Jan 6, 2020 21:36:12 GMT Kilgore said:

Jan 5, 2020 21:04:27 GMT Strobe said:

 If they had not worked it at MSG in June, this would've been a tremendous main at MSG for SummerSlam, certainly far superior to the handicap match. I feel like this would have been a better main for an invented mid-June PPV (no clue on what the name should be, anyone got any ideas?)

The easiest option is WrestleFest since that was a name already being used for overseas things and Coliseum Home Video compilations. Making it a signature event would be on brand, although WrestleMania/WrestleFest back to back isn't ideal. Maybe just change it to GrappleFest.

I keep thinking of Fireworks. Something related to that (Explode/Blast). It makes sense as a Fourth of July allusion, some patriotic Vincent K. McMahon bullshit, and also fits in with angle that would prompt this, but is generic enough to continue to be called that. Now we can't name an event Fireworks. That's stupid and the WWF non-WrestleMania names were two name sounding things with the last word being some synonym of fighting. Royal RUMBLE. Summer SLAM. Survivor SERIES. So, Fyre Fest. Just kidding. 

Vince must have hated that he didn't come up with The Great American Bash, just seethed about it. Lowkey jealous of Beach Blast and SuperBrawl too.

They like seasonal + fight synonym so Spring BREAK or GRAPPLE BLOSSOM. Wrestling names are so dumb. 

Also thinking baseball for that time of the year, like a play on the national pastime. National Blasttime. The worst the name, the more I'm entertaining myself. Spring Blast genuinely seems plausible. Spring Blast to go with Summer Slam. I like the WWF as undercover wiccans giving praise to the seasons.

Looking up more fight synonyms to do the WWF formula; Battle, Brawl, Clash, Revolt, War

This is hard because WWF had like a wholesome version of violent terms. They wouldn't call something war anymore (did they since 1984 during this era?), especially in 1991. Even revolt would be a bit much.

Battle is wholesome enough, and they could beat WCW to it by six months (Battle Bowl that December). Spring Battle or Battle for Glory.

They wouldn't use Clash because of Clash of the Champions/SuperClash. Maybe they'd still use Brawl even though SuperBrawl just happened? Move up Brawl For All seven years and not make it the oddest shoot tournament ever held then?

Hopefully this chaotic thinking will inspire better ideas. My current Top 3:

1. Spring Blast
2. Brawl For All
3. WrestleFest/GrappleFest

Love this.

I used to always think there should've been A Spring Breakdown event as a play of spring break, but mid-June would be too late and is practically summer.

The mention of Coliseum has me thinking maybe just play on that? Collison in the Coliseum? Coliseum Classic? Or maybe a near reference... Colossal Tussle?

I feel like Showdown is an easy one that WCW wasn't using. What and something that sounds big, even if generic: Superstar Showdown! To make the first one patriotic themed, maybe Hogan and others call it Super Stars and Stripes Showdown in the promos to build to the event?

Flag Day is in June and is patriotic. What about "Flag Day Fray"?

I do like Spring Blast except for the fact no one associates June with spring.

Spring Breakdown is awesome and would have been great during the 12 month a year era, superior to Spring Stampede, would have even made a great In Your House: Spring Breakdown. Imagining the promos of like Diesel and Shawn Michaels at a beach house throwing bros in Hawaiian shirts in pools, Michaels dropping an elbow off a cabana, fun stuff. 

Showdown is also really great, in general. Paul E. knew this with Hostile City Showdown, which is a name so awesome, it should be celebrated more. Superstar Showdown works, although with Superstars as a show, it's not ideal, also a little generic. Something Showdown is a good base. 

Jan 6, 2020 16:19:17 GMT 🤯 said:

WWF ran a seemingly well-drawing live event on in Los Angeles, CA at the Sports Arena on June 16, 1991 (10,100) so maybe that gets repurposed and/or televised as Strobe 's mid-June PPV?

In real life, it looks like it featured a few of the matches Strobe is contemplating.

Or, do we run the Tuesday PPV experiment a bit earlier in the year, and book an event on June 11? There's a Japan show the same date, but seems Savage was the only WWF talent on loan for that... So maybe a non-issue considering Savage's "retirement"?

Still trying to think of names... Feel like seeing some card scenarios would help inspire ideas.

This was before PPVs became locked into being only on Sunday evenings. In 1991, the Rumble was on a Sat, Mania on a Sun, SummerSlam on a Mon, Series on a Wed (Thanksgiving Eve, the first 4 had all been on Thanksgiving Day) and of course This Tuesday in Texas on a Tues. So we could make it work on any date really.

There was a stadium show run on July 14th at Busch Stadium in St Louis, MO that drew 19,000 called WrestleFest '91 (not to be confused with the unrelated video tape WrestleFest '91 or the Tokyo Dome show 6 days after Mania called WrestleFest) where the original card was not a mile away from what you'd expect from a PPV between Mania and SummerSlam (but injuries and no-shows massively affected it):

Hogan(c) vs. Slaughter with Savage as guest ref - WWF Title (Savage did not immediately turn face after his Liz reconciliation at Mania, he was still acting like a heel on commentary and softened over time, leading into the proposal and wedding. Here, he helped Hogan win after Slaughter threw him to the floor.)
Warrior vs. Taker - Casket Match
Jake with Andre vs. Quake (Jake was injured so Duggan was moved into this spot.)
Perfect(c) vs. Bulldog - IC Title (Perfect was injured so Typhoon took on Davey instead.)
Piper/Virgil vs. DiBiase/IRS (Interestingly, Money Inc. were teaming up on house shows around this time, 8 months before they became a team proper; Piper was filming something so did not appear and Bret was moved into his spot.)
Bossman/LOD vs. Mountie/Nastys (Hawk was injured, so this just became a handicap tag.)
Bret vs. Steamboat (I guess they asked for this match, since they only got to work the 2 singles matches in 1986; but since Bret was moved into Piper's spot, Steamboat worked with Tanaka instead.)
Tornado vs. Warlord (ended in a double CO.)
Duggan vs. Mustafa (since Duggan took Jake's spot against Quake, Snuka filled in for Duggan.)

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Jan 6, 2020 21:36:12 GMT Kilgore said:

I keep thinking of Fireworks. Something related to that (Explode/Blast). It makes sense as a Fourth of July allusion, some patriotic Vincent K. McMahon bullshit, and also fits in with angle that would prompt this, but is generic enough to continue to be called that.

Jesus, of course. You are the man Kilgore . This show needs to take place on July 4th (still leaves almost 8 weeks until SummerSlam). Big wrestling shows on national holidays had been a staple anyway and it perfectly fits in with the World Title feud that should be getting blown off.

Loving all the name suggestions - it is far from easy. One thing that moving it to July 4th does is take "Spring" off the table sadly, which is making me question not having it in mid-June.

If this was being seen as a standalone show and not a new yearly PPV, I could see something like Fight for Freedom working. Trying to think of words associated with Independence Day - freedom, flag, glory.

I could see it being on July 4th (and named appropriately) this year due to the angle and then moving to mid-June and renamed moving forwards.

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Jan 6, 2020 23:05:41 GMT 🤯 said:

I feel like Showdown is an easy one that WCW wasn't using. What and something that sounds big, even if generic: Superstar Showdown! To make the first one patriotic themed, maybe Hogan and others call it Super Stars and Stripes Showdown in the promos to build to the event?

If you were going to make it a July 4th show every year, Stars and Stripes Showdown is a good shout, although they had already used Stars and Stripes Forever as the tagline for Mania VII.

Independence Day Incident, if we're booking this show on the Fourth.

Here is one scenario that I like, working from the following WrestleMania VII card:

WRESTLEMANIA VII (3/24/91)

WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION CHAMPIONSHIP
Sgt. Slaughter [Champion] with General Adnan vs. Hulk Hogan
Even though I think they could have gone the "America has gone soft" route without doing the full-on Iraqi sympathiser gimmick (which played a big part in them losing SNME on NBC), I am just going to accept it for this. Hogan becomes a 3-time champion and did it for the U.S. of A.

CAREER THREATENING MATCH
Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage with Sherri
As it happened with the tweaks that I prefer (3 Elbows instead of 5; less anti-climactic finish). Savage has to retire but gets reunited with his

WWF INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Mr. Perfect [Champion] with Bobby Heenan vs. Roddy Piper
Piper wins via DQ or CO like in their house show series, so Perfect keeps the belt.

Ted DiBiase [Million $ Champion] vs. Texas Tornado with Virgil
Virgil helps Tornado win by countout and laughs at DiBiase. Probably have Sherri come out to comfort Ted as he walks to the back.

BLINDFOLD MATCH
Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel
Leave exactly as is.

WWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
The Hart Foundation [Champions] vs. Power & Glory with Slick
P&G become the tag champs and move into a feud with LOD.

Legion of Doom vs. Demolition (Crush & Smash) with Mr. Fuji
Demo are finishing and if LOD are going to beat someone easily, this makes the most sense since they had been feuding since the summer. Sad though that this match at Mania would end up like this (no Ax, Demo cred shattered, a squash).

The Rockers vs. Nasty Boys with Jimmy Hart
Rockers give the new boys a good match and put them over.

The Undertaker with Paul Bearer vs. Jimmy Snuka
Hopefully they won't botch their finishing spot in this universe.

Big Boss Man vs. The Barbarian with Bobby Heenan
- if Boss Man wins, he gets a Ball & Chain match with Heenan
This would need to go on after Perfect/Piper and close to the end (let's say third last, before Mountie/Hammer and Hogan/Slaughter) as it removes Heenan from commentary for the remainder of the show. Boss Man had reintroduced his ball and chain gimmick late in 1990 and worked two of those matches with Heenan in early 1991. This was going to be Heenan's last big show as a ringside manager and the feud was really Boss Man/Heenan so him taking a brief beating was the ideal closure. Just need to come up with some clever way to trick Heenan into signing for the match. Boss Man beats Barbarian and Heenan tries to run away, but Andre (who, apart from his Rumble promos, has not been seen since he turned on Heenan at Mania VI) comes out and forces him back to the ring, before holding off a wary Perfect, Barbarian and Haku. Heenan gets on the mic and begs Boss Man, but takes a couple of bumps, gets pinned and gets the ball dropped on his chest. Andre raises Boss Man's hand in victory.

INTERNATIONAL ATTRACTION SIX-MAN TAG
Earthquake, Dino Bravo & Haku with Jimmy Hart vs. Genichiro Tenryu, Koji Kitao & Mystery Partner (Ricky Steamboat)
Originally booked with Tugboat, who gets injured by Quake. Tito is announced as replacement and also gets injured by Quake. So Tenryu/Kitao go with a mystery partner so they can't be attacked. Jimmy Hart borrows Haku from Heenan since he has experience in Japan and as a sumo. Throw in some fun sumo spots (Tenta, Tenryu and Kitao were also legit sumo. You get nice pics for the Japanese mags as Quake and Steamer are known there. Steamboat's return gets a big pop and gives the fans a reason to cheer for the faces, with him pinning Bravo. This sets up Steamer/Haku coming out of the show. Also sets up Quake/Kitao for the Tokyo Dome Show 6 days later (which should be mentioned on commentary, showing how international the WWF is). Haku and the injured-in-the-build Tito will be working SWS shows during the year as well.

British Bulldog vs. The Warlord with Slick
As happened.

The Mountie with Jimmy Hart vs. Greg Valentine
Hart's new guy beats his former man.

----------------------

No spot for Jim Duggan (he can wear his Uncle Sam outfit and do commentary for a match with Heenan managing at ringside) or Tito Santana and Tugboat (both injured angles).

From that Mania, we move on to our created PPV (name very much subject to change):

STARS and STRIPES SHOWDOWN (7/4/91)

DESERT STORM MATCH
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION CHAMPIONSHIP
Hulk Hogan [Champion] vs. Sgt. Slaughter with General Adnan
MSG match here and it would be a far more well-known classic. Fireball revenge, powder ("tear gas" according to Monsoon), Slaughter bleeding and bumping all over the place, Slaughter's awesome falling over when trying a chair shot due to blood loss. You can only win by "unconditional surrender" and Adnan throws in the towel when Hogan has Slaughter in the Camel Clutch.

BODY BAG MATCH
Ultimate Warrior vs. The Undertaker with Paul Bearer
MSG match here. With taking the urn shot and sitting up in the bag post-match, I think Taker keeps his mystique well enough. Warrior is happy to work a Body Bag match, but after this Taker will challenge him to a Casket match and Warrior's fear will cause him to trust the wrong man...

Jake Roberts with Andre the Giant vs. Earthquake with Jimmy Hart
Some sort of non-finish here involving the newly turned Typhoon. Jake chases them away with Lucifer, but neither man has to job. Jake is now free to turn heel, while Andre's deal with the Disasters goes on.

Roddy Piper with Virgil vs. Ted DiBiase [Million $ Champion] with Sherri
For the finish here, we will do a combination of their 4/22 MSG match and the real world Virgil/DiBiase Mania post-match. Piper has his kayfabe motorcycle accident (he was actually recovering from hip surgery, which we postpone to after Mania so he can work with Perfect) so was given a bum leg in storyline. DiBiase hits it with a chair and works it over, before the ref chooses to stop the match. Post-match, Virgil (who has been taken under Piper's wing) does the "get up" deal with the downed Piper.

WWF INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Mr. Perfect [Champion] vs. British Bulldog
No Coach here. With Heenan on commentary, Perfect is without a ringside manager as an insurance policy. So this explains why Barbarian comes out (you could even have Heenan briefly leave commentary - imagine Gorilla's indignation upon his return when he realises he was off telling Barby to interfere), leading to Bret also coming out and the match is called off as all four men brawl before the faces stand tall and these feuds switch.

Legion of Doom & Texas Tornado vs. Power & Glory [WWF Tag Team Champions] & The Warlord with Slick
This actually works very well. I have P&G as champs to feud with LOD and Tornado/Warlord was the post-Mania feud in reality. Slick's men are an obvious 6-man team and Tornado tagged with LOD at Survivor Series the previous year. All about the muscles this one.

Big Boss Man & The Rockers vs. The Mountie & Nasty Boys with Jimmy Hart
Nastys helped their boy Mountie zap Boss Man and the Nastys have been feuding with The Rockers in this universe (since before Mania), so obvious 6-man here.

Bret Hart vs. The Barbarian
Bret gets a singles win and a way to pivot to Perfect as explained above.

FLAG MATCH
Jim Duggan vs. Colonel Mustafa with General Adnan
Both men wave their flags at each other pre-match, but when Duggan turns his back to put his flag in his corner, Mustafa attacks using the Iraqi flag before the bell. He dominates very briefly before Duggan takes over, also very briefly. Adnan interference helps Mustafa regain the advantage and Adnan distracts the ref while Mustafa tries to use his flag again. But Duggan recovers, gets the flag, breaks the flagstick in half and strikes to the throat to get the pin. Therefore, Duggan gets his flag raised up in the arena and the US national anthem is played on the 4th of July.

Ricky Steamboat vs. Haku
Gives Steamer a good first win back on PPV.

Since Slaughter has been finished up and we will wait until late September to start his attempted face turn, we get this: 

SUMMERSLAM (8/26/91)

"MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN"
Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth Wedding
As happened and the reception angle will be on Superstars after SummerSlam

"MATCH MADE IN HELL"
Hulk Hogan [World Wrestling Federation Champion] & Ultimate Warrior vs. Jake Roberts & The Undertaker with Paul Bearer
with Sid Justice as guest ref
After losing the body bag match, Taker challenges Warrior to a casket match so Warrior goes to Jake to try to overcome his fear of the darkness. This leads to Jake's heel turn and siding with Taker. I like the idea of Quake's killing of Damien and Jake's heartbreak at it making him realise he had become too soft and needing to rediscover his own dark side as a reason for his heel turn. Warrior is getting fired after this match, so Hogan is getting the pin and since he will be working with Taker, Jake will take the fall. This might seem way too early to have him job post heel turn, but he would be well protected by the finish - Sid stopping Bearer urn interference and Hogan using the urn on Jake before hitting the leg drop. So Jake has a gripe with Sid to lead to their feud (in addition to the wedding reception angle that will follow).

WWF INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Mr. Perfect [Champion] vs. Bret Hart
As in reality, but with no Coach.

WWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Power & Glory [Champions] with Slick vs. Legion of Doom
LOD win the tag titles.

MILLION $ CHAMPIONSHIP
Ted DiBiase [Champion] with Sherri vs. Virgil
Virgil has had the big build now to this match and wins the Million $ Title. Piper is on commentary, as in reality, cheering him on - showing the confidence to let him go it alone.

JAILHOUSE MATCH
Big Boss Man vs. The Mountie with Jimmy Hart
As happened with all the fun post-match stuff.

Natural Disasters with Jimmy Hart vs. The Rockers with Andre the Giant
Since I went with Rockers/Nastys for the first half of the year (rather than sticking with OX and then Nastys in the fall), it makes sense to do this here.

British Bulldog & Ricky Steamboat vs. Haku & Barbarian
Since this scenario takes away the Steamer/Rockers vs. OX idea, why not combine these singles feuds into a tag? Not-yet Faces of Fear were Heenan boys anyway. They actually only worked three national TV matches as a tag team in the WWF - two prior to Mania to build them for the Rockers match and the Rockers match. The faces would have to win here and the match quality could've been good.

Texas Tornado vs. The Warlord with Slick
Von Erich wins the blowoff here. Maybe it is because they (Bulldog/Steamer/Tornado) teamed in reality, but I am almost inclined to combine these last two matches. Haku/Barbarian/Warlord has always seemed like it would be a great brute stable (CHIKARA did book them for their King of Trios tournament in 2012, calling them Faces of Pain) that could've been built up a bit, even at this point.

Could maybe chuck the Nastys going over the Bushwhackers on here as well.

Probably should put an IRS match on that SummerSlam card as well, since he is a new midcard heel to get over. After months of establishing squashes on TV, he is ready for an easy PPV win, before moving on to his first real feud (against that dirty tax cheat Big Boss Man). IRS vs. Koko or IRS vs. Valentine (as happened) would work.

--------------------------------

Coming out of that SummerSlam, things are not too dissimilar to reality. Hogan vs. Taker is the title feud, but has now had the SummerSlam main event interaction to help. The Nature Boy has debuted and is calling out Hogan, but enters into a Flair vs. Piper feud with his old friend/foe and there will be some overlap here.

Changes would be made to Flair however, to make him seem unique and more of a threat to Hogan to build to their big Mania match (the match should not be run on house shows in late 91). He needs to be seen as an outsider as much as possible - the Real World Champion from "some other organisation" entering this cartoon world. In this WWF, people wear their gear everywhere (Piper and Savage in full gear on commentary; Quake in his singlet and an apron while serving his Snakeburgers) and they had Flair in his robe all the time. It would work better to have him wear his suit in the situations you'd expect him to, making him stand out as different in this world. He would also need to go against his instincts in-ring and be a little more selfless.

You could even argue to put Flair with a non-WWF manager (J.J. Dillon was right there in the office), although using Heenan still worked excellently as it gave some connective tissue to Flair for those WWF-only fans who had no idea who he was and Heenan had been the man trying to end Hulkamania for years. Heenan was in the booth anyway, allowing him to be a mega Flair hypeman. Perfect became his executive consultant 4 days before Series to give Flair someone in his corner to cheat for him, like almost every heel back then, and I am thinking about whether it would have worked better to have Flair out there alone. A positive is that it kept Perfect on TV and it made Flair seem like a big deal to have the former IC Champ as a lackey. I definitely think that Flair should not have been in a Survivor Series team, where he did just feel like another WWF heel. If I am to introduce Perfect to his side, I am going to do so after Survivor Series, so that his win over Piper has no one else involved.

Since a WWF Title match was being run at Survivor Series (first non-tag in Series history), running Flair/Piper for the Real World Title to mirror Hogan works very well. Flair going over as cleanly as possible is my ideal and Piper's bad leg is the obvious route. Feet on the ropes after Piper's worked-over leg collapses could work, but I'd prefer the finish itself to not have such obvious cheating (he can cheat throughout of course). You could do the title change finish from Flair/Savage the following year (pinned after passing out in Figure-4), but I'd prefer to keep Piper unpinned until he faces Bret at Mania. So you could just have the ref stop the match after he passes out (no need for the pinfall), which ties in well to the DiBiase/Piper match earlier in the year (where the ref stopped the match to protect him since Piper wouldn't submit). Have it be the same ref as that match and have Piper begging/threatening him to not call for the bell until he passes out.

Following the wedding reception crashing, Sid vs. Jake (where Taker has involvement as well) takes over from the planned Warrior/Jake program and will lead into Savage's reinstatement and Savage vs. Jake. This does make me think that you could've run an absolutely monstrous tag main event for this Survivor Series. If you weren't going for any singles matches and were going to put Flair in a team anyway then an option is Hogan/Piper/Sid vs. Flair/Jake/Taker or even better with Savage replacing Sid (if he gets injured in this universe as in reality). If you wanted to make it 4-on-4, there was the possibility of another round of a Savage vs. DiBiase feud (DiBiase loved doubling up on feuds) around this time due to Sherri. She had left Savage for Ted and was taking about interfering in the wedding. Of course you would not want to run that match, as you don't want many of those guys jobbing and you are consolidating too much star power into a single match. But it would still have been something - Hogan/Savage/Piper/Sid vs. Flair/Taker/Jake/DiBiase.

I feel as if we need to keep This Tuesday in Texas in order to get where we want to go. What happened at Survivor Series was not enough to warrant vacating the title to set up the Rumble, so you sort of need the return match which also has a dodgy finish to get there. I'd rather not have Taker become champion (saving his first title win for long down the line), so just hold the title up after Series (as much as the inconsistency pains me after Slaughter won the title after interference at the Rumble), like in the old days, and then it becomes officially vacant at TTIT. You also need to get all the Savage/Jake greatness (as a full package with the pre- and post-match promos and post-bell angle) on that show as well to set them really rolling. For now, we will just assume Sid gets injured on the way to Survivor Series like in reality (does not really hurt since it was always going to Savage/Jake anyway) and it is teased that Savage could take his place, with the reinstatement decision announced on the PPV. Then you still should really have Jake come out for his "handicap" Survivor Series tag until Savage is allowed to compete and he sprints out and they brawl briefly and wildly to the back to hype TTIT. It still feels like the fans have been cheated a bit, but not to the same level.

The big booked Series tag in reality was Sid/LOD/Bossman vs. Jake/Disasters/IRS and I am reluctant to change it even though I don't like Quake teaming with Jake so soon after their feud (even with Jake's turn) and Quake standing so close to a snake in the promos. I would normally not be against ending the show with Hogan losing the belt to Taker, but we want to announce the TTIT rematch at the end of the show. So we really need this match to end the show, as either Sid winning to close the show or, if he is injured, Savage replacing him and brawling with Jake and LOD surviving to see us out. LOD vs. Disasters and Bossman vs. IRS will run through to Mania.

In reality, the original plan was to continue Bret vs. Perfect after SummerSlam but Perfect's back kept him out of the ring for over a year. So they moved Bret into a brief house show feud with Warlord as Bossman/Mountie cage match returns were run around the loop before setting up Bret vs. Mountie heading into Series. That brief Warlord run works for me, but would be even better if I go for my Warlord/Anvil idea post-Mania (but that leaves Tornado out in the cold without Martel). That way, Warlord has gone from Davey to Anvil to Bret and it leads into the Series Tag I would like to do. Owen was coming in just in time for Series to team with Anvil and I'd like to have a Hart Family team. Getting their family ties involved on screen adds more to their characters and give more opportunity for stories.

I'd run Bret/Davey/Anvil/Owen vs. Mountie/Warlord/P&G to further Bret's new IC challenger, end Warlord's Hart Family saga and set up former champs P&G to work with the new team of Anvil/Owen. My concern here is that Warlord/P&G, as Slickster's men, teamed up at last year's Series and I also have them doing so at the July 4th PPV. Part of the draw of the Series was seeing unique teams, but with that gimmick now in its 5th year and waning a bit, I'd rather have the teams connected and have story to them. I also like making Bret a team captain to establish him even further after putting the IC Title on him.

Replacing Warlord with Barbarian here could work and might even fit better, even if Barbie had a clean PPV loss to Bret in July. Bret and Davey had been feuding with him and Perfect post-Mania and he was protected at my SummerSlam with Haku taking the fall. So him being Perfect's post-Slam replacement fits and removes my issue of teaming up Slick's boys again. He was actually originally booked to face Bret at TTIT before being replaced by Skinner for reasons that I am unsure of. Doing Bret vs. Warlord there to give their short program a blowoff makes sense to me also, so let's protect Warlord's elimination a little, if we go that route.

In reality, Roma left in early October, but having had the title run, he should be happier. I'm giving him to myself for Survivor Series, but could see him leaving if I want him to get Owen/Anvil over. Worth noting as well that Slick became an evangelical preacher in early November and Harvey Wippleman became Warlord's new manager. Wippleman had debuted as Big Bully Busick's manager just before SummerSlam but he quit in early November. As a new heel being established and clearly a lower card one at that, he wouldn't be in my plans for Survivor Series anyway.

As you would expect after the Million $ Title changed hands, DiBiase vs. Virgil continued and on the Survivor Series Showdown hype-show, DiBiase wins back the title after Repo Man comes down to "repossess" the belt and nails Virgil with it when he tries to stop him. The repackaged El Matador makes the save when a post-match beatdown looks imminent. These guys would have a tag match at TTIT and then splinter into Virgil vs. Repo and DiBiase vs. Tito feuds, the former running through to Mania and the latter almost doing so before the Money Inc. formation was rushed due to Hawk's suspension. I'd like them to be in the same Series tag as well, which also gives the actions of both Repo and Tito in this angle more motivation.

The Steamboat vs. Skinner feud launched after SummerSlam and I'm giving myself the ability to convince Steamer to stay until Series. At the very least, we are booking him for the show like in reality. Koko is the type of guy you could always phone up to come fill a spot if he leaves. If Warlord is going to be Bret's post-Slam mini-feud, then I'd have run a Tornado vs. Barbarian feud. Perhaps that could be initiated by actually doing that 6-man that I mooted for SummerSlam. This would've created an on-screen friendship between Steamer and Tornado, so them being on the same Series team makes sense. Tornado's history with DiBiase/Virgil from earlier in the year makes their match the perfect one for them to join, giving us DiBiase/Repo/Barbarian/Skinner vs. Virgil/Tito/Tornado/Steamboat - that latter team being a pretty cool collection of mid-80s babyfaces... and Virgil.

After pivoting to the Disasters and having the Rockers put them over at SummerSlam, we return to Rockers vs. Nastys while also running Beverlys vs. Whackers to give the new heel team some wins off the bat. Then we combine and swap the feuds (since Rockers/Nastys would be pretty played out by now) a few weeks after Slam and work towards a Rockers/Whackers vs. Beverlys/Nastys Series tag, where The Rockers break-up will start to really warm up.

The final touch of the Slaughter redemption (at least that was the intent) story is to occur at Survivor Series. He has been off TV for 7 weeks longer here than reality before we start the (pretty bad) "I want my country back" vignettes. Let's just say we come up with a better way to present them for now. While we pretty much blew off the whole Iraq thing in early July in this universe, Mustafa (with Adnan) will hang around. On TV, he and Duggan don't have much to do until Slaughter returns, but they can just do occasional TV squashes to keep their faces out there and fill out cards on house shows. Slaughter tries to get Duggan's acceptance but it does not work and the Series match is announced as Duggan/Volkoff/Snuka/Valentine vs. Mustafa/Berzerker/OX. Volkoff was brought back for the 1992 Rumble, so he would've been ready to be brought in here for an angle a couple of months before. A crazy Viking and a Japanese tag team make more sense to be on Team Iraq than standard American heels and all three are managed by Fuji. For some reason, Tanaka didn't work WWF shows between early Oct and early Jan (he wasn't injured, he worked in Puerto Rico, Japan and US indies instead), but he was free around Survivor Series anyway and if somehow he didn't want to work, just shove Adnan in there.

Volkoff, the man who Slaughter first feuded with in his heel run the prior year, is brought in just to do an injury angle. He gets a nice intro to welcome him back and beats a jobber as he is announced for Duggan's team, before Mustafa and Adnan jump him and put him out of commission. So Duggan needs a replacement but doesn't trust Slaughter. When Mustafa/Adnan try a repeat job on Hacksaw, Slaughter makes the save and Duggan gives him the flag. On the Survivor Series Showdown, Duggan announces Slaughter as Volkoff's official replacement.

In the summer, you would often see Berzerker vs. Snuka on house shows and then Berzerker vs. Valentine heading towards Series, so that is why those three guys fit in this match. I'd make this match brief, one of the shortest in Series history, as it is just about the story and Mustafa/OX mean nothing anymore so can get quickly destroyed. Berzerker needs to be protected, as he'll move on to feuding with Bulldog, so have him and Hammer do a double CO spot. Could make it fit the gimmick and get over his wildman act. If Valentine would agree to take it (let's say I can convince him), Berzerker does his toss the man over the ropes and then jumps over on to him spot (but here he does that before waiting for the CO) and husses until both are counted out, almost unaware of what is going on. He tries to get back in the ring and throws some kicks towards the refs as they try to stop him before he husses to the back.

A potential wildcard in all of this is Genichiro Tenryu. He appeared at Mania and then, bizarrely on the 11/4 Prime Time doing a segment with Mooney and Heenan where Mooney repeatedly calls him Tendoo (I wonder if this was someone telling him the wrong pronunciation as a rib) and Heenan eats rice and makes insensitive jokes before Tenryu dumps the rice on his head and calls him "weasel". This led to nothing, but makes me wonder that they must've had something planned at some point, surely. Why fly him over otherwise? The second WWF/SWS Tokyo Dome show of the year was planned for 12/12 (headlined by Hogan vs. Tenryu) and Tenryu's previous match before that was 11/10, so he was plenty available for a Survivor Series appearance. Interesting to think about at least.

-----------------------------

So carrying on from the cards presented previously, we are looking at:

SURVIVOR SERIES (11/27/91)

"THE GRAVEST CHALLENGE"
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION CHAMPIONSHIP
Hulk Hogan [Champion] vs. The Undertaker with Paul Bearer

UNSANCTIONED REAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Ric Flair [Champion] vs. Roddy Piper

8-MAN SURVIVOR SERIES ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH
Sid Justice Randy Savage, Legion of Doom [WWF Tag Team Champions] & Big Boss Man
vs. Jake Roberts, Natural Disasters & I.R.S. with Jimmy Hart

8-MAN SURVIVOR SERIES ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH
Bret Hart [WWF Intercontinental Champion], British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart & Owen Hart
vs. The Mountie, The Warlord & Power & Glory with Jimmy Hart & Harvey Wippleman

8-MAN SURVIVOR SERIES ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH
Ted DiBiase [Million $ Champion], Repo Man, The Barbarian & Skinner with Sherri
vs. Virgil, El Matador, Texas Tornado & Ricky Steamboat

8-MAN SURVIVOR SERIES ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH
Jim Duggan, Nikolai Volkoff Sgt. Slaughter, Jimmy Snuka & Greg Valentine
vs. Colonel Mustafa, The Berzerker & Orient Express with General Adnan & Mr. Fuji

8-MAN SURVIVOR SERIES ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH
The Rockers & The Bushwhackers
vs. The Beverly Brothers & The Nasty Boys with The Genius & Jimmy Hart

THIS TUESDAY IN TEXAS (12/3/91)

WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION CHAMPIONSHIP
Hulk Hogan vs. The Undertaker with Paul Bearer

Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts

WWF INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Bret Hart [Champion] vs. The Warlord with Harvey Wippleman

Ted DiBiase & Repo Man with Sherri vs. El Matador & Virgil

TAG TEAM MATCH TBD

I'm not sure what tag to go for here. I am torn between a few options (1) Slaughter/Duggan vs. OX to establish our new pro-USA tag team as they will build towards a feud with the Nastys; (2) Anvil/Owen vs. P&G to establish our new Hart team and the match that would probably be the end of Herc/Roma; (3) Rockers vs. Beverlys to continue the Rockers split angle and get a good win for the Bevs. The latter two could be very good openers, but the Rockers split was actually filmed on this night (aired on the 1/12 Wrestling Challenge) before the live PPV started. Not really sure why they didn't do it on the Challenge taping the night before, but if we did, then they could still work together the night after - to the confusion of the kids who were there for the turn. I do feel like it is a bit too far to do that with live TV/PPV. It is quite clear that the WWF TV shows of the time are taped, so if a kid went to a live event and the TV he saw afterwards didn't jive, then the taped explanation is right there and very easy. With live PPV, that doesn't work.

------------------------------

This might all be a big mess and not make much sense/be full of errors. I'll come back and check later.

Love it per usual Strobe.

Out of curiosity, what is it about 1991 WWF that grips you? The era when you really first got engrossed in pro wrestling? The loaded roster? The most potential for revisionist history gold?

Jan 12, 2020 15:54:18 GMT 🤯 said:

Love it per usual Strobe .

Out of curiosity, what is it about 1991 WWF that grips you? The era when you really first got engrossed in pro wrestling? The loaded roster? The most potential for revisionist history gold?

I think a multitude of factors, including some you suggested.

Most of the tapes me and my friends had as kids and watched on a loop as we became wrestling fans were from 88-92. Most of our wrestling viewing, even up until like 97, were those tapes. So that era is the one I think of immediately when I think of the WWF. And we had all the Hasbro figures that started in 1990, so the wrestlers that were only in the Fed from 1990-onwards have more place in my heart than those guys that I watched on tape in 1988-89 but didn't have a figure of.

I think the main reason is that it is the year that it all changed. The steroid/sex scandals (ultimately leading to Hogan's departure the following year), losing SNME, the Mania venue having to be changed. It is the end of the Golden Age/Hogan era really, but there is so much about the year that I love and that I think they did right.

I think the really fascinating year to rebook in a fantasy sense is 1992. In a world without Hogan lying on Arsenio Hall, without going full Iraqi with the Slaughter angle, without the steroid/sex scandals, what could 1992 WWF have been? The company at the 1992 Survivor Series is massively different to that at the 1991 version.

So 1991 is laying the groundwork for what you can then do in 1992. The 1991 that I've presented is only slightly altered from reality really, with the same main feuds, and just some tying in of and tidying up things that I prefer. Having established that, I feel in a good place to then go a bit more fantasy with other rebookings, because (as you mentioned) there is so much potential and such a loaded roster.

- What if Andre doesn't suffer his leg injury in Japan in late 1990? He'd still be very limited, but could've returned to the ring in tag capacities.
- What if we don't fire Warrior in mid-1991?
- What if Martel doesn't go home after Mania VII?
- What if Perfect's back only requires a short rehab?
- What if Steamboat stays around and we move him back up the card?
- What if Sid is brought in as a heel?
- What if Tornado's drug issues are curbed?

Expanding it out to the 18 months from Oct 90 - Apr 92:

- What if Rude doesn't leave in late 1990?
- What if Jake doesn't leave after Mania VIII?
- What if Hogan stays after Mania VIII or even just returns later in the year?

After listening to Austin interview Hogan on his podcast, I can't help but dream about an alternate reality where...

Prequel:
- Stone Cold Steve Austin defeats Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XIV to win his first world title after Mike Tyson swerved DX. On the undercard: The Rock retains the IC title on a technicality after having his ass handed to him by the hot-headed Ken Shamrock, and Taker narrowly beats Kane.

Act I:
- Stone Cold Steve Austin finally reclaims the world title from People's Champion-turned-Corporate Champion The Rock at WrestleMania XV. On the undercard: Mick Foley exacts revenge against Vince McMahon in a hardcore match, and Taker battles Kane (instead of Bossman) in HIAC.

- Triple H ascends to the top of the mountain in 1999 via heel turn, betrayal of DX, marriage to Stephanie McMahon, etc. Stone Cold Steve Austin is "run down" for time off for surgery. HHH retains the world title against 2000 Royal Rumble winner The Rock at WrestleMania 2000 when special guest referee Mick Foley betrays his Rock 'n' Sock buddy to hand a win to the man who retired him in exchange for a cushy gig as WWF Commissioner.

- 2000 WWF is bananas, but ultimately dust settles with a returning Stone Cold Steve Austin winning the 2001 Royal Rumble and the going on to defeat The Rock to reclaim the world title at WrestleMania X-Seven... thanks to unlikely help from old for Vince McMahon. Only difference here being Austin stuns McMahon afterward to remain a DTA tweener (albeit with a lot of fan support).

- Let's just assume the Invasion goes down just as it did, ending with a whimper and a more predictable Undisputed Champion being crowned when The Rock finally gets his big world title win over Stone Cold Steve Austin to close out 2001.

Act II:
- Triple H returns from injury to win the 2002 Royal Rumble by last eliminating Stone Cold Steve Austin... thanks to outside help from the debuting nWo. HHH disavows any involvement with nWo (via his Kliq buddies) and even offers to fight them. No Way Out features a six-man main-event putting Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H against the nWo; as a stop to keep HHH honest: if the nWo wins, Hogan challenges Rock for the title at Mania instead of HHH. Austin pins Hall after that sweet double stunner spot so that we still get that epic sell job and visual.

- WrestleMania X8 features Stone Cold Steve Austin defeating Hollywood Hulk Hogan in the show-closing main event after repelling outside interference from the Outsiders. As the co-main, in a flip from WrestleMania 2000, The Rock retains the world title against Triple H.

- Post-WMX8: Stone Cold Steve Austin takes a walk for reasons, Shawn Michaels returns, Brock Lesnar debuts, Hulk Hogan turns face, The Rock becomes a part-time world champion as his Hollywood career gains more traction.

- Lesnar beats Rock for the world title at SummerSlam after seemingly killing off Hulkamania, just like real life. Meanwhile, Shawn gets back in the ring for his first match in over four years and defeats Triple H... But eats sledgehammer after the match, and is out of action again. Lesnar becomes exclusive to SmackDown and reigns supreme. On RAW, Eric Bischoff brings back the WHC and just hands it to HHH. HHH goes on a RAW world tour defeating second tier WCW has-beens, while Brock tangles with Taker and the SD!6 on the Blue Brand.

Act III:
- Shawn Michaels doesn't return until the 2003 Royal Rumble, which he wins. Austin returns shortly thereafter. As does Hulk Hogan and now fully heel Hollywood Rock. Shawn elects to go after HHH's WHC at WrestleMania XIX as vengeance for the sledgehammer shots. Austin vs. Rock - The Final Encounter is booked for No Way Out 2003, with the winner getting a shot at Brock's world title at WrestleMania XIX. Rock rubs Hogan the wrong way en route to No Way Out when comparing their Hollywood careers, so Hogan costs Rock the match against Austin.

- So ultimately at WMXIX, we get: Austin/Lesnar (WWE Title), Rock/Hogan (Tinseltown Showdown), HHH/HBK II (WHC)... and fuck it, I bet Taker/Vince for reasons could end up being fun. Lesnar goes over Austin in the main event to retain in what ends up being Austin's last match. Rock goes over Hogan. Fragile ego HHH gets his win back by retaining over HBK. Taker adds Vince to the Streak after a fun bloodbath.

- 2003 progresses. Hogan, not as Mr. America, feuds with Vince on SmackDown while Brock goes back to tangling with the same old usual suspects. Meanwhile, on RAW is Nitro, Goldberg debuts and Kevin Nash returns from injury. Goldberg sends Rock packing back to Hollywood by beating him handedly at Backlash 2003. Meanwhile, HHH avoids doing a job by passing the WHC to Kevin Nash in a triple threat also involving Shawn Michaels where Kevin pins Shawn. HHH thus avoids jobbing the WHC to Goldberg, who instead wins the WHC and gets his 1998 Starrcade win back by defeating Nash for the WHC at Bad Blood 2003.

- Fast forward... Let's say as dominant champions of each brand, Lesnar and Goldberg have a thing for each other. This results in heel Lesnar somehow costing Goldberg the WHC to HHH. As payback, bad ass face Goldberg costs Lesnar the WWE title to... I dunno Eddie still I guess?

- All of this to set up Lesnar/Goldberg I at WMXX with Stone Cold Steve Austin as referee. Austin gets his heat and "win" back from WMXIX by stunning Lesnar either to cost him the match or at least after the match. Meanwhile, Hulk Hogan and Rock both come back for a rematch with Hulk getting his win back in a respectful match in The House Hogan Built (i.e., MSG). On the undercard: Deadman Taker returns to squash unmasked Kane, HBK defeats HHH for the WHC in a ladder match homage to WMX, and maybe Eddie/Benoit/Angle work some sort of series of matches as an homage to WMX's Bret/Owen and Bret world title win?

When watching the most recent OSW Review on KING OF THE RING 1994, it got me thinking about how you could rebook that show, considering The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Lex Luger and Randy Savage were all without a match on the show.

Coming into the show, we had the Rumble where, of note:

- Owen turned on Bret after their Tag Title challenge was stopped by the ref.
- Taker "ascended to the heavens" after a bunch of heels helped Yoko beat him in their Casket match
- Diesel had a featured spot in the Rumble, looked like a monster and set a record number of eliminations
- Bret and Lex co-won the Rumble, so both would receive title shots at Mania

followed by Mania where:

- Lawler returned after his legal troubles to be colour commentator
- Owen defeated Bret clean, in a match with the idea that Bret didn't have the usual killer instinct
- Savage defeated Crush in a Falls Count Anywhere match
- Lex was DQed in his title match by guest ref, the returning Mr. Perfect
- Razor defeated HBK to retain the IC title in a Ladder match, after Diesel was forced to the back early in the bout
- Bret beat Yoko to win the title in a match with the returning Piper as guest ref; Owen came out post-match to look on in disgust

So let's start with the WWF Title scene. Obviously, Bret/Owen was being set up as the main title feud and they would meet at SummerSlam, so Bret needed a stop-gap opponent while Owen would match his brother's achievement from the previous year by winning the King of the Ring tournament. In reality, they went with Bret w/Anvil vs. Diesel w/HBK, which may have been the weakest WWF Title PPV match up to that point (this show did the lowest buyrate yet for a WWF PPV). Diesel did have his standout Rumble performance and had just won the IC title, but he was a pretty much out-of-nowhere World Title challenger.

It was a good match though and it helped facilitate the story of the evening, which was The Anvil returning and helping Bret retain the title, only to help Owen win the KOTR. For that idea to work, Bret needed to be against someone with a wrestler in their corner that he needed backup to counteract. Plus, it helped for it to be a monster like Diesel looking like he has Bret beat in order to not hurt him much as the new champ. Owen now having Anvil in his corner also sets things up for Davey Boy's return later in the year to counteract him as well. Diesel's obvious opponent, Razor, was in the tournament too. It is hard to think of another suitable opponent for Bret that would have achieved all that.

If you forget Anvil, I guess you could have run Bret vs. Lawler, since their feud the previous year was abruptly ended by the aforementioned legal troubles and they trusted Lawler to be a major element of the show's promotion in reality. If you don't want to wait nor have Owen win the KOTR, you could run Bret vs. Owen here, but I don't like that. You could run a Bret vs. Yoko rematch but that doesn't seem ideal. In the idea of a great standalone match, this would not have been a terrible time to do the Bret vs. Savage match that many wish had happened at Mania IX. They did work a match in Japan the month before KOTR and Savage had entered the ring to congratulate Bret at Mania. The old champion wanting to test himself against the best is a simple story. Bret beating former champions of different eras, Savage (KOTR) and Backlund (Superstars) in back-to-back months works in establishing the New Generation, which was being pushed big now.

An out-there idea would be to run Bret vs. Backlund, a match that would occur on Superstars 6 weeks after this show and feature Backlund's heel turn. But this would require set-up of Backlund as he had barely been on TV in his 18 months back with the company. His Superstars match was out of nowhere, but that isn't a PPV title match. I prefer a different idea - setting up Backlund on this show in the tournament, getting to the final and losing to Owen via Anvil help. Bret sees Backlund as the true winner of KOTR and wants to give him the title shot on Superstars. Plus, it gives added depth to heel Backlund teaming up with Owen down the line. But it might be hard to make that work in terms of who else needs to be in the tournament.

The first ever WWF Hall of Fame ceremony (Andre was inducted alone the year before, with just a graphic shown on-screen) was held the week before the KOTR in the same city and it feels like something that should have been incorporated into the show, at the very least with a little segment where the legends greet the crowd. Backlund inducted his former manager Arnold Skaaland and this seems like an easy way to re-introduce Backlund back on TV in the build to the show. Backlund would like a shot at the title that he feels he never lost, so enters the KOTR, hoping that winning it will put him at the front of the queue. They can talk about the upcoming Hall of Fame induction on TV, Backlund's history with Skaaland and the manner in which he lost the title. You promote this new Hall of Fame ceremony and foreshadow Backlund's heel turn and title win, if you still choose to go that route.

With Piper's return at Mania and the prospect of him being able to work a match at KOTR, it is understandable why they jumped at the chance to have a legend work his first PPV match in over 2 years, especially with poor numbers on all fronts, the steroid trial coming to a head and Hogan about to sign with WCW. While the match ended up being poor and the feud itself not great, Piper vs. Lawler made sense on paper. As a great talker and host of interview segment The King's Court (with Piper's Pit being the originator), you'd assume Lawler would be able to carry it in the arenas, but he was given poor material to work with. Also, Bruce Prichard has admitted to trusting Piper with his own promos and that ended up being an unwise move, as this was 1994 Piper, not 1984. Lawler was never going to be a full-time wrestler in the WWF, so he was someone that could be sacrificed to a one-and-done Piper.

I struggle to think of anything else that would've worked with Piper. The match was also hurt by running as the last match of the night, rather than just as a middle of the show attraction. I understand why they did it, since the WWF had still never, unless I am forgetting, ended a night with a heel victory. Bret/Diesel was going to be a DQ and needed to happen before the KOTR final for the Anvil story to work. But I think it would've been fine to end the show with Owen's victory. The King of the Ring final being bumped from the main event in only its second iteration was not a good sign for its standing.

Undertaker being on this show is not impossible. They started doing reports of sightings of him in late April and he worked a Japanese tour in May, so he was physically able to work. Since they went with the Underfaker angle, it allowed him to have a few more months after that short tour to heal further. Taker vs. Yoko was the obvious feud for Taker's return and was delayed to do Taker/Faker, giving Yoko no match at SummerSlam. KOTR was probably too early to have Taker back for a match, but I think you could've set up their return casket match for SummerSlam by having Taker's gong scare Yoko during his match at KOTR.

Originally, Yoko vs. Quake was the post-Mania feud and possibly planned for KOTR/SummerSlam but Quake was not happy jobbing to Yoko on house shows so left before they even aired the RAW Sumo Match, which Quake won. So they aired footage of Yoko hitting Quake with a Banzai Drop from a house show to explain him being put out of action and pivoted to Quake vs. Typhoon on house shows, bringing in Quake's former partner to avenge him.

Coming out of Mania, Luger vs. Perfect was the planned program but he abruptly left after a few TV appearances - tales include his back not yet being up to it, a foot injury, disagreements over money or different interpretations between himself and Vince about how active he could be, so they pivoted to Luger vs. Crush, which makes sense for Luger to move from Yoko to Japanese sympathiser Crush. That is a singles match that could work on this show.

In reality, they ran Yoko/Crush vs. Headshrinkers for the tag titles with Luger interfering, but that doesn't seem the best use of those involved. You could run Luger/Savage vs. Yoko/Crush since Savage/Crush had been a main feud and Savage had prior history with Yoko. That is a pretty big time match and you can add Taker's gong to it for extra star power excitement. If not Savage, then you could do Luger/Tatanka vs. Yoko/Crush since they were going to be going towards a Luger/Tatanka feud featuring Tatanka's heel turn. Removing Tatanka from a tournament where he lost in the first round does not hurt it too much, although only his second loss being to Owen was a nice win for him as part of his push to prepare him further for Bret.

There was a Tatanka vs. I.R.S. feud at this time, which featured one of the 1994 Hall of Fame inductees Chief Jay Strongbow. Strongbow had presented Tatanka with a sacred feather headdress, which infuriated Schyster because that damn tax cheat Tatanka had not paid the gift tax on it! This led to an angle where I.R.S. interrupted a Tatanka match and beat him down, then beat down Strongbow, who was trying to make the save, and shoved some of the sacred feathers in Tatanka's mouth. This seemed well set up to lead to Strongbow helping Tatanka defeat I.R.S., but the nature of the King of the Ring PPV being mainly made up of the tournament impacts that. Not that it would be unrealistic to set it up so that you can get some feuds in the tournament.

In a world where Bret had an obvious opponent, you could have run Razor vs. Diesel w/HBK here. It was the obvious feud coming out of HBK/Razor and this could've been the time to do the initial IC Title change rather than on TV in late April, since they don't need to rush build Diesel for Bret. This is an interesting era for Shawn Michaels. After working a few house show matches post-Mania, he did not wrestle again until August. On TV, he began hosting the Heartbreak Hotel interview segment and it moved from Diesel being in Michaels' corner to Michaels being in Diesel's. This worked well in getting Diesel over as a new star, but I do find it interesting that HBK wasn't even working house shows in this period. He sure did not look injured at the KOTR when he sprinted around and in the ring when chased by Anvil, gave Bret a nice looking clothesline and took a monster bump off the apron into the rail for him. There must be more to that. Possibly a drug suspension since you could still work TV, but not matches, when suspended during this time.

This was the era where the tag titles really came to mean very little. You had the house show switches back-and-forth between The Steiners and Money Inc. in mid-1993. Then in early 1994, you had a 7-day reign for a thrown-together Jannetty/Kid team, before the Quebecers and Men on a Mission did the house show back-and-forth switches. Then the newly face Headshrinkers won the belts in late April 1994 before losing them the night before SummerSlam to Diesel/HBK. So the tag title match for SummerSlam (Shrinkers vs. Bigelow/I.R.S.) no longer had titles on the line and the tag champions were in a singles IC title match, Diesel defending and Michaels in his corner. Then, rather than have their split occur due to miscommunication in a match where they lost the titles, it happened in a Survivor Series match and they just vacated the titles, with them remaining vacant for 2 months until Kid/Holly (a thrown-together team without a name who were put in to replace the Gunns) won them and lost them one day later to the Gunns.

The tag title feud post-Mania was still Quebecers vs. MoM before they moved on to Shrinkers vs. Quebecers with the new babyfaces winning the titles in early May, as a Mabel singles push began. Shrinkers/Quebecers was still being run through KOTR and 9 days after the PPV they ran the angle where Pierre attacked Jacques post-match in Montreal to set up Jacques' retirement match there against Pierre in October, which drew 15k. There was some teasing of a Steiners breakup on TV, but neither Steiner was happy with that direction and wanted to leave the company, which they would do just after Mania. The Heavenly Bodies lost a Loser Leaves Town match in SMW a couple of weeks after Mania and would be going full time with the WWF.

Coming out of Mania, there was a Jarrett vs. Doink/Dink feud but face Doink was shit and not even the midget Dink was over with fans.

The ongoing Wippleman vs. Finkel feud actually had some house show tuxedo matches around this time. Wippleman's new man was in a Kwang vs. Kid feud in a battle of the martial artists and this featured the face turn of Wippleman's other client Adam Bomb which really kicked off in a tag match also featuring Kid's pal Sparky Plugg, who had nothing else really going on at this time.

1993 tournament runner-up Bigelow had no feud going on at the time, but it made complete sense to put him in the tournament as a big first round win for someone, simply by mentioning his performance the prior year. Bammer's main squeeze was in a Luna vs. Blayze feud for the Women's Title. It is tough to find space for a match with them on this show, but having Blayze come out to chase off a Luna who tries to interfere for her man would work to get the feud some further exposure on a big show.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

I'll try to put together some KOTR and possibly SummerSlam 1994 cards later.

Looking forward to seeing what Strobe comes up with after reading that perfect synopsis of where WWF was at the time.

I've never contemplated rebooking this one due to it accomplishing what it set it out to achieve- namely the continued elevation of Owen & Diesel.

Agree with Strobe on the Bret/Diesel match being a weak main event on paper. In real time all I could think during the build was this WWF Champ vs. IC Champ match was a far cry from Hogan/Warrior 4 years earlier in terms of bigness. Turned out to be a good match though, while The Anvil stuff was top notch storytelling.

Fun Fact: This show took place in Baltimore. An early ad for it ran in our major local newspaper (The Baltimore Sun) hyping the Bret/Diesel match weeks before it was announced on tv. I was like "Really? Bret vs Diesel?" I thought it had to be a misprint due to the weirdness of the match and the fact that it had yet to be announced on tv.

The tag title match was also a weird one on paper. Even in real time I felt like Yoko was reduced to slumming it in a throwaway match.

Love seeing this thread updated! (Especially whenever it's a Strobe, Baker, or Kilgore post.)

For Perfect there was also the rumor of him making the jump to WCW to be the masked man who attacked Hogan. Heenan even alluded to it during that Clash when it happened ("I would say he did a perfect job.")

I didn't like it but I remember feeling Diesel had enough momentum behind him to challenge Bret. He tore through the Rumble and beat Razor for the IC title. Savage/Luger teaming up to face Yoko/Crush is a much needed upgrade. I'll be interested to read the final cards.

Apr 6, 2020 23:58:54 GMT Shootist said:

For Perfect there was also the rumor of him making the jump to WCW to be the masked man who attacked Hogan. Heenan even alluded to it during that Clash when it happened ("I would say he did a perfect job.")

Yeah, that was apparently the plan. Perfect wrestled no matches between 10/29/93 and 7/13/97 with the Luger feud that never happened post-Mania X, the plan to face Hogan at Starrcade 1994 that never came to be and the teased feud with HHH in late 1996 that never happened. It gives me the feeling that he could've worked but the Lloyds of London money was good enough that only a really good offer would see him do so or if that itch to get back in the ring became too much.

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KING OF THE RING 1994

Here is more of a fantasy route for the card as a first attempt (giving myself Perfect) and with the idea of making it feel pretty big time with big names. I have added two matches to the card, so I will need to think about timing. I could do the classic double DQ/CO in one of the QFs to get rid of a match but the tournament was designed to get Owen over and winning three matches reasonably clean was the way to do it and you don't want the face to get a bye.

If I was needing to try to convince Vince to do all the Hall of Fame involvement, I could just mention how we'd be one-upping WCW's legends show Slamboree (held the previous month) and that we can mention that we are inducting the "true" Nature Boy as a shot at Flair. He'd love that shit.

Savage and Lawler are wrestling, so they can’t be on commentary. Vince had his neck troubles. So we get Gorilla, our first tie-in to the Hall of Fame, and Jim Ross, who was brought back around this time anyway (maybe we need to bring him back a couple of weeks early). No Art Donovan, although I’m glad we live in a reality where that happened.

KING OF THE RING QUARTER-FINAL
Tatanka with Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Irwin R. Schyster
Open the show with a face victory, from an established feud, and with a link to the Hall of Fame. Strongbow gets his chops in after stopping I.R.S. from cheating and Tatanka picks up the win.
5 mins

KING OF THE RING QUARTER-FINAL
Owen Hart vs. The 1-2-3 Kid
To give a story hook for the tournament, they had Jarrett injure Kid after their match so there was doubt as to whether he could face Owen. And Kid then chose not to sell any of that because he wanted to have a balls-to-the-wall sprint with Owen. So this works better if we just have it be a QF match instead and let's give them an extra few mins. Nice, clean win for Owen in a match that gets to show off his wrestling prowess.
6 mins

KING OF THE RING QUARTER-FINAL
Bam Bam Bigelow with Luna Vachon vs. Mabel with Oscar
Bigelow is one of the better heel workers in the company and someone we should always keep reasonably strong so he can be rehabbed towards the top of the card if needed, so I like giving him a win rather than having him job in the quarters. I could put in some lower carder like Sparky Plugg for Bammer to squash, but solo Mabel as a monster to put over another monster is fine by me. It isn’t like they were protecting him much anyway, jobbing him to I.R.S. in reality. That is maybe the worst pinfall of all time by the way. He hooks the leg and put no weight on the body, let alone shoulders. Then grabs the bottom rope and pulls the leg away from the body with Big Vis almost having to work to keep his far-side shoulder down. Make it short and play up Bammer actually being outsized for a change and seeming a touch worried when losing the big man exchanges (they had a match on RAW the next night that didn't feature any of that really). Luna distraction gives Bammer the advantage at some point and he wins with the flying headbutt.
3 mins

KING OF THE RING QUARTER-FINAL
Bob Backlund with Arnold Skaaland vs. Crush with Mr. Fuji
With a show being held in Baltimore, it would been reasonably easy to get at least a decent reaction for Backlund and hence that helps give a good impression of him to fans at home. He main evented shows in Baltimore from 1978-1984 so you've got the fans from that era. You can have him cut some local TV promos based around his Baltimore history and even have him come out in front of the crowd pre-PPV to big up the town and how much he has always loved wrestling there if you want. You get the HoF tie-in by having Skaaland be his manager one last time and you have the added story that Backlund defended his title against Fuji in Baltimore in 1982. That's the sort of cool history to bring up on commentary. To protect Crush a little, you could have Skaaland thwart Fuji interference, leading to Backlund scoring the roll-up win on a distracted Crush. Post-match you could have a quick Pettengill interview with Backlund thanking Skaaland as they arrive backstage that Blassie interrupts, bringing up that he (Iron Sheik's manager) was in the other corner the night when Backlund lost the title and he'd be wise to keep Skaaland away from ringside unless he wants a repeat - sowing seeds for down the line (Backlund's heel turn, attack on Skaaland and winning back of the title).
4 mins

WWF INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Razor Ramon [Champion] vs. Diesel with Shawn Michaels
Title change done here with Shawn’s turnbuckle shenanigans helping his bodyguard get the win. I was toying with the idea of putting Kid in Razor's corner, hence giving Owen a different first round opponent. But I think it works better to have Razor plan to have Kid in his corner for the SummerSlam rematch to counteract Shawn (after his impact here) but Diesel does a brutal beatdown on him (mega-sympathy for Kid), leading to Walter Payton taking his place as happened and setting us up for great HBK/Diesel vs. Razor/Kid tags post-SummerSlam.
7 mins

KING OF THE RING SEMI-FINAL
Owen Hart vs. Tatanka
It feels like Owen becoming only the second man to beat Tatanka, and doing so clean, would come across better after Tatanka had beaten I.R.S. earlier in the night. Have one of the commentators talk about Tatanka as the tournament favourite now since he has only one loss on his record and that was really at the hands of a steel chair, so that it is clear that this is a big deal.
6 mins

KING OF THE RING SEMI-FINAL
Bob Backlund vs. Bam Bam Bigelow with Luna Vachon
Talk up Bigelow getting to the final the previous year and looking to go one step further to make him into a big threat. Backlund shows off his freaky strength for someone his size by side suplexing and powerslamming Bammer. Luna interferes to get her man the advantage but she won't get away with interference a second time and, as Bigelow is going up top to squash Backlund with a moonsault, the Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze runs out to chase off Luna. This distracts Bammer long enough for Backlund to get up and schoolboy slam him off the top (stolen finish from Razor/Bigelow on the actual PPV) to get the win.
5 mins

SPECIAL ATTRACTION MATCH
Roddy Piper vs. Jerry Lawler
Give the match more gaga and shorten it since it is not closing the show. Piper wins for a feel good moment, mention that he is a surefire Hall of Famer one day, and that sends us into the intermission. I don't think they were doing intermissions at this point, but I say bring them back, a short one at least - give fans the chance to go for a piss with no match on in the ring. Go to the tournament bracket board and talk about what we've seen so far and the intrigue of the final, have a Savage promo talking about this being his one last big title shot, have Cornette hyping the casket match and that Taker will be gone for good this time while Yoko stands there looking mean, and show footage from the Hall of Fame dinner.
9 mins

HALL of FAME CLASS PRESENTATION
Arnold Skaaland, Freddie Blassie, Bobo Brazil, James Dudley, Gorilla Monsoon, Buddy Rogers & Chief Jay Strongbow
Short segment near the end of the intermission to get some nice applause for the old timers and ease the crowd back into the show. Throughout the show I got Skaaland with Backlund and Blassie involved in a segment with them. Gorilla is on commentary. I’m going to use Rogers for a Bret promo and Strongbow was involved with Tatanka. I can’t think how to work Brazil or Dudley in to a segment that works, so I am just going to have JR talk during this segment about how Bobo had many great battles with his fellow classmates Rogers, Blassie and Gorilla in this very arena. Beyond his backstage role, Dudley was Brazil’s manager back-in-the-day and would run to the ring swinging a towel to rile the fans up. Maybe just have him swing the towel when Bobo’s name is announced (with JR mentioning why), might raise some smiles. It’s something.

Lex Luger vs. Mr. Perfect
I feel like we’d probably need to run a no contest here to build to a rematch at SummerSlam, possibly some sort of gimmick, but I’ve not thought enough about it. One to come back to.
9 mins

WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Bret Hart [Champion] vs. Randy Savage
Easy match to set up after Mania X where Savage got a victory over Crush and then celebrated in the ring with Bret. Bret is being pushed as the face of The New Generation and the old champion wants to test himself, needs to see if he is still has it. Savage can get frustrated and start to heel it up a bit (like Piper at Mania VIII and Perfect at KOTR 93) and Bret gets a big marquee moment of making the Macho Man submit to the Sharpshooter. Post-match, Savage teases attacking Bret but ultimately shakes his hand in respect, foreshadowing the events with Backlund next month. Also, get Bret to cut a pre-match promo that involves the first ever WWF Champion Buddy Rogers talking him up as the greatest thing since sliced bread and that he is blown away by the level of wrestler today - too good an opportunity to pass up. I'm sure Bret would love to talk about the honour of getting to induct the "true" Nature Boy.
18 mins

KING OF THE RING FINAL
Owen Hart vs. Bob Backlund
Obviously not as big of a deal as Owen beating Razor at this time but hopefully we’ve done enough to establish Backlund heading into and on this night to get the fans right behind him. Another match where Owen can show off his wrestling acumen. I need to come up with a way for Owen to cheat to win, but not too overtly. I am open to suggestions. It definitely hurts not having Anvil involved here, maybe we can get him involved in a different way to how he was used in reality. Owen dons the attire post-match and proclaims himself "The King of Harts".
8 mins

CASKET MATCH
The Undertaker with Paul Bearer vs. Yokozuna with Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji
The more I think about it, you could run this here. You get rid of the silly Underfaker stuff (that I know some loved), prevent Yoko slumming it post-Mania X and get him off TV to try (no doubt in vain) to get himself back into better shape. It works perfectly as the babyface victory to end the night - since heel Owen is winning KOTR, his win needs to come after Bret has defended his title for maximum impact, and I don't want Piper/Lawler closing the show. The problem is that it does leave me with Taker lacking an obvious SummerSlam opponent and this match probably works better there.
12 mins

Actual show ring time: 87 mins
My show ring time: 92 mins

I have 5 mins more ring time and the show in reality had 15 mins to spare on its 3 hour PPV slot, so with my added matches and associated entrances, the intermission and short Hall of Fame spot, that should just about squeeze in. You could lose a minute here or there as needed on most matches if the show started running long.

I have tried to do plenty of long-term rebookings before, like WWF for most of the 90s, and I think I am going to give up on doing them, in addition to changing my thinking about how I even book shorter term things. It is just too hard to not be influenced by the things that you liked or deemed important in real time. You end up trying to work towards all the checkpoint moments (HBK at Mania XII, Austin at Mania XIV) when everything only ever happened as it did because of every decision that was made and things working and not working out.

Above, I tried to get Backlund in the loop early because I was thinking about working towards him winning the title at Survivor Series when, if I was booking coming out of Mania X, I would likely not be thinking about him as a possible main eventer, given how he had been handled since his return. Maybe that isn't the best example as given his past status as long-reigning champion, and if I knew he would be willing to turn heel, I might have. Let's use the example of Randy Savage instead. I know he leaves in late 1994 and Vince didn't want to use him in-ring, but I would want to and I'd be planning things out for Savage to be on all the big shows in a prominent spot. I'd be thinking about who Savage could work against at Mania XI.

I like the idea of booking from specific points for maybe a year. So taking over after Mania X say and what my plans would be through to Mania XI, without being influenced by the fact that Savage is going to leave or HBK needs to be winning the title at Mania XII.

My other KOTR 1994 card, with that in mind, would likely fall closer to what happened in reality. Bret/Diesel with Neidhart involvement. Razor in the KOTR. And I would run Luger/Savage vs. Yoko/Crush with Taker's gong, possibly as the send the fans home happy closer rather than Piper/Lawler.

Although, I'd like to do HBK/Savage at SummerSlam, so I am rethinking the order to make that work. Maybe it has to be Piper/Lawler or just have it be the KOTR final, keep the gimmick's relevance beyond its first edition. I wouldn't have issues having a heel close the show on top and now that I think about it, while Bret won the previous year, the show ended with Lawler beating him down.

Something like:

KING OF THE RING
Luger/Savage vs. Yoko/Crush - Yoko looks like he is on course for victory and climbs up for the Banzai when the gong hits and he is frozen in fear and then work towards Crush getting pinned.
Bret w/Neidhart vs. Diesel w/HBK - Neidhart interferes to ensure the title stays on Bret and leaves, allowing the heels to lay a beatdown; until Savage makes the save, annoying HBK/Diesel.
Owen vs. Razor - Neidhart interferes to help Owen become KOTR.

SUMMERSLAM
Diesel vs. Razor - Razor wins back his IC, although I wouldn't be thinking of putting the World Title on Diesel so I might rethink this.
Savage vs. HBK - Macho puts over Michaels and you could then pivot to Savage/Diesel coming out of Slam.
Bret vs. Owen - Bret wins the cage match.
Taker vs. Yoko - Taker sends Zuna packing in a casket.

Problem here is that I don't like the idea of doing both the cage and casket matches on the same PPV and I really like the idea of doing Bret/Savage at KOTR. Making me think about delaying Bret/Owen cage until Survivor Series. But the cage makes sense, not just as a gimmick match for the second in the series, but to keep out Neidhart after the events at KOTR. And I love that on-the-night story with Neidhart, it works so well that it is tough not to do it if you have Anvil coming in after Mania. These sorts of problems can be solved if you start the IYHs a year early...

Strobe, thoughts on a Lex heel turn or at least tweener turn for a match against Bret at KOTR 1994?

Maybe advance the Ted DiBiase/Million Dollar Corporation stuff a bit as an excuse to get someone in Lex's corner for Anvil to counter?

Feel like Lex plugs in easily story wise. He still harbors bad feelings about the Rumble finish and Bret getting cheered over him. He's pissed about being screwed twice in title matches against Yoko (via count-out at SummerSlam and via DQ at WMX). Maybe even leverage Owen (and perhaps returning Lawler) to further get in Lex's head about Bret?

Ultimately, Lex argues Bret couldn't beat Yoko at WMIX and wouldn't have beat Yoko at WMX had Lex not softened Yoko up beforehand. Bret is just the beneficiary of Lex's hard work and bad luck, and Lex has had enough. No more Mr. Nice Guy because nice guys finish last. He wants a straight up shot at Bret to prove he's the better man and more of a worthy world champ, regardless of who the fans cheer.

Assuming your future intentions for Lex are as back burner as real life WWF's, no harm in jobbing him out. Alternatively, maybe turning Lex heel inspires a renewed push and better use of him?

Also, I have a feeling Bret can totally be a Flair or Windham and pull a surprisingly awesome match out of Lex.

Apr 15, 2020 20:23:36 GMT 🤯 said:

Also, I have a feeling Bret can totally be a Flair or Windham and pull a surprisingly awesome match out of Lex.

He supposedly did. Bret has put Luger over as a guy he enjoyed working with in multiple interviews. They had some house show matches in 1993 WWF when Lex was still "The Narcissist" and a handful of televised matches in WCW. I've never seen any of them, but I do remember a snarky reviewer once writing something like "That Bret/Lex match I just watched smoked the other roided up guy vs. Canadian match from last weekend" during the HHH/Benoit feud in 2004.

Apr 15, 2020 20:23:36 GMT 🤯 said:

Strobe , thoughts on a Lex heel turn or at least tweener turn for a match against Bret at KOTR 1994?

Maybe advance the Ted DiBiase/Million Dollar Corporation stuff a bit as an excuse to get someone in Lex's corner for Anvil to counter?

Feel like Lex plugs in easily story wise. He still harbors bad feelings about the Rumble finish and Bret getting cheered over him. He's pissed about being screwed twice in title matches against Yoko (via count-out at SummerSlam and via DQ at WMX). Maybe even leverage Owen (and perhaps returning Lawler) to further get in Lex's head about Bret?

Ultimately, Lex argues Bret couldn't beat Yoko at WMIX and wouldn't have beat Yoko at WMX had Lex not softened Yoko up beforehand. Bret is just the beneficiary of Lex's hard work and bad luck, and Lex has had enough. No more Mr. Nice Guy because nice guys finish last. He wants a straight up shot at Bret to prove he's the better man and more of a worthy world champ, regardless of who the fans cheer.

Assuming your future intentions for Lex are as back burner as real life WWF's, no harm in jobbing him out. Alternatively, maybe turning Lex heel inspires a renewed push and better use of him?

Also, I have a feeling Bret can totally be a Flair or Windham and pull a surprisingly awesome match out of Lex.

I'm liking this idea a lot. Lex's balls as a face had been completely chopped off by not winning the title at SummerSlam (and celebrating as if he had) and then by having to come out and lift Bret up on his shoulders at the end of Mania X. He was damaged goods as a face and Lex works far better as a heel anyway. "Total Package" Lex Luger in 1994 WWF.

If he wasn't fit to wrestle and a deal could be struck, given his role at Mania X, I wonder if you could make Mr. Perfect work. It is a bit of a stretch, but in wrestling logic, you could probably make it work. Luger could claim that Perfect reminded him of who he really was. Perfect would say that he DQed Luger because he was disgusted by what he had become, kissing up to these fans, and Luger was thankful to be the Total Package again. Perfect's history with Bret, including at the previous year's KOTR is icing on the cake.

He looks strong by having Bret beat, but heelish by using his cheating metal forearm (I know he did that as a face, but the commentator to-and-fro on that sort of stuff based on if someone is face or heel).

Post-match, he could lose it and he and Perfect beat down Bret before Savage (either on commentary or from the back) comes to make the save and you have set up Luger/Savage at SummerSlam in a match where Luger can get the win over a big name. If Perfect hangs around, then all his history with Savage from being in Flair's corner adds extra spice.

Damn, Strobe, now you got me obsessing on KOTR1994...

You've got seven tournament matches, assuming you don't run any funny business to result in a bye.

Real life card had ten matches, so assume we at least get three more slots for other matches.

For my rebook, let's roll with Hitman (w/ Anvil) vs. Lex (w/ Ted) for the world title.

Let's also assume we're stuck with Lawler vs. Piper too (unless we agree that they'd agree to be a co-main at SummerSlam instead).

Let's further assume Perfect can't go for whatever reason, trying to keep it somewhat grounded in reality. However, I'm OK using Savage depending on the booking. TBD for him for now.

If we're not running Diesel vs. Bret as champ vs. champ, I like Strobe's idea of doing the initial IC title switch from Razor to Diesel here. But that also consumes one of our free slots for non-tournament matches. Maybe Razor vs. Diesel could just be a tournament match?

As a fan of the Underfaker nonsense, and also thinking it's too early to return to Taker/Yoko, I'm OK putting that off to Survivor Series still like real life. But I love Strobe's idea of the gong sounding to spook Yoko.

What if we say after the DQ at Mania, Men on a Mission win the tag titles off Quebecers in a rematch. Then, after their defeats at Mania, Yoko & Crush team up to reassert themselves as threats. Yoko & Crush beat MOM for the tag titles, injure Mo in the process maybe (to set Mabel up for a singles run experiment), run off the Steiners, and eventually get set to defend against the recently face-turned Headshrinkers at KOTR — a little reversal of the real life situation.

I'm thinking I definitely go with this tag title match, have Taker's gong sound to spook Yoko and cost him & Crush the belts (as a bit of revenge for Taker), and have it later he revealed it was Mabel who played Taker's gong sound (as a bit of revenge for Mabel's injured partner, Mo). This gets a face victory title change on the card, and sets Yoko on a collision course with Mabel for SummerSlam.

Considering all of this, I'm thinking Razor and Diesel do maybe work better after all in the tournament? So here's what I think I go with...

King of the Ring 1994

1.) KOTR Quarterfinal Match: Owen Hart def. The 1-2-3 Kid
I like Strobe's idea of bypassing Double J and cutting straight to the chase with a more justified sprint with Kid here. The quarterfinals have a shorter time limit, hence the need to sprint. And Kid hasn't just eaten repeat piledrivers, so he's in kayfabe shape to sprint. Hit opener to get the crowd going, with Owen continuing his legacy of GOAT curtain jerker. I also like the idea of echoing the Owen bookends from WMX with more Owen bookends here.

2.) KOTR Quarterfinal Match: Tatanka (w/ Chief Jay Strongbow) def. Irwin R. Schyster
Again, love Strobe's idea. So copy/pasting (read: stealing) it here.

3.) KOTR Quarterfinal Match: Intercontinental Champion Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels) def. Bob Backlund (w/ Arnold Skaaland)
Because Strobe is awesome and pitched it so well, I'm OK with keeping the Hall of Fame thing going. However, this is like a bizarro 11/26/95 MSG match with heel Big Daddy Cool squashing howdy doody face Backlund in embarrassingly quick fashion to advance. This embarrassment becomes the first seed for Backlund's heel turn. Maybe Backlund is caught off guard right from the get-go because Arnie won't stop yammering at him after the opening bell? This match also gives us foreshadowing if we do run with Diesel taking the title off Backlund later in the year. It's also important that no HBKference here equals no Diesel loss. If Backlund/Skaaland doesn't work here, then sub in Mabel/Oscar. The squash becomes all the more impressive, especially if Diesel can somehow jackknife Mabel.

4.) KOTR Quarterfinal Match: Razor Ramon def. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Luna Vachon)
Real life match, but I like Strobe's idea for Alundra Blayze involvement to counteract Luna interference.

5.) WWF Title Match: Bret Hart (c) (w/ Jim Neidhart) def. Lex Luger (w/ Ted DiBiase)
Bret retains via some crafty pinfall counter to retain to keep Lex strong-ish and save a submission (perhaps even a submission match rematch!?) for the house shows. Right now I'm envisioning Bret countering the Torture Rack into a crucifix. Anyway, Anvil prevents DiBiase from interfering during the match but then bails as soon as the job is done. Afterward, sore loser Lex can maybe KO Bret with the steel forearm and Anvil is now conspicuous by his absence as Lex & Ted put the post-match boots to Bret.

6.) KOTR Semifinal Match: Owen Hart def. Tatanka
Recurring theme of loving Strobe's ideas. Owen hands Tatanka his first CLEAN loss.

7.) KOTR Quarterfinal Match: Razor Ramon def. Intercontinental Champion Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels)
Razor gets his win back after dropping the IC belt to Diesel thanks to backfiring HBKference: Act I. This win puts Razor in line for a title rematch at SummerSlam, where HBKference: Act II will be a moment of deja vu but this time with title loss consequences for Diesel. Anyway, HBK calms Diesel down after Act I by reminding him he's still IC Champ and distracting him by pitching that they go after the tag belts to add to Big Daddy Cool's gold collection.

Anyway, after the match, a pissed Diesel jackknifes Razor outta frustration to get his heat back and also give Razor sympathy headed into the final and excuse in case he loses.

8.) WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (w/ Afa & Capt.Lou Albano) def. Crush & Yokozuna (c) (Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette)
Mabel sounds Taker's gong, spooking Yoko as payback for murdering Mo, which somehow allows the Shrinkers to pick up a win and the tag belts. The hot-headed but not-so-wise Crush gets in Yoko's face for not only being spooked but played like a fiddle and letting it cost them their gold. Yoko vents the frustration of his embarrassment and gets some heat and credibility back by mercilessly killing his own tag team partner with a belly-to-belly and multiple Banzais... Until Taker's gong sounds again (NOT Mabel this time), spooking Yoko further!

9.) Special Attraction Grudge Match (w/ special guest referee Randy Savage): Roddy Piper def. Jerry Lawler
I agree with Strobe about adding gaga and shortening this to compensate for these guys' shortcomings and work toward their strengths. Savage as ref if my gaga. He closed his chapter with Crush at Mania, IMO. He can get involved here through commentary confrontations. This also gives me a way to pivot from Lawler/Piper here to Lawler/Savage at SummerSlam if I want... King vs. Macho King, Memphis heat rehashed.

10.) KOTR Final Match: Owen Hart def. Razor Ramon
We bookend with Owen becoming King. He takes advantage of Razor's weakened back from Diesel's post-match jackknifes, and maybe we even give him the win via back-targeting Sharpshooter submission as an FU to Bret.

= = = = = = =

Build to a SummerSlam that includes...
- Bret def. Owen in a cage match to retain the world title
- Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) def. Underfaker (w/ Ted DiBiase)
- Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) def. Mabel (w/ Oscar)
- Razor (w/ Walter Payton) def. Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels) to reclaim the IC belt, after Backfiring HBKference: Act II
- Randy Savage def. Jerry Lawler in a special attraction grudge match
- The 1-2-3 Kid def. Jeff Jarrett in a not so special attraction grudge match stemming from the repeated piledriver angle
- Luna Vachon def. Alundra Blayze to win the Women's Title thanks to bodyguard Bull Nakano interference
- Million Dollar Corporation (Lex Luger, Irwin R. Schyster & Bam Bam Bigelow) (w/ Ted DiBiase) def. Tatanka (w/ Chief Jay Strongbow) and WWF Tag Team Champions the Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (w/ Afa & Capt. Lou Albano) to get the new faction off and running with a big decisive win

Still stuck on KOTR 1994, just imagining the full brackets to work with potential alternate card I outlined above...

I'm also thinking I end up swapping Backlund out for Mabel after all...

Anyway!

First Round Qualifying Matches airing on TV:

- The 1-2-3 Kid def. Jeff Jarrett; prelude to their issue, which will later involve the repeat piledrivers

- Owen Hart def. Scott Steiner to prove he's the best younger brother in the WWF

- Tatanka def. Adam Bomb (instead of Crush, who's now a tag champ with Yoko in this timeline)

- IRS def. Rick Steiner (instead of Scott) because Varsity Club IMPLODES!!~

- Razor Ramon def. Kwang; foreshadowing for next year when Kwang becomes Savio and subs for Razor in the 1995 KOTR tourney

- Bam Bam Bigelow def. Doink (instead of Bob Holly) to finally close out their rivalry

- Diesel def. Bob Backlund in a SQUASH, either thanks to Arnie's distracting yammering or successful HBKference

- Mabel def. Quebecer Pierre, closing out the MOM/Quebecer rivalry in singles fashion

Aside from Crush, only real life participants shorted their shot are not-yet Bob Holly "Sparky" Thurman Plugg and Lex Luger. Lex is in a world title program, so that's an improvement for him. And I don't think anyone is gonna sweat losing out on jobber Plugg jobbing in the first round. Worst case, swap Bobs for Diesel jobber fodder.

So Strobe lit a fire in me that just kept burning, and for the past few days/weeks {[(however long it's been/time is irrelevant now)]} I've been tinkering with rebooking 1994 WWF.

To Strobe's point in his post above, rebooking does get to be a real challenge because of the Butterfly Effect and wanting to keep certain real life events because of nostalgia, actual perfection, necessary evil purposes, etc. Limiting the scope and imposing contraints does help give structure, but if you tinker long enough, you'll often end up with something so close to reality that you find yourself thinking "what's the point?" and "why did I waste all that time just to end up here?"

BUT... knowing all that, I still couldn't resist fucking around with an alternate 1994 WWF. And now I can't resist the urge to post what I've got so far. So... here we go!

1994 WWF

Event: Royal Rumble '94
Date: January 22, 1994
City: Providence, Rhode Island
Venue: Providence Civic Center
Attendance: 14,5000
Ring Time: 1:48:00
Run Time: 3:00:00

Tatanka def. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Luna Vachon)
Tatanka pins Bigelow with a diving crossbody press after avoiding a moonsault. Tatanka was originally scheduled to face Ludvig Borga, but Borga was sidelined with an ankle injury. Bigelow is announced as Borga's last-minute replacement.
[0:08:00]

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (c) def. Irwin R. Schyster
Razor retains via pinfall after a Razor's Edge off the middle turnbuckle on a celebrating IRS. IRS is declared the original winner of the match when he pins Razor for a three count after outside interference from Shawn Michaels. However, unbeknownst to the celebrating IRS, the referee restarts the match after realizing that Razor's foot had been on the bottom rope during the three count.
[0:12:00]

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre) (c) (w/ Johnny Polo) def. The Harts (Bret & Owen)
The Quebecers retain via referee stoppage. The referee stops the match after deeming Bret unable to continue due to a knee injury. Owen confronts his brother after the match, demanding to know why he didn't tag out after injuring his knee. Owen blames the loss on Bret's selfishness, and Owen vents his pent-up anger and frustration with a kick to the back of Bret's bad knee. In a post-match interview, Owen claims that Bret got what he deserved for being so selfish. Owen then declares that he will prove himself as the superior Hart brother by winning the 1994 Royal Rumble and then going on to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania X.
[0:17:00]

WWF Title Casket Match: Yokozuna (c) (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) def. The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer)
Yoko retains with help from a small army of hired mercenaries. The casket explodes into a cloud of smoke when it's struck by a bolt of pyrotechnic lightning after the match. Taker's body ascends to the rafters and ostensibly to the heavens above. Taker then appears on the video wall to deliver a message from beyond the grave: Taker will be back to exact his vengeance when he returns to the mortal world; in the meantime, he will not... rest... in... peace!
[0:14:00]

1994 Royal Rumble: Bret Hart & Lex Luger are declared co-winners
Bret & Lex go over the top rope and hit the floor at the same time. Footage of the finish is inconclusive. The situation is settled later on through the announcement that they'll both receive world title shots at WrestleMania. A coin flip will determine who gets the first shot. To keep things fair for the champion at WrestleMania, whoever loses the coin toss will wrestle a preliminary match. If Bret loses the coin toss, he'll wrestle his brother Owen. If Lex loses, he'll wrestle Jeff Jarrett.

Little to no changes to the first PPV of the New Year.

If Ludvig Borga hadn't been sidelined thanks to his glass ankle, I'm maybe tempted to run Lex vs. Ludvig here with stipulations stating the winner enters the Rumble at #30 and the loser enters at #1. But, imposing reality constraints, no Ludvig means no such match. We stick with the Tatanak vs. Bam Bam Bigelow alternate.

The only other match change I considered was having the Steiners come out of 1993 as tag champs, and make the tag title match here be a brothers vs. brothers dream match to further contrast the cohesion between Rick & Scott with the tension between Bret & Owen. BUT... knowing Steiners are on their way out the door in real life not long after 'Mania, I stick with reality.

Lastly, I toyed with the idea of mixing up the match order. Considering the finish to the Rumble, I didn't know if it would work better as the penultimate match and then the casket match with post-match gaga could close the show in an arguably more memorable way... but I ultimately decided fuck it upon realizing how much I hate it when Rumbles don't main event PPVs named Royal fuckin' Rumble.

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= = = = = = = = = =

***COLISEUM VIDEO***
Event: Tag Team Turmoil
Date: February 20, 1994
City: Toronto, Ontario
Venue: Maple Leaf Gardens
Attendance: 12,5000
Ring Time: 1:12:00
Run Time: 2:00:00

Shawn Michaels & Diesel def. The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart)
Diesel pins Billy with a Jackknife. Diesel wrestles the entire match himself.
[0:06:00]

Tatanka & Doink the Clown (w/ Dink) def. Irwin R. Schyster & Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Luna Vachon)
Tatanka pins IRS. IRS becomes distracted after Dink slides through his legs to escape Luna, who chases Dink into the ring late in the match.
[0:09:00]

The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (w/ Afa) def. WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon & The 1-2-3 Kid
Fatu pins Kid after outside interference from Shawn Michaels & Diesel. After the match, Shawn & Diesel double-team Razor.
[0:09:00]

Randy Savage & Earthquake [mystery surprise partner] vs. Crush & WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette)
The match is ruled a no contest after Savage and Crush are both counted out while brawling on the floor. Before the match, Savage reveals his surprise mystery partner to be the returning Earthquake.
[0:12:00]

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre) (c) (w/ Johnny Polo) def. The Steiners (Rick & Scott); if the Steiners lose, they cannot challenge for the tag titles again so long as the Quebecers hold the gold... and more importantly, the Steiners will be barred from ever wrestling in Canada again!
Jacuqes pins Scott after an interfering Polo breaks a hockey stick over Scott's back.
[0:15:00]

1994 Royal Rumble co-winners Bret Hart & Lex Luger def. Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett
Lex submits Jarrett with the Torture Rack.
[0:21:00]

My unrealistic cheat loophole! If Saturday Night's Main Events are no longer a thing, and if In Your Houses aren't a thing yet... I need something to help bridge the gaps! So, I've given myself special Coliseum Video special releases. I think the premise is I picked a date/venue where an event actually took place, rebooked it as a super show (like the kinds WWF would run in MSG, Philly, Toronto, etc.) to be taped and pushed out as a precursor to WWE's eventual DVD business. I don't know... fuck you. Even if the tape isn't released in time for it to work as a standalone for storyline building/continuity, footage from the event can be aired in bits and pieces on RAW and Superstars.

ANYWAY...

This is a test concept show, perhaps to never be revisited. Every match on the card is a tag match of some import. Hence the name "Tag Team Turmoil"! The matches that make the final cut for the tape release are mentioned above. Perhaps other matches are booked but remain in the dark (Bushwhackers vs. Heavenly Bodies as a for instance?) @whocares

We continue Diesel's monster push and plant seeds for the breakdown of the relationship between Diesel & HBK by having Diesel single-handedly squash the Gunns while HBK relaxes on the apron. Fan support for Diesel continues to grow organically as he continues to impress with impressive bad ass hoss performances. Story arc for the Gunns in my 1994 WWF is they have a rough run through the first two thirds of the year. Their lack of big wins makes them vulnerable for DiBiase's approach later in the year, when he wants them to become his Hired Gunns (credit Baker-man).

The companion piece to this is the Shrinkers vs. Razor/Kid match. HBK interferes to fuck with Razor and get one up on the "fake IC champ" headed into their ladder match at 'Mania. Meanwhile, this gets a higher profile win to the Shrinkers... who {**SPOILER ALERT!!!**} are being positioned for a tag title run after their post-'Mania face turn.

Tatanka/Doink vs. Bigelow/IRS is purely to set up and advance those rivalries for 'Mania. Bigelow wants a win back over Tatanka after the Rumble, but fails here through no fault of his own. Meanwhile, IRS continue his streak of increasingly embarrassing losses. The proto Million Dollar Corporation won't really turn things around as a unit until they're under Ted's tutelage later in the year.

I think I need to fact check to make sure Earthquake had indeed returned to the WWF in February to be available for this booking as Savage's mystery surprise partner. Anyway, here's hoping I haven't transgressed. Savage has been feuding with Yoko & Crush for forever. He knows he needs backup. Maybe borrow Strobe's WMVII idea where Yoko & Crush keep taking out Savage's various friends. After all, Savage didn't help save his "friend" Crush back in 1993... so Crush is kind of on a mission to prove NO ONE should be friends with Savage (or else they'll face bodily harm). Something like that. Anyway... Savage realizes his best strategy for backup is a mystery surprise opponent. Enter Earthquake to foreshadow his sumo feud with Yoko post-'Mania. The double count-out finish is used as the logic to build to the Falls Count Anywhere against Crush at 'Mania.

Always hated the lack of definitive closure on the Steiners' run in the WWF, so I'm giving myself that here. It's the final chapter in the feud between the Quebecers and Steiners, in Canada, with high stakes stipulations. Quebecers get a big win in their home country to send them into a title defense at 'Mania with serious momentum. Steiners are on their way out, will pop up at 'Mania (but not in a match), and then that will be it for them in the WWF to keep things aligned with reality as much as possible.

Since the tag title match doesn't have a "send the fans home happy" vibe (unless you're Baker) and since the Savage/Quake vs. Yoko/Crush match ends in a non-finish, we close with the 1994 Rumble co-winners tagging against the guys they'll have to face at 'Mania if they lose the coin toss. Actually... a thought just occurred to me now to make this match more interesting. Let's add a special set of stipulations: if Bret & Lex win, whoever scores the winning pinfall or submission will get the first crack at Yoko's title at 'Mania; if Owen & JJ win, whoever scores the winning pinfall or submission will get the title shot of whomever they pin or submit. Added drama, babay!!~

Last note: The WILD!!~ sucess of this video tape release in my universe results in run time and ring time being increased for subsequent specials. -_-

= = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = =

Event: WrestleMania X
Date: March 20, 1994
City: New York, New York
Venue: Madison Square Garden
Attendance: 18,000
Ring Time: 1:48:00
Run Time: 3:00:00

Owen Hart def. Bret Hart
Owen pins Bret.
[0:20:00]

WWF World Heavyweight Championship (w/ special guest referee Mr. Perfect): Yokozuna (c) (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) def. Lex Luger
Lex is disqualified after accidentally hitting Perfect with a running loaded forearm. Lex argues with Perfect over the controversial call after the match.
[0:15:00]

Doink the Clown (w/ Dink) def. Irwin R. Schyster
IRS is counted out after Doink ties his necktie to the ring post after intercepting him while he was chasing Dink around ringside.
[0:06:00]

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Randy Savage vs. Crush
Savage pins Crush in the middle of the street following a diving elbow drop off the hood of a parked car after they brawl all the way out of the arena.
[0:10:00]

Tatanka & The Smokin' Gunns (Billy & Bart) def. Bam Bam Bigelow & The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (w/ Afa)
Tatanka pins Bigelow. A post-match argument between Bigelow and the Shrinkers ends with the Shrinkers double-teaming Bigelow, effectively turning face. Luna Vachon is not in Bigelow's corner for the match because she is backstage preparing for her title match against WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze.
[0:11:00]

WWF Women's Championship: Luna Vachon def. Alundra Blayze (c)
Luna wins the title via pinfall with a handful of tights and her feet on the ropes for extra leverage.
[0:07:00]

WWF Tag Team Championship: Men on a Mission (Mabel & Mo) (w/ Oscar) def. The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre) (c) (w/ Johnny Polo)
MOM win the tag titles via pinfall, thanks in part to outside interference from the Steiners.
[0:08:00]

Ladder Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (c) (w/ The 1-2-3 Kid) def. Shawn Michaels (w/ Diesel)
Razor retains. Diesel is ejected from ringside early in the match after jackknifing Kid and then threatening Razor.
[0:19:00]

Double J's Grand Ol' Open Challenge: Earthquake [myster surprise opponent] def. Jeff Jarrett
Earthquake pins Jarrett after literally squashing him.
[0:01:00]

WWF World Heavyweight Championship (w/ special guest referee Roddy Piper): Bret Hart def. Yokozuna (c) (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette)
Bret wins the title via pinfall. After the match, the face locker room empties out and fills the ring in celebration. They hoist Bret up onto their shoulders and parade him around the ring while Owen Hart looks on in disgust from the entrance.
[0:11:00]

So, I've always HATED that Yoko --as reigning, defending champion... with TWO fucking managers, no less-- didn't defend his title before Bret had his match against Owen. Logically, whether Yoko retained or Lex won, the champion deserves the right to have the longer rest period for his subsequent defense on the same night IMO. However, I feel like I would've been crucified if I'd taken away Bret vs. Owen as the 2nd or 3rd greatest PPV opener ever. Also, I do like the Owen bookends aspect of this show (which I'll call back to at KOTR)... so the best rememdy I have is to open with Owen upsetting Bret, and then immediately follow with Yoko retaining on a technicality against Lex.

I leverage the bullshit finishes of Lex's DQ and IRS's count-out on commentary to hype the Falls Count Anywhere. Vince, Lawler, etc. jabber on about how we've seen a DQ tonight, we've seen a count-out, but there will be neither of those in this next match because ANYTHING GOES and FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE! I'd eliminate the Last Man Standing aspect of the Falls Count Anywhere stip and just make it more like a 1999-era Hardcore Match. It's like a family friendly version of something you'd maybe see in ECW. Anyway... the cameras following the action out to the street allows the ring to fill up for the following six-man (taken directly from real life 1993 SummerSlam); yes... Tatanka, Bigelow, Gunns, and Shrinkers get the "already in the ring" jobber entrances at 'Mania.

Since it didn't happen in my rebooked 1993 WWF, the perfectly serviceable six-man happens here instead as the conclusion of Tatanka/Bigelow rivalry and vehicle for the Headshrinker face turn post-match. Bigelow has an out, blaming the loss on Luna not being in his corner. This can help set up their split later in the year. Meanwhile, Luna gets the bigger and better things she deserves; i.e., a women's title match on PPV against Alundra. In fact, she even gets a fucking title win!

Aside from a Steiners run-in costing the Quebecers the tag titles as an epilogue to their feud, most everything else stays the same. Instead of squashing Adam Bomb, Earthquake is the one to step up and answer Double J's Grand Ol' Opry Open Challenge... which is essentially JJ being pissed he didn't get a match at 'Mania since Lex got the first crack at Yoko's title, only to choke that title opportunity away in typical Lex fashion. JJ realized he had to take matters into his own hands, took the show hostage to issue an open challenge, only to have Quake come out and literally squash him.

Anyway... after beating Yoko at SummerSlam '93 via count-out and now at WrestleMania X via DQ but still not having the world title around his waist, Lex is PISSED and ready to turn full blown heel. This is the biggest divergence from real life in my 1994 WWF.

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= = = = = = = = = =

***COLISEUM VIDEO***
Event: Mother's Day Mayhem
Date: May 8, 1994
City: Anaheim, California
Venue: Arrowhead Pond
Attendance: 11,000
Ring Time: 1:12:00
Run Time: 2:00:00

The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (w/ Afa & Capt. Lou Albano) def. The Quebecers (Jacques & Pierre) (w/ Johnny Polo); winners get a tag title shot at King of the Ring '94
The newly face Shrinkers win thanks to guidance from their new manager, Capt. Lou.
[0:10:00]

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels) def. Razor Ramon (w/ The 1-2-3 Kid)
Diesel wins the title via pinfall with a Jackknife moments after an Shawn takes Kid out with some Sweet Chin Music.
[0:12:00]

Alundra Blayze & Randy Savage def. WWF Women's Champion Luna Vachon & Bam Bam Bigelow
Alundra pins Luna. Luna and Bigelow get into a bit of a lovers spat after the match.
[0:10:00]

Lex Luger def. Jeff Jarrett; winner gets a world title shot at King of the Ring '94
Lex wins via TKO after knocking JJ out cold with a loaded forearm and then putting JJ's unconscious body in the Torture Rack.
[0:05:00]

WWF Tag Team Championship: Crush & Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) def. Men on a Mission (Mabel & Mo) (c) (w/ Oscar)
Yoko pins Mo to win the tag titles for his team. After the match, Crush keeps Mabel at bay as Yoko murders Mo with repeated Banzai drops.
[0:10:00]

WWF World Heavyweight Championship: Bret Hart (c) def. Owen Hart
Bret retains via pinfall.
[0:25:00]

This is still be least hashed-out card at the moment, so excuse lack of details or weak points. Totally open for ideas how to improve or modify this one. Tape name isn't changing though!

Quebecers exercised their rematch clause but came up short in their efforts to reclaim the tag title from MOM, thanks to the newly face Headshrinkers intervening to prevent them from using underhanded tactics to win. Quebecers are on their way down and out. Meanwhile, as fresh faces, the Shrinkers are on their way up and up. They cross paths in a match here with a future tag title opportunity on the line. The Shrinkers' new manager, Capt. Lou comes on board in the spring and appears to be the difference maker.

Instead of Superstars, I push Diesel's IC title win to this video special. We continue planting seeds for the eventual Diesel/HBK split. To make HBK's botched interference later on more impactful, we first need to establish how helpful HBKference can be. So, here, even if Diesel really didn't need it... HBKference helps Big Daddy Cool secure his first title victory in the WWF by doing what HBK couldn't do; i.e., beat Razor. The HBKference also gives Razor a reasonable out regarding the loss.

Because I'm me and not Vince, I actually give the sparse women's divison air time in 1994 WWF and let Alundra and Luna have at it. Luna cheated to win the title. Alundra wants it back, but Luna keeps dodging her. Luna threatens to get herself counted out or disqualified if Alundra exercises her rematch clause. Or some excuse to prevent just running straight into a return match. In parallel, Luna leverages her beau Bam Bam to bully Alundra. Enter Alundra's pal Savage, who has nothing better to do after ending his feud with Crush than stick up for his other friends (i.e., Alundra). Again, because I'm me and not Vince, I'm totally onboard with still using Savage as a wrestler (within reason given reality). Mixed tag here gives Savage something to do, highlights the ladies, and continues the split between Bam Bam and Luna. Alundra getting the pin on Luna furthers her Alundra's case for a straight up rematch for the title at some point sooner than later, and Luna blames the loss on Bam Bam. Tension brewing in Paradise City!

Pissy Lex is pissed in the wake of 'Mania. Embarrassed JJ is also pissed, and blames Lex. They agree to have the match they were supposed to but never had at 'Mania, and the winner will be granted a world title shot at King of the Ring '94. Growing increasingly heel, Lex shows a nastier side than he ever has before as he rips through JJ here... murdering him with loaded forearms, and then parading his lifeless carcass around the ring in the Torture Rack to send a message to the interim paper WWF Champion.

Reality needs to be fleshed out, but here's what I'm thinking for the tag title scene: MOM retain against Quebecers when Quebecers exercise their rematch clause, thanks in part to intervention from the Headshrinkers. As thanks, MOM offer Shrinkers a tag title shot... which Quebecers ruin, thus furthering their developing feud with the Shrinkers. Meanwhile, after having lost at 'Mania, Crush & Yoko pair up to pursue tag gold as they collectively regroup and try to get their careers and momentum back. If timing works out, we expedite through the Yoko/Quake feud with Crush & Yoko essentially squashing a one-off Natural Disasters reunion. Crush & Yoko then effectively send the Steiners packing. These two impressive victories put them in line for their tag title shot here.

To send fans home happy and make the "Mother's Day Mayhem" name make sense, we get Bret defending his newly won world title against his little brother who beat him at 'Mania. Bret gets his win back, so now he and Owen are 1-1. This will piss Owen off and motivate him to a King of the Ring crown in June.

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Event: King of the Ring '94
Date: June 19, 1994
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Venue: Baltimore Arena
Attendance: 12,000
Ring Time: 1:30:00
Run Time: 3:00:00

1994 King of the Ring Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Owen Hart def. The 1-2-3 Kid
Owen submits Kid with the Sharpshooter.
[0:04:00]

1994 King of the Ring Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Tatanka (w/ WWF Hall of Fame Class of 1994 member Chief Jay Strongbow) def. Irwin R. Schyster
IRS is counted out while wrestling his trademark briefcase away from Strongbow on the floor. Frustrated with the result, IRS blasts Tatanka in the face with the briefcase after the match.
[0:07:00]

1994 King of the Ring Tournament Quarterfinal Match: WWF Intercontinental Champion Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels) def. Bob Backlund (w/ WWF Hall of Fame Class of 1994 member Arnold Skaaland)
Diesel pins Backlund with a Jackknife Powerbomb in less than a minute. Skaaland inadvertently distracts Backlund with some last-minute coaching just as the opening bell sounds.
[0:01:00]

1994 King of the Ring Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Razor Ramon def. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ WWF Women's Champion Luna Vachon)
Razor pins a distracted Bigelow after Alundra Blayze intervenes to prevent interference from Luna.
[0:08:00]

WWF World Heavyweight Championship Title Match: Bret Hart (c) def. Lex Luger (w/ Ted DiBiase)
Bret counters Lex's Torture Rack into a crucifix roll-up to score the pinfall and retain the title.
[0:23:00]  

1994 King of the Ring Tournament Semifinal Match: Owen Hart def. Tatanka
Owen pins Tatanka after countering a sunset flip.
[0:08:00]

1994 King of the Ring Tournament Semifinal Match: Razor Ramon def. Intercontinental Champion Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels)
Diesel is DQ'd when an interfering Shawn hits Razor with Sweet Chin Music; Shawn later calms Diesel down by reminding him that he still has the IC title and also promising to get them a tag team title shot so that he can add more gold to his collection
[0:12:00]  

WWF Tag Team Championship Title Match: The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (w/ Afa & Capt. Lou Albano) def. Crush & Yokozuna (c) (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette)
The Shrinkers win the title via pinfall, thanks to Taker's gong sounding to distract Yoko; turn out it was Mabel, messing with Yoko as payback for him injuring Mo; after the match, Taker's gong sounds again... not Mabel's doing
[0:09:00]

Kiss My Foot Match (w/ special guest referee Randy Savage): Roddy Piper def. Jerry Lawler
Piper pins Lawler when he reverses a piledriver attempt into a jackknife roll-up; after the match, Lawler is forced to kiss Piper's bare foot
[0:10:00]  

1994 King of the Ring Tournament Final Match: Owen Hart def. Razor Ramon
Owen pins Razor after outside interference from Jim Neidhart; in his coronation ceremony, Owen dubs himself the ""King of Harts"" and challenges his brother Bret to a title match at SummerSlam
[0:08:00]  

See previous posts for my thoughts on this PPV. I think only changes are reverting to Backlund over Mabel for Diesel's first round opponent, and adding a "Kiss My Foot" stip to Piper/Lawler for even more gaga. The only thing I'm still hemming and hawing on here is whether or not to have Lex outright aligned with DiBiase heading into this show, or have a DiBiase alignment purely teased and then the reveal happen here or afterward.

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= = = = = = = = = =

***COLISEUM VIDEO***
Event: Independence Day Incident
Date: July 4, 1994
City: Long Island, New York
Venue: Nassau Coliseum
Attendance: 3,100
ing Time: 1:48:00
Run Time: 3:00:00

Shawn Michaels & WWF Intercontinental Champion Diesel def. Razor Ramon & The 1-2-3 Kid
Shawn pins Kid after whipping him into Diesel's big boot. Shawn wrestles the majority of the match himself after accidentally knocking Diesel out with misplaced Sweet Chin Music
[0:22:00]

Mabel (w/ Oscar) def. Crush
Mabel pins Crush with a Banzai Drop to send a message to Yokozuna.
[0:06:00]  

Million Dollar Championship: Tatanka def. Lex Luger (c) (w/ Ted DiBiase)
Lex is DQ'd when Bam Bam Bigelow & Irwin R. Schyster run in and attack Tatanka.
[0:12:00]  

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (c) (w/ Afa & Capt. Lou Albano) vs. Adam Bomb & Kwang (w/ Harvey Wippleman)
Shrinkers retain. Bomb & Kwang implode after the match.
[0:08:00]

Iron Man Match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship: Bret Hart (c) def. Owen Hart; Jim Neidhart in a neutral corner
Bret retains by a one fall margin, with the last fall coming as a result of DQ due to Anvil interference.
[1:00:00]

I've always loved the Kliq tag, want to keep it, and always felt like it deserved a bigger spotlight than some episode of Action Zone. I think it plugs in nicely here for continuing Razor/Diesel/HBK storylines.

We start to job Crush out the door and use him to make Mabel look like a potential threat to Yoko in the buildup to their Battle of the Behemoths at SummerSlam.

After failing to win the world title yet again, Lex is declared Million Dollar Champion as the crown jewel of DiBiase's brand new Million Dollor Corporation. Lex's ol' BFF Tatanka takes issue with Lex selling old and turning his back on the fans, and so a feud is born!

Shrinkers get an easy title defense against Wippleman's Wipplemen. The loss prompts a breakup between Bomb and Kwang, which will see Bomb turn into a monster face and Kwang killed off (and Kwang's corpse shipped to Puerto Rico for reincarnation).

We continue to add chapters to the Bret/Owen rivalry with the first-ever Iron Man. We book it so that it's exciting, with multiple falls and keeping things relatively close throughout. After his reemergence at King of the Ring to help Owen win the crown, Anvil is involved here but in a neutral corner as a former tag partner of both Bret and Owen. Going in, he claims he just wants to see the most competitive match to ever be wrestled. In the end though, he reveals his true colors by interfering on Owen's behalf and attacking Bret as things are all tied up heading into the home stretch. The idea is to give Owen an edge to pick up one more easy fall and win the title... but Anvil gets caught red handed by the ref, and the late DQ costs Owen the match. FUCK! Anyway, this is my workaround for not having Anvil involved with Bret's match at King of the Ring. This also sets up the cage match as the supposed FINAL CHAPTER between Bret and Owen.

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= = = = = = = = = =

Event: SummerSlam '94
Date: August 29, 1994
City: Chicago, Illinois
Venue: United Center
Attendance: 23,000
Ring Time: 1:30:00
Run Time: 3:00:00

Jeff Jarrett def. The 1-2-3 Kid
JJ submits Kid with a figure-four leglock after sidestepping a missile dropkick.
[0:06:00]

WWF Women's Championship: Alundra Blayze (c) def. Luna Vachon
Alundra retains via pinfall with a bridging German suplex. After the match, a debuting Bull Nakano attacks Alundra.
[0:06:00]

Randy Savage def. Jerry LawlerSavage pins Lawler by reversing a back drop attempt into a sunset flip.
[0:08:00]

The Million Dollar Corporation (Lex Luger, Bam Bam Bigelow & Irwin R. Schyster) (w/ Ted DiBiase) def. Tatanka and WWF Tag Team Champions the Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (c) (w/ Afa & Capt. Lou Albano)
Lex retains via KO with a Million Dollar Forearm and then adding insult to injury by putting the KO'd Tatanka in the Torture Rack.
[0:08:00]

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (w/ Walter Payton) def. Diesel (c) (w/ Shawn Michaels)
Razor pins Diesel to win the title after Shawn accidentally superkicks his own tag team partner.
[0:15:00]

Battle of the Behemoths: Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) def. Mabel (w/ Oscar)
Yoko pins Mabel with a Banzai Drop. After the match, Yoko continues hitting repeated Banzai Drops on Mabel until being scared off by the sound of the Undertaker's gong.
[0:06:00]

The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) def. The Underfaker (w/ Ted DiBiase)
Taker scores the pinfall after reversing a Tombstone Piledriver into one of his own.
[0:08:00]

Cage Match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship: Bret Hart (c) def. Owen Hart
Bret retains via escape. The rest of the Hart family is sitting in the front row, and they are interviewed before the match. After the match, Jim Neidhart attacks Bret and rolls him back into the cage. Owen and Neidhart double-team Bret until Davey Boy Smith makes the save.
[0:33:00]

Touched on this in previous posts too. Mostly self-explanatory, I think. This is as far as I've made it so far. Heading into the fall, I think it's still possible to his most of the important real life beats. Biggest change is Lex is the crown jewel of the MDC and a legit main event challenger IMO. While the Tatanka Turncoat angle was cool, it ultimately did nothing except more harm than good to Tatanka. Plus, I can maybe still turn Tatanka later in an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" way. Maybe at Survivor Series? The other difference here is trying to treat the MDC overall as more of a serious faction and threat than it was in real life. With Yoko on the downward spiral, MDC needs to be positioned as more of a threat to challenge Taker and Bret as the top faces. Who knows... I might not even bring King Kong Bundy into my WWF, and instead work toward Taker vs. Lex at WMXI as the final Taker vs. MDC blow-off. TBD, boyz n girlz.

Apr 24, 2020 18:20:44 GMT 🤯 said:

I think I need to fact check to make sure Earthquake had indeed returned to the WWF in February to be available for this booking as Savage's mystery surprise partner. Anyway, here's hoping I haven't transgressed. Savage has been feuding with Yoko & Crush for forever. He knows he needs backup. Maybe borrow Strobe 's WMVII idea where Yoko & Crush keep taking out Savage's various friends. After all, Savage didn't help save his "friend" Crush back in 1993... so Crush is kind of on a mission to prove NO ONE should be friends with Savage (or else they'll face bodily harm). Something like that. Anyway... Savage realizes his best strategy for backup is a mystery surprise opponent. Enter Earthquake to foreshadow his sumo feud with Yoko post-'Mania. The double count-out finish is used as the logic to build to the Falls Count Anywhere against Crush at 'Mania.

Quake returned on Jan 31st.

And this is the sort of simple booking that should always be used to set up gimmick matches. Although the weird Texas Death hybrid rules that they used definitely hurt the match and you have solved that. I like the idea of brawling into the street, although I wonder how well they could've pulled it off.

Apr 24, 2020 18:20:44 GMT 🤯 said:

Doink the Clown (w/ Dink) def. Irwin R. Schyster
IRS is counted out after Doink ties his necktie to the ring post after intercepting him while he was chasing Dink around ringside.
[0:06:00]

This certainly would've been a super fun spot, could've worked even just for a TV match. Anything involving using I.R.S.'s tie against him is a win for me.

Apr 24, 2020 18:20:44 GMT 🤯 said:

However, I feel like I would've been crucified if I'd taken away Bret vs. Owen as the 2nd or 3rd greatest PPV opener ever.

This is a great baiting line.

I think Mania X is the ultimate example of all of us being influenced by real life. It is not a situation you would ever plan to do and only came about because they wanted Lex to be the next champion but it didn't work out and Bret was the clear replacement, but they'd already set up the Owen feud. Unless you are taking over booking from say Survivor Series 1993, there is no reason you should be booking that arrangement of matches.

Apr 24, 2020 18:20:44 GMT 🤯 said:

Alundra Blayze & Randy Savage def. WWF Women's Champion Luna Vachon & Bam Bam Bigelow
Alundra pins Luna. Luna and Bigelow get into a bit of a lovers spat after the match.
[0:10:00]

I like involving the women's feud with the men to give them added exposure, while also being able to extend a feud when your division is essentially two people at a time.

Apr 24, 2020 18:20:44 GMT 🤯 said:

Iron Man Match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship: Bret Hart (c) def. Owen Hart; Jim Neidhart in a neutral corner
Bret retains by a one fall margin, with the last fall coming as a result of DQ due to Anvil interference.
[1:00:00]

Iron Mans aren't the easiest gimmick match to explain why it is being used in kayfabe, like say cage to prevent interference/running away. I guess it could be as simple as "you've pinned me, I've pinned you, we can both pin each other on any given night, but most falls in an hour will show definitively who the better man is." Really only works as at least the third of a series that is tied, which is what you have done here. It makes the Iron Man that Bret/HBK did look even worse as a booking decision. There wasn't any particular reason for it be that match type and then, rather than get the new gimmick type (in terms of WWF TV) over with multiple falls, they subverted expectations by having no falls in the entire hour. Then going into overtime undercuts the time limit part of the gimmick off the bat. They overthought it really. HBK only won because Bret was forced to break the Sharpshooter at the bell. He'd look better outscoring Bret inside the hour. And Bret winning the first fall and two of the first three keeps him strongish and gives him some excuses when coming back. He would've won a singles or 2/3 falls match. He got overconfident when ahead, maybe you have him go 3-1 up, only to lose 4-3 with HBK scoring a series of quick, late falls.

I’m redoing this one properly with full explanations, since that was lost on the old boards. And now that we got the insider @admin in charge, I have confidence that we aren’t going to lose everything again. This will have some slight changes to my previous one.


--------------------------



It was a smart business move to hold Mania again at the Historic Atlantic City Convention Centre, funded by the Trump Plaza casino next door, since many high-price tickets were bought and paid for to give to casino goers. But it provided a horrible wrestling venue and crowd. It did not look good and did not have the fan interaction that you expect from this era. They could have easily run a stadium again and that would’ve felt suitable for a main event of this size. Given some of the run-ins that I am planning to have, including an Andre hobble-in, a large arena is probably the smarter move. Let’s just say we are in a large arena for now.

INTRODUCTION and AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL PERFORMANCE
*sex jazz music* THE MEGA-POWERS… EXPLODE! HERE AT WRESTLEMANIA 5! No Rockin’ Robin singing here, which must have been a rib. The previous singers of "America The Beautiful" had been Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight (Mean Gene performed the Star-Spangled Banner at Mania I, unsure if that was because the lined-up performer no-showed) and I’d say continue down that route - someone soulful. No one is coming to mind right now.
4 mins

Brain Busters (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard) with Bobby Heenan vs. The Rockers (Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels)
The Busters debuted in early October and these teams began working the house show loop in late November, having great matches. They did a double DQ spot at the Survivor Series and had matches air on TV right before Mania: a super fun sprint on the 3/18 SNME which went to a double CO and another bout on the 3/27 Prime Time Wrestling that went to a DQ and that was it. Madness to not run this as the ideal opener. Crowds loved The Rockers and this was their first real feud since returning in May the previous year and the Busters were phenomenal and in line for a push towards title contention. Why not run a match that makes both teams look great? Who is going to complain about seeing this match-up again? Do something akin to the SNME match but with Heenan not being ejected and his interference allowing the Spike Piledriver to pick up the win for the Busters.
12 mins

FLAG MATCH
Jim Duggan vs. Dino Bravo with Frenchy Martin
These guys began a feud in mid-October and worked the house show circuit, sometimes in these flag matches. They faced off in a 6-man (with Hart Foundation and Rougeaus respectively) at the Rumble and worked a flag match on a house show as late as 3/22. I get that these matches had been done to death on house shows, so were not fresh for house show attendees, but give them a nice TV blowoff on the big show. It isn’t like it would hurt the drawing power of the show when it was all about The Mega-Powers. This is going to be all bells and whistles to make this a fun segment. WWF Duggan is not good to watch in the ring, but crowds loved him, and Bravo is about as boring of a wrestler as it gets. Air a clipped version of their Brother Love Show interaction as that very succinctly explains this patriotic angle, then take the basic idea of the 12/30 MSG match. Frenchy cuts a brief promo in the ring, mainly in French. Duggan comes out and works the crowd for a bit. Let’s cut this match right down from 7 and half mins to 3, with Duggan’s great shine, forget Bravo’s stall and go straight into a brief heat, before the failed Frenchy interference finish with the Quebec flag gives Duggan the win. Bravo is pissed with Martin and comically tries to jump for the US flag as it is being lifted. Star-Spangled Banner plays as Duggan salutes. This is Frenchy’s last appearance and he got Garvin Stomped in reality. I’d have Bravo so pissed after the anthem that he throws Frenchy in and Duggan nails him with the 2x4 and gives us a HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! to end the segment and Frenchy’s run. Bravo can then blame his loss on Frency as he announces Jimmy Hart as his new manager post-Mania.
12 mins

The Twin Towers (Akeem & Big Boss Man) with Slick vs. Strike Force (Rick Martel & Tito Santana)
Strike Force had been tag champs for 5 months before losing them to Demolition at Mania IV. A few months later in June 1988, Martel got injured and only returned at the start of January, performing in singles matches. In promos, Tito was hopeful of re-teaming whereas Martel was unsure and wanted to focus on singles. Martel acquiesced to Santana's request and Mania V was to be the first Strike Force match in almost 10 months and that would be played up strong. The former champs against the hot new team The Twin Towers, who have been feuding with The Mega-Powers and are being primed to become #1 contenders for the tag titles. As happened, Tito accidentally forearms Martel and the future Model bails. He would look an even bigger prick abandoning him against two monsters, and even more so if we add in some Boss Man handcuffing and nightsticking post-match. Martel cuts his post-match interview with Gene, shitting on “loser” Tito.
12 mins

Bad News Brown vs. Blue Blazer
Bad News was Randy Savage’s house show opponent in late 1988/early 1989, even up to a few weeks after the Mega-Powers split. He lost to Hogan on the 3/11 SNME, in a match that solidified Hulk’s #1 contender spot. So he was kind of the odd man out come Mania. He had no obvious opponent and would not really have a proper feud for most of the rest of the year. He did work the house show loop with Owen for a few months after Mania and they did have a TV tag on the 5/29 Prime Time with Hillbilly Jim and the Brawler. Since debuting on TV last September, the Blazer was over with TV audiences but was never put into an angle or feud. Bad News and Blazer knew each other well from Stampede, having feuded over the title there, and taking Owen’s undefeated streak could be a suitable prize for Brown coming off of feuding with Savage. I can’t really think off an angle to set this up and, as you will see below, I am leaning towards doing Perfect vs. Blazer as in reality. This would leave me doing Brown vs. Koko and I could see doing one of those classic "meeting in the aisle between matches" angles where Bad News is coming to the ring for the next match while Koko is heading to the back from his. Koko is dancing with Frankie and the surly Brown starts acting aggressively towards the bird, something like that.
6 mins

Jesse Ventura works the crowd
This is a spot they used to love to do - have Jesse announced as a big star and have him revel in it and work the crowd. I love it as well. It works especially well here, because he is announced as a "self-professed major Hollywood star" and there will be a spot coming up later that it will lead into.
1 mins

5K run clip with Lord Alfred Hayes & Mr. Fuji
This was a fun little segment that I’ll keep. I like them showing clips of local events that they tied into Mania in the days before it and they used it for some humour here. Fuji has decided to run in this 5K to show that he is in good shape for entering the ring. Of course, he is doing so ludicrously in full attire – suit, hat and cane. Then he cheats by starting early and is immediately passed by everyone. We then see him finish in a quick time, clearly having not run the full distance.
2 mins

HANDICAP MATCH
for the WWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Demolition (Ax & Smash) [Champions] vs. Powers of Pain (The Barbarian & The Warlord) & Mr. Fuji
These teams started feuding at the Survivor Series with the double turn. They wrestled around the loop and on the 2/29 Prime Time Wrestling (from The Main Event II taping), Fuji interfered in their title match and threw salt in Ax’s eyes – both of these incidents were shown on the show and I’d do the same. Demolition then wanted Fuji added to the match as they felt it would be easier to keep an eye on him on the apron or in the ring, than scheming on the outside. It also allowed for them to get their physical revenge on Fuji, who had turned on them, and protected PoP by neither having to take the fall. This match was never going to be particularly good and can be cut from 8 mins to 5.
12 mins

Mr. Perfect vs. Koko B. Ware
Perfect had been missing any sort of real feud since his debut (vignettes started in early October), with them preferring to build up his character first. His most common house show opponent in late 88/early 89 was Koko, including in the weeks heading into Mania. They also faced off in a short bout on the 1/7 SNME. Koko was still over around this time and does feel like he was underused. The lack of height really did him in. He can help Hennig have a short, impressive win to continue his winning streak, although I do think Perfect/Blazer in the battle of the undefeated gives the card another match with a hook, so I am torn.
6 mins

UNSANCTIONED MILLION $ CHAMPIONSHIP
Ted DiBiase [Champion] with Virgil vs. Hercules
On the 10/1 Superstars, DiBiase purchased the contract of Hercules from Heenan and proclaimed that he now had a slave, which fit in well with Herc’s history with the old Roman gladiator outfit and that his weapon was a chain. Hercules obviously resisted this idea and a feud was born. On the 11/26 SNME, Herc beat Virgil as DiBiase did not want to dirty his hands by touching a slave, before DiBiase eliminated Herc at the Survivor Series after Virgil's distraction. They ran the blowoff on 2/3 The Main Event II, so I would put pretty much that exact match here two months later instead. The crowd would be even more into it not having to come after The Mega-Powers Explode angle. The vignettes for the creation of the Million $ Belt and its debut on the Brother Love Show took place between these two events, so this gives something extra to the match. Herc has something he can take from DiBiase, something he has just had lovingly created, but DiBiase still steals the win. The only problem I have is that Herc should really be moving on to a feud with a Heenan Family member after this and I don’t have anyone available.
10 mins

HAIRCUT MATCH
Brutus Beefcake vs. Ron Bass
In retribution for the Barber cutting up his hat and whip Miss Betsy, The Outlaw attacked Beefcake on the 8/29/88 Superstars, cutting him with his spurs, leading to a famous scene with the big censored cross on the screen. This was 2 days before SummerSlam and gave the kayfabe reason to remove Beefer and put in Warrior to take the IC Title from Honky. This led to a haircut match at the 1/7 SNME, which I want to delay until Mania. This might be the most unrealistic thing I have on here since Bass was actually gone by Mania, but he worked his last match on 3/22, 11 days before Mania, so it is not that much of a stretch. If the plan was to conclude this big angle here, he is definitely hanging around for the Mania payday plus additional for getting his hair cut. The match could have a couple of minutes trimmed off and still be under a quarter hour with video package, pre-match promos and hair cutting.
14 mins

RETIREMENT MATCH
Ron Garvin vs. Greg Valentine with Jimmy Hart
Garvin debuted in November (TV in December) and began working with Valentine on house shows, beating the shit out of each other, before Valentine moved to a feud with the Anvil in late January to lead into Mania. Garvin defeated the Hammer on the 4/22 Superstars and an enraged Valentine claimed Garvin must have paid the ref off and says he will put his career on the line in a rematch the next week. He later demanded Garvin do the same and in the rematch a week later on the 4/29 Superstars, Valentine got the win with a handful of tights and started a fun storyline where Garvin would take on other jobs (such as ref and ring announcer) to foil heels, especially Valentine, until the Hammer demanded his reinstatement in August so he could face him in the ring again. Since I am doing Foundation/Rougeaus, Valentine is still free so I’d move the initial match to a couple of weeks before Mania and the retirement bout to the big show. I’d give them decent time, in between the length of these short TV bouts and their house show matches. Brutal strikes and some fun with the shinguard before Valentine steals it.
12 mins

Andre the Giant with Bobby Heenan vs. Jake Roberts
Andre/Studd was the plan post-Mania, but when he got added to this match as ref, the whole angle started to be focused on those two and took shine away from Jake. Jake was very over at this time and the crowd loved Andre being afraid of Damien. So no Studd here (but he can still mention Andre and being the true Giant in his own promos; Andre only focuses on Jake and Damien), to be explained in a bit. This was a big-time match but Andre was really struggling physically now, so this can easily be cut in half. The structure was fine. I like the opening of Andre ramming Jake into the exposed buckle to start, but I’d have preferred to catch Heenan removing it on camera. Even with a Giant, he can’t help but cheat – great heeling. Andre dominates, then gets tied in the ropes so we can get some Damien teasing. Andre gets on top again and knocks Jake out the ring, who goes for Damien again. With no Studd here, we can just have Andre backing off in fear, perhaps this backing off bowls over the ref. But before Jake can unleash the snake, DiBiase and Virgil (Andre’s old pals) come out to try to remove the snake, since we will be moving to a Jake/DiBiase feud post-Mania. This is a minor thing, but I’d rather Virgil be the one to grab the bag, that seems more keeping with DiBiase’s character than to do it himself. Jake chases and takes out Virgil and DiBiase. He returns and throws Damien in the ring, causing Andre to run and the recovered ref counts him out.
9 mins

PIPER’S PIT
The return of Roddy Piper with guest Morton Downey Jr.
I don’t have problems with the gist of this. The Brother Love Show had replaced Piper’s Pit so his fake-out appearance works. Downey Jr. was a big, edgy star at the time so that works. But the segment in reality went over 21 mins and each section could pretty much be chopped in half, which is what I’ll do.
12 mins

-INTERMISSION-
A break for the fans in the arena to go for a piss or buy some food/merchandise. For those of us at home, we get Mean Gene throwing to the trailer of Hulk’s first film appearance since Rocky III, No Holds Barred, and afterwards the “major Hollywood star” Jesse blows a gasket at Hogan entering his domain. This leads into a video package detailing the history of the Mega Powers and then a Hogan promo to hype the main event.
10 mins

Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) vs. Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques Rougeau & Raymond Rougeau) with Jimmy Hart
- if the Hart Foundation win, they gain their full contracts
Heading into SummerSlam 1988, in order to entice the French Canadian Brothers to take him on as their manager, Jimmy Hart sold a share of the Hart Foundation’s contracts to the Rougeaus, starting a feud between the teams. They worked the house show loop, including some matches with Brother Love as guest ref, until the 6-man at the Rumble (featuring Duggan and Bravo). The Rougeaus were then put against the Bushwhackers, while Bret/Honky and Anvil/Hammer became short feuds that led to Foundation vs. proto-R&B at Mania. They did mention on the TV build that the Foundation would get control of their full contract with victory over Honky/Hammer but that was not mentioned on the show at all. I would have it be the big focus of the match and that would be massively helped not only by it being the Rougeaus (extending the feud by a few months), but by having the Rougeaus start carrying (in addition to their mini-American flags) metal briefcases to the ring containing the contracts post-Rumble to help carry the feud a tad longer. Rather than the megaphone, one of the briefcases is involved in the finish as Bret thwarts an attack with it and uses it himself. The Hart Foundation celebrate by holding the cases aloft in victory.
10 mins

FOR THE CROWN
King Haku with Bobby Heenan vs. Big John Studd [Royal Rumble Winner]
Haku retained his crown over the previous King Harley Race (in Race’s last match for the Fed) at the Royal Rumble, while the returning Studd won the Rumble match itself. It seems that this was a perfect set-up, given the “Royal” name of the match, for a “who is the true King?” feud between Haku and Studd. Studd being a former Heenan Family member and him going to be feuding with Andre post-Mania makes it even more ideal. Studd even cut an insert promo on Haku on the 1/29 Wrestling Challenge but this is something they would sometimes do, have people cut promos on different faces/heels each week (I think Studd did one on Akeem the next week). But they should have gone in this direction and just run the match/angle they did on the 5/7 Wrestling Challenge. I’d have Haku come out on a throne for Mania obviously. Andre appears and distracts Studd and they double team him for the DQ until Duggan appears with his 2x4 to make the save. Andre/Studd and Duggan/Haku were the planned post-Mania feuds, including some tags between them, so this works perfectly.
5 mins

Honky Tonk Man debuts new song
Honky lost the IC title to Warrior at SummerSlam and then worked return matches around the loop into the new year. Since I am continuing Foundation/Rougeaus and doing Valentine/Garvin, Honky is left without much on. I’d have him work with Hillbilly Jim on house shows in the early part of the year (he did so the couple of months after Mania in reality) and move up the Snuka/Honky feud that kicked off in June. Snuka had one of the most bizarre reintroductions ever at the actual Mania V. Garvin/Bravo were in the ring, ready for their storyless, meaningless match when Fink announced Snuka, he came out, posed in the ring and left, while Garvin and Bravo just stood there waiting. Very bizarre. This is a far better use. Honky claims that no one is brave enough to face him so he is going to sing us a brand new song, but before he can, he is interrupted by the return of Snuka. Snuka ducks a guitar shot, takes down Honky and chases him from the ring with the guitar. As Honky is backing away up the ramp, Snuka destroys the guitar to a big pop.
5 mins

The Bushwhackers (Butch & Luke) vs. The Bolsheviks (Boris Zhukov & Nikolai Volkoff)
The former Sheepherders debuted in late December and their main house show opponent in January was the Bolsheviks before transitioning to the Rougeaus. Since I am keeping the Foundation/Rougeau feud going, keep these guys against each other as well. We see the clip of the Bushwhackers at the WrestleMania brunch from the morning and then just run something like this match from the 2/11 Superstars. The Bolsheviks singing and being interrupted gets us some more fun gimmicky stuff and this is all just about getting the very over new team the Bushwhackers on the show. People want to see the walk and the licking.
6 mins

WWF INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Ultimate Warrior [Champion] vs. Rick Rude with Bobby Heenan
As happened, except no gorilla press slam on Heenan post-bell, as I am saving Bobby’s comeuppance for later. I feel like Warrior probably should stalk Heenan to the back though and I might tie that in to the Rooster deal. Also, in my reality, Hellwig is not such a fucking mong and actually sells the oil being sprayed in his eyes at the Rumble before Rude attacks.
15 mins

WWF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Rockin’ Robin [Champion] vs. Sherri
They had been working house show matches on and off since late-1987, when Robin beat Sherri for the title in Paris, in a fun match that was aired on the 11/8 Prime Time Wrestling. At the Royal Rumble, Robin defended her title against Judy Martin with Sherri cutting an in-ring promo pre-bout to challenge the winner and then joined Gorilla and Jesse on commentary. On the 1/22 Wrestling Challenge, Sherri interrupted a Robin podium interview and they brawled on top of Mean Gene. Then on the 2/20 Prime Time, which featured a bunch of face-to-face podium interviews hyping Mania, Sherri and Robin had one to discuss whose corner Elizabeth should be in for the main event, where Sherri shat on Liz and talked up how great Macho is as foreshadowing of her joining him. Then at Mania itself, Robin sang and Sherri did a promo on her and Liz (I’d still have a Sherri promo like this on the show before her match). It clearly should’ve led to a match here to end their feud and Sherri’s current in-ring run, since she was switching to Savage’s new manager. I think a CliffsNotes, sprint version (say 7 mins instead of 12) of their Paris match could’ve been even better.
10 mins

Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler with Bobby Heenan
- if Rooster wins, he gets a match with Heenan
Taylor had debuted in mid-1988 and in early October he was announced as the newest Heenan Family member on the Brother Love Show, where the angle was Heenan claiming that Taylor was limited but that he was such a great manager that he could make even Taylor a Superstar. A week later he was christened the Red Rooster by Heenan and you would have The Brain constantly giving him advice during matches and treating him like a complete novice, despite him quite clearly being a skilled wrestler already. It was actually a clever angle in a way on the nature of confidence, with Heenan having brought Taylor’s down and making him believe he wasn’t as good as he was. On the 1/7 SNME, Heenan’s anger with Rooster’s performance led to him throwing him back in the ring when downed and costing him his undefeated run. Heenan then slapped him and took a beating as Rooster turned face. On the 1/23 Prime Time, Heenan acted like he wanted to make peace and break amicably but debuted the Brooklyn Brawler, who attacked Rooster and Monsoon. Heenan’s new plan was to take Steve Lombardi and make even him defeat the Rooster. There was a surprising amount of TV time dedicated to this feud. Both the SNME split and Brawler debut would be shown pre-match, like in this video package. I don’t like Heenan just accepting a match with Rooster and it did not have a satisfying ending, with Brain missing a charge and hitting the post and just being pinned. It should have been Rooster/Brawler and if Rooster won, then he gets Heenan. Heenan is so confident in Taylor’s lack of ability that he accepts. You can run something like they did on the 3/11 SNME here instead of there. Heenan (who would come out looking a little nervous after the Warrior incident) is mic’d up on the outside and I’d have him not even wearing wrestling tights due to his confidence at Taylor's supposed lack of ability. Rooster pins Brawler inside a minute and he gets The Brain, who comes in slowly to allow Brawler to attack from behind and they double team him. When Heenan thinks Rooster is suitably hurt, he tells the Brawler to leave, acting all smug. He tells the ref to ring the bell and goes for the pin, but Rooster kicks out. Heenan is shocked, backs off and attempts to run up the aisle, only to be met by the Warrior (Rooster can leave the ring to start the count again to buy them some time if need be) who forces him back to the ring and then throws him in to Taylor before theatrically running to the back. Rooster beats on Heenan briefly and Brain takes one of his great corner bumps. Rooster then puts him in the Figure-4 because he wants to hurt him and holds on for a few seconds after the submission to get some added revenge.
8 mins

Poem recital from The Genius
Poffo was a face when he joined the Fed in 1985 and was dubbed the poet laureate of the WWF. He would read anti-heel poems that he had written on the back of frisbees and then throw them to the crowd (see the Red Rooster christening clip above). On the 3/18 MSG card, he read a pro-Savage, anti-Hogan poem and then teased but did not throw his frisbee to the crowd, turning heel. He would officially become The Genius on the first Superstars post-Mania, but I am going to bump that up to a few weeks before so I get him on TV before using him here. Like he would do in reality before the SummerSlam main event and before Savage’s coronation as king, he reads out a poem (the same one as MSG is fine) to boos to set us up for the main event and align him with Savage. While he did have those aforementioned readings, I am also liking the idea that Lanny could’ve been officially added to the posse as the King’s official poet laureate or Master of Ceremonies or whatever. Macho, Sherri, Zeus and Genius is a great grouping.
2 mins

WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION CHAMPIONSHIP
Randy Savage [Champion] vs. Hulk Hogan
- Miss Elizabeth in a neutral corner
Imagine how molten the crowd would’ve been for this at a standard WWF venue, considering they even managed to get a crowd full of casino goers with comped tickets reacting. I still say it was a match of such magnitude that it deserved more than the simple Hulk Up. I don’t think Savage should have kicked out of the Leg Drop, but you could have him duck the big boot, then level Hogan with a pointed elbow to the head to become the first man to stop a Hulk Up. But when he goes for his second Flying Elbow Drop off the top, Hogan moves and gets up in a rage, punch, punch, punch, big boot, Leg Drop, 1-2-3. I feel like even that minor tweak would enhance it. And of course, Hogan must pose.
30 mins

Total time: 225 mins

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Even with all of that, I have 15 mins spare to play with given the 4-hour limit if I want to give stuff some more time. Almost all of this was basically already there before they went with a whole bunch of new, unbuilt matches for the actual show. So it is not unrealistic that the Fed could've actually had this card and I think this could've been one of the most fun shows of all time. I can't wait for 20 years time when you can just simulate hyper realistic rebooked shows like this and watch them. One thing I would definitely do for that is add in theme music that was not yet created. Perfect's theme didn't appear until after SummerSlam 1989 and I don't think DiBiase got his theme until maybe even early 1990.

I'll have to come back to this and alter the match order, since I know the spacing of big stars/matches and face/heel wins is not good.

Strobe--

Fucking LOVE.

I think I'm with you on flip-flopping Koko from Perfect to Brown and sticking with Blazer as Perfect's opponent. The undefeated streak vs. undefeated streak is a fun little hook, and I love your animal aggression setup for Brown/Koko. Hate to always be THAT guy, but I also feel like a bitter Brown -after coming out on the losing end of his feud and matches with Savage and Hogan- could bully Koko for being the embodiment of an Uncle Tom/Jazz Singer. Feel like such a gripe fits Brown's character to a T.

Love the visuals you added to Andre/Jake, Foundation/Rougeaus, and Towers/Strike Force in particular. Also love the gaga segments with Honky/Snuka and Genius in particular. If you feel bad about keeping Bass around beyond his real life expiration date, what about blowing off Bass/Beefcake early and then having Beefcake come out to stand up for BFF Hogan by chasing off Genius right before the main event? Maybe event catch Lanny in a sleeper and cut his hair to help formalize Lanny's transformation in Genius? Plus, that way it cuts a match from a 17/18-match card (depending on if you count Rooster/Heenan).

Beyond those thoughts, honestly... I think the structure is near-perfect in terms of match/segment order. Maybe swap Bushwhackers and Warrior around just so it's not two back-to-back music segments?

Fucking love your stuff, glad you're revisiting and fine-tuning your Old PW works of brilliance, and can't wait for more!

Beyond that

Apr 29, 2020 20:08:43 GMT 🤯 said:

Hate to always be THAT guy, but I also feel like a bitter Brown -after coming out on the losing end of his feud and matches with Savage and Hogan- could bully Koko for being the embodiment of an Uncle Tom/Jazz Singer. Feel like such a gripe fits Brown's character to a T.

Maybe it is because of the nature of pro wrestling, often unsubtle and with clear faces and heels, but I don't have a problem with utilising racism/xenophobia in characters and angles (within reason, like all things). My hesitancy would be Koko not being able to get the win with that sort of angle. It certainly feels like it would fit Brown's character to feel that way about the jovial, singing Birdman.

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Thinking about 1994 again and it feels like Luger should've beaten Yoko at Mania. Listen to that crowd chanting bullshit at that finish. They wanted Bret to win the title (listen to that pop when he does) but they also wanted to see Bret/Luger.

- You get a massive feeling main in Bret/Luger which would have the crowd pumped.
- Luger won the title, so you get rid of the choker tag and his balls aren't chopped off as a face. He is protected because he had to fight the ultimate monster first.
- You solve the problem of Bret's opponent for KOTR. Yoko is the clear option, as he can claim that new champion Bret has never beaten him.
- If the plan had still been to do Luger/Perfect, he could still be ref for the second title match (Piper can do Piper's Pit or whatever in this case). He has history with both men and perhaps he inadvertently costs Lex in a way that doesn't hurt Bret's win and protects Luger further.
- Luger has legitimate gripes now if you want to change course and turn him heel.

A negative is that you have done multiple World Title changes on back-to-back Manias.

May 1, 2020 23:16:08 GMT Strobe said:

Apr 29, 2020 20:08:43 GMT 🤯 said:

Hate to always be THAT guy, but I also feel like a bitter Brown -after coming out on the losing end of his feud and matches with Savage and Hogan- could bully Koko for being the embodiment of an Uncle Tom/Jazz Singer. Feel like such a gripe fits Brown's character to a T.

Maybe it is because of the nature of pro wrestling, often unsubtle and with clear faces and heels, but I don't have a problem with utilising racism/xenophobia in characters and angles (within reason, like all things). My hesitancy would be Koko not being able to get the win with that sort of angle. It certainly feels like it would fit Brown's character to feel that way about the jovial, singing Birdman.

----------------------------------------

Thinking about 1994 again and it feels like Luger should've beaten Yoko at Mania. Listen to that crowd chanting bullshit at that finish. They wanted Bret to win the title (listen to that pop when he does) but they also wanted to see Bret/Luger.

- You get a massive feeling main in Bret/Luger which would have the crowd pumped.
- Luger won the title, so you get rid of the choker tag and his balls aren't chopped off as a face. He is protected because he had to fight the ultimate monster first.
- You solve the problem of Bret's opponent for KOTR. Yoko is the clear option, as he can claim that new champion Bret has never beaten him.
- If the plan had still been to do Luger/Perfect, he could still be ref for the second title match (Piper can do Piper's Pit or whatever in this case). He has history with both men and perhaps he inadvertently costs Lex in a way that doesn't hurt Bret's win and protects Luger further.
- Luger has legitimate gripes now if you want to change course and turn him heel.

A negative is that you have done multiple World Title changes on back-to-back Manias.

Shit, I think you've solved 1994.

I do NOT remember the specifics of '93/'94, so correct if this doesn't work.

Isn't the easiest cleanup of WMX just spreading out the title changes?

So Lex wins at SummerSlam. You prevent the choke artist vibe.

Instead of Survivor Series Match at Survivor Series, Lex has a rematch with Yoko that he loses through shenanigans.

Royal Rumble is still Yoko vs. Undertaker for the strap. Bret and Lex are still the last two in the Rumble Match, but Bret wins clean after a restart from the double winner finish. Luger can lean towards heel from here, or fully go heel and attack Bret after the match. It'd be kinda funny if Bret got attacked twice at Royal Rumble '94, like the worst night ever.

By Wrestlemania X, Luger is a full heel and faces an old legend like Savage who does the "HOW COULD YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON THE FANS TYPE DEAL," Luger goes over as a strong heel.

Bret beats Yoko clean. Has feuds set up with Lex and Owen to get him to the second half of 1994.

The only bad, and it's REALLY BAD, is we miss Bret vs. Owen at WMX, but could you just do the same exact match on the Raw before Wrestlemania and it would serve the same purpose?

Bret goes into WrestleMania with doubts from the Owen loss, Bret wins the strap and Owen does the same deal from the aisle not celebrating it with all the boys, and then claiming to be the real champion. Owen is also now free to wrestle someone like 1-2-3 Kid at WMX, going into it as a clear favorite from the Bret win momentum, then go over clean to continue his push. It would also probably be a pretty state of the art match for 1994.

From there it's Bret vs. Lex at KOTR, Owen wins the tourney, setting up Bret vs. Owen at SummerSlam. Lex can beat Macho again in a retirement match.

Bret has beaten Yoko, Lex and Owen in back-to-back-back PPVs. You can still do the Backlund thing from here and make another main event heel.

Lex is already a really strong main event heel that's just retired Macho and has only lost twice in the last year, and only one of them clean.

Owen has been elevated to upper mid card/Main Event fill in heel. Unrelated to these happenings, but so has Diesel as a face and Shawn Michaels is on his way as a heel. And Undertaker is back and done with UnderFaker.

From there it's a better balance of faces/heels at the top level Taker/Bret/Diesel as faces, Lex/Owen/HBK as heels, with Backlund temporarily there too, and Yoko isn't far removed from being a top one too.

May 2, 2020 1:54:02 GMT Kilgore said:

I do NOT remember the specifics of '93/'94, so correct if this doesn't work.

Isn't the easiest cleanup of WMX just spreading out the title changes?

So Lex wins at SummerSlam. You prevent the choke artist vibe.

Instead of Survivor Series Match at Survivor Series, Lex has a rematch with Yoko that he loses through shenanigans.

Royal Rumble is still Yoko vs. Undertaker for the strap. Bret and Lex are still the last two in the Rumble Match, but Bret wins clean after a restart from the double winner finish. Luger can lean towards heel from here, or fully go heel and attack Bret after the match. It'd be kinda funny if Bret got attacked twice at Royal Rumble '94, like the worst night ever.

By Wrestlemania X, Luger is a full heel and faces an old legend like Savage who does the "HOW COULD YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON THE FANS TYPE DEAL," Luger goes over as a strong heel.

Bret beats Yoko clean. Has feuds set up with Lex and Owen to get him to the second half of 1994.

The only bad, and it's REALLY BAD, is we miss Bret vs. Owen at WMX, but could you just do the same exact match on the Raw before Wrestlemania and it would serve the same purpose?

Bret goes into WrestleMania with doubts from the Owen loss, Bret wins the strap and Owen does the same deal from the aisle not celebrating it with all the boys, and then claiming to be the real champion. Owen is also now free to wrestle someone like 1-2-3 Kid at WMX, going into it as a clear favorite from the Bret win momentum, then go over clean to continue his push. It would also probably be a pretty state of the art match for 1994.

From there it's Bret vs. Lex at KOTR, Owen wins the tourney, setting up Bret vs. Owen at SummerSlam. Lex can beat Macho again in a retirement match.

Bret has beaten Yoko, Lex and Owen in back-to-back-back PPVs. You can still do the Backlund thing from here and make another main event heel.

Lex is already a really strong main event heel that's just retired Macho and has only lost twice in the last year, and only one of them clean.

Owen has been elevated to upper mid card/Main Event fill in heel. Unrelated to these happenings, but so has Diesel as a face and Shawn Michaels is on his way as a heel. And Undertaker is back and done with UnderFaker.

From there it's a better balance of faces/heels at the top level Taker/Bret/Diesel as faces, Lex/Owen/HBK as heels, with Backlund temporarily there too, and Yoko isn't far removed from being a top one too.

I love the better balance of top heels and faces by 1995, but I think the "getting there" loses too much of real life that I'd personally be hesitant to sacrifice. Plus, there's nothing I love more than a justified heel with layers of sophisticated complexity... and I think there's something more nuanced about Lex:

a.) having a choke artist tag that haunts him, even after he shakes it;

b.) having to share his big moment/time in the spotlight with a usurper like Bret;

c.) having his highest high and lowest low all happen in the same night, finally winning the world title by vanquishing Yoko to erase his choke artist tag... only to then immediately lose the world title to the usurper Bret, who LOST a match beforehand; and

d.) have this embarrassing stain on his legacy by setting/holding the record for SHORTEST world title reign (assuming we can go back and re-book 1993 to NOT put the title on Hogan at WMIX).

So, speaking of 1993 (and the early days of the New Generation in general then), can I throw out some ideas for feedback from you gents?

Despite LOVING Bret, I've always HATED his outta nowhere title win in late 1992 and abrupt jump from midcard to weak main event. Years later, I feel like this was a stigma that still haunted Bret... as even as champion in late 95/early 96, he felt like second fiddle to Taker/Diesel/Shawn. So I've always harbored this theory that deferring the dream for Bret but in turn treating him like a bigger deal would've benefited him and everyone else way more.

Without opening the can of worms that is rebooking WMVIII, let's say regardless of whatever we rebook or not... coming out of SummerSlam '92, Savage is reigning world champion and Bret has just dropped the IC belt to Bulldog in his first ever main event match. I feel like we've heard all sorts of mixed reports on what Savage wanted out of his career, and Flair has his ear problems and maybe some WCW homesickness... and Vince had his personal feelings and vision for the company. But since this is MY/OUR rebook, we can overlay some of our own personal preferences... right? So here's what I propose for the back half of '92:

Main Beats of Late 1992:
- Keep the world belt on Savage as a totally acceptable placeholder and legitimate main event draw until I can sort out "what's next" for the future of the company. Savage can clearly still go, is still beloved by the fans, and is marketable outside the word of pro wrestling. He's also small enough physically still (while still being larger than life as a personality), maybe I can divert some of that over-muscled giant heat from the steroid trial.

- My preference is for Savage to defend the world title in a rematch against Flair at Survivor Series '92, with ImPerfectference costing Flair the title opportunity... leading to an implosion... and ultimately Perfect's face turn and return to the ring. Maybe after the match, the debuting Razor attacks Savage? Worst case, if we have to go with the tag from real life, I think it still works overall for where I want to go.

- Meanwhile, HBK wins the IC title belt off of Bulldog before Bulldog peaces out. Bret has a champion vs. champion match against HBK in real life that felt so unspecial... but now there's an easy fix. Bret makes total sense as a challenger to HBK for the IC title. So instead of midcard world champ vs. midcard IC champ, we just have a potentially epic IC title defense. Except it's not an actual title defense because of the sweet kayfabe real logic of HBK originally signing a match contract when he wasn't champ, or Bret being a last minute sub, etc. Same match as real life, meaning Bret wins... so now former IC champ Bret has a decisive victory over current reigning IC champ HBK, giving Bret a strong argument for calling himself the real champ or at minimum deserving a rematch.

- Yoko debuts with impressive squashes, etc. Meanwhile, Papa Shango is kept strong after tangling with Warrior/Hogan/etc. earlier in the year. Ideally, he's a more mobile/capable/supernatural monster to beef with 'Taker in 1993 assuming Nailz still flames out and knowing what we know in hindsight about how much Giant Gonzalez SUX.

Main Beats of 1993:
- The 1993 Royal Rumble is still for a world title shot in the main event of WrestleMania IX. Yoko wins, but instead of last eliminating Savage in that stupid pinfall kickout spot... the runner-up is unofficial IC champ Bret in a much more logical spot.

- Also in the Rumble match, perhaps as part of the Final Four, we advance the Perfect/Flair feud with them eliminating each other and continuing to brawl. If I'm applying realism and can't convince Flair to hang around until 'Mania, we stick with the Loser Leaves Town on RAW.

- At the RR93 PPV, we get Macho vs. Machismo with Savage defending the world title against fresh filler opponent Razor Ramon. We also get insecure IC champ HBK defending his title against returning Marty Jannetty with Sherri in a neutral corner (real life match). Also, I'm replacing the tag match on the card. Steiners PPV debut is just in the Rumble itself, with them adding story complexity to the match by working together and showing off their tag team domination during the middle stretch... until Yoko enters and tosses both. The tag match instead becomes Money, Inc. defending the tag titles against the Nasty Boys to close out that feud and position themselves for new challengers (Nasty Boys, as friends of Hulk & Beefcake, maybe also serve as the start of a bridge into that feud?).

...

- After Marty fucks up again and gets suspended again, we pivot to Bret/HBK for the IC title at WMIX. We run the ladder match they would've done had SummerSlam '92 been in DC instead of England. This will actually tie into the WMX ladder match, giving it more story... as HBK will win here. Let's tie in the Sherri angle still, with her seconding Bret. HBK debuts Luna to counter Sherri, and let's have the finish of the ladder match involve an interfering Luna tipping over the ladder after taking out Sherri just at Bret is about to reach the belt. HBK scampers up the ladder to win. HBK now has his win back, a win over Bret to claim he is the undisputed champion... but the finish involving interference and also not a pinfall or submission gives Bret an out. This match essentially works as Bret passing the torch like Piper did to him the previous year. Bret is now free and clear to start progressing up the mountain in earnest.

- Money, Inc. vs. Mega Maniacs is positioned as the co-main event and booked as the final match of WMIX due to Hogan politicking to send the fans home happy. This is my workaround to not jobbing Yoko in idiot fashion. Instead, here's what we do: Yoko more or less squashes Savage to win the title. Fuji directs Yoko to continue Banzai dropping Savage after the match less in celebration, more to send a message to the rest of the WWF. This is the penultimate match/segment of the show. The Mega Maniacs run out to the rescue, with Hulk notably big booting Yoko out of the ring. Money, Inc. bum-rush the ring though through the crowd --less to reinforce Yoko, more just to get the jump on the Mega Manaics-- and we jump start the main event in wild fashion. I keep the same finish with Jimmy Hart flipping his jacket inside out and counting the pinfall, but don't reveal the Dusty Finish until RAW. Send the fans home happy thinking Hulk has just made history by winning his first ever tag title.

- On the undercard at WMIX: Bret gets a big win over recent world title challenger Razor Ramon in a battle of greasiest hair (honestly, could be a better shampoo feud than Edge/Booker T). Taker gets an inconclusive win over either Papa Shango (via voodoo) or Bam Bam (via fireball) to continue that feud to SummerSlam. Keep Steiners/Shrinkers to build both teams as teams of the future. Keep Lex/Perfect, assuming Flair peaces out like real life. Pivot Gonzales to a monster mash matchup against Kamala for a gaga-laden train wreck that at least has some story and/or entertainment value on some level.

...

Spring of 1993:
- Bret continues his organic rise, winning first-ever televised KOTR tournament in same fashion as real life. Starts feud with Jerry Lawler. Involved the best version of Doink as well as Owen Hart to start planting all those seeds.

- IC champ HBK is still insecure because he didn't pin/submit Bret to prove himself definitively as the better man. Also, Luna/Sherri is too much unstable drama in his life. Hence he ditches the ladies and introduces Diesel as his bodyguard. Don't know if I bother hotshotting the IC title to Marty and back. Maybe just establish Diesel by having him help HBK retain over Marty. Debating having the undefeated Tatanka defeat HBK for the IC title though, then having HBK end Tatanka's undefeated streak in a rematch thanks to Diesel-ference to reclaim the title... giving HBK a feather in his cap (no pun intended). Knowing Borga is gonna flame out, not sure I want to give him Tatanka's first loss as a nothc in his belt.

- Yoko kills Hulkamania at KOTR like in real life. En route to getting their, the Dusty Finish is revealed on RAW after WMIX. The tag belts are returned to Money, Inc. Steiners defeat Money, Inc. with no shenanigans involved to win the tag titles at KOTR as a feel-good moment to offset the death of Hulkamania. Former world champ Savage does commentary throughout this period, selling injuries and doubt after having been so decisively squashed by Yoko. Savage really puts over the threat that Yoko is and how scared of Yoko he is... hence his hesitation to intervene and tangle with Yoko again, even when Crush is getting murdered.

- Lex Express starts after Lex randomly turns face and body slams Yoko on Independence Day. USA! USA! USA!

Summer of 1993:
- Lex "chokes" at SummerSlam, but in a way that keeps him more protected. Yoko is counted out after Lex KOs him with a loaded forearm and Yoko falls out of the ring through the ropes. Lex, despite all his muscles, can't lift Yoko back into the ring in time. Lex doesn't celebrate his count-out victory because he DIDN'T win the title. Balloons can still fall, but pissed-off Lex stomps and pops balloons and bats them into the crowd instead. He wants another shot, damnit!

- Taker ends his feud with either Papa Shango or Bam Bam in a coffin match.

- Bret pulls awesome match double duty against Doink and Lawler.

- Steiners retain the tag titles in their hometown against Bodies or Shrinkers... who cares.

- After potentially reclaiming the IC title belt from Tatanka, HBK declares himself greatest IC champ of all time. Perfect takes issue with the claim. They feud. Hopefully the match at SummerSlam is better than real life and lives up to expectations. Regardless of it does or doesn't, let's say Diesel jackknifes perfect on the outside which causes a back injury (kayfabe or shoot) that sidelines Perfect. HBK (thanks to Diesel) is low key killing lesser legends as midcard heel champ while Yoko is doing the same in the main event.

- Maybe I hotshot Borga/Tatanka at SummerSlam... and maybe I hand Tatanka his first CLEAN loss here to put Borga over in hopes that the Borga project actually pans out.

Fall of 1993:
- More or less unchanged from real life... leading us into the 1994 we've been discussing.

May 2, 2020 1:54:02 GMT Kilgore said:

I do NOT remember the specifics of '93/'94, so correct if this doesn't work.

Isn't the easiest cleanup of WMX just spreading out the title changes?

So Lex wins at SummerSlam. You prevent the choke artist vibe.

Instead of Survivor Series Match at Survivor Series, Lex has a rematch with Yoko that he loses through shenanigans.

Royal Rumble is still Yoko vs. Undertaker for the strap. Bret and Lex are still the last two in the Rumble Match, but Bret wins clean after a restart from the double winner finish. Luger can lean towards heel from here, or fully go heel and attack Bret after the match. It'd be kinda funny if Bret got attacked twice at Royal Rumble '94, like the worst night ever.

By Wrestlemania X, Luger is a full heel and faces an old legend like Savage who does the "HOW COULD YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON THE FANS TYPE DEAL," Luger goes over as a strong heel.

Bret beats Yoko clean. Has feuds set up with Lex and Owen to get him to the second half of 1994.

The only bad, and it's REALLY BAD, is we miss Bret vs. Owen at WMX, but could you just do the same exact match on the Raw before Wrestlemania and it would serve the same purpose?

Bret goes into WrestleMania with doubts from the Owen loss, Bret wins the strap and Owen does the same deal from the aisle not celebrating it with all the boys, and then claiming to be the real champion. Owen is also now free to wrestle someone like 1-2-3 Kid at WMX, going into it as a clear favorite from the Bret win momentum, then go over clean to continue his push. It would also probably be a pretty state of the art match for 1994.

From there it's Bret vs. Lex at KOTR, Owen wins the tourney, setting up Bret vs. Owen at SummerSlam. Lex can beat Macho again in a retirement match.

Bret has beaten Yoko, Lex and Owen in back-to-back-back PPVs. You can still do the Backlund thing from here and make another main event heel.

Lex is already a really strong main event heel that's just retired Macho and has only lost twice in the last year, and only one of them clean.

Owen has been elevated to upper mid card/Main Event fill in heel. Unrelated to these happenings, but so has Diesel as a face and Shawn Michaels is on his way as a heel. And Undertaker is back and done with UnderFaker.

From there it's a better balance of faces/heels at the top level Taker/Bret/Diesel as faces, Lex/Owen/HBK as heels, with Backlund temporarily there too, and Yoko isn't far removed from being a top one too.

I'd say the problem with this is that if you go with Lex at SummerSlam and it is really not working out to the extent that you drop the title back to Yoko (and it would have to be going pretty damn bad, as you'd go all in on babyface runs and not too and fro the title back then, see Diesel 1995), then would the Owen story even exist? If you know Luger isn't working out and it is going back to Yoko, then it is clear that it is going to Bret next. Now, the Owen angle apparently came from Bruce who wanted it to be himself. It was easy to set up since it was going to be the Hart Family vs. The King's Court, but would you be setting up Owen Hart to be a World Title challenger in late 1993?

That program becoming for the World Title always felt like circumstance. Vince wanted Lex but didn't pull the trigger at SummerSlam. Maybe he wanted Lex to show more enthusiasm for it, maybe he thought he could do better house show business with Luger chasing Yoko a little longer. The plan was still for Luger to become champ and Owen got set up as Bret's next feud. Vince started having real doubts about Luger and after the popularity contest at the Rumble, decided to go with Bret, which is how we got the series of matches at Mania. And the Owen feud had been set up, so had to go with him as the title challenger.

Owen had been such a non-entity in 1993, that the idea of him fighting for the World Title at the next year's SummerSlam heading into Survivor Series 1993 would've been crazy. It was probably still crazy for many long after.

May 2, 2020 14:36:12 GMT 🤯 said:

- Meanwhile, HBK wins the IC title belt off of Bulldog before Bulldog peaces out. Bret has a champion vs. champion match against HBK in real life that felt so unspecial... but now there's an easy fix. Bret makes total sense as a challenger to HBK for the IC title. So instead of midcard world champ vs. midcard IC champ, we just have a potentially epic IC title defense. Except it's not an actual title defense because of the sweet kayfabe real logic of HBK originally signing a match contract when he wasn't champ, or Bret being a last minute sub, etc. Same match as real life, meaning Bret wins... so now former IC champ Bret has a decisive victory over current reigning IC champ HBK, giving Bret a strong argument for calling himself the real champ or at minimum deserving a rematch.

I like this. Bret and Shawn had feuded between Mania and SummerSlam, working the house show loops including the ladder match, but there wasn't much in the way of angles sadly, just some insert promos. When Wembley was picked for SummerSlam, the match became Bret/Davey rather than Bret/Shawn. Bret's feud after SummerSlam was Papa Shango, who claimed credit for a curse causing Bret to lose the IC title and it was blown off at the Oct SNME, by which time Bret was already World Champion. Bret/Shawn was already booked for Survivor Series as the blow-off to their deal when neither had a title. It is funny to see the original program (the picture of which I can no longer find online) and it looks like this:

MAIN EVENT
Ultimate Maniacs vs. Ric Flair & Razor Ramon

COFFIN MATCH
Undertaker vs. Kamala

NIGHTSTICK ON A POLE MATCH
Big Boss Man vs. Nailz

WWF INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
British Bulldog vs. Mountie

OTHER GREAT MATCHES
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
and the rest

Now, obviously a large reason for that is for the formatting looking nice, with Bret/HBK not having a title or stip, but it is amazing how a match between an upper mid-carder on the rise and a mid-carder on the rise suddenly became a World Title match featuring the IC Champion and closed the show. It is no wonder it felt small time as a PPV closer.

Bret/HBK at Survivor Series 1992 in a IC Title level match sounds perfect. And I really enjoy the booking to give Bret the win and rightful claim to a rematch, but keep the belt on HBK and have it all make sense. Makes me think of Brain Busters vs. Hart Foundation at SummerSlam 1989 not being for the titles for the same reason, so you'd think the Hart Foundation might win, but then they don't anyway. Here, the non champ does win. Then you just need HBK to attack Bret backstage using a ladder at some point post-Rumble and that stip makes sense.

May 2, 2020 14:36:12 GMT 🤯 said:

Meanwhile, Papa Shango is kept strong after tangling with Warrior/Hogan/etc. earlier in the year. Ideally, he's a more mobile/capable/supernatural monster to beef with 'Taker in 1993 assuming Nailz still flames out and knowing what we know in hindsight about how much Giant Gonzalez SUX.

As Charles Wright repeatedly proved, he was poor in the ring. But there would be all manner of fun gimmicky stuff to do with his character opposite Taker. I still think Shango worked as a gimmick in the sense of him being like a magician/psychological illusionist with the Mean Gene ooze and jobber's feet on fire and that his voodoo only worked if you believed it, like with Warrior and not with Bret. Warrior got those stomach cramps because it was a nocebo effect. He believed in the gods and the warriors and the rocket fuel. Of course he believed in voodoo. Taker may be the perfect guy to end Shango's run and truly expose him.

May 2, 2020 14:36:12 GMT 🤯 said:

- The 1993 Royal Rumble is still for a world title shot in the main event of WrestleMania IX. Yoko wins, but instead of last eliminating Savage in that stupid pinfall kickout spot...

I still want someone to ask Bruce Prichard (since he has a podcast and you can send in questions, maybe I should) who came up with the finish. I don't even have a problem with the idea of Savage on instinct going for the pin (like Garvin/Valentine in their Rumble 90 submission match), but Yoko isn't a muscle guy. He is a mobile fat monster. His threat was in his mass and ability to squash you. That type of spot would be something suitable for a strongest man gimmick (Dino Bravo) or a giant muscle-man (Warlord). Obviously it would pretty much be impossible to make it look good no matter who it was. But Yoko wasn't strong. He wasn't doing gorilla press slams. Why is he pressing someone from the floor over the top rope?

May 2, 2020 14:36:12 GMT 🤯 said:

- At the RR93 PPV, we get Macho vs. Machismo with Savage defending the world title against fresh filler opponent Razor Ramon.

Definitely a match that needed to happen. Considering that Razor worked Backlund for some reason in a nothing match and Savage was on commentary, it is madness they didn't just run it at the actual Mania IX. It was a long-standing feud in the latter third of 1992. Razor/Perfect was another viable option that should've been run. Coming in to 1993, those are the two PPV singles matches you'd expect for Razor.

May 2, 2020 14:36:12 GMT 🤯 said:

- After Marty fucks up again and gets suspended again, we pivot to Bret/HBK for the IC title at WMIX. We run the ladder match they would've done had SummerSlam '92 been in DC instead of England. This will actually tie into the WMX ladder match, giving it more story... as HBK will win here.

This is obviously a major rebooking issue. You are keeping Shawn/Razor because of what it means, but it doesn't mean anything close to the same in a universe where it isn't the first, no matter how good it is. If someone did Bret/Shawn ladder at Mania IX, I don't see them going back to the well the next year.

May 2, 2020 14:36:12 GMT 🤯 said:

Let's tie in the Sherri angle still, with her seconding Bret. HBK debuts Luna to counter Sherri, and let's have the finish of the ladder match involve an interfering Luna tipping over the ladder after taking out Sherri just at Bret is about to reach the belt.

I like that it gives Bret an out, but Luna with Shawn was a poor fit, even if it was for one night. This scary looking woman with the Heartbreak Kid. If they had debuted Luna on TV before as someone mean and nasty that Shawn had found to specifically take out Sherri, fine. But when she just appeared at Mania as she did, it didn't work. She was such a perfect fit visually with Bammer.

May 2, 2020 14:36:12 GMT 🤯 said:

- Money, Inc. vs. Mega Maniacs is positioned as the co-main event and booked as the final match of WMIX due to Hogan politicking to send the fans home happy. This is my workaround to not jobbing Yoko in idiot fashion. Instead, here's what we do: Yoko more or less squashes Savage to win the title. Fuji directs Yoko to continue Banzai dropping Savage after the match less in celebration, more to send a message to the rest of the WWF. This is the penultimate match/segment of the show. The Mega Maniacs run out to the rescue, with Hulk notably big booting Yoko out of the ring. Money, Inc. bum-rush the ring though through the crowd --less to reinforce Yoko, more just to get the jump on the Mega Maniacs-- and we jump start the main event in wild fashion. I keep the same finish with Jimmy Hart flipping his jacket inside out and counting the pinfall, but don't reveal the Dusty Finish until RAW. Send the fans home happy thinking Hulk has just made history by winning his first ever tag title.

Hogan's return to the ring was the true selling point of this Mania so him main eventing works. I think you could do a Dusty Finish that doesn't make it as obvious as it was with Jimmy Hart. Even if he just happened to have a black and white striped inside of his jacket, why would he even think to turn it inside out in that moment?

Inner monologue of Jimmy Hart at WrestleMania IX, probably

"Oh hey baby. The Hulkster and the Barber baby. They have Money Inc. down for the count baby. But this referee is also out for the count baby. If only I could get my hands on a referee shirt baby. Then I would be able to count the fall baby. In all of my years of experience, there has been nothing to suggest that won't work baby. But wait baby. The inside of my jacket is black and white striped baby. And if I just turn it inside out and count the fall, the Mega Maniacs are gonna be the new champs baby. I know that the WWF doesn't use that style of referee shirt baby. But it will all be good baby. Baby."

It was a preposterously over-thought spot that didn't work and no one bought it. The idea that Hogan, most successful wrestler ever, would think he could win the title that way was ludicrous.