Steve Austin's Opponents/1998 WWF Roster
Jul 16, 2020 2:38:22 GMT
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Post by Baker on Jul 16, 2020 2:38:22 GMT
The other day I came across an interesting little nugget of information I had previous been unaware of. Bill Banks, who had been an Attitude Era suit before defecting to WCW around the same time as Russo & Ferrara, tweeted about my boy Steve "Mongo" McMichael being considered for the payoff to the "Who ran over Steve Austin?" storyline.....
EDIT: In WCW! WCW finishing WWF's storyline on their tv show is world class trolling and 2020 me kind of wishes it had happened.
Anyway, this got me thinking about a theoretical Austin/Mongo feud in 2000 WWF (mainly because I initially misread Banks' tweet as they were going to bring Mongo into WWF to feud with Austin :lol: ), which in turn took me back to 1998 when the rumor mill linked Austin to some wrestlers who were every bit as 'wtf' as 2000 Mongo....
Austin was red hot going into Wrestlemania 14. He was obviously going to beat Michaels and become The Guy. But there was one major problem. Who was he going to face in the months following Wrestlemania?
The WWF roster was SUPER thin. Michaels was heavily rumored to be going on hiatus following 'Mania. The only other main event stars available were Undertaker, Kane, Foley, and a still midcard HHH. Yikes! But it gets even worse....
Undertaker & Kane were embroiled in a blood feud that still had legs. Plus Taker was a face just like Austin, while Kane was still relatively unproven, and could easily fizzle out once his one money angle ran its course. I personally had serious doubts about Kane's future once the Undertaker feud ended. He just seemed like a character designed specifically for that one feud.
Foley was still a beloved babyface. I know lines were being blurred, but Austin needed heels to overcome because that's still how wrestling worked.
HHH was who I expected to oppose Austin after Wrestlemania. It just made sense that the #2 man in DX would want to avenge his leader. I figured Austin would take him on at the next PPV or two before moving on to....?
And this is where the rumors come into play. Here they are....
1. Bossman
2. Earthquake
3. Dr. Death Steve Williams
I swear this happened! The first two were "lol wtf?" to me in both 1998 and 2020. Both were relics of a bygone age who hadn't exactly set the world on fire during their recent WCW runs.
'Quake (allegedly) lost too much weight for Vince to see him as a serious threat to Austin. So he got downgraded to the Golga character.
But they did unbelievably, inexplicably, intend to go with Bossman as a major Austin opponent in the late 90s. The ONLY reason they didn't is because Bossman infamously missed his cue at Survivor Series 98. I say "infamously" because Austin seems to tell this story in every single episode of his podcast ever. But Bossman still ended up having a pretty strong run during his first year back in the company.
Dr. Death was the least terrible option to 1998 me. And I was honestly even kinda sorta looking forward to it, having been a Dr. Death fan back in the day. Then the Brawl For All happened and that put an end to any chance of Doc being a top guy.
Doc was a terrible choice in hindsight anyway. He had no mic skills and lacked the right kind of charisma to succeed in the Attitude Era. Plus fans either...
1. Wouldn't have known who he was.
2. Seen him as yet another relic of a bygone age.
3. Or a tiny percentage of fans would have been aware of his run as a badass in All Japan and been disappointed that he didn't do his sick suplexes or badass bombs anymore due to Austin's fragile neck. Doc, an offensive machine, would have been a TERRIBLE choice as an Austin opponent for that very reason.
Anyway, this provides further ammunition for the "Vince is an idiot" people. I mean, it's kind of hard to argue. Vince (allegedly) wanted to go with these guys as major Austin opponents in 1998. It boggles the mind....
The 1998 WWF roster really was rather rubbish when it came to top tier talent. Yet they managed to not just get by, but thrive due to clever booking, a whole lot of smoke and mirrors, or a combination of the two, depending on your perspective.
EDIT: In WCW! WCW finishing WWF's storyline on their tv show is world class trolling and 2020 me kind of wishes it had happened.
Anyway, this got me thinking about a theoretical Austin/Mongo feud in 2000 WWF (mainly because I initially misread Banks' tweet as they were going to bring Mongo into WWF to feud with Austin :lol: ), which in turn took me back to 1998 when the rumor mill linked Austin to some wrestlers who were every bit as 'wtf' as 2000 Mongo....
Austin was red hot going into Wrestlemania 14. He was obviously going to beat Michaels and become The Guy. But there was one major problem. Who was he going to face in the months following Wrestlemania?
The WWF roster was SUPER thin. Michaels was heavily rumored to be going on hiatus following 'Mania. The only other main event stars available were Undertaker, Kane, Foley, and a still midcard HHH. Yikes! But it gets even worse....
Undertaker & Kane were embroiled in a blood feud that still had legs. Plus Taker was a face just like Austin, while Kane was still relatively unproven, and could easily fizzle out once his one money angle ran its course. I personally had serious doubts about Kane's future once the Undertaker feud ended. He just seemed like a character designed specifically for that one feud.
Foley was still a beloved babyface. I know lines were being blurred, but Austin needed heels to overcome because that's still how wrestling worked.
HHH was who I expected to oppose Austin after Wrestlemania. It just made sense that the #2 man in DX would want to avenge his leader. I figured Austin would take him on at the next PPV or two before moving on to....?
And this is where the rumors come into play. Here they are....
1. Bossman
2. Earthquake
3. Dr. Death Steve Williams
I swear this happened! The first two were "lol wtf?" to me in both 1998 and 2020. Both were relics of a bygone age who hadn't exactly set the world on fire during their recent WCW runs.
'Quake (allegedly) lost too much weight for Vince to see him as a serious threat to Austin. So he got downgraded to the Golga character.
But they did unbelievably, inexplicably, intend to go with Bossman as a major Austin opponent in the late 90s. The ONLY reason they didn't is because Bossman infamously missed his cue at Survivor Series 98. I say "infamously" because Austin seems to tell this story in every single episode of his podcast ever. But Bossman still ended up having a pretty strong run during his first year back in the company.
Dr. Death was the least terrible option to 1998 me. And I was honestly even kinda sorta looking forward to it, having been a Dr. Death fan back in the day. Then the Brawl For All happened and that put an end to any chance of Doc being a top guy.
Doc was a terrible choice in hindsight anyway. He had no mic skills and lacked the right kind of charisma to succeed in the Attitude Era. Plus fans either...
1. Wouldn't have known who he was.
2. Seen him as yet another relic of a bygone age.
3. Or a tiny percentage of fans would have been aware of his run as a badass in All Japan and been disappointed that he didn't do his sick suplexes or badass bombs anymore due to Austin's fragile neck. Doc, an offensive machine, would have been a TERRIBLE choice as an Austin opponent for that very reason.
Anyway, this provides further ammunition for the "Vince is an idiot" people. I mean, it's kind of hard to argue. Vince (allegedly) wanted to go with these guys as major Austin opponents in 1998. It boggles the mind....
The 1998 WWF roster really was rather rubbish when it came to top tier talent. Yet they managed to not just get by, but thrive due to clever booking, a whole lot of smoke and mirrors, or a combination of the two, depending on your perspective.
