Recently, I covered what many know to be the most popular and profitable era in the history of Professional Wrestling. An era which saw the two remaining major promotions in the U.S. go at it in a winner take all blood war which involved a Monday night ratings battle, as well as constant negotiations which, in the beginning, crippled, and nearly killed the then WWF. The seemingly endless thorn in Vince McMahon's side was WCW, and the once vulnerable WWF's loss was always their gain. A situation that could have been capitalized on so much more than it was. Considering the momentum, dirty tricks, and talent depth WCW once had, WWE should not exist, today. And had certain things gone differently, The Monday Night War https://trashepics.com/post/9/141/ could have gone in a very different direction, or possibly have never happened at all...

Today, we're going to discuss storylines and matches from before and beyond this era that were to be, but for one reason or another, got axed, changing the course of history. And I'll also touch on a few significant moments which may have ultimately derailed the natural order of things. Some of these are heresay from Youtube interviews, while most have been confirmed. One thing is for sure, though. The golden age of Pro Wrestling could have gone very differently.

First up is some crazy shit some may not believe. But the already unmemorable main event of Wrestlemania VII could have been much worse. Then again, it could have gone much better. We'll cover that, first. In 1990, the WWF was just starting to slip a little. Having Hulk Hogan drop the belt to The Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VI didn't pay off quite as much as everyone had hoped. He was very popular, but also a very one dimensional champion. Business was still good, but it wasn't quite as good as it was just a short time ago. I doubt this was all Warrior's fault, as the WWF was also becoming more and more cartoonish. The original plan was to have Warrior drop the belt back to Hogan in a rematch at Wrestlemania VII. I think everyone would have been better off, had that happened. Some more than others.

At January's Royal Rumble, Warrior dropped the WWF title to the way past his prime, SGT. Slaughter, who had recently been made the new top heel. A move designed merely to capitalize on the Gulf War. Not only was Hogan to regain the WWF title, but he would also conquer the "Iraqi sympathizer". This transparent business move quickly backfired, as could be seen within ticket sales. An event scheduled to be held in the 100,000 seater Los Angeles Collesium, would be moved to the puny Los Angelos Sports Arena, where less than 20,000 people would attend. Hogan vs. Slaughter was a failure before it even happened. But not quite as bad as what could have been. It's been said that Vince McMahon's first idea for this "feel good moment" was to have a guy named Tugboat turn heel, align himself with Irag, take out Warrior, only to be defeated by Hogan at Wrestlemania VII. Reality may have sucked, but not as much as that reality. I'm guessing whoever convinced McMahon that "Sheik Tugboat" was a bad idea, no longer works there.

In the 80's and early 90's, there was one dream match above all others that fans wanted to see. And in 1991, that dream looked very much like it was on it's way to happening. Back then, the only thing bigger than Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair is Hogan vs. Flair in the main event of Wrestlemania. That too looked to be the plan at one time. And in the Summer of '91, Ric Flair had had it with WCW head, Jim Herd. A former Pizza Hut manager who was said to be a cranky, often abusive old bastard, who knew little to nothing about the Wrestling industry, and for whatever reason, had it in for Flair. In a bold, and now legendary move, Flair quit the company and took the NWA World Heavyweight Title with him, quickly signing with the WWF, and showing up on TV, proclaiming himself the REAL world champion. Yeah. That totally happened!

But what didn't happen was the match we all rightfully took for granted. It just went without saying that next year's Wrestlemania would feature the dream match to end all dream matches. Almost as soon as Flair arrives, he gets all up in Hogan's shit. The two actually had many untelevised house show matches throughout the next few months, probably to see how well they work together, and how fans take to it. However, by early '92, things seemed to be going in a different direction. Our first indication that Vince McMahon hates us all.

The original plan for Wrestlemania VIII was definitely Hogan vs. Flair in the main event, along with Sid Justice vs. The Undertaker, and Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts, which would have been an end to their long, intense feud. No one reason for this has ever been confirmed, but Hogan vs. Flair was cancelled. Flair quickly picked a fight with Savage, and Hogan picked a fight with Sid, teasing a heel turn, which was later cancelled for whatever reason. All this leads to Undertaker getting paired with Jake The Snake in what would end up being a surprisingly underwhelming match. Wrestlemania VIII was a good one but will forever be remembered as one of the biggest missed opportunities in Wrestling history.

At one time, it was the plan to go all the way with Sid Justice, having Hogan turn heel, and pass the torch to Sid on his way out, because, in reality, this guy was over as a motherfucker, and McMahon was ready to make him the new top guy. But shortly after losing to Hogan, who had then retired, Sid gets popped for a drug violation, and quickly suspended. Instead of serving his time, Sid quits, eventually wandering back from whence he came. A year later, Sid shows up in WCW as Sid Vicious. Sid's career would continue to flourish throughout 1993, and was later scheduled to face fellow monster, Vader, for the WCW World Title, at Starrcade. However, plans were changed, and for good reason, this time. Late one night, during an October tour of Europe, Sid got in a drunken argument/brawl with Arn Anderson, which got very much out of hand, leading to Sid stabbing Anderson with a pair of scissors, nearly killing the man. Naturally, Sid Vicious was fired, and his spot was given to Ric Flair, who had also returned earlier that year. Flair would go on to dethrone Vader to gain his 11th World Title. Sid wouldn't be seen again until Spring of '95, when he would make his WWF return as "Psycho Sid".

But back to '92. Late that year, the plan was apparently for The Ultimate Warrior to face new WWF Champion, Bret Hart, at the 1993 Royal Rumble. Although, this sounds extremely unlikely, it's been said that the plan was for Bret to go over Warrior, getting the rub from him, thus giving this "new generation" some much-needed star power. That, however, never happened, as Warrior left the company again in November. It's also been said that an early idea for Wrestlemania IX was to have Hogan return, putting Bret over in the main event, which would have no doubt solidified his place as the top guy in the company more than anything. For whatever reason, this did not happen, and Bret went on to face Yokozuna. A match that was originally meant to end with Bret's hand raised. But the returning Hogan supposedly politicked his way back into the title scene, ultimately derailing any momentum this new generation might have been gaining.

So, as the story goes, Hogan wanted the title, but did not want to face Bret Hart, probably out of fear of being exposed as the one trick pony that he was. Personally, I think Bret would have given him the best match of his life, but I guess the 2 move wonder didn't see it like that. As I said, Bret was supposed to go over Yokozuna, and possibly face Hogan later in the year. Instead, the Bret-Yoko match was cut short, Yoko cheated his way to the title, and Hogan comes strolling in to help his "good friend". Hogan is immediately challenged by the new champion to an impromptu title match, as if they can just do that. And before Bret even makes it to the back, Hogan is the new WWF Champion, while Bret Hart is shit out of luck. Get used to it, Hitman. And in a disappointing turn of events for pretty much everyone, Hogan dropped the title back to Yokozuna a couple months later, and then just left, ruining any chance for a passing of the torch match that was to probably take place at that year's SummerSlam. A match that very well may have added a little prestige to this forgettable era, as well as put Bret Hart where he needed to be to be a successful face of the company. Instead, Bret was put in a feud with Jerry "The King" Lawler, who clearly had no torch to pass. Meanwhile, WWF wastes our time with a Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger feud. I'm telling you, he fucking hates us!

I'm no fan of WCW's Hulkamania era from '94 and '95, and as big of a failure as it was, one cannot deny that this time period drastically changed WCW's fortune. As we all know, Hogan's inability to get himself back over as a top babyface eventually led to the rise of the NWO, and who doesn't love that? As intrigued as I was by this groundbreaking storyline, I would have preferred the pre-Hogan WCW go on as it was, looking back. Before he arrived, things were just more balanced, with a more natural flow to it all. Before Hogan showed up, the traditional, Southern-based promotion already had Ric Flair, Sting, Vader, Rick Rude, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Terry Funk, Cactus Jack, Paul Orndorff, Steve Austin, and plenty of up and comers. With the exception of a long-awaited match with Ric Flair, Hogan didn't really fit in with this crew, and the crowds definitely noticed this. Before Hogan showed up, there was an actual ladder. Meaning mid-carders actually had a shot at becoming main eventers. Like I said. There was a natural flow. But Hogan's creative control and refusal to work with anyone significantly younger or more talented, gradually derailed everything.

In July of '94, At the Bash At The Beach Pay-Per-View, Hulk Hogan won his first WCW Title from Ric Flair, in what probably turned out to be a better match than most expected. And impressive for the now washed up, steroid-less Hogan, who hasn't wrestled in a year. This event drew good money, and must have been encouraging for everyone involved, but all this seemed a little out of the blue. Has anyone ever wondered what would have happened at that event, had Hogan never signed with WCW? Never mind the coming years. But it's been said that the spot of challenger for Ric Flair's title was going to go to Stunning Steve Austin, who has never won the big one, prior to this. It's been said that this was to be the beginning of his main event push. A push that wasn't so much post-poned as it was simply cancelled forever. It's also been said that in the coming year, Austin pushed to do a program with Hogan, but the mostly scarce World Champion shot it down. Austin was eventually fired after suffering an injury, and headed up North to become the most popular WWF Champion since Hogan, himself. A hilarious twist of fate which kicked WCW square in the balls, and would later provide the WWF with momentum that could not be shaken.

But in 1996, the NWO arrived, offering Hogan's career a whole new life. It's been said that it was quite an ordeal to have to convince this guy that it was the best business decision to finally turn heel. I mean, why not? The fans lost interest about a month after he arrived. I've always heard WCW had a backup plan for who was to be the vicious NWO leader. If Hogan got cold feet, that spot would have probably gone to Sting. That, of course, would have been awesome, and I have no doubt it would have been a success, but nothing could have compared to an earth shattering heel turn by Hogan. and I doubt the NWO would have had the impact and influence on the industry that it did. Respect to Hogan for finally doing the right thing.

A little backstory on Hogan's partners in crime, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. Formerly known as Razor Ramon and Diesel, Hall and Nash would later be known for more than just being two of the three founding NWO members. In the years leading up to this, they, along with Shawn Michaels, Triple-H, and The 1-2-3 Kid, were a backstage group of troublemakers, known as "The Kliq". These five guys monopolized most of the top spots, holding the other guys down, and easily, since they have gone on record, admitting they had McMahon in their back pockets. For whatever reason, Vince favored these guys over all others, regardless of how much the other guys hated them. With Hogan gone, the WWF was there's. In Spring of '96, Hall and Nash bailed for huge WCW contracts. In their last matches, which took place at a Madison Square Garden house show, Diesel faced Michaels, and Razor faced Triple-H, putting their besties over on the way out. After the show ended, all four men broke character, embracing, and saying goodbye. This, however, is seen as very disrespectful to the industry, and someone had to be punished. Hall and Nash couldn't be for obvious reasons. Michaels was champion, so, that left Triple-H, who was left with a very uneventful 1996, which included many losses.

Originally, "Trips" was to win the King Of The Ring tournament, which was to be a stepping stone to a main event push. Push cancelled. Instead, they have Steve Austin go over, where he cut his famous "Austin 3:16" promo. Had they gone with the original plan, such a speech would have never happened, nor would he and the WWF made Millions off Austin 3:16 T-shirts in the coming years. And who knows maybe the Attitude Era would have never happened.

In early 1997, the WWF was heading towards a Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels main event for the upcoming Wrestlemania XIII. A rematch from the year before where Michaels had won his first WWF Title in an Iron Man Match. It's been said the plan was for Bret to go over and regain the title. It's a documented fact that those two hated each other behind the scenes, and that Michaels was not fond of the idea of Bret getting one over on him. I'm not exactly sure about what happened behind the scenes, but Michaels either faked an injury or just flat out refused to go on as WWF Champion, because in February, Michaels vacated the title after giving a now infamous speech about "losing his smile". A confusing, vaguely explained turn of events, which led to the famous submission match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin at the event, as well as the match Sid and The Undertaker missed out on 5 years earlier. Funny how things work, sometimes.

And sometimes, how things work isn't so funny. In Summer of '97, Owen Hart had more or less inherited Bret's feud with Steve Austin, and at SummerSlam, the two were to go at it for the Intercontinental Title, where Austin was to go over. At one point, Owen attempted some kind of reverse Tombstone Piledriver, giving Austin a severe neck injury, along with temporary paralysis. And in a fine example of how tough these bastards really are, Austin actually managed to roll up Owen for the pin in a very unconvincing conclusion. But what are ya gonna do? He was only out a couple months, but the long term impact of Owen's mistake significantly shortened Austin's career. He made it all the way to '03, but if not for what happened that night, there would have probably been an Austin-Cena, Austin-Lesnar, and Austin-Punk. Who knows where the industry would be today, had that piledriver never happened.

The Montreal screw job led to many things. The most obvious was Shawn Michaels' third WWF Title reign. At the next Pay-Per-View, he went up against Ken Shamrock, who came up short. After the match, Owen Hart, who had been gone since his brother's exit, tackled Michaels out of nowhere, and beat the living hell out of him. This was obviously going to lead to a feud which would no doubt write itself. It's been said that Michaels wanted nothing to do with this feud that would have probably catapulted Owen Hart into main event status. Instead, his career ended up going in a different direction, directly resulting in his death. Instead of facing Owen at the '98 Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels apparently pushed to reignite a very dead feud with The Undertaker, and faced him in a Casket Match, while blowing off the Owen feud on tv, weeks earlier. And because of this new path, which was not meant to be, Michaels suffered a severe back injury, resulting in a four year absence from the ring. Never has the case of a main eventer holding down a mid-carder had such disastrous results.

Speaking of disastrous results, WCW seemed to be overflowing with them. Much to everyone's surprise, Warrior-Hogan II actually happened. And in 1998, WCW signed The Ultimate Warrior to a contract which included only a handful of appearances. It's been said this only happened because Hogan wanted a win over Warrior, which I'm pretty sure is called "being a mark for yourself". But whatever. Hogan got his rematch and his win back in what is now known as one of the worst rematches in history. But if only that was all there was to it. In WCW, Warrior's gimmick was altered a little. They built this trap door in the ring that Warrior was to climb out of when smoke appears. That way, it seemed as though he was appearing out of nowhere. During Warriors short stint, there was a match involving The British Bulldog, and during this match, he landed wrong on this trap door, severely injuring his back. Not long after this, Bulldog descended into Morphine-addiction, resulting in a heart attack. Bulldog only ended up in WCW due to leaving the WWF out of respect to brother-in-law, Bret Hart, after the Montreal Screwjob. Had either Montreal or Warrior in WCW not happened, The British Bulldog could be alive, today.

One interesting "What if?" worth mentioning is Sting's short-lived '99 heel turn. An unpopular decision many may have forgotten since it was so short-lived. But in Fall of that year, WCW had Sting do the unthinkable. In a title match with newly face-turned Hogan, Sting takes liberties with a baseball bat, easily stealing the title, and once more sticking it to the former NWO leader. I've always heard this didn't go over very well, but I, personally, liked it, as it was definitely something we had never seen before. But within a month, Vince Russo was brought in as head writer, and changed just about everything. Some changes were understandable. But this one, I wish he had let run it's course. And just like that, things were back to the way they were for Sting, as if nothing had happened. So, we'll never know how the "evil Sting" scenario would have played out.

After getting a shit deal during his first two years in WCW, Bret Hart finally started gaining some momentum, and eventually won the WCW Title thanks to new head writer, Vince Russo. Bret's first Pay-Per-View title defense was against Bill Goldberg, at Starrcade '99. Bret carried the novice through a pretty decent match, ending with a mock screw job, where Bret retains the title. The next night, he turned heel, re-forming the NWO with Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Jeff Jarrett. This swerve seemed very out of nowhere, and appeared to only have happened for shock value. As bad of a storyline as this was probably going to be, it would have been far better than the reality we know, set into motion by an unfortunate twist of fate. During Bret and Goldberg's Starrcade match, Goldberg accidentally kicked Bret so hard in the head, it left him with a severe concussion, forcing him to retire right before the next pay-per-view. New NWO carries on without him, and without a leader, fizzles out shortly thereafter. Bret Hart's concussion brought on a stroke a couple years later, and he never wrestled again.

At Wrestlemania XVII, in 2001, a long, heated feud between Steve Austin And Vince McMahon finally comes to a close, as Vince Helps Austin defeat The Rock in what was a truly amazing main event. This was the beginning of Austin's heel run that we all knew was coming, sooner or later. Perhaps doing this just days after the death of WCW wasn't the smartest of moves. In fact, some say both of these turn of events signified the beginning of Wrestling's decline. It just wasn't a good time for an Austin heel turn.

As the story goes, WCW came extremely close to being saved. While the WWF ultimately put it on the shelf after a disastrous storyline, their original plan was to relaunch WCW in some form under the WWF banner. For several reasons, this never took place. However, before all of this, WCW was nearly bought by Eric Bischoff, who had plans to temporarily put the company on the shelf, only to relaunch it, later. Supposedly, the company was going to be run out of Las Vegas, and would have returned in the form of a Pay-Per-View entitled "The Big Bang", where many of the fallen main eventers were to return to reclaim their spots. The possibilities are endless if one ponders this scenario. I'm sure many future dream matches would not have happened, but if the new WCW could have helped keep Wrestling alive, it would have been well worth it.

Speaking of dream matches. In '02, many of those happened. And at Wrestlemania XVIII, newly returned prodigal son, Hollywood Hogan, went up against The Rock in a now legendary match which reminded everyone how much they once loved Hogan. Watching the fans turn on their new hero in favor of their old one, was quite a site. But things could have gone very diferently, that night. The original idea was to have Hogan go up against Steve Austin. That's right. The same Steve Austin Hogan refused to do business with all those years ago. Well, not the same Austin, exactly. Now being on par with Hogan in every way, Stone Cold flat out refused to work with him. Not cool that he deprived the fans of a scenario possibly even bigger than Hogan-Rock, but it must have been satisfying to finally stick it to the man who once dismissed him and nearly derailed his career.

While the WCW-ECW Invasion of '01 did leave a shitty taste in everyone's mouths, it did give birth to an intriguing turn of events. After the angle ended, and The Alliance was banished, a new angle began, involving the return of Ric Flair to the company, who had purchased a significant portion of the WWF from Shane McMahon, making him partners with Vince. A storyline with an introduction far more exciting than the entire five month Invasion angle. This is the point where the real WCW stars finally started making their way to the WWF. Too bad that ship had just sailed.

For the first few months, Flair was put in a feud with McMahon, which only consisted of one match, a Street Fight at the 2002 Royal Rumble. After finally getting WCW/The Alliance out of the way, and becoming king of the industry, Vince now has to share ownership with the man who many still saw as the face of WCW. As Vince starts to crack, he announces that he'll be letting Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hollywood Hogan back in the WWF, so they can "ruin this company like they did WCW". An obvious real-life knock on these legends who haven't been seen in years. But yeah. The NWO is going to invade the WWF. And in '02, it doesn't get any better than that!

Of course, things don't exactly go as planned. Originally, Hogan, Hall, and Nash's new reign of terror was to be a little more long-term, but after the fan's reaction to Hogan when he went up against the Rock, it was decided to have him split from Hall and Nash, and return to his Hulkamania roots, with the NWO going it's own way. Hogan is replaced by X-Pac, Scott Hall is fired a couple months later, and by summer, the NWO consisted of Kevin Nash, X-Pac, The Big Show, and to make things at least a little interesting, Shawn Michaels. But in July, Nash got put out of action, indefinitely, after tearing his quad in his first match back after just returning from another injury. An unfortunate situation which has become a bit of a running joke over the years. So, the angle was finally scrapped, and the NWO is finally gone for good. But had they kept Hogan in the fold, and Hall stayed out of trouble, then, who knows how 2002 could have played out?

Now, I'm going to fast forward several years after the Monday Night War ended. The year is 2005, and things are very different than they once were. Instead of two major Wrestling promotions, along with ECW, there's now only one. WWF (now WWE) won the war. Both WCW and ECW got bought, and now only exist in "best of" DVDs. One DVD in particular, "The Rise And Fall Of ECW", was a massive success. This led to Vince McMahon deciding to put on an official ECW reunion pay-per-view, which he pretty much stayed out of, letting former ECW owner, Paul Heyman, run it as he saw fit. And it showed. After being dead for over four years, ECW was back and crazier than ever. And much to everyone's surprise, One Night Stand drew more than Wrestlemania, that year. And so, it was decided to make this a yearly event.

One year later, and One Night Stand '06 was still on, Except this time, It came off much more like a WWE-ECW joint production. There was an obvious lack of ECW presence compared to the previous year. Still a decent card, though. One Night Stand '06 was headlined by John Cena vs. ECW favorite, Rob Van Dam, for Cena's WWE Title. I don't know what McMahon expected. Maybe he thought the fans would be split down the middle. I mean, even WWE fans weren't into Cena, so, this rabid, cult-like crowd ended up eating him alive, with 100% of them backing RVD, who came out the victor, winning the WWE Title. This audience of course went home happy, that night, but will probably go down in history as possibly the most hostile crowd ever, making it cool to hate Cena from then until the end of time.

For many reasons, WWE has become one dead fuck of a Wrestling promotion in the last 10-15 years. One reason being the amount of time John Cena spent on top, and the lengths Vince McMahon would go to rebel against his own audience. Regardless of how loud the boos got, Cena remained on top, enjoying a decade plus long push of Hulkamania proportions. Why did McMahon ignore the boos? Why did he keep on pushing a guy whose presence was running off a large portion of the audience, and tarnishing a once prestigious promotion/title? Nobody knows the answer to that question, but I have a theory. I think it all goes back to One Night Stand '06, where the ECW fans rejected McMahon's guy for Heyman's guy, setting in stone how lame Cena was perceived. I can imagine this was a blow to the 'ol ego. In fact, since this time period, I've noticed a change in fan's influence over the direction of the product. Basically, it no longer exists. Boo or cheer whoever you want. They'll simply edit out your reaction if it's not to Vince's liking.

Right after One Night Stand '06, Vince McMahon officially relaunched ECW, but without letting Paul Heyman run it. This new ECW was nothing more than a watered-down WWE product with a little cartoonish violence thrown in, now and then. McMahon either completely missed the point of what made ECW great, or maybe, just maybe, he was trying to stick it to the fans for picking "ECW trash" over his golden boy. Either way, the memory of the original ECW got a big piss taken all over it, over the next few years. And to this day, it often seems like things go the exact opposite as they should in WWE. Guys the fans hate get pushed as top babyfaces, guys who fans love get buried. It never fails. But perhaps Vince isn't as out of touch as people assume. Maybe he's just an asshole who started trolling his own fanabse as a way of dealing with his damaged ego. Of course, this one is merely speculation on my part, but one can only wonder where we'd all be, had WWE just left ECW in it's grave.

The intended or expected reality isn't always the reality we end up with. Maybe, somewhere out there, in an alternate dimension, things went more smoothly. Maybe that Hogan-Warrior rematch happened on schedule, resulting in the WWF keeping up it's momentum. Maybe there was no Gulf War to exploit. Maybe Owen lived, maybe Bret stayed healthy, and they both stuck around another decade. Then again, maybe Hogan-Austin stunk up the joint, and turned out to be a massive disappointment. Maybe our reality is better, after all. Then again, maybe not. But like it or not, this is the only reality we've got.