Hi Scott,
I've been reading Titan Sinking and I was wondering who you think
would've been a better choice to program with Diesel during his title
reign compared to who Vince went with? Looking at the roster at the
time it's hard to see who could've been the strong heel he needed. Any
ideas? Thanks.
Mark
Heel turned Razor Ramon! Shawn Michaels if they hadn't panicked and turned him babyface in April! They could have milked the Shawn feud for MONTHS.
A trilogy capping Ladder match III match for Michaels' recently won WWF Championship against a heel turned Ramon would have been an awesome ITH8 main event and give Michaels an awesome rub of sending both him and Nash packing.
ReplyDeleteOh, what could have been...
Nash should have never turned face in late 94 to start with. Not saying he would have guaranteed to draw better as a heel champ but it sure would have been better than what we got.
ReplyDeleteAnybody other than Sid, Tatanka, Mabel & Bulldog.
ReplyDeleteSo that leaves...yeah, Ramon and HBK.
Razor should have hit Shawn with the belt after the ladder match at SummerSlam and then feuded with him and Diesel for the rest of '95 and the first half of' '96. A title scene of Bret, Shawn, Taker, heel Razor and tweener Diesel would have been pretty fun.
ReplyDeleteIn Your House: Beware of Dog should have been In Your House: Razor's Edge. That way the fucking amazing Diesel match still happens before that, and then Hall gets his send off in that match.
ReplyDeleteHeel turn Bret. Wasn't doing anything else that year unless you count Dr Isaac Yankem, Evil Japan Man and Evil Pirate as anything.
ReplyDeletePretty sure his deal was up before that show
ReplyDeleteNot to mention he was suspended for drugs and gave notice well before said suspension.
ReplyDeleteAlso a valid answer. Bret would have been fine with it, too.
ReplyDelete"They could have milked the Shawn feud for MONTHS"
ReplyDeleteBecause it drew so well at mania?
I say put the belt on Sid in May and have him run threw the corporation. He retains at Survivor Series. Meanwhile you build up Jarrett, Owen, and Crush to challenge after. Assuming no ends up in jail.
Assuming that didn't happen, of course
ReplyDeleteDiesel should've turned heel midway through his reign and pay it forward to HBK to end the feud once and for all. I was merely 7 during this time and I didn't really watch RAW on a weekly basis but I remember wanting ALL the big guys to feud with Diesel.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to see him fight against King Kong Bundy, Bam Bam Bigelow, and most importantly SID. I didn't think he feuded with SID enough. And I don't care, man, say what you will about SID but that motherfucker IS WRESTLING PERSONIFIED and he was the man despite how awful of a wrestler he was.
A Razor turn would have been great. A different kind of turn for Luger (non-Dibiase related) may have worked as well.
ReplyDeleteI never would have pegged Diesel for the spot to begin with because he's just too big. His opponents are basically twofold: Guys who are smaller than him and thus potentially elicit sympathy (Bret, Shawn) or aren't positioned strongly enough to be credible threats (Owen, Jarrett), or guys who are his size/bigger than him, and thus the matches totally suck (Sid, Yokozuna, Mabel).
ReplyDeleteRazor is the obvious answer to me if you go with Diesel as champion, but then they brought in Bundy and Kama and fucked Razor's heel turn up anyway. I mean, why were so many of their top guys all babyfaces? If Razor had gone heel, he'd have had Diesel, Shawn, Undertaker and Bret to work with, instead we got Razor vs. the teacher and Bret vs. the pirate.
Come on now, you can blame Diesel for a lot of things, but WM11 was based on exactly one person and it wasn't him. The order of importance in promotion was:
ReplyDelete1) Lawrence Taylor wrestling
2) Random celebrities doing shit
3) Big tall dude defends gold belt against former best friend.
I'm fantasy booking here. Let me dream.
ReplyDeleteI still think Luger too, as he was booked very well by wcw upon his return. Problem was NO characters had any depth or real storylines to work with so 95 was doomed no matter what
ReplyDeleteJohn Tuturro should be number 1 ;)
ReplyDeleteLuger as corporate elitist in a return to his Narcissist type character
ReplyDeleteJonathan Taylor Thomas as a much bigger draw.
ReplyDeleteJust curious but how was Yoko as a draw in 1993? He held onto the belt for a pretty long time as a heel...
ReplyDeleteIYH didn't draw because no on wanted to see a house given away.
ReplyDeleteKOTR didn't draw because no one bought bam bam as a face
Summerslam didn't draw because no one like Barry Horowitz. ....where does the madness end, I SAY
Not really a far comparason. Yoko was only on top for 5 PPVs.
ReplyDeleteHaha such awful celebrities that year. Yes Mccarthy and Anderson were hot tho
ReplyDelete3....Pam Anderson's boobs
ReplyDelete4....Diesel/shawn
I actually wasn't comparing him to Nash. I was curious if Yoko was a good draw or not.
ReplyDeleteAh, check historyofwwe they usually have attendance and buy rates.
ReplyDeleteHeel turned Luger would have been money, but I agree, if they aligned him with DiBiase, it would have been instant death.
ReplyDelete1. Don't turn him face.
ReplyDelete2. Literally anyone. Anyone at all. Listening to Nash's timeline shoot recalling the string of shit wrestlers and stylistic mismatches he was given while the #1 guy in the company, you can't not feel bad for him.
Diesel could have worked either as face or heel so long as they gave him credible guys to work with, but a heel turn Diesel feuding with Undertaker like they did at WM12, but pushed as a main event program could have been a big draw.
ReplyDeleteI bought the show for the Jonathan Taylor Thomas vs Bob Backlund chess match.
ReplyDeleteKOTR didn't draw because they expected us to accept Bam Bam and Tatanka as main event guys without getting laughed out the building.
ReplyDeleteLet the man dream, GODDAMMIT!
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't a big draw, but business was stable with him on top and WWF weren't in the red while he was champion either.
ReplyDeletelex drew that
ReplyDeleteListening to Scott Hall talking about how he wanted to earn more money and couldn't on Austin's podcast, how did it not make sense to keep him around by turning him into the #1 heel in the company in 96? He was on clearly up for it, as his WCW run suggested.
ReplyDeleteI think Vince was probably concerned over his excessive drug use and didn't want to commit to giving Razor a huge push incase he embarrassed the company.
ReplyDeleteHuh? Yoko was on top for 10 months and Diesel for 12. It's pretty fair.
ReplyDeletePlus they weren't doing 12 months of pay-per-view when Yoko was on top. Maybe they would have switched the belt off of Yoko on some random Sepetember ppv, but that wasn't the times.
Doesn't work without an evvvil foreigner
ReplyDeleteDesiel was the first Champ with monthly PPVs. He did twice the PPVs as champion.
ReplyDeleteCreative has succeeded yet again. Cesaro now looks like a total joke.
ReplyDeleteBut Cesaro couldn't have challenged Diesel for the title. The guy hadn't been born yet.
ReplyDeleteAmazing they went with so many celebs at XI after what a train wreck they were at X. How many buys did they get out of Sy Sperling getting a wig for the Fink? Drunk Burt Reynolds was amusing, but what did it add to the show? Glad they gave up on it for XII.
ReplyDeleteIf only they'd been able to bring Vader in after WM. Vader/Diesel at Summerslam would have been an awesome main event.
ReplyDeleteNot sure they even had the $ for it in 96
ReplyDeleteI've said this before on this blog ... Shawn-Diesel double turn would have been epic.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Nash himself, he first told Vince that WCW had made him an offer at a show in Stockton, CA. There was a Raw taping there on January 22, 1996, the night after the Royal Rumble, so that's likely where it happened.
ReplyDeleteAmazing that they had a real lack of credible heels for Diesel to face yet he himself was better at being a heel. Id have done Bret/Diesel at KOR 95 and slowly turned him heel until Shawn/Diesel II at SS.
ReplyDeleteWhat was up with giving away a house anyhow?
ReplyDeleteWho the hell wants to win a house, far away from where they live?
What about Owen Hart? Or Yokozuna? Even Skip would have been better than Mabel.
ReplyDeleteThey 100% had to turn Shawn when they did.
ReplyDeleteAs for heels, have Bammer turn on him at KOTR
Can't believe I forgot about Luger. Do his '89 heel run in the WWF.
ReplyDeleteThat pop he got at slamboree 1993
ReplyDelete