Thread: "100,001" Replies (Wrestling Forum)
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Old 08-23-2018, 06:21 AM   #44653
Mr. Nerfect
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Savio View Post
Bishoff would have been genius if he let go back to WWF in 1998.... fuck Austins run all up
This is one of the most interesting "what ifs" in wrestling history to me. At Starrcade '97, it's pretty obvious that Hogan isn't a team player. This is about when his contract is up. He doesn't sign it until June '98, but technically Bischoff could have let Hogan go and it would have been that. Sent a message to the boys fucking around. Hogan's ego was so vulnerable at the time, I guarantee he's talking to Vince by the new year, and I bet Vince is frothing to get Hogan back.

Austin was a man possessed at this point, but he wasn't the hottest thing on the planet. If Hogan comes in, there is a very good chance that he is booked to win the Royal Rumble and go against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XIV. What does this do to Austin? If Austin is fucking around with HHH on the undercard or whatever, what does that to do to his mentality and his drive? Does he get pissed off at Vince? Does he want to leave the WWF? What sort of chain reaction does Hogan coming in make in WWF?

There's a possibility that it makes Austin hotter. There's a possibility that Hogan getting the push revolts people who were getting behind Austin, and that Austin's sheer quality of performances switch people over from Hogan, and that by the time you get to SummerSlam '98, Hogan vs. Austin is what the world wants to see. It's possible that it somehow makes everything better. It's probably more likely that it fucks everything up for Vince. When Vince wants a guy in position, he can get very stubborn about it. He's always wanted Hulk Hogan back and in the spot. It's possible that he doesn't go anywhere near where he should with Austin, and that everything melts down. Austin might never get as hot as he did, and he might have lost the fire to be the best and actually settled as his own "what if" in wrestling's history.

What if Austin gets pissed off at Michaels and Hogan taking up the spotlight? What if he goes back to WCW. What if Bischoff sees the money in Austin coming in and beating the living piss out of him every week? What if Austin brings in Jim Ross, and JR focuses all his efforts onto bringing in the next class of wrestling star to WCW, and a lot of those OVW signings -- John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, Shelton Benjamin, Brock Lesnar -- they end up in WCW? What if Kurt Angle comes into WCW instead of the WWF?

Could be one of the weirder turnarounds in wrestling history. It depends on a lot, but really, Hogan going back to the WWF in early 1998 might have changed so much about history.
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