njcardfan
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@njcardfan
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Post by njcardfan on Oct 28, 2019 11:50:38 GMT
IMO, this was the start of the greatest era of wrestling, The Attitude Era. But what if this never happened? What if Bret Hart had either defeated HBK or the match was a schmozz, which it was supposed to be. Then Bret comes on RAW the following night and relinquishes the title? For starters, there would have never been the character of Mr. McMahon. #2, there would have been a tournament to crown a new champions, probably at the Royal Rumble (would have been too much time to let it last until Wrestlemania). This means that HBK doesn't break his back against the Undertaker and would have set up an interesting scenario involving Stone Cold as his star was rising and McMahon couldn't ignore it. But HBK wielded a lot of power and DX would have continued with he, HHH, Chyna, and Rick Rude. The NAO might not have joined. There are a lot of other scenarios that would have taken place but what do you think would have happened had this not taken place?
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Post by twothousandonemark on Oct 28, 2019 21:18:27 GMT
What if he never left or just the screwjob?
I think the biggest omission would be Mr. McMahon, & him taking heat for Austin on a weekly basis. Otherwise, I do think the Attitude Era surfaces, yet not quite the meta way we were gifted.
Having said that, the Monday Night wars were already underway, so there was bound to be other triggers we weren't privy to.
There's a third option - what if WCW hadn't buried Bret's heat. I think that's underrated, that even with the screwjob lighting the fires at WWF, Bret at centre of the storm wasn't given much to do at all in WCW.
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njcardfan
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@njcardfan
Posts: 628
Likes: 353
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Post by njcardfan on Oct 29, 2019 0:25:05 GMT
Like I said, had Bret still left but was allowed to surrender his title on RAW instead of McMahon doing what he did, it would have completely changed wrestling. Here's my theory:
Bret surrenders the title on RAW and simply walks out. HBK comes out and demands he be given the title because he was jobbed out of it at Survivor Series when the Hart Foundation interfered in the match followed by DX which caused the double DQ(the aforementioned schmozz). Several other wrestlers come out claiming their right to the title(Undertaker, Farooq, Owen Hart, Vader, British Bulldog, etc). Commissioner Slaughter comes out(as there is no Mr. McMahon character) and announces that there was going to be a tournament to decide the next WWF champion with the championship match to be decided at the Royal Rumble. The tournament takes place over a period of weeks with the semi-finals being held at the December In Your House which are won by HBK and The Undertaker(which sets up the title match at Royal Rumble which ended up happening). During the tournament, the Undertaker's estranged brother Kane would often interfere in on his behalf which allowed for him to reach the finals.
Meanwhile, Stone Cold Steve Austin chose to opt out of the tournament so he could concentrate on the Rumble itself saying he plans to win the title at Wrestlemania. The time between the IYH and the Rumble built up the championship match which was going to be a specialty match and the winning match by fan vote. The fans ultimately chose a casket match over Hell in a Cell. Also during this time, Stone Cold would stun anyone who got in his way saying he was going to win the Rumble. Come Royal Rumble time, Austin wins the Rumble while HBK wins the casket match with the help of Kane who proceeded to set the casket, which has been nailed shut, on fire as the show closes out. After that, everything pretty much proceeds as it did eventually.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Oct 30, 2019 2:02:15 GMT
Until the end of time, I'll never get how or why a company's title belt(s) somehow belong to the wrestler, like it's their property? lols
Fictional superstar persona, fictional title belts... how & why is that forever a thing like it's completely out of a promotion's hands.
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Post by PreachCaleb on Oct 30, 2019 13:28:51 GMT
Until the end of time, I'll never get how or why a company's title belt(s) somehow belong to the wrestler, like it's their property? lols Fictional superstar persona, fictional title belts... how & why is that forever a thing like it's completely out of a promotion's hands. Well, at least back in the NWA days, the champion had to put down a deposit. Besides, that's a part of the business. If you're the champ, you take the belt everywhere you go. It's one of the leftovers from the days of kayfabe.
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njcardfan
Sophomore
@njcardfan
Posts: 628
Likes: 353
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Post by njcardfan on Oct 30, 2019 14:21:10 GMT
Until the end of time, I'll never get how or why a company's title belt(s) somehow belong to the wrestler, like it's their property? lols Fictional superstar persona, fictional title belts... how & why is that forever a thing like it's completely out of a promotion's hands. Well, at least back in the NWA days, the champion had to put down a deposit. Besides, that's a part of the business. If you're the champ, you take the belt everywhere you go. It's one of the leftovers from the days of kayfabe. Which is why Rick Flair brought Crockett's title to the WWF. Crockett wouldn't give him his deposit back and Flair said, "I have something for you." As for Bret Hart, he claimed no ownership, he just didn't want to drop the title in Canada which is funny considering Americans would drop the titles in the U.S. all the time. That said, McMahon's paranoia got the better of him. When Medusa threw the WWF Women's Title belt in the trash on Nitro, it was embarrassing to McMahon(fun fact, Medusa aka Alundra Blaze first won that title she won it over a friend of mine) and he felt it would be completely devastating had Bret shown up on Nitro with the WWF's top title even if he were to drop it into a mail box. You have to remember this was in the midst of the Monday Night Wars and at the time WCW was waxing the WWF's ass. Bret Hart parading the WWF title on Nitro would have set the WWF back and Vince didn't want that so I don't blame Vince for wanting his title back. That said, he shouldn't have lied to Bret. Bret did a lot for the WWF and to make him look foolish was not the right thing to do. I think that if Bret was made aware of the screwjob he might have gone along with it because he would have dropped the title and saved face at the same time. I'm willing to bet that neither side thought of that. Oh, as for taking the title everywhere. Just remember not to leave it sitting in a limo
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