You may have already answered this before, but let's say Vince does go to prison for steroid distribution... who runs the WWF in his absence, especially if it's a long-term absence like 5 or 10 years? Pat Patterson? J.J. Dillon? Does Shane have any input even then? As mentioned, there were so many holes in the case that it would have been highly unlikely Vince goes away, but it's a very interesting "what if?" scenario.
NICK ROOSA
There was actually a plan in place for Jerry Jarrett of all people to run the company in Vince's absence. I presume because he was a tightwad and understood weekly booking.
I would've liked to see that. More awful gimmicks and hopefully some Doug Gilbert promos.
ReplyDeleteLet's be realistic: Vince would still be trying to run things from his prison cell, like mafia kingpins who keep calling the shots while behind bars.
ReplyDeleteThough with Jerry Jarrett in charge we'd likely get WORLD CHAMPION JEFF JARRETT six years earlier...
yea I was thinking about Jeff with his fingers crossed waiting for the trial verdict.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Stephanie and HHH would actually be the ones calling the shots in his absence. It's really only a matter of time before they are anyway.
ReplyDeleteVince would have loved prison.
ReplyDeleteShane? The dude was like 22 in 1994. Vince isn't leaving control to him. Dude was probably still in college.
ReplyDelete18 year old Stephanie would still be running away from "Macho Man" in 1994. HHH was "Terra Ryzing" WCW by this point.
ReplyDeleteHe's talking about the trials in 1994, not today.
ReplyDeleteHHH borrowed Poochie's time machine.
ReplyDeleteGood god, we would have had Jeff Jarrett, WWF champion.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to think about Vince getting the full 20 years, though. If he'd gotten out in 2004, how different would wrestling have been?
Dead. WCW would run itself out of business and WWF was on rubber legs before shifting into a more adult themed product.
ReplyDeleteIt probably wouldn't exist, at least not on any kind of big national scale. Hell, we might be watching Monday Night NJPW.
ReplyDeleteYuck, Jerry Jarrett running the promotion would have been putrid.
ReplyDeleteWhat a maneuver!!
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine how hard Nitro would have steamrolled the cornball Memphis stuff with what it did against the revolutionary 1997 WWF?
ReplyDeleteSo it would have been the Double U Double U F?
ReplyDeleteThe Double J F!
ReplyDeleteEverybody would be getting paid $25 a night.
ReplyDeleteIn food stamps.
ReplyDeleteTed Turner may not have established his hard-on for putting Vince out of business if Vince was in prison. He may never have OK'd Nitro.
ReplyDeleteNever mind the gay jokes, he would have loved it just because prisoners spend most of their time weightlifting.
ReplyDeleteShe'd by way too old for Lawler at that point.
ReplyDeleteOr dear god, Monday Night ECW.
ReplyDeleteI think in JJ Dillon's shoot, he mentions the plans for running things if Vince went to jail. They had it all structured, I remember that.
ReplyDeleteThen we probably get no nWo
ReplyDeleteWeightlifting and man on man sex that isn't considered gay.
ReplyDeleteHe'd probably start promoting shower fights to.
He would have been 25. Still young but maybe not as much of a reach.
ReplyDeleteOnly in prison will you see this!
ReplyDeleteWonder if Nailz would have visited him.
ReplyDeleteSomebody's almost paying attention.
ReplyDelete"A few years ago, some people tried to destroy my family. They attacked
ReplyDeletemy father's reputation, they attacked my mother's reputation, and they
attacked the World Wrestling Federation. They tried to rip us apart ...
but all they did was make my family stronger. And that's exactly how
America feels right now. Because on Tuesday, America was attacked.
Because America is a united nation. And together, we stand strong. I am
incredibly proud to be an American citizen, and I will stand up for my
rights and my freedom."
If Vince going to jail removes that promo from history: Where's the damn time machine?
ReplyDeleteJerry Jarrett might not have been a bad choice. Lawler ran the really stupid gimmicks.
ReplyDelete'Hello wrestling fans and welcome to Monday Night RAW! I'm Lance Russell here with Jim Ross and what an hour of action we've got tonight JR...'
Wait, that could have been awesome.
Anything can happen in prison!
ReplyDeleteStand up for WWE!
ReplyDeleteStill can't believe that made it to air. NO-ONE would dare say anything?
ReplyDeleteIn this reality, TNA probably never comes into existence. Jerry Lawler would probably get a run or ten as WWF Heavyweight Champion.
ReplyDeleteYou know Vince would have gotten a ring in there, and run main events like Tony "Two Death Penalties" Perreti vs Mike ".38 Magnum" Serra, in a "Winner Gets Out Of Solitary" match.
ReplyDelete"1... 2.. 3, he got him! Wait no he didn't! Come on, guards!"
ReplyDeleteThe sex offender as the Honky Tonk Man-like chicken-shit heel.
ReplyDeleteThe warden's going to have to make a ruling on this!
ReplyDeleteThey might not consider it gay, but I sure as hell do.
ReplyDeleteIt's like hookers. Don't people just whack off anymore?
Surely the Big Boss Man would have been able to get Vince out?
ReplyDeleteI'm still absolutely shocked they thought that promo was a good idea. When people talk about selfish and outrageous things, that promo had to be near the top.
ReplyDeleteWould he have had to fight Nailz again to do it?
ReplyDeleteBret probably would've worked for $20 to show how much of a champion he was.
ReplyDeleteVince in prison is a TV show I want so bad
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising that ECW lasted as long as it did. No way they'd still be around.
ReplyDeleteMonday Night CZW! Don't laugh, they're the second oldest promotion in the U.S. right now outside of WWE, and are getting close to having a longer lifespan than WCW and ECW combined.
I don't think so. He had some good ideas in Memphis, but the talent wasn't there. If Jarrett is just doing the booking and not the business end, I think things might've turned out OK. I also think Jarrett would've eventually been booking by committee and wouldn't have been surprised if Jim Ross would've still been doing talent relations and had some creative input as well.
ReplyDeleteAustin might've been brought over anyway if one assumes Jim Ross is still head of talent relations. If the WWF was getting their ass handed to them by WCW, I think Linda would use her share of the company to do something to right the ship.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't all this assume that Vince would've had NO input from prison? I have a feeling he might've still been calling shots from afar. You can't tell me he wouldn't be watching RAW from prison or something.
ReplyDeleteHaha, Vince commentating prison life is a funny thought. He wouldn't have ended up in a maximum security facility, though. Probably one of those country club kind of things.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible. If he's going to jail, you know he's going to some country club, minimum security spot.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding? BBM would make sure Vince serves some HARD TIME!!!
ReplyDelete"As I finished dressing and headed towards the exit, Mr. Jarrett handed me the payoff from tonight's show. With tears in his eyes, he confided in me, 'Champ, I wish I could pay you what the best worker in this business is truly worth, but times are hard.'
ReplyDeleteI left that building know that my fans knew what kind of champion I was....and that they'd let me bum a few bucks off of them for gas to the next town."
With how much of a control freak Vince is, I just can't see him completely distancing himself from the company. Lord knows what kind of crazy characters or booking ideas he'd come up with in a prison, though.
ReplyDelete"These convicts are into body-building....push Luger, dammit!"
ReplyDeleteLOL...To Stephanie, "some people" is the government of the United States.
ReplyDeleteThat's a B-level effort. Since it didn't include a swipe at HBK, I can't give it an A.
ReplyDeleteThe McMahons seriously live on their own planet.
ReplyDeleteI bet Vince yells at his dick when he whacks off.
ReplyDeleteNah, that promo is great because it's so mind-boggling. I wouldn't want it removed.
ReplyDeleteWell, I really just think its Stephanie and Vince. Dave Meltzer came to talk to my wrestling culture class in college (the strange electives you get to take) and said that Linda and Shane are the most rational people in the family.
ReplyDeleteHaha. It starts out OK, but once she gets to the "some people tried..." part and you see where she's going with it, you just do a facepalm and are like "are you freakin' kidding me?!?!?"
ReplyDeleteWe gotta preserve these crazy moments in this wrestling world of ours.
ReplyDeleteIn the shower?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 12 I tried out for a Little League Team and didn't make it because I later found out the team was essentially picked the year before and the try-outs are a formality. 9/11 reminded me a lot of that.
ReplyDelete"My cell-mate Bubba thinks Shawn is pretty...give him the title, dammit!"
ReplyDelete"And that's exactly how America feels right now."
ReplyDeleteEeeewwwwwwwwwww.
Running away from Macho? Or towards him?
ReplyDelete"Men do sexual favours to one another for cigarettes in here....we need to do our version of that!"
ReplyDeleteI think if Vince goes to jail, we get a really rougher and aggressive Goldust when he's released.
ReplyDelete"This Hart/Diesel feud has no heat....have Nash fuck Owen in the ass."
ReplyDeleteRazor Ramon vs the 1-2-3 in a Fuck Em In the Ass Match.
ReplyDeletetoday has been a sucky day for BoD discussion
ReplyDeletedammit, tv, be more funny!
Vince goes to jail and somehow WCW STILL fails to take advantage for the lead....
ReplyDeletequit downvoting me, today's banal discussion
ReplyDeletei love that i'm so obnoxious that you actually seek me out
ReplyDeletethat match happened later but was booked as x-pac vs. chyna
ReplyDeleteYour winner, and NEW World Wrestling Federation tag-team champions... P-G-THIRTEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis gets better and better. Let's give Dundee the book.
Its probably just a disqus thing. No way someone could fire off downvotes that fast, right?
ReplyDeleteThey're running Hulkamania South. Kevin Sullivan dies from an aneurysm dealing with Hulk and Bischoff's nonsense, Jarrett goes and gets guys like Pillman and Austin even earlier.
ReplyDeleteI am imagining Vince on the prison payphone trying to muffle his voice, talking to Patterson about how to blow off this 2 Undertaker thing....pretty funny stuff
ReplyDeleteWas it a shoot?
ReplyDeleteWasn't this the time period where Shane is partying with pre-Raven Scott Levy?
ReplyDeleteI would be for that actually
ReplyDeleteWorked shoot.
ReplyDelete"BAH GAWD!! THAT'S, THAT'S.....P.Y. CHU-HI AND TOJO YAMMAMOTO!! WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN THE WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION!! HERE COMES THE SOUTHERN TENNESSEE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION, ERIC EMBRY!! RIGHT HAND, RIGHT HAND!!!"
ReplyDeleteWHAT IN THE SAM HILL ARE THEY DOING WIHT THAT SALT? WILLYOU GUYS QUIT THAT STUFF?!! JUST GET OUT OF HERE!
ReplyDeletePresumably, even if he'd gone to prison, he wouldn't have been going away for life. Vince would have at some point been back to run the company and he would have most likely set it on the current path. The big question is whether the company would have been able to stay afloat without his guiding vision, and I, for one think it would have. While Vince has always had the final say, he's been aided by many of the greatest minds in wrestling and those minds would have still been in play. I question whether in the more fluid power structure the wrestlers might have even been afforded a greater input in their characters and angles, creating a more diverse image for the company. It could have ultimately been a good thing, maybe even encouraging Vince to continue such a practice after he returns reinvigorated and ready to reclaim his empire.
ReplyDeleteNow what would have really changed the scope of wrestling as we know it would have been if Vince had gone to prison and had Seth Rollins as a cellmate. Because then it would only have been a matter of time before Rollins SHANKED HIM IN THE BACK!!!
Knowing Vince, he'd be running that federal prison within 6 months tops.
ReplyDeleteHHH was booking stuff at age 27 and only being in the business for 5 years so due to being buddies with HBK. Not that farfetched for Shane at 25 to have input.
ReplyDeleteAn 8-yr old Seth Rollins in prison, stabbing Vince in the back... fuck it, I laughed.
ReplyDelete"The winner... and NEW champion... J-E-double-F (ha ha haaaa) J-A-double-R-E-double-T. That's 'Double J,' now... Jeff Jarrett."
ReplyDelete"WWF SHUTS DOORS!"
ReplyDelete-Wrestling media, six days later.
The Blunder Of The Century!
ReplyDeleteListening to Heyman's account of the business side of the end of ECW on Austin's podcast was really, really interesting. They were only 7 million in debt, the PPV company owed them almost 3 million (which they didn't pay because they knew ECW was dead).
ReplyDeleteThey were in negotiations with USA after WWE went to TNN, but USA decided if they couldn't have the best company, they just weren't going to be in wrestling. If Vince goes to jail and WCW still goes down the Hogan/Bischoff/Corporate mess road, USA may have been willing to give ECW a try. Not saying it would have worked, but a dead/injured WWE and an unprofitable WCW might mean that ECW keeps its talent and gets a good tv deal.
Federal prison might have been a death sentence for Vince depending on the sentence. He'd have had to do at least 80% of his sentence and those drug sentences are insane even when the government doesn't want to make an example out of someone.
ReplyDeleteMost sources say Vince was looking at 20 years max, IIRC.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tty3xO6R-U8
ReplyDeleteThis was surreal to watch, especially since I had no idea what he was talking about at the time
So he would have hired Jesse Baker as head booker?
ReplyDeleteJeff marries Stephanie.
ReplyDeleteBubba from cell block six is a 14 time world champion.
ReplyDeleteMr.McMahon in memphis circa 1993 is always worth a re-watch.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI_1cW-1xZc
Worked shoot...all over the face.
ReplyDeleteNah, Alcohol Free Duff turnaround on that one.
ReplyDeleteI think he would have control over the long term and where the company was heading, but don't think he'd be any condition to make a last minute audible and we kowhow much Vince loves changing his mind.
ReplyDelete"Gentlemen, is that the best you can do?" Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe it took him another 4+ years to unveil that character on WWF TV.
ReplyDeleteWorld Wrestling Federal Prison.
ReplyDeleteWe don't know if Edge gave JBL cigarettes after he had his ass soaped.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't surprise me.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Linda was PISSED that Vince aired that "waking up from a coma" skit the day before the polls opened.
Perfunctory...
ReplyDelete"A few years ago, some people tried to destroy me, my reputation, my credibility, my family. The attacker was the organisation I'd given my all to - the World Wrestling Federation. I gave them blood, sweat, tears, and my very soul. They tried to rip me apart...with my own finisher, no less. But I never tapped, and all they did was make me stronger. And that's exactly how America feels right now. I'm still champion, and America's still champion. The world is turning to America with tears in its collective eyes, and saying I'm...I mean, they're...the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. Of all time."
4 out of 10.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading RSPW in 96 and someone talking about how great Vince could be as a heel referencing this stint.
ReplyDeleteSlivett.
ReplyDeleteVince was going to run this from the pen like a BOSS
ReplyDeleteI loved that angle. Jimmy Hart did a promo kicking off the angle that was perfect. He thrived in Memphis' format
ReplyDeleteHence why Shane went off on his own and Linda attempted to do so herself. Meanwhile the company's storylines gets worse and worse with Stephanie's "writing" team.
ReplyDeleteEven a nutjob like the Warrior recognized that Linda is easier to deal with than Vince.
I recall hearing a couple times that Jerry Jarrett 'running the company' wasn't true. I know Corny has said it often, but I'm suspicious of it.
ReplyDeleteHe picked the perfect time to unveil it though. Whether intentionally or not, he waited until he had the perfect foil to the evil boss character and he had the perfect launching pad for said character dropped in his lap.
ReplyDeleteCovered in "Tonight...in this very ring!" If my memory serves correctly
ReplyDeleteThis thread is hilarious, I haven't laughed this much at a thread in a long time. I love all the Vince booking stuff in prison jokes, I would seriously watch that reality show.
ReplyDelete"Hey Pat...I'm doing alright...you would LOVE it here, buddy."
ReplyDeleteAnd what an awkward transition. "And now, here's Bob Backlund!"
ReplyDeleteWAs this legit?
ReplyDeleteIs this the old TRNRoosa? If so, what's up? It's the artist formally known as NickVenom.
ReplyDeleteExtreme Prison Wrestling
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine Jerry running the company? How soon before Double-J was World Champion?
ReplyDeleteWould YOU? I mean, Steph & Vince's "Big Ideas" nearly always see the light of day, and you'd probably be out on your ass in a week if you tried to stop them once they really got going.
ReplyDelete