Vince McMahon Guilty!

[cardsflyinhigh]

I'll throw this out there in case anyone is interested in picking it up as I got too much on my plate right now.

I came across an article about the infamous 1994 steroid trial of Vince McMahon in which he was eventually was found not guilty, and not much across the wrestling landscape.

But what if he was found guilty?

With Vince in jail, what happens to the WWF? Do more stars jump to WCW, does the WWF fold completely, or does it re-invent itself a few years before the start of the attitude era?

[hsj]

I actually had a file saved on my computer with some what-if scenarios that were around TNM forums some years back that adresses this very thing. I have no idea who wrote it (ie I take zero credit for this!) but I'll copy it here for your perusal:

VINCE THE JAIL BIRD

Premise: In 1993 Vince McMahon was charged with distributing steroids to his wrestlers. The Prosecution had the biggest name in professional wrestling on his side in one Hulk Hogan. WHAT IF Vince McMahon was convicted of this crime and was sent to jail for 10 years. After the conviction the WWF was in shambles, with Linda McMahon at the held, several top wrestlers followed Hulk Hogan to the WCW. In July of 1994 the following wrestlers followed Hulk Hogan to WCW, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, The Undertaker, Lex Luger, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, Diesel and The Steiner Brothers. Due to the scandal USA Network decided to pull WWF Monday Night Raw from its programming damaging the WWF completely. Now it is a month leading up to Summerslam, with no WWF World Champion (Bret Hart left), no WWF Intercontinental Champion (Shawn Michaels left), no WWF Tag Team Champions (Steiners defected). Can you bring the WWF back to prominence with a new late-night Saturday Night Slot?

Player Promotion: World Wrestling Federation with Linda McMahon as CEO and Vince McMahon in jail

Starting Date: July 1994 (around the time Vince's trial ended)
Top Stars: Randy Savage (Commentator), Yokozuna, Roddy Piper
Champions: All titles vacant as all champions move to WCW

Roster: "MVP" Steve Lombardi, Virgil, The Bushwackers, The Mountie, Irwin R. Shyster, Tatanka, Barry Horowitz, Crush, The Headshrinkers, Bob Backlund, Bam Bam Bigelow, Jerry Lawler, Men on a Mission, The Smoking Gunns, 1-2-3 Kid, Adam Bomb, Pierre Oulette, The Heavenly Bodies, Jeff Jarrett, Bob 'Spark Plug' Holly, Nikolai Volkoff, Duke Droese, Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart, The Fake Undertaker Brian Lee, Ted DiBiase, The Barbarian, Davey Boy Smith, King Kong Bundy

Special Rules:
1. None of the defectors to WCW can ever return to the World Wrestling Federation. Linda McMahon has a vendetta against them for leaving the company right after the trial.
2. As well WWF cannot get a better time slot for about two years time if all goes well. If the company continues to slide it could lose its late-night slot
3. The WWF has already scheduled 4 pay per views for 1995 of Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summerslam and Survivor Series. After that if the WWF is doing well the next year 4 more, if not then it will be reduced to 2.
4. If someone does not want to sign with you then you cannot sign or attempt to sign them for another two years.
5. The Wrestling World now has a strict no tolerance Steroid Policy mandated by congress so WWF will not go for the steroid junkies but will try and go after more athletic real looking wrestlers.
6. As a side note, trying to bring back old WWF superstars who have retired might be a good way to conjure up interest.

[cardsflyinhigh]

Oct 23, 2020 11:23:30 GMT -5 hsj said:

5. The Wrestling World now has a strict no tolerance Steroid Policy mandated by congress so WWF will not go for the steroid junkies but will try and go after more athletic real looking wrestlers.
6. As a side note, trying to bring back old WWF superstars who have retired might be a good way to conjure up interest.

These two seem contradictory

[mdale2k]

I wrote that and started a fed. I tried to find it in the old tnm7 archives forums!

Thought it was a great concept

[LillaThrilla]

Bret, Owen, and Shawn leave seems a little surprising in this scenario. The rest I agree with.

Davey Boy Smith and probably Adam Bomb are out as well due to steroids. And they'd probably sack Neidhart while they're at it because of his drug problems of a non-steroid variety.

Savage is in an odd spot because he's an obvious guy to get back into the ring because they're hurting for talent, but also a guy who was clearly on the juice in the 80s.

I think the direction to go is take WWF in a direction where it's built around guys the size of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels (whether you keep those two or not). Start bringing in all the 90s indy guys worth a darn. Probably start a Cruiserweight / Light Heavyweight division in earnest. When Worlds Collide was Nov 1994, but WCW didn't introduce their Cruiserweight Title until 1996. Nevertheless, WCW still has an agreement with AAA so you're probably looking to poach CMLL luchadores or go Japanese-centric, primarily with AJPW or other non-NJPW guys (again, agreement with WCW). WWF probably also snatches up every ECW guy who was worthwhile outside the ECW bubble.

P.S. Of course, the alternate is WWF folds and we get a WWF Invasion angle in WCW.

[cardsflyinhigh]

The scenario I came up with, Bret and Owen Stay, Shawn and the rest mentioned go. Perhaps the Undertaker stays. This would've all theoretically happened a month before Shane Douglas threw away the NWA title after winning a tournament and Eastern Championship Wrestling became Extreme Championship wrestling. My scenario would gather up Paul Heyman and ECW, Cornette's Smokey Mountain Wrestling, Jerry Jarrett's USWA and merge them all together under the WWF banner since that name and branding carries the most weight. Could start with a nice Bret Hart vs. Shane Douglas feud for the title. Tons of other cross over possibilities.