Who should have come along at a different time or place?

[hb2k]

For this week's podcast, we're looking at classic examples of guys in wrestling history who may have been more successful if they had come around at a different time or place, and as always, we're looking for your suggestions. So who is the ONE guy that you've always watched and thought they would have done better had they come along at a different time or place, when would have been the best time for them, and more importantly, why?

We'll be reading the best candidates on the show and crediting you accordingly, so this should be a lot of fun. Who's your pick?

[Innovator]

Vader if he came to WWE in his prime in 1998, just to start.

[Bad News Gertner]

Junkyard Dog: anytime in the past 15 years.

The WWE has been dying for an African American face wrestler to get over. He'd appeal to the kids, was extremely charismatic, and very marketable. Plus, imagine the JYD in a time where drugs aren't rampant and he's receiving proper nutritional advice? He'd be off the charts.

[EzekielKane]

The Taz, I could really see him being a much bigger star in the WWE if he debuted today. Sure we would miss out on his ECW highlights but a young Taz today would be awesome !

[Nicky Fives]

Nathan Jones. Stick him in the late 80's to early 90's, 7-foot and agile compared to the lumbering giants WWF fans were used to....

[The Condor]

Rusev in 1981.

Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock today.

[Maluco]

Big Show as Andre started to wind down, his agility and charisma, as well as being the biggest man in a big man era, would have made him a superstar.

Jake Roberts today, hopefully drug free, would have been great today, feuding with the likes of Bray and Ambrose

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Superstar Billy Graham:

His DVD is called a decade too soon. He was the right personality for dominance in sports entertainment that became the the norm in the 1980s and beyond. He stuck out like a sore thumb in the 1970s where everybody was a serious wrestler. He had alot of success being the only one in the WWE like that but he could have been what Hulk Hogan was if he was healthy in the 1980s.

[Bad News Gertner]

Hogan was better in his role than Graham. Graham was ahead of his time and I adore SBG, but I couldn't really picture Graham in another time period where he would have done better. He had a fantastic title run.

[Savio]

Wish Pillman could have made it through the entire attitude era.

[whiteyford]

Mike Awesome ten years earlier, guy had the size/look Vince likes plus the agility that wasn't seen then.

[Crimson]

Tito Santana and Rick Martel now would be awesome, they would have more success now than they did.

Stick Roman Reigns back in the late 80s where we wouldn't have to talk as much. 3rd member of LOD or something.

[FourFifty]

Zack Ryder, at the dawn of the social media boom.
Could have been huge. He could have been at the forefront of a social revolution, fully utilizing twitter, facebook, youtube, and instagram. As a heel he could have been an annoying jerk who loves the internet more than his fans. As a face he could have been the most interactive superstar for the time.

Wait.... that is when Zack Ryder got his first singles push....

[Helmsphere]

i wish Raven, would of been in his prime now, or Ambrose back in the mid-ninties. I just would love to see Ambrose and Raven interact with each other, be it a faction or a fued.

[Bad News Gertner]

Tito Santana and Rick Martel now would be awesome, they would have more success now than they did.

Stick Roman Reigns back in the late 80s where we wouldn't have to talk as much. 3rd member of LOD or something.

Tito Santana was awful.

[SammyG]

Sting like 3-4 years ago

[FourFifty]

Tito Santana and Rick Martel now would be awesome, they would have more success now than they did.

Stick Roman Reigns back in the late 80s where we wouldn't have to talk as much. 3rd member of LOD or something.

First off, Tito was pretty terrible.

Secondly, the idea of having a huge islander as the 3rd member of LOD is just stupid. What made LOD the LOD is these were two tough guys from Chicago. Roman is clearly not from Chicago.

[hb2k]

Thank God they never went with that Animal and Crush version of LOD in 92 as planned then, huh....

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Thank God they never went with that Animal and Crush version of LOD in 92 as planned then, huh....

They still did it later with Droz and Heidenrich

Crush > Droz. > Heidenreich.

[FourFifty]

Crush > Droz > Heidenreich > A dead rat > Roman > Tito Santana

[Helmsphere]

Crush > Droz > Heidenreich > A dead rat > Roman > Tito Santana

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10402710_10204548670550668_115255583616077438_n.jpg?oh=f8d208b724eb2cf7fa628c20ce2626cf&oe=551147C6&__gda__=1430625023_a71bff2338bdb82f5115796697d7c464

[Seth82]

The Shield would've done amazing in the Attitude Era.

Brock Lesnar would've been interesting as a challenger to Bruno in the 70s. Pair him up with a great manager like Gary Hart.

fans would buy a ticket thinking that this was the monster who would finally put away Bruno.

[Shisen Kopf]

Rick Rude woulda been great as a rassler in the Attitude Era

[Anybody Thrilla]

A fully sadistic Doink the Clown either now or during the Attitude Era would have been money. We got a brief glimpse of it in ECW with the Borne Again character, but to see him on a grand stage against more sympathetic acts than that pineapple head Crush would have led to some really interesting dynamics. While I say Attitude Era for Doink, I feel they may have gone a bit overboard for shock value, so I think somebody like Dean Ambrose bearing that mantle today would be equally as good.

[Bad News Gertner]

Heel Doink was so damn good. What a great gimmick.

[MoFo]

John Morrison and The Miz during the tag team heyday in the early 2000's.

[MoFo]

Adrian Neville in WCW's Cruiserweight division

[Bad News Gertner]

The APA would have been fucking bad ass in All Japan Wrestling in the early 90's as a tag team. Can you imagine the matches they would have had with the Miracle Violence Connection and Hansen/Tenryu? Fuck me sideways.

[KIRA]

Heel Dean Ambrose in the Attitude era would've been amazing.

[Seth82]

The APA would have been fucking bad ass in All Japan Wrestling in the early 90's as a tag team. Can you imagine the matches they would have had with the Miracle Violence Connection and Hansen/Tenryu? Fuck me sideways.

That would've been fucking awesome. :y:

[Shisen Kopf]

HABM in any era would be great.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Mike Adamle.

He was the fucking king of the 1990s television at least to me and the kids who watched in the 1990s. American Gladitors was a staple of my childhood television with replays on the USA Network in the morning. If he wanted to do commentary right after American Gladitors finished he would have been a WWE television God. He just came at a time that nobody really remembered or cared who he was. Plus he was super nervous and pretty much sucked. He might have been better without the entire world watching and commenting on social media and etc.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Bret Hart in 2000-early-mid 2001 WWE, probably the best period of its programming. You had HHH, The Rock and Austin (when he wasn't injured) at or close to their peaks; Benoit, Jericho and Angle finding their grooves, and the TLC trio (E and C, Dudleyz and Hardyz) holding the fort for the rest of the card... The hitman would have fit in with all the guys who were playing extensions of themselves, and even if not at the top of the card there was a wealth of worthy talent for him to have a program, and therefore do something interesting with. There would have been no Jean-Pierre Lafitte stealing his jacket, or Isaac Yankem plotting to pull out his teeth; just hard hitting matches, and feuds which would have felt real.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

The APA would have been fucking bad ass in All Japan Wrestling in the early 90's as a tag team. Can you imagine the matches they would have had with the Miracle Violence Connection and Hansen/Tenryu? Fuck me sideways.

Bradshaw had his flaws as a worker but was a perfectly capable athlete especially if paired with another fucking badass on the other side of the ring, and as we've discussed... best lariat in the game. IMO Ron Simmons is painfully under rated as a fucking bruising badass of a worker. Have to agree with this statement. Bret Hart > Kevin Sullivan tho

[The Condor]

There would have been no Jean-Pierre Lafitte stealing his jacket

To be fair, their PPV match was damn good.

[Droford]

Im not sure if Andy Kaufman's comedy would have worked in the late 90s but him wrestling Lawler on a WWF ppv instead of in Memphis would have made huge news everywhere, more than it did in the early 80s

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

To be fair, their PPV match was damn good.

So was Bret vs Isaac Yankem... the matches were always great, it was just a waste of one of the all time best.

[Bad News Gertner]

I agree. Sad that Yankem who was a.newcomer at the time, was forced to carry Bret Hart through a match.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I agree. Sad that Yankem who was a.newcomer at the time, was forced to carry Bret Hart through a match.

Aren't you risking deportation out to sea by speaking so badly about THE Canadian Hero of All time?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10402710_10204548670550668_115255583616077438_n.jpg?oh=f8d208b724eb2cf7fa628c20ce2626cf&oe=551147C6&__gda__=1430625023_a71bff2338bdb82f5115796697d7c464

Ovary Poppin' Casanova Reigns.

[hb2k]

Some excellent suggestions in this thread - the podcast on this subject is now up, as we take your suggestions and discuss wrestlers throughout history that may have done better in a different time or place. Featuring speculative discussion on Superstar Billy Graham, Randy Savage, Brian Pillman, Raven, JYD, Jerry Lawler, Bobby Lashley, CM Punk, Goldberg, Cesaro, Jack Swagger, DDP and many many more. This show was a lot of fun, check it out and let me know what you think~!

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/play/fz2keq/SCGRadio23-WrestlersInTheWrongTimeAndPlace.mp3

As an additional note, we're doing a Christmas show this week, so if you're a regular listener and want to submit a random question or topic of discussion, email us at scgradio@hotmail.com and we'll be reading them on next week's show.

[Bad News Gertner]

Topic selection: What was the best year in pro wrestling?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

yester

[The Condor]

The more I think of it, Furnas and LaFon would have fit in perfectly on Smackdown circa 2002-2003.

[hb2k]

Topic selection: What was the best year in pro wrestling?

Love this question. If its easier people can post questions and topics on here too and I'll collect them for this week's show...