TPWW Forums - View Single Post

**Mr. Nerfect** · 04-06-2012, 12:44 AM

Honourable Mention: Finlay going over JBL at WrestleMania XXIV. At the time the WWE had no clue where to go with the Vince McMahon/son thing, and the explanation of Finlay being behind Hornswoggle claiming to be Vince's son when he was in fact Finlay's son made absolutely no sense. At all. That being said, Finlay's random face turn actually could have worked somewhat if Finlay had gone over JBL in the opener of Mania XXIV and maybe smacked Vince around as well. Not trying to say that Finlay would have ushered in a new era or anything, but it would have given a solid veteran something to do and could have maybe moved a few Finlay t-shirts as he played a tough-as-nails sumbitch who wasn't going to bend over for anybody.

1. CM Punk over The Undertaker at Hell in a Cell 2009. I always felt that the WWE pulled the plug on CM Punk's heel run on SmackDown! (one of the highlights of his career, to be honest) way too early. Punk had just gone over The Undertaker at Breaking Point, and was billed as the only man with a submission victory over The Undertaker. It was a tainted victory, with Vince McMahon appearing to somehow be forcing Teddy Long to favour Punk. I suspected it was to lead to Vince proclaiming CM Punk the "perfect champion," given that he was drug free and all that. Punk could have gotten a bit more out of his reign by going over Matt Hardy a couple of times (given that he ended Matt's brother's career in the WWE). I always felt that SmackDown! sort of shit itself and just switched the title...just because.

2. Booker T over Triple H at WrestleMania XIX. This stands out as one of the worst booking decisions I can remember. Triple H literally put the world to sleep during 2003, and that's not because he's a shitty performer, but he just didn't capture imaginations in the role as dominant heel champion. Fans were rabid for babyfaces like Rob Van Dam and Booker T to climb the ranks and dethrone Triple H. I don't know what the reasoning was for having Triple H pin Booker T the way he did, but it was pretty weak that Triple H hit the Pedigree, took about seventeen seconds to cover Booker, and did so with one hand. There are only two reasons I can think of:

a) The WWE had it in their minds that they had to establish the World Heavyweight Title as something new, and that they needed to give Triple H a monster reign to do so.

b) With this being the first WrestleMania of the brand split, they might have felt that they could only do one title change at Mania.

Either way, it made Booker T look like a bit of a clown, and his momentum as a babyface never really returned. Booker T should have won this match, given the fans a bit of a moment, and really freshened up RAW (which desperately needed it at the time).

3. The Brian Kendrick over Triple H, Jeff Hardy, MVP and Shelton Benjamin in the Scramble Match at Unforgiven 2008. OK, so this one might not make much sense to people, but this is my subjective opinion, dammit! In 2008, Brian Kendrick was suddenly repackaged as one of my favourite characters of all-time. The kid had depth as he bounced around and acted like a poet crossed with a rock star that admittedly walked the line between genius and insanity. He had a big bodyguard that he had picked at the toughest club he could find in Harlem, who was presented as a ruthless motherfucker who could take chair shots from Triple H like they were candy. Also, they seemed to enjoy discussing things like Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" while reading "Cat in the Hat."

Anyway, the WWE decided to try out a new match concept at Unforgiven 2008 called the Scramble Match. Triple H would defend his WWE Championship against five qualifying Superstars in a match with a fifteen-minute time limit, where the guy with the final fall would be the official WWE Champion. Brian Kendrick qualified for the match first by winning a Battle Royal after seemingly being eliminated by Big Show, but being caught by his bodyguard, Ezekiel Jackson, and after Big Show left the ring, Kendrick was declared the victorious.

Kendrick and his hot gimmick did get to "unofficially" become WWE Champion for a couple of minutes or so, as you will see here (something that only Jeff Hardy also got to do in the match):

I can understand entirely why the WWE didn't do an official title change here, don't get me wrong, but given that Kendrick's whole shtick was resourceful ingenuity unrivalled by any WWE Superstar, I always thought that Kendrick could have some sort of strategy to become the WWE Champion in such a match, before losing the title quickly after. For example: With the clock running out, Kendrick leaves the ring and gets a steel chair, cracking it over each and every competitor in the match. Kendrick is of course disqualified against each and every competitor doing that, but then he pins one of them -- let's go with Shelton Benjamin -- and with just a few minutes left, Kendrick has duped everyone and become the official WWE Champion!

Kendrick only has himself to blame for fucking up the opportunity he was given. Freddie Prinze, Jr. and the SmackDown! writing team were doing everything in their power to make Kendrick a star, and truth be told, I could not think of anyone better suited at that point in time to win the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania XXV. But Kendrick decided to get high a lot and the WWE proceeded to job him out before showing him the door. The fact remains, though, The Brian Kendrick was an absolutely fascinating character that seemed to capture the imaginations of whoever was in charge of SmackDown! at the time, and I would have absolutely loved to have seen Triple H chase Kendrick for a month or two on SmackDown!. And, hey, it also would have boosted Triple H's tally when he won the title back, too.

4. Jack Swagger winning the Breakout Battle Royal and becoming WWE Champion at the first-ever TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs PPV. Now, this is kind of cheating, because it's changing the result of two matches -- but they were connected, all right? The WWE were sort of experimenting at the time and had RAW Guest Host Jesse Ventura announce a "Breakout Battle Royal" featuring every RAW Superstar who had never been a WWE or World Heavyweight Champion with the winner receiving a WWE Title match against John Cena at the upcoming TLC PPV. Sheamus won that match after being on RAW for just a short period of time, and got sent up in the experimental rocket and was made the WWE Champion in record time when he unseated Cena at TLC. Sheamus doesn't suck, and he really grew into the role, but at that point in time there was another Superstar who was finding ground and was also someone the WWE sky-rocketed upon his debut, albeit on the ECW brand.

Jack Swagger would have made a pretty perfect opponent for Cena at TLC. In fact, I seem to recall Swagger and Cena working a pretty decent match on RAW heading up to the PPV and Cena saying some good things about working with Swagger. If it had been Jack Swagger getting the opportunity, you'd be putting a guy who had already been ECW Champion earlier that year against Cena, and his win would have been equally as shocking and experimental, but with a little more behind it. Swagger would have no doubt lost the title heading into WrestleMania, but if they had still gone with Swagger winning Money in the Bank and cashing in on Chris Jericho (and more on that in a second), then Swagger would have become a two-time World Champion (not including his ECW Title reign, of course), and that also experimental reign would have had even more steam behind it.

Sheamus' time was coming, and you could have still done Triple H vs. Sheamus at Extreme Rules, and although Triple H beating Sheamus at that event made perfect sense (as did Sheamus winning the rematch), if Triple H was really worried about Sheamus getting over, then he could have done the job for him there. It would have also been a great bragging right for Swagger to point out he had held all three WWE brand's top titles within a year of each other, too.

5. Edge over Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania XXVI. This one still sort of boggles me. I love me some Jericho, don't get me wrong, but I just don't understand why Edge, who was fresh off returning from his injury and 2010 Royal Rumble victory, didn't get to complete his retribution against Jericho be dethroning him for the World Heavyweight Title. Jericho went over Edge (relatively cleanly) and then Edge destroyed Jericho. It kind of made Edge look like a bit of a choke artist and a sore loser to boot. How about Edge beats Jericho, proves he's that "top guy," but then Jericho attacks Edge in a moment of rage. Jack Swagger then comes out and cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania, and becomes a two-time World Champion. It sets up Swagger vs. Edge vs. Jericho in a Triple Threat Match for Extreme Rules quite nicely, no? Plus, now Swagger would be 3-0 at WrestleMania, and he even would have taken Michael Cole to a WrestleMania victory as well!

04-06-2012, 12:44 AM	#3
Mr. Nerfect Posts: 61,523	Honourable Mention: Finlay going over JBL at WrestleMania XXIV. At the time the WWE had no clue where to go with the Vince McMahon/son thing, and the explanation of Finlay being behind Hornswoggle claiming to be Vince's son when he was in fact Finlay's son made absolutely no sense. At all. That being said, Finlay's random face turn actually could have worked somewhat if Finlay had gone over JBL in the opener of Mania XXIV and maybe smacked Vince around as well. Not trying to say that Finlay would have ushered in a new era or anything, but it would have given a solid veteran something to do and could have maybe moved a few Finlay t-shirts as he played a tough-as-nails sumbitch who wasn't going to bend over for anybody. 1. CM Punk over The Undertaker at Hell in a Cell 2009. I always felt that the WWE pulled the plug on CM Punk's heel run on SmackDown! (one of the highlights of his career, to be honest) way too early. Punk had just gone over The Undertaker at Breaking Point, and was billed as the only man with a submission victory over The Undertaker. It was a tainted victory, with Vince McMahon appearing to somehow be forcing Teddy Long to favour Punk. I suspected it was to lead to Vince proclaiming CM Punk the "perfect champion," given that he was drug free and all that. Punk could have gotten a bit more out of his reign by going over Matt Hardy a couple of times (given that he ended Matt's brother's career in the WWE). I always felt that SmackDown! sort of shit itself and just switched the title...just because. 2. Booker T over Triple H at WrestleMania XIX. This stands out as one of the worst booking decisions I can remember. Triple H literally put the world to sleep during 2003, and that's not because he's a shitty performer, but he just didn't capture imaginations in the role as dominant heel champion. Fans were rabid for babyfaces like Rob Van Dam and Booker T to climb the ranks and dethrone Triple H. I don't know what the reasoning was for having Triple H pin Booker T the way he did, but it was pretty weak that Triple H hit the Pedigree, took about seventeen seconds to cover Booker, and did so with one hand. There are only two reasons I can think of: a) The WWE had it in their minds that they had to establish the World Heavyweight Title as something new, and that they needed to give Triple H a monster reign to do so. b) With this being the first WrestleMania of the brand split, they might have felt that they could only do one title change at Mania. Either way, it made Booker T look like a bit of a clown, and his momentum as a babyface never really returned. Booker T should have won this match, given the fans a bit of a moment, and really freshened up RAW (which desperately needed it at the time). 3. The Brian Kendrick over Triple H, Jeff Hardy, MVP and Shelton Benjamin in the Scramble Match at Unforgiven 2008. OK, so this one might not make much sense to people, but this is my subjective opinion, dammit! In 2008, Brian Kendrick was suddenly repackaged as one of my favourite characters of all-time. The kid had depth as he bounced around and acted like a poet crossed with a rock star that admittedly walked the line between genius and insanity. He had a big bodyguard that he had picked at the toughest club he could find in Harlem, who was presented as a ruthless motherfucker who could take chair shots from Triple H like they were candy. Also, they seemed to enjoy discussing things like Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" while reading "Cat in the Hat." Anyway, the WWE decided to try out a new match concept at Unforgiven 2008 called the Scramble Match. Triple H would defend his WWE Championship against five qualifying Superstars in a match with a fifteen-minute time limit, where the guy with the final fall would be the official WWE Champion. Brian Kendrick qualified for the match first by winning a Battle Royal after seemingly being eliminated by Big Show, but being caught by his bodyguard, Ezekiel Jackson, and after Big Show left the ring, Kendrick was declared the victorious. Kendrick and his hot gimmick did get to "unofficially" become WWE Champion for a couple of minutes or so, as you will see here (something that only Jeff Hardy also got to do in the match): I can understand entirely why the WWE didn't do an official title change here, don't get me wrong, but given that Kendrick's whole shtick was resourceful ingenuity unrivalled by any WWE Superstar, I always thought that Kendrick could have some sort of strategy to become the WWE Champion in such a match, before losing the title quickly after. For example: With the clock running out, Kendrick leaves the ring and gets a steel chair, cracking it over each and every competitor in the match. Kendrick is of course disqualified against each and every competitor doing that, but then he pins one of them -- let's go with Shelton Benjamin -- and with just a few minutes left, Kendrick has duped everyone and become the official WWE Champion! Kendrick only has himself to blame for fucking up the opportunity he was given. Freddie Prinze, Jr. and the SmackDown! writing team were doing everything in their power to make Kendrick a star, and truth be told, I could not think of anyone better suited at that point in time to win the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania XXV. But Kendrick decided to get high a lot and the WWE proceeded to job him out before showing him the door. The fact remains, though, The Brian Kendrick was an absolutely fascinating character that seemed to capture the imaginations of whoever was in charge of SmackDown! at the time, and I would have absolutely loved to have seen Triple H chase Kendrick for a month or two on SmackDown!. And, hey, it also would have boosted Triple H's tally when he won the title back, too. 4. Jack Swagger winning the Breakout Battle Royal and becoming WWE Champion at the first-ever TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs PPV. Now, this is kind of cheating, because it's changing the result of two matches -- but they were connected, all right? The WWE were sort of experimenting at the time and had RAW Guest Host Jesse Ventura announce a "Breakout Battle Royal" featuring every RAW Superstar who had never been a WWE or World Heavyweight Champion with the winner receiving a WWE Title match against John Cena at the upcoming TLC PPV. Sheamus won that match after being on RAW for just a short period of time, and got sent up in the experimental rocket and was made the WWE Champion in record time when he unseated Cena at TLC. Sheamus doesn't suck, and he really grew into the role, but at that point in time there was another Superstar who was finding ground and was also someone the WWE sky-rocketed upon his debut, albeit on the ECW brand. Jack Swagger would have made a pretty perfect opponent for Cena at TLC. In fact, I seem to recall Swagger and Cena working a pretty decent match on RAW heading up to the PPV and Cena saying some good things about working with Swagger. If it had been Jack Swagger getting the opportunity, you'd be putting a guy who had already been ECW Champion earlier that year against Cena, and his win would have been equally as shocking and experimental, but with a little more behind it. Swagger would have no doubt lost the title heading into WrestleMania, but if they had still gone with Swagger winning Money in the Bank and cashing in on Chris Jericho (and more on that in a second), then Swagger would have become a two-time World Champion (not including his ECW Title reign, of course), and that also experimental reign would have had even more steam behind it. Sheamus' time was coming, and you could have still done Triple H vs. Sheamus at Extreme Rules, and although Triple H beating Sheamus at that event made perfect sense (as did Sheamus winning the rematch), if Triple H was really worried about Sheamus getting over, then he could have done the job for him there. It would have also been a great bragging right for Swagger to point out he had held all three WWE brand's top titles within a year of each other, too. 5. Edge over Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania XXVI. This one still sort of boggles me. I love me some Jericho, don't get me wrong, but I just don't understand why Edge, who was fresh off returning from his injury and 2010 Royal Rumble victory, didn't get to complete his retribution against Jericho be dethroning him for the World Heavyweight Title. Jericho went over Edge (relatively cleanly) and then Edge destroyed Jericho. It kind of made Edge look like a bit of a choke artist and a sore loser to boot. How about Edge beats Jericho, proves he's that "top guy," but then Jericho attacks Edge in a moment of rage. Jack Swagger then comes out and cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania, and becomes a two-time World Champion. It sets up Swagger vs. Edge vs. Jericho in a Triple Threat Match for Extreme Rules quite nicely, no? Plus, now Swagger would be 3-0 at WrestleMania, and he even would have taken Michael Cole to a WrestleMania victory as well!