"It Should Have Been _______"

[hb2k]

So, we're doing another podcast this week, and for a change of pace we're looking at matches, pushes and angles in wrestling history where you could debate that somebody else should have gotten a certain spot, and things would have gone better than they did - should be a fun look back over different time periods.

Think somebody else should have run over Austin? Think somebody else should have beaten Goldberg? Think somebody else should have won King Of The Ring 95? Think somebody else should have main evented a WrestleMania rather than the guy that did? Think WCW should have built around somebody different? Etc....

Give us the one you always felt strongest about, whatever it may be, and explain how and why it could have worked. As always, we'll read the best contributions on the show and discuss what you think.

[Bad News Gertner]

It should have been Ken Patera who defeated Superstar Billy Graham for the WWWF title instead of Backlund.

Backlund was not right for the territory. He was small and bland, though he was a good wrestler.

Patera on the other hand was big, strong, could work and had the whole USA Olympian thing going for him. He wpuld have been a much bettet champion and draw than Backlund.

[Damian Rey]

It should have been Jericho who ran over Austin. He was an up and comer who had everything needed to be an upper mid card player, but never seemed to have that one push or angle that propelled him there permanently. I know he had runs with Triple H, but a feud with a red hot returning Austin and the heat from taking him out could've moved him up the status ladder at a quicker pace, and considering his tenure and value to the company, would've been better long-term investment.

[Nowhere Man]

It should have been Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman leading the WCW and ECW factions during the Invasion. While Vince eventually shelled out the money to get Goldberg and Ric Flair and the nWo and Rey Mysterio later on, if there was one guy he absolutely should have spent the extra money to get right at the beginning of doing the WCW invasion, it absolutely should have been Bischoff. Their rivalry, the idea that those two men and their billion-dollar empires were actually sworn enemies, was the last thing that anyone believed was 'real' in wrestling, and the two of them leading factions against each other on the same show, with Heyman and the ECW guys being an anarchic wild-card group in between, would have been absolutely huge (and would have made up for the fact that the Alliance didn't have any names bigger than DDP and Booker T in their camp).

[Anybody Thrilla]

Marty Jannetty should have thrown Shawn Michaels through the Barber Shop window. Michaels was already the more popular of the two, and Jannetty really would have gotten a nice rub off the heel turn. Michaels was talented enough to get over in either role, I feel.

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol Jannetty was a friggen mess

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Survivor Series 1997

It should have been after Austin/Owen Bret yell at Owen for losing his title. Owen then slaps Bret and challenges him for the WWE title.

Bret drops the title to Owen before HBK beats Owen to be the champion.

No screwjob. Owen gets a title reign and HBK is champion.

[#1-norm-fan]

No screwjob? That certainly would have made wrestling way better.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Owen would be alive though so suck it.

[ron the dial]

you don't know that for sure.

[Bad News Gertner]

I would have ended Owen. Something about Owen's really sends me into a murderous rage.

[Damian Rey]

Never felt Owen was ever over enough to be the main guy.

[#1-norm-fan]

lolSTD

[SNLfunnyguy]

Owen would be alive though so suck it.

He could have died celebrating his title win for all you know?

[Heisenberg]

Owen was a midcarder, and that's being nice about it.

[Savio]

Kane should have been in Big Shows spot for his feud with the Authority.

Big Show made no sense being there, especially with his "iron clad" contract and Kane would have made perfect sense.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Owen was a midcarder, and that's being nice about it.

You delete this post right the fuck now.

[Nicky Fives]

It should have been NOBODY who ended The Undertaker's undefeated streak at Wrestlemania....

[Damian Rey]

Nah. It should've been John Cena.

[FourFifty]

It should have been unannounced who the anonymous Raw GM was. Making it Hornswoggle was stupid, and is now canon. They cannot bring that idea back. That gimmick is what made Cole who he is.

[The Condor]

Anybody but Savio Vega should have been the vaunted mystery partner in the Main Event of No Way Out '98.

[Bad News Gertner]

It should have been Paul Orndorff vs Hogan at Wrestlemania 2.

[Fox]

It should have been CM Punk in the main event against John Cena at WrestleMania 27. Punk was red-hot coming out of the SES storyline and had the New Nexus faction behind him. He should have been the one to take the WWE Championship from Randy Orton at the Rumble and then defended against John Cena in the main event at Mania. The Miz was definitely very over at this point in his career, but he was not at a level to be in the main event in the same ring as The Rock and John Cena. Looking back on it now, it's one of the biggest fuck-ups in booking a WM main event in history. Also probably would have made for an awesome main event match.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

It should have been Paul Orndorff vs Hogan at Wrestlemania 2.

BUNDAMANIA WAS RUNNING WILD!!

BUNDY!

BUNDY!

BUNDY!

BUNDY!

BUNDY!

[Emperor Smeat]

It should have been Punk vs Cena for Mania 29. Would have been a great ending to their on-going feud at the time. The Mania build likely would have been better than Cena-Rock II revolving solely on Cena's supposed "worst year ever."

Rock could still get his title reign later in the year while Cena-Rock II could still occur if the goal was to just get Cena his win back.

[CSL]

It should have been Ken Patera who defeated Superstar Billy Graham for the WWWF title instead of Backlund.

Backlund was not right for the territory. He was small and bland, though he was a good wrestler.

Patera on the other hand was big, strong, could work and had the whole USA Olympian thing going for him. He wpuld have been a much bettet champion and draw than Backlund.

Ken Patera was the rots mate

[CSL]

It should have been CM Punk in the main event against John Cena at WrestleMania 27. Punk was red-hot coming out of the SES storyline and had the New Nexus faction behind him. He should have been the one to take the WWE Championship from Randy Orton at the Rumble and then defended against John Cena in the main event at Mania. The Miz was definitely very over at this point in his career, but he was not at a level to be in the main event in the same ring as The Rock and John Cena. Looking back on it now, it's one of the biggest fuck-ups in booking a WM main event in history. Also probably would have made for an awesome main event match.

if that would have happened, we don't get the original pipebomb i.e the moment that made Punk and the build/execution of Punk/Cena @ MITB, which I'm pretty sure was better than any WrestleMania match the two would have had

[FourFifty]

It should have been Hornswoggle who retired instead of the Cruiser Weight title.

[Bad News Gertner]

Ken Patera was the rots mate

Patera was awesome. He would have done great.

[Shisen Kopf]

Woooooo Ken Pantera the heavy metal rasslin Olympian

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Should have been Bret to beat Hogan for the belt at King of the Ring '93, would have given him the credibility of an established top guy instead of having to scrape his credibility out of the bottom of the barrel that was the roster at the time. Instead, Hogan was all Hogan-y about it. I mean christ I'd have gotten if it was 1989 or 1990 and Hogan was still the mother fucking man, but Hulkamania wasn't what it had been (mind you he was still over, just not in the same way). It would have been amazing for Bret who'd have run with it.

Also, fuck you Gertner.

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol that vanilla midget should have been an opening match guy.

Hulkamania brother!

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Even Kevin Nash said Bret was "the only 5'11" guy I'd let give me a backbreaker"... notwithstanding the fact he's 6'2". Bret was the. fucking. man. Definition of turning chicken shit into chicken salad.

[Damian Rey]

Would have rather had Cena and Punk switch places at Mania 29. Don't know how it would've been worked in with Punk's reign, but Cena/Taker could've been electric, and I enjoyed Punk's matches with Rock far more than Cena's.

[Seth82]

Paul Orndorff should've gotten Andre's spot in WM 3.

The feud with Hogan was huge at the time. He wasn't even on the fucking card ffs.

Dusty Rhodes should've beat Superstar Billy Graham for the title instead of Bob Backlund.

Backlund was definitely not a good choice. Dusty was insanely over in his WWWF appearances in the late 70s.

He and Graham already had a built in feud throughout 1977.

[#1-norm-fan]

Paul Orndorff should've gotten Andre's spot in WM 3.


Woah, woah, woah. This is gonna need some delving into.

You don't think Hogan vs Andre should have happened???

[Nicky Fives]

It should have been Owen Hart to defeat his brother Bret for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series 1994, then Diesel could have won the title from an injured/worn down Owen at a house show to commence his year-long reign....

[Seth82]

Woah, woah, woah. This is gonna need some delving into.

You don't think Hogan vs Andre should have happened???

it wasn't that great of a match.

it was built up in a big way for sure. Andre could barely get around by that point.

It was good if you were a young fan sure. Andre and Hulk had had dozens of matches prior to that.

[CSL]

nobody has ever claimed it was a great match, everybody knows Andre could barely move and everybody knows it wasn't actually the first time they wrestled. Those factors aren't what made it special. Hogan/Orndorff at WM3 would have been a complete wet fart compared to Hogan/Andre

[Bad News Gertner]

From a business point, I doubt Orndorff vs Hogan would have done nearly as well as Hogan vs Andre.

Pretty sure Orndorff wasn't on the card due to his arm surgery.

[#1-norm-fan]

It was a great match from build/spectacle standpoint. Which is really what matters. Savage-Steamboat was a technical masterpiece but Hogan-Andre trumps it in the grand scheme of things. Hogan-Orndorff wouldn't have come remotely close to doing what Hogan-Andre did for wrestling.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

yeah don't even understand how you could think Hogan vs Orndorff would have been better for business thant Andre vs Hogan. Literally all you needed was the body slam and leg drop, 1-2-3 and it was incredible, like 2 comic book heroes clashing.

[Bad News Gertner]

That and Orndorff was injured and wouldnt have been able to wrestlw

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

fuck Paul Orndorff. And the horse he rode in on.

[Fox]

I'll go ahead and say Mania 29 should have been made into a triple threat match: John Cena vs CM Punk vs The Rock for the WWE Championship. The story is that Cena needs his redemption for getting beaten by The Rock at 28, being unable to defeat CM Punk all year, and generally getting fucked around with all year long by various people. The Rock wants the WWE Championship and wants to shut up CM Punk for good. Punk is still on his epic, record setting run with the WWE Title and desperately wants to retain his title. Cena wins.

Rock/Cena 2 was pretty much boring as shit. Undertaker/Punk was a good match, but totally unnecessary and everyone knew Punk didn't have a chance.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Hey Fox why don't you go find CM Punk and stink your tongue in his asshole

[Bad News Gertner]

Asian twink

[Fox]

You guys are awesome.

[hb2k]

Well, thank you very much for all of the excellent suggestions, the show is now available and ended up being a lot of fun to do, taking feedback from here and elsewhere and talking about the following:

- Who should have ran over Steve Austin?
- Who should have ended Goldberg and Undertaker's Streaks?
- Who should have gotten Bob Backlund's title runs?
- How should Warrior's WWF Title reign have been saved?
- Who should have been a Horseman instead of Paul Roma?
- Who should have been the Black Scorpion?
- Who should have been the Higher Power?
- Should Ted DiBiase have won the WWF Title at Mania 4?

And a shitload more on top of it. Check it out and as always, let me know what you think~!

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/x9ibgv/SCGRadio16-WrestlingsMissedOpportunities.mp3

[Bad News Gertner]

Good stuff, going to listen to it tonight

[KIRA]

Owen was a midcarder, and that's being nice about it.

Ok this has bothered me forever, Bret Hart is boring as hell(heel run aside) how in this world was he at the top while Owen was a mid carder at best?


I remember a friend of mine loving him (Bret)when we were kids and outside of being technically sound I never got his appeal.

[Bad News Gertner]

Me neither

[Anybody Thrilla]

I loved Bret as a kid, and it was because he was the fucking man. What else do you need to know?

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I loved Bret as a kid, and it was because he was the fucking man. What else do you need to know?

This. To me he was just a good guy trying to get the job done. Everyone else had these ridiculous over the top gimmicks, and were cartoon like, whereas Bret was a good, hardworking dude, with long hair who took care of business in the ring. Ultimate babyface IMO.... then when he turned heel I was absolutely heart broken... as I should have been.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Aren't you Canadian? He didn't turn heel to you.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

one of his first matches I remember, was against Papa Shango. I mean I'd seen him before, but this was when I was about 4 or 5, so it's in my infancy as a wrasslin fan, and it was on saturday nights main even when he had just won the title. Papa Shango was this terrifying voodoo monster, he seemed like something I'd see in my nightmares, and here is the Hitman, who even though he is the champion, seems like he could get eaten by this monster..... honest to goodness I was super worried... but Bret had everything under control, locked in the sharpshooter, and all was good in the hood, and my anxieties were put to rest. A classic Canadian good guy from Calgary. Always gave 110% eh...

I will say, you can tell Bret is almost as insular wrestling wise as Vince McMahon, because he always said "THE" wcw could have done nothing with him.... but never took into account what Crockett's nwa could have done with The Hitman. Too bad Crockett's NWA didn't exist when Bret was in his absolute prime :(

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Aren't you Canadian? He didn't turn heel to you.

I was of two minds as a 10 year old. I knew he was with us Canadians, but I knew he was a bad guy. I rooted for him, but I knew deeps down he was bad :(

[#1-norm-fan]

This. To me he was just a good guy trying to get the job done. Everyone else had these ridiculous over the top gimmicks, and were cartoon like, whereas Bret was a good, hardworking dude, with long hair who took care of business in the ring.

I felt the same way. I was a pretty big Bret Hart fan when I was a kid because he was just a "TCB" good guy. But then Shawn Michaels turned face and I instantly thought "Hey, this guy has charisma and personality. Fuck that other guy now."

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I always stuck by the hitman, you damned traitor :rant:

[KIRA]

I still can't understand how Owen wasn't the top Hart he was pretty much a jack of all stats in ring and his mic skills are good (his heel commentary is pretty damn funny)

[Anybody Thrilla]

Owen on commentary was legendary.

[hb2k]

Owen, for better or worse, was a supplemental character to Bret, and was only ever involved in a main event program for that reason. The public always had a ceiling on Owen, and if you stack Bret and Owen side by side, I think Bret does have a weird down to earth charisma that makes him play better as a centrepiece.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Owen, for better or worse, was a supplemental character to Bret, and was only ever involved in a main event program for that reason. The public always had a ceiling on Owen, and if you stack Bret and Owen side by side, I think Bret does have a weird down to earth charisma that makes him play better as a centrepiece.

This is true. The Owen and Bret feud just made SOOOOOOOO much sense, and it was awesome. Mostly all of Bret's feuds made sense, and I think that's what I loved about him. He never did anything that seemed uncalled for or stupid. That goes for his ring work, too. Bret's the man.

[KIRA]

I get where you guys are coming from...I guess..I dunno I guess I'm just dumb founded by this although I guess I could compare it to DB's popularity Hes not the best talker but he has that ordinary guy charisma that people seem to love.

[Anybody Thrilla]

I loved Owen, btw. One of my all time favorites.

[KIRA]

Yep, me too the dude was awesome defended the hell out of him to my school chums who loved the more popular guys.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Haven't read the rest of this thread, and the podcast may have been done, but I think about this a tiny bit and would like to throw my two cents out there. Keep in mind, I'm trying not to use hindsight here. I'm coming at it from the time (well, as much as someone in present day can do):

* It should have been Jack Swagger who beat John Cena at TLC 2009 to become the WWE Champion. Sheamus ended up getting the nod, but it seemed weird and rushed even then. Swagger would have also been a shock victor, but he had previously been ECW Champion and had even worked with Cena in the weeks leading up to the show. Apparently there weren't "plans" to make him Mr. Money in the Bank the following year, but with a WWE Championship reign under his belt, it would have helped with his credibility.

* Kane should have won the World Heavyweight Title; not The Great Khali. I guess they wanted India watching SmackDown, but it just didn't seem to fit.

* People will hate me for this, but Chris Benoit should have won the 2006 Royal Rumble. Or Kurt Angle should have won it for the vacant World Heavyweight Title. Rey Mysterio had just come out of a blood-feud with Eddie Guerrero, and giving him the "Eddie push" was just awkward and weird. Angle vs. Benoit would have been fine for the WrestleMania 22 main event, and felt like a tribute.

* Chris Jericho should have won the 2001 King of the Ring. He had just finished up as Intercontinental Champion at the time, and was working programs near the main event. He'd end up turning heel and winning the World Title later that year, but I think the tournament would have suited Jericho. Edge ended up winning, but it was basically used to split Edge & Christian, and Edge didn't really get much going (despite winning the IC Title a few times) until 2002. Jericho was ready there and then during the Invasion storyline.

I might do more later.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh, and Jericho should have won the 2011 Royal Rumble; not Sheamus. If you're going to do Best in the World vs. Best in the World, Jericho should have looked like a world-beater when he challenged Punk. Sheamus could have been established as a contender for Daniel Bryan in another way.

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol Noid is on the loose

[Mr. Nerfect]

I haven't been here for a while, so I figured I'd need to say some ridiculous things.

[Bad News Gertner]

I miss Noid posts

[owenbrown]

a wild Noid appears!