Rebooking the WWF in 1991

[hb2k]

So for this week's podcast we are returning to our booking committee format for a discussion Rebooking the WWF in 1991, a very interesting time that began the downturn for the company. We're looking to get some feedback on what you think needed to be done to make things succeed during a period where popularity fell.

Starting as everything was on January 1st 1991, what do you book for WrestleMania 7? Do you run with the Slaughter Gulf War angle? What do you do with Warrior's WWF Title run? What do you do with the incoming Sid Justice and Ric Flair? What do you do with the titles? Where does Hogan fit in?

As always, we'll be reading the best feedback/ideas on the show and crediting you accordingly. So what would you have done?

EDIT - Our show Rebooking the WWF in 1991, featuring many of your contributions is now online and available to listen to at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/s99tqu/SCG_Radio_85_-_Rebooking_The_WWF_in_1991.mp3

[DAMN iNATOR]

Don't really know a ton about the 1991 era, but I know enough to say I don't think it was smart to turn Sgt. Slaughter into an Iraqi sympathizer heel character, especially not to be a cheap foil for Hogan @ WM 7 in the main event.

[hb2k]

If it helps, the roster at the time was...

Hulk Hogan [F]
The Ultimate Warrior [F]
"Macho Man" Randy Savage [H]
Sgt. Slaughter [H]
The Undertaker [H]
Andre the Giant [F]
Jake "The Snake" Roberts [F]
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase [H]
Earthquake [H]
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan [F]
Mr. Perfect [H]
The Big Boss Man [F]
"The Model" Rick Martel [H]
Dusty Rhodes [F]
Dino Bravo [H]
Tugboat [F]
Hawk [F]
Animal [F]
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper [F]
"The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich [F]
"The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith [F]
Bret "Hitman" Hart [F]
Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart [F]
Demolition Smash [H]
Demolition Crush [H]
Brian Knobbs [H]
Jerry Saggs [H]
Tito Santana [F]
Shawn Michaels [F]
Marty Jannetty [F]
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine [H]
Shane Douglas [F]
Paul Roma [H]
Hercules [H]
"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka [F]
Haku [H]
The Barbarian [H]
Dustin Rhodes [F]
The Warlord [H]
"The Birdman" Koko B. Ware [F]
Bushwhacker Luke [F]
Bushwhacker Butch [F]
Saba Simba [F]
Tanaka [H]
Kato [H]
Virgil [H]
Hillbilly Jim [F]
Jim Powers [F]
The Brooklyn Brawler [H]

[DAMN iNATOR]

LOL, I'll leave the logistics of this particular scenario to other posters who would have more informed opinions on what to change.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Looking at those names, I think I want to push Kato.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'll be honest -- I've never seen WrestleMania VII. The card looks fucking awful though. The retirement angle with Savage, Warrior and Elizabeth is classic, but with control of the book, are you really looking to retire Savage? And are you really looking to put the WWF Title on a heel Sgt. Slaughter?

The way I see it, your big centerpieces for Mania are Hogan, Savage and Warrior. Your realistic main events are Hogan vs. Savage, Warrior vs. Savage or Hogan vs. Warrior. Now, if you do Hogan vs. Warrior II, is a heel Hogan out of the question? Was he losing steam with fans at the time, and if so, was it noticeable enough to warrant the change? Hogan as a heel against Warrior means you probably go further with Warrior with the strap though, which might have been wearing thin too. That also means you need a face opponent for Savage, so that might disqualify it right now. But a heel Hogan is something I'd be looking at.

You could run Hogan/Warrior at the Rumble, give Hogan the belt back, and run Hogan vs. Savage and try to pluck the same heart strings as that Warrior/Savage actuality, but with that no-good-wife-stealing-product-of-a-racist-community Hogan as the foil. Then you need to find something for Warrior.

I'm going to betray my lack of knowledge of the product at the time, but is Warrior vs. Undertaker off the cards as a possibility? The match may have blown, but it'd have spectacle, right? Am I wrong in assuming that Jimmy Snuka came back as a bit of a turd? He was probably up all night murderin'.

I'm going with Hogan vs. Savage, which I guess means that Savage wins the 1991 Royal Rumble. I know title shots weren't automatically afforded to winners then, but he's the guy that makes the most sense.

The Hart Foundation were the WWF World Tag Team Champions for WrestleMania VIII, where they dropped the belts to The Nasty Boys, which makes me want to snap my own neck, but Dave Meltzer actually gave the match a good rating. Could you switch the belts and start Bret's singles push with him challenging Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental Title at Mania?

As for who beats The Hart Foundation? How about putting the belts on either Barbarian & Haku or The Rockers and have that match be for the belts, while Demolition and LOD fight each other in that "dream match?" It sounds like The Demos were at the end of their run, so they could have put LOD over to go on and make The Rockers bounce around the ring.

I know Virgil is a punchline now, but he seemed very over for the time he was feuding against DiBiase. Is that storyline integral to WrestleMania, or would DiBiase vs. Piper with the Virgil turn coming at Mania be preferable? I'm reading that Dusty had a program with DiBiase heading at the start of the year. Maybe DiBiase & Virgil vs. The Rhodeseses could have been extended, either as a tag or with Dusty going against DiBiase and Dustin beating Virgil earlier on the show?

Since you already had Sgt. Slaughter doing the heel gimmick, putting him against a pro-American guy somewhere on the card is a given -- just nowhere near the main event. Dusty Rhodes also falls into that category. I'm not sure how great the match could have been, but maybe with a "Boot Camp" gimmick, it could have tapped into more of what made Dusty Dusty? Slaughter could have beaten down Dustin to set the match up. There's also Jim Duggan, but I know how much you guys hate him. He's another guy that could have been tortured by Slaughter (not literally) heading into a possible Slaughter vs. Dusty match.

Jake Roberts was around. He was a face. Weirdly enough, one of my first instincts was to put him against Big Bossman. Law vs. anarchy. Both were faces at the time, so you'd probably have to turn one. A turn could help the match get over though. The match may not make too many salivate, but I'm trusting Jim Cornette on Bossman's potential here. I guess you could also do Rick Martel vs. Jake Roberts, just without the blindfold bullshit.

Earthquake is around and adds that classic big guy "spectacle." Or something. If you don't do Warrior vs. Undertaker (too soon for Taker and you don't want either man to lose), you could put Earthquake against Warrior for a squash and Bossman against Taker. With Taker vs. Bossman I'm actually thinking about saving people from the future Hell in a Cell match they'd have by burning it here.

So far I've got:

* Hogan vs. Savage for the WWF World Title
* Ultimate Warrior vs. either Undertaker or Earthquake (gentleman's choice)
* Ted DiBiase vs. Roddy Piper
* Mr. Perfect vs. Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Title
* Sgt. Slaughter vs. Dusty Rhodes in a Boot Camp Match
* Big Bossman vs. either Jake Roberts or The Undertaker
* POSSIBLY: Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel with full vision afforded to both men, unless Roberts is blind
* The Rockers vs. Haku & Barbarian for the Tag Titles
* Demolition vs. LOD in the P.T. Barnum "Something for Everyone Match" -- maybe a "Losing Team Must Disband" stip? Too much?

This is going to sound weird, but I really want to see a "British Bulldog vs. Texas Tornado" match. I don't know why. Probably name symmetry. Maybe have The Mountie beat Tito Santana too.

[The Condor]

I love WM VII. Personally, I would run a heel Slaughter feud based solely upon patriotism with Hogan, because heel Slaughter is, in all honesty, a top notch level heel, and his and Hogan's feud didn't need the title, just lIke the Earthquake feud the previous summer.

. The real main event would be a title match between Savage and Warrior. Also, keep the opener with the Rockers.

[Bad News Gertner]

Saba Simba vs Virgil in the battle of "which racial stereotype set African Americans back further in wrestling" match

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

STOP LIVING IN THE PAST!

[DAMN iNATOR]

STD really harshing the vibe in here...chillax, bro, it's only hypothetical.

[Bad News Gertner]

Hb2k is not a woman. Surprised STD is attacking him.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

It's a tpww catchphrase/meme. Not really a fan of guest booking but not attacking anybody.

"Noya" was a spammer.

I'm a fan of Squared Circle.

[Bad News Gertner]

I'd spend 91 building up Sid as your top face. Sid could have gotten over huge in that company.

[The Condor]

I'd spend 91 building up Sid as your top face. Sid could have gotten over huge in that company.

I never thought that way until a few years ago. I figured that the audience had a few more years of cartoon in them before they inevitably wanted something else, but the world did indeed want a badass at this time, and Sid with his awesome charisma and power moves was the guy that could have done it.

I saw in a shoot that Nash said Sid told Vince he didn't want to be a face, he thought his money was in being a heel. 5 years before Austin turned face at WM13, Sid was on the exact same trajectory of a killer heel who could be an anti-hero face.

[Nicky Fives]

not sure about Sid being the face of the company as a face.... as a heel, no doubt.....

[hb2k]

Interesting to think about actually, would it have been better to bring Sid in as a heel and then do the mega face turn, or do what they did and bring him in as a face just to turn him heel?

[Bad News Gertner]

Mega heel and then turn him face

[Shisen Kopf]

It's a tpww catchphrase/meme. Not really a fan of guest booking but not attacking anybody.

"Noya" was a spammer.

I'm a fan of Squared Circle.

Noya Perez was a delightful lady and brought much to the forums but now she's gone :(

[Shisen Kopf]

Sid as a heel is so much better but Sid Vicious was a much better name than Sid Justice.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'd spend 91 building up Sid as your top face. Sid could have gotten over huge in that company.

There is a lot of trash lying around for Sid to clean up. It seems anachronistic, but could you have Sid coming out and laying out Bushwhackers with Powerbombs at each show? Is it also too "New Generation" to bring him as Ted DiBiase's new paid bodyguard to beat up Virgil after the face turn, then have Vicious turn on DiBiase and go wild for that big babyface run?

[DAMN iNATOR]

Noya Perez was a delightful lady and brought much to the forums but now she's gone :(

RIP

[Jordan]

I'll be honest -- I've never seen WrestleMania VII.

Dude, you can't be as big of a nerd as you are about WWE and not have watched every Wrestlemania, come on man.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Some of us didn't become full-time watchers until a little later on in our lives. Let's keep that in mind.

[Sixx]

Tugboat as World Champion obviously.

[Bad News Gertner]

There is a lot of trash lying around for Sid to clean up. It seems anachronistic, but could you have Sid coming out and laying out Bushwhackers with Powerbombs at each show? Is it also too "New Generation" to bring him as Ted DiBiase's new paid bodyguard to beat up Virgil after the face turn, then have Vicious turn on DiBiase and go wild for that big babyface run?

I'd align Sid with Savage as a bad ass heel combo. Put the belt on Macho Man with Sid watching his back. Have Macho and Sid feud with Hogan and Warrior. Have Macho slap Sid for costing him a tag match with Hogan and Warrior. Sid Powerbombs Macho Man and starts a feud with him. In the meantime have Flair come in and feud with Hogan.

Wrestlemania 8

Sid vs Macho for the WWF Title. Macho can make Sid look like a million bucks in the match
Hogan vs Flair

[Bad News Gertner]

I wrote that at my desk at work so it's not really well thought out lol

[hb2k]

I want to thank everybody for the contributions, we got to read many of them on the show, which is now available at the following link:

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/s99tqu/SCG_Radio_85_-_Rebooking_The_WWF_in_1991.mp3

Join us for our show Rebooking the WWF in 1991! Taking everything on board as it was on January 1st 1991, we book all the way through to WrestleMania 8 in a mission to explore the start of the problems that would riddle the company for the next six years. Debating the Sgt. Slaughter Iraqi sympathiser role, the debuts of Sid Justice and Ric Flair to the WWF, heel Jake Roberts, the title run of the Ultimate Warrior, the early days of the Undertaker and much more, we book every Pay-Per-View up to Mania 8 and discuss all the main angles. In addition, we take your ideas and suggestions for what would have helped offset the impending problems for the WWF. A fun show as always this week, check it out and let us know what you think!

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'd align Sid with Savage as a bad ass heel combo. Put the belt on Macho Man with Sid watching his back. Have Macho and Sid feud with Hogan and Warrior. Have Macho slap Sid for costing him a tag match with Hogan and Warrior. Sid Powerbombs Macho Man and starts a feud with him. In the meantime have Flair come in and feud with Hogan.

Wrestlemania 8

Sid vs Macho for the WWF Title. Macho can make Sid look like a million bucks in the match
Hogan vs Flair

That really fucking rocks. :y:

[Mr. Nerfect]

Great show again, guys. Thanks for reading my card out, Liam. I had no clue Dusty left. It would have been cool to get in his ear and convince him to stay. I think he could have been a very valuable attraction to the company if you could have refocused him as something closer to the Dusty beloved by legend. With Flair coming in, he would have been a great house show opponent for him. To think you'd also have had Steamboat there too. Wow.

I like the Steamboat/Owen team. I like the idea of doing Bret vs. Steamboat for the IC Title with Owen Hart around too. Bret could have won and you could have kept Owen and Steamboat teaming, or you could have had Owen throw the towel for Steamboat and build to a match between those two or something.

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol Noid , is this podcast full of Sid hate or will I be happy

[hb2k]

99% sure you'd be happy...

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol Noid , is this podcast full of Sid hate or will I be happy

There's little to no Sid hate. Basically the guys talking about he is at his best killing bitches with Powerbombs. And your email got a nice chuckle out of Karl.