similarly could pull off the "out of nowhere" finish with the Diamond Cutter, especially during his war with the NWO.  

- Sting with the briefcase in the rafters in 1997, threatening to rappel down and kick Hogan's ass at any time?  Awesome.

- Also, Vince Russo would have done interesting things with the gimmick during the Attitude era, I think.  

Comments

  1. Summer '99: Austin barely survives a battle with Big Show (SummerSlam?)...."Millenium Countdown"....Y2J wins the WWF Title. Instant star.


    Also, a MITB cash-in would have gone down much smoother than the Fingerpoke of Doom.


    Totally agree on Jake Roberts in the 80s. Maybe Rick Rude in the same scenario?

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  2. In a way, it would have been cool for MITB to exist during the Hogan and Austin eras because it is a nice loophole for getting the belt off Hulk and generating easy re-matches.

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  3. Owen threatening to cash in on Bret in 94 would have been suitably epic given how he constantly reminded him of how he beat him at WM.

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  4. Dirty_Dave_DelaneyApril 14, 2013 at 4:15 PM

    HBK during the mid 90s would have made a good MITB winner especially if Bret Hart or Diesel is the champ at the time as it gives him the choice between beating his long-term foe or turning on his best friend, especially since Shawn could easily blur his face/heel alignment and tease the audience to what his true intentions are.

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  5. They didn't need Money in the Bank in the Attitude Era. They had the Hardcore Title.

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  6. Speaking of Jake the Snake, has anyone seen those before and after photos at the DDP ranch? Good lord!

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  7. MiTB, best idea in the last decade of wrestling or what?

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  8. That stuff works man, I wouldn't say I lost a lot of weight (never needed to), but man, every single pain that I had in my knees, back, and shoulders from years of landscaping and other hard labor gigs that I've had over the years is pretty much gone now. And the added muscle in places I never had muscle helps as well.


    Hilariously enough, there's a video on Youtube comparing DDPYoga to P90x, and why the former is better for you than the later.

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  9. Considering the utter shit Russo and his team accomplished in TNA with the "Feast or Fired" gimmick, I can't see how he would do any good to MITB, which has arguably been the best protected gimmick in the history of WWE.

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  10. Ironic, but Ted Dibiase buying the briefcase and using it against Hogan or the Macho man would have fit in well with the Money in the Bank gimmick

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  11. They should have Ted Jr. do that this year after, say, R-Truth wins the briefcase.

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  12. Dirty_Dave_DelaneyApril 14, 2013 at 4:26 PM

    Initially I read 'Vince Russo would have done interesting things with the gimmick' as Scott Keith actually suggesting Russo would have been an interesting MITB briefcase holder during his WCW booking reign of terror lol!

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  13. It was actually tailor made for that gimmick. I'm shocked they didn't have ADR pull the stunt. (Though it's not ironic.)

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  14. MITB in 97 would have probably made the screw job redundant. Do the DQ finish, then have Shamrock or whoever cash in after the match.

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  15. It definitely adds some chaos to the booking. It allows for a logical and fresh new feud out of nowhere. Scott is correct. Russo (With "Vince Filtration System") would have done wonders with that gimmick.

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  16. The WWF title was booked pretty well back in the "olden" days for the most part. However, you could've had the MITB used towards the IC title. Brian Pilman immediately comes to mind.

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  17. Yeah ironic was the wrong choice of word

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  18. Would have been fun to have Sting win it in the late 80s and then have Flair trick him into never using it

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  19. Also, the MITB briefcase would have made the ending to WM9 work.

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  20. The briefcase would turn on Sting.

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  21. Dean Ambrose must be nailed on to win the next MITB if The Shield are still together.

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  22. Dirty_Dave_DelaneyApril 14, 2013 at 4:37 PM

    Could have had Crow Sting win the MITB match by rappelling from the ceiling and grabbing the briefcase!

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  23. 99 Triple H would have held that briefcase over the head of Austin or The Rock. When H and Rocky were briefly in the Corporation together, having H in the background during a Rocky promo while the whole Corporation was gathered in the ring, giving him subtle glances....why that would have been gold, baby...GOLD!

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  24. Speaking of MITB, predictions for this year? I think Fandango is a lock for the WHT case and probably Barrett is a good bet to win the WWE title case. I think Punk would be a good choice too, give him something to do for the last half of the year.

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  25. Watched the Smackdown after HHH won his first title and man was he bad to start out as The Game

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  26. Mark Henry for the WWE title......and believe it or not, Cesaro for the WHC.

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  27. Scream09_HartKillerApril 14, 2013 at 4:45 PM

    Can they find another reason to have wild ladder matches on pay per view? I'm really tired of MITB. It's just a cheap way for a heel to get the title without having to actually beat the champion and I'm convinced most of the time they have no real plan on putting the title on the guy who wins.

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  28. 95% of heels win the title via cheating anyhow. What's the difference?

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  29. Random threadjack (but relevant):

    http://www.wwe.com/classics/the-miz-and-10-other-24-hour-title-reigns/page-2

    WWE has an article up about one month title reigns, and the it's a fine article, if you ignore the fact that some of the videos have nothing to do with the title reign in question (for instance, Jeff Jarrett's redebut on Raw in 1997 plays during the article about his one day European title reign), and some of the descriptions of the matches are flat out wrong:

    "Delivering two devastating Pedigrees — the second of which was gruesomely onto a bed of thumbtacks — The Game ended Mankind’s time with the WWE Title after just one day."



    Except that thumbtacks were not used in that match AT ALL.

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  30. You gotta think that 18 and 19 year old kids are in charge of that and the video department.

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  31. I can see Sting giving the briefcase to the ref and "OH MY GAWD!! THERE'S AN NWO SHIRT IN IT!! THE BRIEFCASE HAS TURNED!!"

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  32. What a fun idea. Can you imagine the heat for Sting during the Hogan feud? That'd really upped the ante on the tease there.

    My dream one though would be Randy Savage cashing it at WrestleMania 9, right after Hogan beat Yokozuna and took the the title, hopefully with an elbow-drop from the rafters that people are literally hanging from at Caesars Palace if they had rafters, but from the columns since they have those instead.

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  33. There is Cherry Coke Zero all over my desk now lol

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  34. That'd be a hilarious bait and switch to do today. Some underdog wins the MITB, finally cashes it in against the world champ and wins. Place is going crazy, ref reads the contract and realizes it's for a US title shot instead, match is thrown is out.

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  35. Don't get me started on what Savage should have been doing at WM9. I must have rebooked that show a million times.

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  36. Appreciate the callback to his announcing during the event with that last line.

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  37. I wish I could take full credit for this awesome idea but Cult laid the ground work.

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  38. Yeah, I still say Savage wins the Rumble, do Bret vs Savage at WrestleMania and then they can do the Yokozuna thing.

    I know they were in panic mode, but I think the buyrate for WrestleMania 9 would have done about the same regardless, as Hogan didn't move a lot of numbers during his 1993 run there and WrestleMania X did pretty similar numbers with no Hogan.

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  39. Sounds like something they'd do to Zack Ryder.

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  40. The thing with the 80's guys is that there are very few I could picture wrestling the style of ladder matches they do now.


    And Russo would have made a "Reverse MITB" where you hang the briefcase up and nobody gets title shots for the next year but you.

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  41. haha I was hoping at least one person would remember that lol One of my favorite bad commentary lines ever

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  42. The sad thing is that if a briefcase really was in the nWo it'd be more over than guys like Wallstreet, Vincent, Beefcake, etc etc.

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  43. To be fair, I read his comment after yours lol

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  44. I don't even honestly remember Wallstreet/Vincent or Ray Traylor joining or leaving the NWO lol. I remember them being in it, but none of the angles surrounding their entry / exit.

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  45. It leads to him finally snapping and turning heel, and he destroys the US champ....my god this might actually work?! Kinda like a wrestling version of Carrie.

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  46. Gotta do crazy heel Savage who is paranoid he might not still have it though.

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  47. Sadly, watching 1997 Nitros on classics, I do.

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  48. Oh yeah, I love that!

    The only thing I would say is that I actually think Caesar's Palace would be the totally wrong venue for that particular match. That crowd is just too touristy I think. The whole Hogan-return, Hogan/Yokozuna/Bret sideshow sort of works as spectacle, I'd much rather see Bret/Savage in a proper arena.



    On a side note, I've always wondered if the WM 9 set design was originally intended for WrestleMania 7 in the LA Coliseum actually, before the whole war angle and moving around of venues occured.

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  49. I could see them using it to get the title back on Flair after a Sting/Luger win in the late 1980s / early 1990s too. Like have the Horsemen constantly trying to injure one of them and then have Flair take advantage.

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  50. Vincent was brought in as nWo's bodyguard(lulz)(rumor is that it was supposed to be Kama but he turned it down), WK joined but then was fired by WCW because they claimed he was still a member of the WCW roster, Ray Traylor got hurt and when he came back he denounced nWo and get a semi decent push out of it. His promos were actually pretty good.

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  51. Scream09_HartKillerApril 14, 2013 at 5:47 PM

    It's just repetitive. Someone wins the brief case, and they're pretty much the uncrowned champion because you know they're getting the belt sooner or later. In the meantime they book them no better, and sometimes worse, than usual until they suddenly come out one night and are pretty much handled the title.

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  52. Okay yeah, I vaguely remember the Ray Traylor stuff afterwards, the rest does not ring a bell.

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  53. I dunno, the crowd was pretty good all throughout the show for straight up wrestling matches like HBK/Tatanka and Headshrinkers/Steiners. And you could always do a rematch with Bret/Savage.



    Savage in Feb. turns heel on Bret and does the Steamboat ringbell special on him. During the match at WM, he grabs it again and goes to the top rope, Liz makes her return and talks him out of it. He jumps down and gets rid of it, turns around into a small package 1,2,3.


    Savage snaps again and doubles down on crazy. Wins the KOTR and revives the Macho King persona(imagine a KOTR final in 93 of Savage/Hogan), do the rematch at Summerslam.

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  54. After WCW forced VK out of the nWo, he would wrestle in a singlet with a WCW logo crossed out on it. Soooo cheesy.

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  55. You'll get no argument out of me that they have gotten lazy with the concept. But I don't think that automatically means the concept is a bad one.

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  56. I like the Liz return, that's a nice touch! It's kinda too bad their whole relationship flamed out pretty much at the peak of Savage's 2nd run there.



    Looking back, it's sort of crazy to look at the shape of the WWF, barely a month after WrestleMania Liz, Hogan, Piper, Sid, and Jake were all gone after being involved in major angles/matches at the show.

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  57. Mike Rotunda hung around for a ridiculously long time in the wrestling industry, despite all of the awful gimmicks he had. It's too bad because he always seemed like a pretty solid wrestler, but he was almost never put into the position to really have a great match, just lots of decent ones.

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  58. Obviously this would make MITB a battle royal so he could win, but 1987 Andre with the briefcase would have scared the Lil Hulksters. Tease it for months until Survivor Series when the Heenan family beats Hulk to a pulp, and down strolls Andre to cash in. Wrestlemania rematch with Hulk challenging.

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  59. Makes the wonder what happens later on that year if Jake gets that booking position and Sid doesn't get popped for steroids. Speaking of that show, here is a crazy thought:


    If they do Hogan/Flair at 8, that probably means Savage/Roberts and that leaves Sid and Taker probably facing each other. Which means the streak never happens, because you'd think without Sid/Hogan, Vince never turns Sid heel and he still had big plans for him so he probably puts him over Taker at 8.

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  60. I always wondered why he could never decide how to spell his last name.

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  61. WCW could have probably gotten a few decent years out of him if they put him in a tag team instead of giving him an IRS rip off gimmick.

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  62. Fandango? No fucking way.


    It'll probably be face/heel.

    Punk with the WWE one. He's a safe choice, and being the only thee time MiTB holder would give him plenty of bragging rights.



    The only issue is that there's no face they're really trying to push right now. I'd love it if Bryan won the World Heavyweight title MiTB, but I really doubt it.

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  63. I like how RVD and Cena did it by picking a date and challenging for the belt like a man. The 24/7 thing has worked on a few occasions (Edge, CM Punk, Ziggler), but is generally kind of cheesy.

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  64. Please keep Bryan far far away from a briefcase.

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  65. I envision Hogan kicking out from the stretcher job and doing the finger shake superman routine, but yeah.

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  66. 97' HBK cashing in on Bret Hart in Canada would have been wild fun.

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  67. I hate the briefcase but love the match. I'd rather just see the winner get a shot at the next PPV, or just make the match itself for the title,

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  68. Combine KOTR and MITB. Two separate 16 man tournaments on WWE tv leading up the PPV. The 8 winners move on to two ladder matches at the PPV, those two winners meet in a one on one match in the main event, winner receives a title shot at Summerslam. Call it King of the Ladders or some such bullshit.

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  69. Sounds like Yakov Smirnoff is booking there!

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  70. That works, though I wouldn't have the finals that night, just because I wouldn't have guys pulling double-duty after having to work a crazy ladder match. Do the final match on Raw, or even open Summerslam with it.

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  71. They'd have to remember Ted Jr. still works there, which could be a problem.

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  72. While I agree with your sentiment that it somewhat tarnishes the title win (particularly if it's the person's first reign with the title), but it's actually turned into something that makes the case holder immediately more interesting. Every time Ziggler comes out, people wonder when he'll cash in. Every time the champion is injured or attacked, people wonder if the case holder will come out. And when it's teased or finally happens -- the place blows up. The secret is to give the new champion legitimate wins and act like he belongs there to counter the tarnished manner in which they won.

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  73. -Earthquake lays out Hogan with many splashes then Dino Bravo cashes in and wins the title!
    -Bret Hart cashing in right after Hogan beats Yoko at WM 9 and throws salt in Hogan's injured eye.
    -Lex Luger cashing in on Flair in the late 80's would've been electric.

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  74. You're probably right.


    It's just that the briefcase is a sure way to main-event, and I'm tired of seeing Dragon in the mid-card.


    They really do need to start pushing some new faces. The roster is so loaded with heels right now, Ryback, Punk, the Shield, Cesaro, Barrett, Ziggler, Rhodes, Sandow, Henry, Show. Pretty much every guy in the mid-card to main-event is a heel.


    There's no hot young babyface people are clamoring to climb the ranks.

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  75. Well, interesting doesn't necessarily mean good. But Russo did have people that could make his ideas coherent in the WWF, so I can see where Scott's coming from.

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  76. Hackenschmidt's finisher was the bearhug.

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  77. They all joined in 1996.

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  78. Andre the Giant: MITB winner. He'll bide his time, because he's Andre the goddamn Giant and he fears nothing and needs no advantage. Annihilation could come at any time.

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  79. They really ought to do that with Mark Henry or Ryback this year.

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  80. THREADJACK: an angle where a legend gives a current guy his finisher, then after the current guy uses it for evil, a match for the legend to get it back. Bob Backlund, Line 1.

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  81. Well, like King of the Ring was in an earlier era, Money in the Bank is a heel gimimck. The winners are almost always heels or cashing it in turns them (Punk/Bryan). The honorable face does the honorable thing, the weasel heel does the weasel thing.

    That said, I'd like them to vary it up occasionally by having a guy do like Kane did. Win it, then immediately murder the champion and get the title. I don't mind the very long drawn out briefcase holdings like Dolph and Miz because at least it gives them an identity. The biggest problem in WWE currently is making you care about the upper mid card guys who are outside of the title picture. Miz and Dolph carrying the thing around for 6-8 months at least gave them purpose and kept the viewer interested in their characters.

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  82. Things keep getting worse and worse for Ric Flair. http://news.yahoo.com/space-mountain-closed-disney-reviews-safety-215151005.html

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  83. It's usually 1 safe pick, 1 underdog pick. In a perfect world someone like Barrett or Cody Rhodes would get one of them but they're buried so deep them winning would be silly at this point. Right now I'd go with Miz and Christian if he gets back in time.

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  84. My God, I can just imagine the crowd in, say, Greensboro or Winston-Salem for Luger or WIndham or Sting cashing in on Flair. Holy crap.

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  85. Crowd would wet themselves. Flair is the perfect champion to cash in against.

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  86. In the 80s, it would have been a battle royal, not a ladder match. Or maybe a variation like a Bunkhouse Stampede.

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  87. Crossface Chickenwing is a bad ass finisher. I loved when Xpac (Syxx) used in it WCW. Fantastic finisher just collecting dust.

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  88. Wow that is kinda mind blowing RE: Sid vs Taker.


    Yeah, I'd bet the house on the idea that Jake Roberts vs Randy Savage was originally penciled in before the steroid stuff shook the card up, because the whole Undertaker turning on Roberts and Elizabeth thing wasn't shot the same night as those initial shots of Jake behind the curtain, looking onto the Savage/Liz celebration.



    The rest of it was filmed at a different arena and edited into the re-broadcast of the match, including new shots of Jake peering through a different curtain to tie it together with the other backstage shenanigans, but looking at it now it's pretty obvious that there was nothing but a light stand on the other side in those shots, where he was actually at the arena in the earlier shots.

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  89. Hugest for pop: Lawler in Memphis, say 1994.

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  90. When was the last match between the two? Was it Tuesday in Texas? I know it didn't seem settled after that match and they still did an angle during the Rumble match. The feud really needed to be blown off with a crazy brawl at WM.

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  91. Just come to Orlando. You can still ride Space Mountain...all...night...long!! Wooooo!!!!

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  92. They did Tuesday in Texas in early December 1991 and then their SNME match, which aired in early February. Neither really seemed like a proper ending to the feud, rumor at the time was a "Snake Pit" match (whatever that means, probably falls count anywhere) for WM to blow off the feud.


    The weekend prior to the SNME airing, the WWF announced Flair vs Hogan on Superstars in the WrestleMania report, reiterated it again on TV a week later, and then changed it to the double main event the week following the SNME airing, and then ran the Undertaker/Jake angle two weeks later on Superstars.



    Also, as I recall, they were doing Jake vs "Mr. Madness" matches on house shows even prior to his reinstatement in December, I have some old Superstars tapes from the Boston market that literally have Savage doing Event Center interviews as the "mysterious Mr. Maddness" which equtes to Randy Savage with the Ric Flair belt video distortion over his face lol

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  93. I would have Yoko dominate the Rumble, but 8-10 guys team up, led by Savage, to out him. Savage wins the Rumble to get one last shot against Bret. Yoko spends the next few weeks destroying the guys who eliminated him. Hogan finally returns to stop the Yoko juggernaut. Hulk vs. Yoko, Bret vs. Savage at WM9

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  94. Agreed. Sid would have ended the "Streak" at ONE. Crazy.

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  95. If different things hadn't intervened, they could have still run Hogan vs. Flair, Sid vs. Taker, Savage vs. Warrior, and Bret vs. Bulldog at SummerSlam 1992 for the huge Wembley crowd.

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  96. Totally. Maybe after a wild WarGames match, where the Horsemen protect Flair like crazy. After the WarGames match, the relatively-fresh Flair orders everyone out of the ring and cashes in on the beat up babyface champ (Sting? Luger?) for the title?

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  97. Yeah, '99 HHH would have been perfect for that. Would have been a great component to the Corporate Champ stuff.

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  98. That's pretty awesome actually. Where's my time machine!

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  99. Has it ever been pinned down as to when the decision was made to bring Warrior back? Because that feels like another last minute change due to Hogan/Flair not happening. Because if Sid is still babyface, it's hard to imagine where Warrior fits in there.



    Has there ever been more crazy what ifs from a match not happening than Flair/Hogan? Feels like a ton a shit changes if it happens. Maybe more so than any other match.

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  100. Sorry. Still using it to make Scott Steiner World Champion in the early 90s.

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  101. If Fandango stays hot, I could see it for sure. Daniel Bryan would be cool, if it gave us a Ziggler feud

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  102. My problem is that they usually job the guy out constantly before cashing in now.

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  103. Could The Shield enter a MITB match this year and grab the briefcase collectively? So that any of the three guys could cash in at any time? Might be a good way to eventually split them too.

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  104. Great point. I think the sequence could have played out nicely if Hogan wins the belt from Flair at Wrestlemania, then Warrior returns for Hogan-Warrior II to help sell Wembley out for SummerSlam.


    Could have been:


    Wrestlemania, Flair vs. Hogan (Title), Savage vs. Roberts, Taker vs. Sid


    SummerSlam: Hogan vs. Warrior (Title), Savage vs. Flair, Hart vs. Bulldog, Sid vs. Taker II


    Flair could then cash in on Hogan & Warrior destroying each other (ala Savage-Warrior) and Flair takes the belt.

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  105. That's a good question. To my knowledge Warrior was actually never officially fired from the WWF as the folklore goes, he was only put on suspension. They of course continued to market his action figures, dolls and merchandise with his likeness.



    I'd highly doubt the plan was in the works to bring him back at all until it was certain that Hogan was leaving, which I'd guess became a certainty as soon as the news stories highlighting the steroid and possible sex scandal hit the wire which IIRC was in early March. Plus they probably figured they could make another run with him as the guy, without Hogan there.


    The whole "Hulk Hogan may be wrestling his last match at WrestleMania 8" thing to get Hogan off TV was actually concocted very much at the last minute too, and basically shoehorned into the shows about two weeks before Mania.



    The big tip off that the Warrior was coming back was when out of the blue, on the "March to WrestleMania 8" prime time special which was setup to be a tribute to Hulk Hogan show, they aired the Hogan/Warrior match and put over Warrior in the redubbed commentary (Heenan and Monsoon redid all the commentary for the matches, since Jessie was working for WCW at that point).

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  106. Yeah, I love the Edge thing as a first-time deal. But totally agree on babyfaces picking a date and challenging like men

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  107. Hogan was leaving no matter what after 8, so you have to leave him out of any scenario. I'm convinced the reason why Hogan/Flair didn't happen was because Hogan wouldn't do the job. Vince wanted him to because he was on his way out, wouldn't do it, so he sacrificed Sid.

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  108. Yeah, it's a good gimmick for a smaller heel to get over on the champ. I like it.

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  109. Makes sense. If Hulk was going anyway, I can see why Flair-Hogan, Hogan-Warrior II would not be a priority. If they could have kept Sid babyface, maybe Hogan passing the torch would have worked, but Sid left before SummerSlam anyway. I still feel deprived since I never got to see/hear a proper Warrior-Sid feud. Promos and shitty offense OVERLOAD would have been glorious

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  110. If Hackenschmidt had wrestled in WCW 2000 universe his finisher would have been called the Sackandshit and he would have alternated rubbing

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  111. I could see that, although I'd be really surprised if Vince would have even wanted to match to go on at all if it wasn't Flair jobbing to Hogan. Beat the NWA's most visible champion on the biggest show of the year to prove ultimate superiority? Too tempting haha. I doubt he would want to put Flair over Hogan in any circumstance at WM, maybe on a second-tier PPV though.

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  112. I really don't like the MITB concept as it stands now, because it's always just some opportunistic cash in that makes the new champion look like a chump.

    The surprise of the cash in can be fun, but I think the concept would work better if you had to announce the match in advance. If that's the case, you can build up to the match properly and there's some actually doubt as to the outcome. The audience gets to wonder if the person will become champion, not when.

    I also think it really hurts first time champions, it simply doesn't mean as much when they finally get the big one. You don't get the boyhood dream being fulfilled, or Austin's eight year journey and so on. You get a guy winning a ladder match and then at some point taking advantage of an already weakened champion.

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  113. MITB would ruin the Sting story, because the whole point of it was at first Sting wouldn't fight and then Hogan wouldn't fight him. If Sting can cash in at any point, that's gone.

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  114. Good point. I guess it wouldn't really work for promoting Starrcade either, having him just cash in there without promoting a set date for the match would be ... well very WCW!

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  115. Okay here is one of those Mr. Madness promos, forgive the crappy quality:



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c47xPIgdK98

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  116. Mark Henry. Wins. Announces when he'll cash in. Wig split.

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  117. Gimmicks yet to be done for the MITB concept...


    * the winner cashes in at Wrestlemania, whether in an on-the-spot challenge or in a pre-planned "I'm cashing in on the grandest stage of them all!" arrangement to guarantee themselves a title match. Not sure why neither happened for Ziggler this year --- would've much rather seen ADR/Dolph than that worthless Swagger storyline. Maybe Dolph was scheduled to cash in at Mania but they had to cut it for time.

    * a complete underdog wins the briefcase. Like, not even a midcarder...someone like Yoshi Tatsu gets into the MITB match and then wins in a huge upset. Then we get vignettes of Tatsu not believing his good luck and being a little intimidated by the briefcase, plus heels mocking his win saying that the 'champ will have an easy time' or whatnot. Great way to build up a sympathetic face contender, especially if he does call his cash-in ahead of time for a proper match.

    * the traditional "briefcase holder becomes a virtual jobber" booking strategy actually becomes a storyline. Like, the case-holder finds it hard to compete since he's constantly thinking about the pressure of cashing in, and finds that he's too tentative in the ring since he's trying to avoid injury.

    * the MITB briefcase holder actually *does* get injured. Like, a face wins the briefcase and the heel champion sneak-attacks him to prevent him from cashing in. If a wrestler was scheduled for time off or a hiatus anyway (i.e. Jericho), this would be a great way to get them and the case totally out of the picture so it's a complete surprise when the cash-in occurs. Or, we get training vignettes of the face 'rehabbing' to get healthy in time to cash in before his year deadline is up.

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  118. I don't see why Vince would be that protective of Hulkamania at that point.

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  119. WWE has actually established pretty well that the on-the-spot cash-in is a heel move. The few face winners have done so honourably...

    * two of them (RVD and Cena) cashed in with a legitimate match, announced at a later date.
    * Punk cashed in on Edge but that was something of turnabout being fair play since Edge had twice used cheap cash-ins himself.

    Punk (his second time) and Bryan were faces when they cashed-in on the spot, though both were the triggers for heel turns.

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  120. Well, I don't think so much that it was him being protective of Hulkamania (Hogan certainly was) but I'd be shocked if Vince liked the idea of putting Flair over Hogan at all in a match that counted. I think in his mind, Hogan dropping the leg on Flair was inevitable and like Vince dropping the hammer on Ted Turner. Just my own opinion though.



    Funny enough, pretty much nobody in the smark world expected Savage to go over Flair at WrestleMania either and it was considered a huge upset at the time. Sticking the match in the middle of the card seemed to confirm it, and a lot of people thought the whole Liz/Flair angle was a setup for an Elizabeth heel turn.

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  121. I would love for shield to enter mitb and freebird the briefcase

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  122. Other ones that they could still do

    - The briefcase causes a face champ to turn heel because they get so paranoid about someone cashing in against them. Champ forms a heel stable to help protect him

    - Someone steals the briefcase from the MiTB winner and immediately cashes it in, thereby stealing both the title shot and the title and starting two ready made feuds

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  123. Agreed.

    It really cheapens most guys' first title wins that they win it on a fluke against a disadvantaged opponent rather than in an epic contest

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  124. Those are all great ideas...Why the Fuck do they pay those clowns in the "Creative" department when some random comment on the internet is more Creative then their last 5 years of work

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  125. Yep. If it's anyone else, the plug gets pulled before we even get to the Foley matches. The early "Game" just wasn't getting it

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  126. Hogan vs. Andre re-match at Wrestlemania IV. Hulk retains, but Dibiase cashes in his briefcase to close the PPV. Dibiase vs. Savage at SummerSlam. Megapowers vs. Million Dollar Team at Survivor Series. Hogan wins Rumble. Savage vs. Hogan at Wrestlemania V. Same basic outline, just with Dibiase getting a title win off a MITB briefcase.

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  127. Oh 92-93's exodus of wrestlers leaving is mind-blowing to think about. In October of 1992 Ric Flair was WWF Champion, Bulldog was IC Champ, and the Natural Disasters were Tag Team Champions. By Wrestlemania they were all gone from the company (besides Typhoon who might have still been around as a JTTS).

    And as I've always said, if a scientist ever invents time travel he's immediately going to be mobbed by wrestling nerds intent on going back in time to rebook WM IX.

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  128. Alright send me the link...
    You've been talking this shit up for months and I dont wanna do P90X or Insanity.

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  129. Predictable or kills credibility?

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  130. i think its just lazy booking.

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  131. I wouldn't say it's lazy booking so much as an easy crutch for lazy bookers. It could be used in some pretty fantastic storytelling if they'd use it properly.

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  132. They could easily resolve that but giving the new champ a clean win in his first feud, legitimizing his title reign. But given that it's WWE creative, they only do it like half the time.

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  133. I forget who said it, but someone here had the great idea of ADR having the briefcase for a while, and sending Ricardo out whenever the champ had a match, whether he was about to cash in or not, just to play mind games. I loved the idea.

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  134. :: Obnoxious laugh ::

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  135. I really think another good use of it that they haven't tried yet is someone actually cashing it in during the middle of another match. Say someone like Bryan had the WWE Championship briefcase right now and at Extreme Rules Cena and Ryback are in some sort of hardcore match... Cena gives Ryback and FU through the announce table (assuming the damn thing will break) and they are both laid out... Bryan comes out right then with a referee and cashes in on Cena and pins him... not only does that force the other match to continue it sets up two possible feuds for Bryan afterwards... which you could milk for 3 -4 months worth of story lines.

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  136. You don't think that WM 9 being set in Caesar's Palace might have been an influence on the Roman set design?

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  137. I had one for a double turn: say a sneaky heel like Ziggler is champ. Have a babyface like Orton win and say he's only going to cash it in when Ziggler takes the easy way out to hold onto his title. After every cheap title match win, Orton comes out and threatens to cash it, and Ziggler finds ways to escape. Finally, after Ziggler has no luck cheating, he starts to try harder and win on his own. Then after Zigs gets a clean title win on PPV over Bryan or someone, but goes right to the limit and is ready to drop... Orton shanghais him and cashes in. Now you have Ziggler with face cred and Orton looking like an evil dick.

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  138. Didn't Hulk Hogan cash in a briefcase at Wrestlemania IX?

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  139. Isn't there some Japanese guy that uses a finisher like that?

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  140. I've read so much positive stuff about DDPYoga in the last few months that I just ordered it to give it a try, ha. I'm not in bad shape, but I'm gonna be 30 in a few weeks, and I'm already feeling the effect on my joints of several years of lifting heavy and not stretching/warming up enough before working out. I don't like feeling creaky this early in the game, so hell, why not?

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  141. Not sure why Vince was so done with Randy the wrestler. He was still a decent worker through the DDP feud.

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  142. That's probably true. Ideally, if they knew Hogan would be back eventually (WrestleMania 9), they figure out a way to have Flair beat Hogan at WrestleMania 8, then they do the Flair/Savage program they actually did at WrestleMania, at SummerSlam instead, then have Flair win the title back in the same manner he did but at Survivor Series 92 or Royal Rumble 93 while figuring out a way to get Flair to stay through WrestleMania 9 where Hogan comes back to get his win back and then he puts over Bret at either King of the Ring 93 or if they get him to stay on, SummerSlam 93.

    But Hogan probably would never have jobbed to Flair at WrestleMania 8 so it's a moot point anyway.

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  143. I thought that was the one where he shoves his opponent's head in his trunks then piledrives him... or is that someone else?

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  144. why not let Savage have the title match without winning the Rumble? wasn't it the first year of the "Rumble winner gets the title shot" anyway? then ditch the stipulation (in the process it might even gain more meaning in 1994) and let Yokozuna win.

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  145. Yeah, that might be it.

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  146. Well yeah, clearly lol

    I just wondered if that particular choice of venue and design was an adjusted idea (from Greece to Rome) intended for WrestleMania 7, with it being a big outdoor show and the Memorial Coliseum design being inspired by the Colosseum and the entrance being an homage to it.

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  147. Thanks!...though being called more creative than WWE Creative is faint praise.

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