Hogan/Warrior vs. Quake/Bravo as Slam 90 Main Event?
Dec 14, 2017 23:19:08 GMT
🤯 and kashdinero like this
Post by Strobe on Dec 14, 2017 23:19:08 GMT
I had never really considered this possibility, but thinking about it, this seems like it should have been a real option given the booking leading into and coming out of WrestleMania VI. And it may have been advantageous for Warrior's initial months as champion.
In November 1989, Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior started a feud with Dino Bravo, which featured the debut of Earthquake. In a test of strength contest, Bravo and Jimmy Hart planned a ruse with Earthquake. They pretended that he was just some random big man they picked from the crowd and Bravo did push-ups with Quake on his back. But when Warrior went to do the same, they ambushed him and lay down a beating.
Warrior and Bravo feuded on house shows from December through February, with the matches often featuring Quake interference.
At the Rumble, Warrior eliminated Bravo and Quake got strong booking - he was in for less than 3 minutes but threw out 2 and 5 men had to gang up to eliminate him. We also had the famous Hogan/Warrior confrontation, teasing a potential match at Mania.
A week after the Rumble and their face-off in that match, Hogan and Warrior teamed up for the first time on SNME to take on the team of Mr. Perfect and The Genius, who Hogan had been feuding with. Hogan and Warrior won, but during post-match brawling confusion, the Warrior clotheslined Hogan by mistake, increasing tensions between the two.
5 weeks before Mania, the WWF held its third The Main Event (the Friday night equivalent of SNME). There were two matches on the show - the first being Hogan defending his WWF title against Savage, putting the exclamation point on their feud that had dominated the previous year (Buster Douglas was the guest ref, which was supposed to be Tyson before Douglas shocked him*).
The second was Warrior defending his belt against Bravo with Quake in his corner. Warrior got the pin but Quake struck right after the bell and they double-teamed him. When Quake had Warrior down and was preparing for a top-rope attack, Hogan came down to save the day and Warrior didn't take kindly to being saved with both men going nose-to-nose.
3 weeks before Mania on Superstars, Hogan took on Bravo, with Quake at ringside, in a non-title match. We then got the reverse of The Main Event situation. Hogan pinned Bravo, Quake immediately attacked, they double-team and Warrior made the save. Hogan isn't receptive to being saved and Warrior started doing his one-man cross-cross before teasing a clothesline on Hulk. Was he actually planning to do it and had to stop himself last second? Or was he just showing Hulk that he could've had him?
40:00 for finish and post-match
At Mania, Warrior defeated Hogan to become the new WWF Champion, while on the undercard Quake defeated Hercules (and gave the post-match aftershocks) and Bravo lost to Duggan (with Quake hitting a post-match attack).
As we know, 8 weeks after Mania, Quake did his awesome beatdown of Hogan on the Brother Love Show, leading to an injury angle, where it was played up that Hulk was so low afterwards that he considered not returning. This caused other faces to beckon the fans to write in to encourage Hogan to return (sneakily giving the WWF the addresses of lots of potential customers to send their catalogue to).
This would lead to Hogan making a triumphant return to take on the hot new heel, while Warrior was given a rehash feud with Rick Rude (who he'd defeated the year before) and also worked house shows with Mr. Perfect (who had just lost his Perfect record to Beefcake).
But would it not have made more sense to continue the issue between Warrior and Quake/Bravo as well post Mania VI? Hogan had shown his respect for Warrior at Mania when he handed over the title to the man who beat him fair and square. Warrior/Quake had been teased and built ever since Quake's debut really.
Warrior/Quake could've done very good house show business, especially after Quake was heated up even more with the Hogan angle. This would've started Warrior's run out in a more positive fashion that happened in reality.
Then when Hogan returns, you run the tag match as the main event of SummerSlam, with Hogan slamming Quake and Bravo taking the pin from Warrior. Hogan gets his big return moment with the slam but Quake is protected by not taking the fall, plus this also saves Hogan/Quake as a singles match, which is going to be run on house shows coming out of SummerSlam.
Warrior/Quake with a non-finish could've been run on the July SNME to build to the match as well. Warrior can then move on to the Savage feud or someone else who they had time to build up between Mania and Slam.
I do like the fact that this would continue the tag match main event trend for SummerSlam as well but especially that it could be used to have Hogan and Warrior paired as friends but with still a little bit of tension and heat there, since Hogan/Warrior II was still a big possibility down the line. It did a relatively underwhelming PPV buyrate at Mania VI considering the two names, but with another year of build and maybe even the possibility of Warrior going darker or even heel, it could've been a big success. Definitely would've had a better chance of filling the LA Coliseum.
A big issue is that Dino Bravo is, well, Dino Bravo. But he's the fall guy in the match, everyone knows that. Hogan's return; Hogan vs. Quake; Warrior vs. Quake; Hogan and Warrior as a team. Those are all enough to easily compensate for Bravo. But if this was planned enough in advance, just have Quake do his attacks as Bravo was close to losing in the Warrior Main Event, Hogan Superstars and Duggan Mania matches, rather than taking the pin in each, if you want to keep him stronger. And don't have Hogan and Warrior team on that January SNME to save that as a draw for SummerSlam as well.
Of course, there is the possibility of Warrior being hurt by being seen as Hulk's sidekick, but if handled well, this could've worked and I don't see it hurting Warrior more than what he was given in reality. Pairing them as two equals would've been the ultimate goal of this.
Anyone have any thoughts?
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*As an aside, since I brought it up, how do we think things would've been different for the WWF without Douglas beating Tyson? It is hard to overstate how big a star Tyson was at that time. The rating for The Main Event III was an incredible 12.8 without him (I know it was pretty late with the Douglas replacement announcement so maybe some people tuned in still expecting Tyson and extra interested after his defeat). What would that number have been with Tyson on the show? With potential extra eyes seeing the hype for Hogan/Warrior, would Mania VI have done more buys? Would it have impacted on Warrior's reign going forward?
It is interesting to note that the January 1990 SNME did the highest rating of the SNMEs that we have ratings for since the pre-Mania III Hogan/Andre Battle Royal one almost 3 years prior. I don't know if there is some unknown factor that I'm not aware, but that suggests to me that people were very interested in Hogan/Warrior as a team.
In November 1989, Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior started a feud with Dino Bravo, which featured the debut of Earthquake. In a test of strength contest, Bravo and Jimmy Hart planned a ruse with Earthquake. They pretended that he was just some random big man they picked from the crowd and Bravo did push-ups with Quake on his back. But when Warrior went to do the same, they ambushed him and lay down a beating.
Warrior and Bravo feuded on house shows from December through February, with the matches often featuring Quake interference.
At the Rumble, Warrior eliminated Bravo and Quake got strong booking - he was in for less than 3 minutes but threw out 2 and 5 men had to gang up to eliminate him. We also had the famous Hogan/Warrior confrontation, teasing a potential match at Mania.
A week after the Rumble and their face-off in that match, Hogan and Warrior teamed up for the first time on SNME to take on the team of Mr. Perfect and The Genius, who Hogan had been feuding with. Hogan and Warrior won, but during post-match brawling confusion, the Warrior clotheslined Hogan by mistake, increasing tensions between the two.
5 weeks before Mania, the WWF held its third The Main Event (the Friday night equivalent of SNME). There were two matches on the show - the first being Hogan defending his WWF title against Savage, putting the exclamation point on their feud that had dominated the previous year (Buster Douglas was the guest ref, which was supposed to be Tyson before Douglas shocked him*).
The second was Warrior defending his belt against Bravo with Quake in his corner. Warrior got the pin but Quake struck right after the bell and they double-teamed him. When Quake had Warrior down and was preparing for a top-rope attack, Hogan came down to save the day and Warrior didn't take kindly to being saved with both men going nose-to-nose.
3 weeks before Mania on Superstars, Hogan took on Bravo, with Quake at ringside, in a non-title match. We then got the reverse of The Main Event situation. Hogan pinned Bravo, Quake immediately attacked, they double-team and Warrior made the save. Hogan isn't receptive to being saved and Warrior started doing his one-man cross-cross before teasing a clothesline on Hulk. Was he actually planning to do it and had to stop himself last second? Or was he just showing Hulk that he could've had him?
40:00 for finish and post-match
At Mania, Warrior defeated Hogan to become the new WWF Champion, while on the undercard Quake defeated Hercules (and gave the post-match aftershocks) and Bravo lost to Duggan (with Quake hitting a post-match attack).
As we know, 8 weeks after Mania, Quake did his awesome beatdown of Hogan on the Brother Love Show, leading to an injury angle, where it was played up that Hulk was so low afterwards that he considered not returning. This caused other faces to beckon the fans to write in to encourage Hogan to return (sneakily giving the WWF the addresses of lots of potential customers to send their catalogue to).
This would lead to Hogan making a triumphant return to take on the hot new heel, while Warrior was given a rehash feud with Rick Rude (who he'd defeated the year before) and also worked house shows with Mr. Perfect (who had just lost his Perfect record to Beefcake).
But would it not have made more sense to continue the issue between Warrior and Quake/Bravo as well post Mania VI? Hogan had shown his respect for Warrior at Mania when he handed over the title to the man who beat him fair and square. Warrior/Quake had been teased and built ever since Quake's debut really.
Warrior/Quake could've done very good house show business, especially after Quake was heated up even more with the Hogan angle. This would've started Warrior's run out in a more positive fashion that happened in reality.
Then when Hogan returns, you run the tag match as the main event of SummerSlam, with Hogan slamming Quake and Bravo taking the pin from Warrior. Hogan gets his big return moment with the slam but Quake is protected by not taking the fall, plus this also saves Hogan/Quake as a singles match, which is going to be run on house shows coming out of SummerSlam.
Warrior/Quake with a non-finish could've been run on the July SNME to build to the match as well. Warrior can then move on to the Savage feud or someone else who they had time to build up between Mania and Slam.
I do like the fact that this would continue the tag match main event trend for SummerSlam as well but especially that it could be used to have Hogan and Warrior paired as friends but with still a little bit of tension and heat there, since Hogan/Warrior II was still a big possibility down the line. It did a relatively underwhelming PPV buyrate at Mania VI considering the two names, but with another year of build and maybe even the possibility of Warrior going darker or even heel, it could've been a big success. Definitely would've had a better chance of filling the LA Coliseum.
A big issue is that Dino Bravo is, well, Dino Bravo. But he's the fall guy in the match, everyone knows that. Hogan's return; Hogan vs. Quake; Warrior vs. Quake; Hogan and Warrior as a team. Those are all enough to easily compensate for Bravo. But if this was planned enough in advance, just have Quake do his attacks as Bravo was close to losing in the Warrior Main Event, Hogan Superstars and Duggan Mania matches, rather than taking the pin in each, if you want to keep him stronger. And don't have Hogan and Warrior team on that January SNME to save that as a draw for SummerSlam as well.
Of course, there is the possibility of Warrior being hurt by being seen as Hulk's sidekick, but if handled well, this could've worked and I don't see it hurting Warrior more than what he was given in reality. Pairing them as two equals would've been the ultimate goal of this.
Anyone have any thoughts?
------------------------------------------
*As an aside, since I brought it up, how do we think things would've been different for the WWF without Douglas beating Tyson? It is hard to overstate how big a star Tyson was at that time. The rating for The Main Event III was an incredible 12.8 without him (I know it was pretty late with the Douglas replacement announcement so maybe some people tuned in still expecting Tyson and extra interested after his defeat). What would that number have been with Tyson on the show? With potential extra eyes seeing the hype for Hogan/Warrior, would Mania VI have done more buys? Would it have impacted on Warrior's reign going forward?
It is interesting to note that the January 1990 SNME did the highest rating of the SNMEs that we have ratings for since the pre-Mania III Hogan/Andre Battle Royal one almost 3 years prior. I don't know if there is some unknown factor that I'm not aware, but that suggests to me that people were very interested in Hogan/Warrior as a team.
