Aug 19, 2023 5:06:22 GMT Kilgore said:

While Austin, no doubt, was becoming difficult, he was absolutely correct to think Billy Gunn, Jeff Jarrett and Chyna were unworthy and time has only proved him correct.

Given how successful they were, it does get a little bit forgotten how lacking in top talent the WWF was in 1998-1999. Sid, Bret and HBK had all departed in late 97-early 98. Vader slid to irrelevance by his mid-98 departure.

There is a reason why John Tenta was being hyped as an Austin rival for post-Mania in early 1998 by the newsletters. And as crazy as that sounds, remember they did bring in Bossman later in the year and he was lined up to feud with Austin before he forgot his cue at the Survivor Series.

Of course, there was an idea to have Dr. Death as a potential opponent if he had won the Brawl for All. And I'm sure J.R. has said they envisioned Regal as well but he was a mess at the time and given a midcard gimmick.

They immediately jobbed out Big Show to Austin, flip flopped him face and heel, and he would never become the star he could've been after that.

So they just kept going back to the McMahon and Undertaker wells.

Do we think fans would've accepted an Austin vs. Chyna match at SummerSlam 1999? I think they probably would have. But Chyna as a heel against the ultimate badass face (who is the star of the company) was never going to work. Chyna as a face beating up obnoxious midcard heels like Jarrett and Jericho was absolutely the way to go.

Aug 28, 2023 6:47:12 GMT Strobe said:

Aug 19, 2023 5:06:22 GMT Kilgore said:

While Austin, no doubt, was becoming difficult, he was absolutely correct to think Billy Gunn, Jeff Jarrett and Chyna were unworthy and time has only proved him correct.

Given how successful they were, it does get a little bit forgotten how lacking in top talent the WWF was in 1998-1999. Sid, Bret and HBK had all departed in late 97-early 98. Vader slid to irrelevance by his mid-98 departure.

It's funny you mention Sid because that's the only big name I can think of that could have been brought in the summer of 1999 for an Austin feud. Last WWF appearances were June/July 1997, two years in Monday Night Wars years is an eternity, so he'd seem oddly fresh, and be better received in a main event run than Bossman/Davey Boy. Sid does the ECW run and signs with WCW in June 1999. What if the WWF makes him an offer first? He's probably a McMahon henchman brought in to destroy Austin, they run a program for most of the summer until Austin is asked to drop the belt to Triple H at SummerSlam. Not the greatest summer of Austin, but probably the best case scenario considering the landscape. 

Even Sid's limitations in "real" matches, he should be in as few of them as possible, the Austin-Undertaker matches we actually got were horrible, so Sid matches couldn't possibly be that much worse, and at least it would be fresher, and probably shorter.

Only other option is WWF poaching Taz six months earlier. Austin is always complimentary of Taz now, but I doubt he'd love the idea of a debuting Taz feud in 1999. Even the best case scenario of this is kind of The Big Show situation, though, where the new signing is sacrificed to Austin immediately and never really recovers. Considering what they actually did with Taz, this might be the best case scenario for Taz, sadly. 

Not a lot of options in 1999 is the true moral of the story. It makes sense that the WWF was reaching in the midcard and it also makes sense that Stone Cold was like, nope, to every single one mentioned. 

Aug 28, 2023 0:23:00 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Watching through that Summer recently on Peacock and thinking about it now man how much better of a fit would Sandman been in the WWF? Same for a lot of ECW guys that Summer, what if Paul E. pulled the plug after Hardcore Heaven in May of that year and all those guys started integrating into the WWF roster that Summer, Van Dam, Sabu, Sandman, New Jack et al, would have fit like a glove and instantly made WWF even better. Could you imagine Van Dam hitting WWF that Summer how over he would have been like immediately? 

I'm with Big Pete . Those guys would have been stuck in the Hardcore division and only one would have ended up making any sort of impact.

You have to remember Austin already had the beer drinking gimmick. Sandman isn't going to be smoking or coming out to Metallica either. So there goes most of his appeal. Best case scenario he manages to avoid showing up in no condition to perform for a whopping six months and trades the Hardcore Title back and forth with the Hollys a few times before getting fired when he inevitably does show up in no condition to perform (which is why six months was my best case scenario).

New Jack wouldn't last three (probably wouldn't last 3 weeks but I'm playing best case scenario, people!) and Sabu gets fired around that same time for refusing to job to Austin in Texas or some such Sabuness.

You didn't mention Dreamer, but I will. He'd have lasted as a low midcarder competing in the Hardcore division and on lesser shows just like in real life.

The one guy I think makes it is RVD. But even he's being pigeonholed as just another hardcore guy in 1999. Yet I do think he'd rise up the card when WWF became a little more in ring centric in late 99-2000. Plus he had that undeniable swagger. Yeah, he'd be alright provided he can tough out a rough initial few months. Think a sort of turn of the century LA Knight arc.

Aug 28, 2023 6:47:12 GMT Strobe said:

Given how successful they were, it does get a little bit forgotten how lacking in top talent the WWF was in 1998-1999. Sid, Bret and HBK had all departed in late 97-early 98. Vader slid to irrelevance by his mid-98 departure.

There is a reason why John Tenta was being hyped as an Austin rival for post-Mania in early 1998 by the newsletters. And as crazy as that sounds, remember they did bring in Bossman later in the year and he was lined up to feud with Austin before he forgot his cue at the Survivor Series.

Of course, there was an idea to have Dr. Death as a potential opponent if he had won the Brawl for All. And I'm sure J.R. has said they envisioned Regal as well but he was a mess at the time and given a midcard gimmick.

They immediately jobbed out Big Show to Austin, flip flopped him face and heel, and he would never become the star he could've been after that.

So they just kept going back to the McMahon and Undertaker wells.

Do we think fans would've accepted an Austin vs. Chyna match at SummerSlam 1999? I think they probably would have. But Chyna as a heel against the ultimate badass face (who is the star of the company) was never going to work. Chyna as a face beating up obnoxious midcard heels like Jarrett and Jericho was absolutely the way to go.

I touched on all this a while back. It's all true! Tenta, Bossman, and Doc really were rumored to be main event Austin opponents. And Bulldog really did main event a PPV in 1999 which might be the most insane thing of all. WWF got by 98-99 riding Austin/McMahon and relying on lots of smoke and mirrors. Just proves the old adage "when you're hot, you're hot."

I also think fans would have accepted Austin/Chyna as a PPV main. 1999 WWF fans were actually a very accepting bunch. They accepted Shane & Vince as champions. They accepted the Stooges and Mean Street Posse as wrestlers. They accepted Chyna as IC Champ. Heck, they accepted tiny Sable powerbombing and beating Marc Mero. So long as you had some sort of character (or were a woman showing lots of skin) you were good. About the only thing late 90s WWF fans didn't go for was "boring." Guys with no character and bland 'good wrestler guys' did have a tough time getting over with that audience. For example it's been lost to time how NOT over the Hardys were during their first year. Taka was never more over than when he did the "Indeed" gimmick. Etc. etc.

I also agree with your last sentence and am going to tie it in with Main Event Chyna. I think the real money in a main event Chyna would have to put her opposite a Jarrett style heel WWF Champion. Chyna vs. 2000 Kurt Angle would have worked. Come to think of it, Chyna vs. late 1999 HHH would have been even better. You'd have two and a half years of story to build from. And remember this was before HHH levelled up to god tier. Forget the Big Show experiment. Now I'm thinking Survivor Series 99 should have been HHH/Chyna for the WWF Championship.

Aug 28, 2023 23:02:28 GMT Kilgore said:

Only other option is WWF poaching Taz six months earlier. Austin is always complimentary of Taz now, but I doubt he'd love the idea of a debuting Taz feud in 1999. Even the best case scenario of this is kind of The Big Show situation, though, where the new signing is sacrificed to Austin immediately and never really recovers. Considering what they actually did with Taz, this might be the best case scenario for Taz, sadly.

Nice idea on paper, but it never would have happened. No way the prickly cash cow with the famously bad neck is going to be taking the sickest suplexes in the States. And what is Taz without the 'plexes? He's just a very short man with no history in big time wrestling and a glorified sleeper for a finish. Never would have worked.