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Post by warriorlynx on Sept 19, 2018 13:44:55 GMT -5
The challenge here is who do you think could replace Hulk Hogan as WWF Champion or as "the guy" (face or heel) IF Hulk was injured during his run, or was forced to take a leave of absence for each year? Meaning if Hulk randomly gets hurt in say 1989, who should be pushed?
My picks:
1984 - Sgt. Slaughter - the American hero gimmick was hot at the time, though I would've loved to have picked Jimmy Snuka over Slaughter since Snuka was the top guy at the time, but bad press with the '83 incident with his girlfriend would've been risky PR if Snuka was "the" guy.
1985 - Roddy Piper - the hottest heel at the time makes perfect sense so that if Hogan is able to come back he can get the title back from Piper.
1986 - Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff - Either as a babyface or heel, a heel Orndorff was over and created one of the biggest feuds in WWF history.
1987 - Don Muraco - A babyface with his manager Superstar Billy Graham, was at the height of his prime, and always had potential.
1988 - Randy Savage - Obviously, so no need to change it unless it's Ted Dibiase.
1989 - Big Boss Man - This guy had huge heat, made tons of money working with Hulk, can you imagine him winning the title as the corrupt monster heel? Brutus Beefcake is a close second because for some reason he was over at the time.
1990 - Mr. Perfect - I've always felt that Warrior was too early, maybe I should leave it as the Warrior, but giving Perfect a run by cheating his way to a win would've been interesting and teaming up with Heenan would've been epic with Heenan being able to say "FINALLY I manage the World's Heavyweight Champion!"
1991 - Sid Justice - This Tuesday in Texas would've been perfect for Sid to win the title, he got over so quickly in the WWF, had the look and everything.
Your picks?
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nibs92
Main Eventer
Joined on: May 29, 2008 5:47:21 GMT -5
Posts: 2,240
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Post by nibs92 on Sept 19, 2018 14:26:39 GMT -5
Difficult to imagine life without Hulk to be honest but a few random thoughts:
91 - would have to go with the Nature Boy. Was great to see him afforded the respect he truly deserved. They kept him as he was rather than repackaging him like so many others. A solid year or so run with the belt would have been great and if you had Bret beat him as it happened then it would have added to the Hitman’s credence and supported the launch of the new generation. Davey Boy as a punt round about the same time to capitalise on the the expansion into Europe, although may have hurt the North American business
90 - Gotta say Rick Rude. Mr Perfect was great and as much as I’d have loved him to have the belt, I think he would have struggled for opponents. Mr Perfect v Ultimate Warrior just doesn’t scream Main Event match to me. Their styles and gimmicks would lead to disastrous run at the top. Rude had the body and the rough and ready style that could match the Warrior. And further down the card, there was no other face that could really step up as a serious contender to lead the company.
80’s - a Non polka dotted Dusty Rhodes could have had a run at the top, with the right opponents. His everyday man gimmick could have led to feuds with the Bossman, the rich Ted Dibiase etc. (I know he feuded with them anyway, but a more serious Dusty could have pushed them all up the card)
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wormnation
Superstar
Joined on: Sept 8, 2018 9:15:31 GMT -5
Posts: 856 
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Post by wormnation on Sept 19, 2018 14:28:43 GMT -5
Andre
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Post by Gorilla on Sept 19, 2018 14:53:43 GMT -5
1984 - Andre the Giant (face)
1985 - Andre the Giant (face)
1986 - Andre the Giant (face)
1987 - Andre the Giant (face to heel turn)
1988 - Ted DiBiase (heel)
1989 - Randy Savage (face)
1990 - Randy Savage (face)
1991 - Ric Flair (heel)
That looks good to me. Honestly I wouldn't change much, just give Andre a lengthy reign and have him lay down for DiBiase.
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Post by warriorlynx on Sept 19, 2018 15:49:08 GMT -5
1984 - Andre the Giant (face) 1985 - Andre the Giant (face) 1986 - Andre the Giant (face) 1987 - Andre the Giant (face to heel turn) 1988 - Ted DiBiase (heel) 1989 - Randy Savage (face) 1990 - Randy Savage (face) 1991 - Ric Flair (heel) That looks good to me. Honestly I wouldn't change much, just give Andre a lengthy reign and have him lay down for DiBiase. Andre would be awesome, but he was always an attraction and his back was destroyed by 1986. Plus he didn't want a full-time schedule down the road, so it would be very difficult to be the champ. 1984 seems possible. I also think Flair is a good choice for 91. When he "beat" Hogan at MSG (with the stupid reversed decision) it was epic. |
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Post by warriorlynx on Sept 19, 2018 15:50:20 GMT -5
Difficult to imagine life without Hulk to be honest but a few random thoughts: 91 - would have to go with the Nature Boy. Was great to see him afforded the respect he truly deserved. They kept him as he was rather than repackaging him like so many others. A solid year or so run with the belt would have been great and if you had Bret beat him as it happened then it would have added to the Hitman’s credence and supported the launch of the new generation. Davey Boy as a punt round about the same time to capitalise on the the expansion into Europe, although may have hurt the North American business 90 - Gotta say Rick Rude. Mr Perfect was great and as much as I’d have loved him to have the belt, I think he would have struggled for opponents. Mr Perfect v Ultimate Warrior just doesn’t scream Main Event match to me. Their styles and gimmicks would lead to disastrous run at the top. Rude had the body and the rough and ready style that could match the Warrior. And further down the card, there was no other face that could really step up as a serious contender to lead the company. 80’s - a Non polka dotted Dusty Rhodes could have had a run at the top, with the right opponents. His everyday man gimmick could have led to feuds with the Bossman, the rich Ted Dibiase etc. (I know he feuded with them anyway, but a more serious Dusty could have pushed them all up the card) Dusty Rhodes is a good one. Rick Rude as champ I think would've been perfect if he was feuding against Randy Savage with his obsession over Liz. Talk about money right there. |
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Post by The Brain on Sept 19, 2018 19:47:26 GMT -5
85 for sure would've been Orndorff. I'd give Piper the belt and let babyface Orndorff chase em for it.
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China Claus
Main Eventer
I can feeel your sensitivity
Joined on: Apr 17, 2012 20:05:15 GMT -5
Posts: 2,737
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Post by China Claus on Sept 19, 2018 23:59:23 GMT -5
I always thought Magnum TA was NWA's answer to Hogan. I've heard he was even on the WWF's radar until his unfortunate car accident. I think he definitely could've been a lot bigger and it would've been interesting to see him in the WWF.
It's an interesting thought, but Hogan's were big shoes to fill, especially during that time frame.
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Post by k5 on Sept 20, 2018 8:45:37 GMT -5
Difficult to imagine life without Hulk to be honest but a few random thoughts: 91 - would have to go with the Nature Boy. Was great to see him afforded the respect he truly deserved. They kept him as he was rather than repackaging him like so many others. A solid year or so run with the belt would have been great and if you had Bret beat him as it happened then it would have added to the Hitman’s credence and supported the launch of the new generation. Davey Boy as a punt round about the same time to capitalise on the the expansion into Europe, although may have hurt the North American business 90 - Gotta say Rick Rude. Mr Perfect was great and as much as I’d have loved him to have the belt, I think he would have struggled for opponents. Mr Perfect v Ultimate Warrior just doesn’t scream Main Event match to me. Their styles and gimmicks would lead to disastrous run at the top. Rude had the body and the rough and ready style that could match the Warrior. And further down the card, there was no other face that could really step up as a serious contender to lead the company. 80’s - a Non polka dotted Dusty Rhodes could have had a run at the top, with the right opponents. His everyday man gimmick could have led to feuds with the Bossman, the rich Ted Dibiase etc. (I know he feuded with them anyway, but a more serious Dusty could have pushed them all up the card) Dusty Rhodes is a good one. Rick Rude as champ I think would've been perfect if he was feuding against Randy Savage with his obsession over Liz. Talk about money right there. considering his short but red hot feud with billy graham in the late 70s in the wwwf, dusty would have been a fantastic pick who would have had national appeal have ric flair follow him just as he did in the nwa and that’s all we need! |
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Sting
Main Eventer
The Wolfpac
Joined on: Mar 25, 2018 14:33:11 GMT -5
Posts: 2,285
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Post by Sting on Sept 20, 2018 18:20:46 GMT -5
Piper. No one else. It’s insane to think that man never got a world title run.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 21, 2018 13:27:42 GMT -5
Tony Garea!!
Gareamania would be running wild!!!
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Post by MKSavage on Oct 29, 2018 19:39:55 GMT -5
Difficult to imagine life without Hulk to be honest but a few random thoughts: 91 - would have to go with the Nature Boy. Was great to see him afforded the respect he truly deserved. They kept him as he was rather than repackaging him like so many others. A solid year or so run with the belt would have been great and if you had Bret beat him as it happened then it would have added to the Hitman’s credence and supported the launch of the new generation. Davey Boy as a punt round about the same time to capitalise on the the expansion into Europe, although may have hurt the North American business 90 - Gotta say Rick Rude. Mr Perfect was great and as much as I’d have loved him to have the belt, I think he would have struggled for opponents. Mr Perfect v Ultimate Warrior just doesn’t scream Main Event match to me. Their styles and gimmicks would lead to disastrous run at the top. Rude had the body and the rough and ready style that could match the Warrior. And further down the card, there was no other face that could really step up as a serious contender to lead the company. 80’s - a Non polka dotted Dusty Rhodes could have had a run at the top, with the right opponents. His everyday man gimmick could have led to feuds with the Bossman, the rich Ted Dibiase etc. (I know he feuded with them anyway, but a more serious Dusty could have pushed them all up the card) Dusty Rhodes is a good one. Rick Rude as champ I think would've been perfect if he was feuding against Randy Savage with his obsession over Liz. Talk about money right there.That would have been interesting. Both great on the mic and in the ring. Rude the chip n' dales wrestler going after Liz, and Savage being the over the top jealous type. Though, would have been odd for them to go this route after doing it with Rude and Jake. |
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Post by Hulkster2001 on Oct 30, 2018 7:10:42 GMT -5
No one
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Post by Nivro™ on Oct 30, 2018 20:07:59 GMT -5
Realistically? Nobody. Most of the names mentioned as those who could replace them were made names because of Hogan. It simply wouldnt have the same effect. It would have to be a Non WWF guy, who's a face and who was white hot at the time. The list is really small...
Ric Flair- His better days were as a heel but he could have been pushed as a face. I honestly dont think it would have gone over well. He wasnt the "Northern" type but his charisma was good enough where WWF could have still been a major player with him at the forefront.
Magnum TA- He had a decent look but didnt have the "larger then life" look. He had the charisma that fans could get behind but didnt have the build where he could find the monsters like Andre, Bundy & OMG and be believable like Hogan was.
Kerry Von Erich- Honestly the guy had "it"....he had a million dollar body. He had looks, he had charisma. He wasnt the strongest on the mic but that could have been hidden with the big machine pushing him. I believe it was rumored at one time that KVE was a potential "Guy" before Hogan was chosen and I could easily see him in that role. One sometimes has to wonder just where KVE could have gotten to if it werent for his demons.
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