Zincdust
Main Eventer
WF 20+ Year Member
WF Day 1 Member
Redefining "Old Toy Weirdo"
Joined on: Dec 18, 2001 15:13:21 GMT -5
Posts: 3,476
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Post by Zincdust on Nov 9, 2018 15:58:52 GMT -5
OK, so we're all familiar with the disclaimer the WWE puts out when advertising shows: Card is subject to change.
Has there ever been an advertised match that you were REALLY looking forward to that one of the wrestlers didn't make it to for whatever reason, so the booking staff just cobbled something together with who was on-hand at the time?
Here are a couple of my examples:
A house show in Boise, about summer-ish, 1988. The advertised semi-main event was Greg "The Hammer" Valentine VS. Don "The Rock" Muraco. These two were within a huge feud at the time, and I was a big Muraco mark. Unfortunately, Muraco was a no-show and replaced with Valentine's "mystery opponent"... Omar Atlas. This curtain-jerk match, which lasted about four minutes, was STILL put on as the semi-main event and hyped up as a big deal.
My second example is not nearly as bad as that one. I was thinking about to IYH: International Incident. I was REALLY looking forward to Jake Roberts VS. Mankind. "A battle of the masters of the mind game". Of course, we know that Roberts was replaced with Henry O. Godwinn. Not nearly as intriguing.
There are plenty of others, but I'd like to hear your stories of either live or televised shows (not limited to WWE/WWF, of course)!
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theafricandream
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Jan 15, 2014 15:56:38 GMT -5
Posts: 265 
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Post by theafricandream on Nov 9, 2018 16:39:36 GMT -5
The one that springs immediately to mind is Savio Vega being subbed in for Shawn Michaels at IYH: No Way Out of Texas. Still turned out to be a great main event but has to be towards the top of anybody’s disappointing substitutions list.
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koreygunz
Main Eventer
Elite Trader
287 Refs in WFClassifieds and counting
Joined on: Jun 18, 2006 15:31:49 GMT -5
Posts: 4,674
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Post by koreygunz on Nov 9, 2018 16:58:04 GMT -5
And Savio Vega subbing for Razor Ramon at KOTR 95. Poor Savio....
Also hated that at Survivor Series 91 we were first gonna get Jake/IRS/Natural Disasters vs Sid Justice/Bossman/LOD, then changed to Savage on the face team, and then ultimately just got a 6-man without Savage or Jake.
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Post by TKO Propagandist on Nov 9, 2018 17:25:47 GMT -5
Coachman for Eugene on the house show loops in 05, may have even made it to TV but yeah, atrocious
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Post by PJ on Nov 9, 2018 18:08:54 GMT -5
Not in WCW or the WWE, but with TNA I preordered a PPV because they advertised the Steiner Brothers reunion, but Scott missed it because of that surgery that almost killed him in Mexico(?). But the Steiner Brothers teaming together was the only reason I ordered it.
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Post by The Brain on Nov 9, 2018 18:34:26 GMT -5
One that comes to mind is Rick Rude vs Vader at Slamboree 94. I really wanted to see this one but sadly Rude had his career ending injury not long before so in the end he was replaced by Sting.We still got a good match as those two always had good chemistry but man imagine if we got Rude/Vader in a heel city like Philly.
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Post by MKSavage on Nov 9, 2018 20:21:45 GMT -5
Also hated that at Survivor Series 91 we were first gonna get Jake/IRS/Natural Disasters vs Sid Justice/Bossman/LOD, then changed to Savage on the face team, and then ultimately just got a 6-man without Savage or Jake. Agreed, that feud is still to this day one of my all-time favorites. Really wish we could have still had them at the event even if Jake and Savage were disqualified early in the bout. It looks like they were really using this feud to sell the Tuesday in Texas PPV that was happening about 5 days after the Survivor Series and maybe they didn't want to give anything away at Survivor Series so that people would have to buy the Tuesday in Texas PPV to see the feud. |
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Post by warriorlynx on Nov 10, 2018 15:53:31 GMT -5
Anyone subbing for Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan on Prime Time Wrestling (except the guy in the Gorilla costume that was hilarious till Monsoon showed up "late").
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Post by The Brain on Nov 10, 2018 17:10:11 GMT -5
Anyone subbing for Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan on Prime Time Wrestling (except the guy in the Gorilla costume that was hilarious till Monsoon showed up "late"). Classic...
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ClassicFan2
Main Eventer
Joined on: Oct 22, 2010 15:25:00 GMT -5
Posts: 3,256
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Post by ClassicFan2 on Nov 10, 2018 20:29:50 GMT -5
wm9- bigelow/kamala
ss91- no jake or sid in the 8 man tag match
rude vs vader- wcw 91
vader vs sid- starrcade 93
personally a tuscan az house show bundy vs kamala who no showed and we got a bundy vs kim chee 30 sec squash.
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jdgjivesoulbro
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Jun 14, 2012 14:47:27 GMT -5
Posts: 107
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Post by jdgjivesoulbro on Nov 10, 2018 22:21:08 GMT -5
My 1st ever house show had a really random substitution of Sivi Afi replacing Jacques Rougeau to team with Raymond against the Islanders who he would sometimes do 6 man tags with at the time.
Also, on the same show Outback Jack pulled double duty defeating Barry O and then the Iron Sheik later. I'm not sure who he replaced or which was even his original match.
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Post by Nivro™ on Nov 10, 2018 23:14:35 GMT -5
I think the obvious answer here is Paul Roma...he wasnt just subbed for match but a whole freaking faction/storyline. How they thought using Roma instead of getting the deal done with Blanchard was a good idea, Ill never know.
One smaller one i personally hate was at my first wrestling show. The main event was Sting, Flair & Anderson vs Hollywood Blondes & Barry Windham...Windham wasnt there and they used Lord Steven Regal instead. Not that Regal is "bad" but man Windham would have really filled that match out.
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Post by Zigzag on Nov 11, 2018 23:11:59 GMT -5
Speaking strictly of live events...
My first ever live show, a WWF House Show in 1993, a little more than a month before my thirteenth birthday. I was actually excited at the prospect of Terrific Terry Taylor facing Jim Duggan. Imagine my confusion when Iron Mike Sharpe stepped in to face ol' Jim.
I had no idea at the time, that Taylor had already jumped to WCW as the Taylor-Made Man. However, I realized this was a unique opportunity to watch my first 'enhancement match' in person. And yes, Sharpe really WAS that loud in person. The crowd gave him absolute hell. Good times.
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,631
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Nov 13, 2018 14:34:24 GMT -5
In the heat of the moment before we all knew what happened, I was really bummed out when Johnny Nitro replaced Benoit to face CM Punk for the ECW title at Night of Champions 2007.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Nov 13, 2018 16:15:24 GMT -5
I remember I went to a house show in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, and the main event ended up being Val Venis vs. Kurt Angle because of Booker T and RVD not being able to show up.
The shocking thing is... Venis pinned Angle with the money shot! And this was in February of 2002 too! So that was kind of shocking.
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Post by Grumpyoldman on Nov 13, 2018 16:22:13 GMT -5
Heidenreich & Droz as members of the Legion of Doom.
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Post by The Brain on Nov 13, 2018 16:48:37 GMT -5
Crush replacing Ax in Demolition.
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Post by mikey1974 on Nov 13, 2018 18:49:33 GMT -5
Crush replacing Ax in Demolition. Was literally just coming to post this. On a more personal note... As a kid, for the first half of the 80's my favorite wrestler was hands down Jimmy Snuka. so when the WWF cam to my local Catholic school gym with Snuka vs Greg Valentine advertised, you can be damn sure my Dad got us tickets. And I was BEYOND crushed when he limped out to the ring in street clothes and got on the mic saying he injured his knee and couldn't wrestle, but his good friend Ricky Steamboat offered to take his place. Now ... frigging STEAMBOAT vs Valentine man! But my 9 year old self didn't get that I probably saw a better match than if Snuka had done it. Even worse? My cousin was working security for the place, and he said once Snuka got outside the doors his limp "magically" went away and he drove off to a local adult lounge to partake of the booze and the ladies. |
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ellisd
Main Eventer
Joined on: May 26, 2009 0:30:49 GMT -5
Posts: 4,756
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Post by ellisd on Nov 26, 2018 23:28:50 GMT -5
And Savio Vega subbing for Razor Ramon at KOTR 95. Poor Savio.... Also hated that at Survivor Series 91 we were first gonna get Jake/IRS/Natural Disasters vs Sid Justice/Bossman/LOD, then changed to Savage on the face team, and then ultimately just got a 6-man without Savage or Jake. Yeah, that Survivor Series 91 match was just a mess. I remember it being changed and it didn’t even feel like a Survivor Series match with it just being 3 on 3. It seemed really odd with the teams not having a captain too. It kinda seemed like a random Coliseum Video 6 Man Tag. |
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Post by cordless2016 on Nov 27, 2018 0:02:44 GMT -5
Not a house show but the biggest one for me has to be Big Show subbing for Austin at SS ‘99. They knew Austin was out a week before but still advertised him up until the event as a way to help sell tickets. Big Show subbing was done for a quick pop but overall a HUGE letdown.
I still feel that Kane would have been a FAR better substitute to win the title if it wasn’t going to be Rocky as Kane was over and in a feud with DX at the time. He could have had a successful title defense at Armageddon ‘99 against X-Pac before dropping it back to HHH at the top of the new year.
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Hogan VS Flair
