Who deserved a Title run but never got it ?

Digsy

These days it fair to say the world titles change hands frequently enough ( I know HHH always seems to win his back but compared to Hogan's four year runs in his hay day , he's SD Jones )

So looking back at the Hulkamania era in the 80's / early 90's , who do you think deserved a title run and certainly would have if Vince had been more versatile with the belt as he is now.

My Top Three would be

Ted Dibiase , Rick Rude , Mr. Perfect ( His first run out , not that farce comeback in '02 )

Can I also point out I'm going by the strength of their on screen character which I think over all is more important than how hard they work even though this is obviously important.

whosurpaddy

tbh steamboat is the one who springs to mind. although i reckon hennig should have had a run with the strap at some stage.

its been well documented dibiase was gonna win the tourney at WM4 but for all the wrangling with honky savage hogan barber etc

markomac316

Mr.Perfect and Owen Hart {RIP}.

They were in my opinion people who deserved it.

Currently though Chris Benoit deserves it even though it wont win at WM XX {if he does ill be shocked}.

Johnmb

André The Giant. The farce to take the belt off Hogan without having him actually lose doesn't count. WrestleMania III should have seen it happen, giving Hogan something to fight for after his domination up to that point.

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

Hanza

Owen Hart for sure.
Davey Boy Smith.
Jimmy Snuka.
Harley Race(was never actually the WWE champ)

I think RVD and Chris Benoit should have a go of it now days.

Sorry guys, but I still think with the right push Matt Hardy could make a brilliant worlds champ...

Hanza

Gillie

RVD.
Hopefully Cena & Orton will get one down the line.

jongore

Jimmy Snuka from the early WWE era.
RVD and Benoit currently, though Benoit should win it soon.

markomac316

Matt Hardy would make a brilliant champion given the right chance. The fans love him, the same goes for John Cena.

Senbotsu

John Cena, Randy Orton and Edge should have gotten one.

Bungalow Bill

Personally I think RVD and Benoit would make lousy champs. RVD for being so slow around the ring which I don't think works with his gig as a high-flyer. And Benoit coz he bores me silly.
I'm pretty sure 'Senbotsu ' that Edge, Cena and Orton will be champs but in time. Look whats happened to Brock after being pushed too early.

I would have loved to see the belt on the Bulldog.
Matt Hardy would be way too risky coz he's might not be believeable as champ.

NeroTheExtreme

Some good picks there, i know i already touched on some of these -

DiBiase lost his championship push because HTM wouldn't drop the Belt to Savage on Saturday Nights Main Event, so he held the belt and Savage got the big one at WM4, which had been promised to DiBiase anyway.

The Steamboat issue he messed up himself, but it was for the IC belt. After he'd been given the belt, he asked for time off with his wife who was preggy (they've split a long time since), Vince was outraged that he could ask for such a thing so soon into a push, so he stripped him from the belt within weeks. Butch Reed was meant to get it but got injured so Honky got it.

I'm almost sure Hennig would have been a convincing world champ, but anytime Perfect was meant to get a somewhat decent push, Hogan kept putting the kaibosh on it. The 90 Royal Rumble was a classic example of this.

It would have been nice to see Andre having it, but definitely not WM3 as he was in horrible condition by that stage. He needed that belt a few years earlier, for me it would have made more sense to have Andre get the belt from the Sheik, THEN have him turn Heel on Hogan to get that match for the 1st Wrestlemania, he was in better shape then.

Owen was too held back, a lot of it due to the kliq, as much as it saddens me to say, i don't think he ever stood a chance of being a main player

Bulldog? Are you out of your mind?! They'd never stick a major belt on him after what happened after the 92 Summerslam (WCW made a plot for him a few weeks after the he won it and he signed the contract after McMahon spent months building Davey up for it, he never forgot.)

John Cena is still too new for it, give him until the end of the year before considering it, otherwise there'll be nothing for him left to do. I seriously believe thats the problem with Lesnar atm. Now the big one isn't around his waist, he's giving out being programmed with the likes of Holly, etc...

Not a chance on Matt Hardy, he's just not convincing. Give him the IC belt now that he's on RAW, seeing as he's one of the few that HASN'T worn the thing yet!

Ed Leslie (Beefcake) was scheduled to get it from Hennig at the 1990 Summerslam due to Hogan's backstage clout, he got sidelined by a parasailing accident and has been a wreck ever since. Shame because he was actually a viable draw by the time mid 1990 came along.

For RAW, Benoit should get the strap for a bit, just for all he's done over the years.
For SD! Definitely Cena, but give it time.

Nero

jesusjones

Owen Hart and Scott Hall
Diabase was good but lacked fire as a heel I feel
Curt Henning was going to get the title but his fued with Hogan drew poorly at the time and that Idea was canned.

NeroTheExtreme

The feud drew poorly because Hogan was lethargic to work with him, so he fed him to Ed Leslie (leading up to the Perfect & Poffo / Barber feud between the 90 Royal Rumble and before Summerslam 90)

There was a pattern in the late 80's early 90s that Leslie ended up getting everyone Hogan didn't wanna work with, after WM5, Savage got fed to him, a Heel turned Martel got fed to Leslie cos Hogan didn't want him, and then Perfect and Genius got all fed to Leslie.

Coincidence? I think not
Nero

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by Senbotsu
John Cena, Randy Orton and Edge should have gotten one.

u really think these people have deserved a world title run but have been overlooked? i think u might have misread the question. All three of these will be world champs a few years from now, but its way to soon esp for orton/cena. edge is entering the phase now where he will be considered a legit main eventer soon (with the right push when he gets back) and will hold the title before the years end imo.

whosurpaddy

i thought matt had the IC at one stage, around invasion (im possibly confusing him with edge tho).

on beefcake there was a report recently that he was working as a ticket collector at a subway station somewhere, but got fired for drugs. its a meger existance for a guy who was performing in front of such big crowds for years. i wonder how many wrestlers actually retire happy, are able to walk, and actually have a couple bucks to live out their remaining time comfortably. bet u could count em on your fingers

smiaras

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NeroTheExtreme

Originally posted by whosurpaddy
i thought matt had the IC at one stage, around invasion (im possibly confusing him with edge tho).

on beefcake there was a report recently that he was working as a ticket collector at a subway station somewhere, but got fired for drugs. its a meger existance for a guy who was performing in front of such big crowds for years. i wonder how many wrestlers actually retire happy, are able to walk, and actually have a couple bucks to live out their remaining time comfortably. bet u could count em on your fingers

Matt never had it, he said it himself on the confidential special they had the week before No Mercy 2002 when they unified the belt. Jeff had it alright.

Edge and Christian were feuding for it during InVasion 2001.

Beefer was indeed working as a fare collector and got busted for possession. Weird the jobs they take on afterwards. Look at Paul DiAnno, first lead vocalist for Iron Maiden, he's his own Internet Cafe set up now.

Fair balls to em, takes a load of pride to swallow to take huge steps down and still have your head held high

Nero

Johnmb

Originally posted by NeroTheExtreme
It would have been nice to see Andre having it, but definitely not WM3 as he was in horrible condition by that stage. He needed that belt a few years earlier, for me it would have made more sense to have Andre get the belt from the Sheik, THEN have him turn Heel on Hogan to get that match for the 1st Wrestlemania, he was in better shape then.

The reason I picked WM3 was precisely because André was out of shape. Prior to that, if he was given the belt, how would anyone have been able to beat him in a believable mannor? Originally, I was going to say that he should have won it in the late 70's, but that would have been the end of the belt as a drawing item. At least by WM3 you knew he was past his prime, and was beatable. It would have served as a reward to him at the end of his career, it would have given the fans something to "worry" about regarding Hogan, and the rematch would have made the main event of the first Survivor Series something amazing, with Hogan overcoming the odds. Just my opinion, as I don't think anyone would have bought André being defeated fairly in his prime, and I don't like interference finishes causing title changes if the Champ doesn't get a rematch, would would have been the only way to get the title off him if he had won it earlier.

NeroTheExtreme

I dunno, I mean we had some real giants in the WWE in the early 80s and Hogan beating Andre at the end of his prime would have been convincing, but thats just me in retrospect though.

In light of the Hulk Still Rules DVD, when Hogan came back when Backlund brought him in, the guy was so over it was scary. Thats why i think it would have been a better idea to get Andre to turn heel on him earlier in the 80s. Due to the fact that Hogan was so over, that it had the mentality of Andre was this huge unstoppable force, and that if anyone was going to beat him, only one man could do it.

If that makes any sense
The Survivor Series main event thing would have been a good idea, the problem there was they didn't introduce singles matches until 1991. The first two were 5 on 5 elimination matches.

On an off topic, I was doing another request of Survivor Series 88. Looking at Jake's team Vs Andre's team. Kinda sad watching that match. Andre's team was Andre, Rick Rude, Curt Hennig, Dino Bravo and Harley Race. Given the fact that four are dead and the other one might as well be.

It also had the distinction of opening with the tag team elimination match, 5 tag teams, 20 men around the ring. And the even more dubious distinction of being the longest ever opening bout at nearly 45 minutes long.

But that's for another time
Nero

Johnmb

It would have been a struggle to turn André heel at that time, as he too was amazingly over. Heenan also wasn't a big enough heel to turn André by association at that time. It took those few years to get Heenan over to such a large extent, and also André's popularity was not as strong due to his infrequent appearances. I honestly think that if they tried to start a feud between André and Hogan in the early 80's, Hogan would have become the heel, regardless as to what the bookers intended, due to it being so claose to their original feud when Hogan was in fact the heel.

NeroTheExtreme

Who said anything about Heenan? He could have taken on Johnny Valiant, Lou Albano or even better, Classy Freddie Blassie, using Andre to keep the belt in his camp. The response Hogan got when he came back with Backlund, there'd have no hope of him turning heel again so quickly.

This was a few years before the Paul Orndorff's of this world
Nero

Johnmb

I don't know. I don't think anyone, not even Classy Freddie Blassie, was as good as Heenan at being a heel manager, and it needed association with the best to get people booing André, even by 1987. In 1984 I can't see anyone booing him, they'd just cheer the manager (Even Hogan's popularity at that time was in part due to his association with André). Hard to tell now though. But either way, André should have been given the title, it's just the circumstances and timing that we would have booked differently.

NeroTheExtreme

Originally posted by Johnmb
But either way, André should have been given the title, it's just the circumstances and timing that we would have booked differently.

Amen to that! The tag strap just wasn't enough for all he did.
Nero

Digsy

It definitely would have been a good angle , but I think Vince wanted to keep things relatively simple in his first few years as the new promoter. I think as his first step towards establishing the product he wanted was to create a Big hero and do it as quick as he could. The Angle with Andre taking the belt then Hogan beating him would have took time , if it was done right , and I don't think Vince was that patient back then and plus he needed a big hero quick after Backlund called it quits.

Plus the fans themselves didn't expect too much back then in the away of storylines , they'd been fed plots straight out of Rocky movies for years and were happy with them. It was only when Vince started changing the rules that people then in turn expected all the twists and turns.

Exit

I don't believe anyone has mentioned Piper who could easily have been seen as a champion around the WMI period.

I'd have gone with Pefect, DiBiase and Andre.

NeroTheExtreme

The problem with WWF back then was the champion either always had to be the hero, or had to be defeated by the hero. And to be perfectly honest, I can't see Piper EVER being in that position

Nero

Exit

He could have held it for a few months as the low-down guy who cheats to win all his matches. Eventually he'd be built up so that the fans would long to see him actually lose a match and get his comeuppance and that's where Hogan would've stepped in and regained the title. Would've been a better way to use him than facing Mr. T in a boxing match.

NeroTheExtreme

I tried to block that out of my mind, you've just haunted me with the memory. Thanks!

The thing about that idea was Vince wasn't clever enough to think of it at the time, however when he did.. It drew, and it drew bigtime and as a result, the guy still has the record as the longest ever Intercontinental champion.

He's just The Honky Tonk Man, he's cool, he's cocky, he's bad.
Nero

Exit

I think with a lot of these wrestlers, they were just around at the wrong time. It was the age of long title reigns, not to mention Hogan's 4 years with the title. If they were around today in their prime, they'd all have had a chance to run with it.

btw Nero, your mailbox is full. I was just gonna say I'll talk to you tomorrow. See ya then!

NeroTheExtreme

Cheers man, i'll dump it out now... (i only cleaned it out this morning! )
Outta here for the day anyway

Nero

Johnmb

I think Piper's big problem was not Hogan, but Flair. Flair was the main NWA heel, who won the title by cheating and having back-up to help him. That is exactly the way Piper operated too. The WWF had just broken away from the NWA for the second time, so I don't think McMahon was willing to take the chance with having Piper hold the WWF title in the same manner as Flair was holding the NWA title. As for the long run of Hogan's, that seems to have been an afterthought due to his increased popularity. There are rumors that Greg Valentine was slated to have a title run around that time, so I think the original plan was to have several title changes with several different champions over a relatively short period, with Hogan coming out on top. But fan reaction changed that.

besty

the ultimate warrior, it has to be him.does anyone know where i can get an mp3 of his music?

NeroTheExtreme

Errrm? Hellwig got his run for 9 months with the title?
Nero