Circuit Idea - WWF 1996: King Hunter

[LillaThrilla]

June 23, 1996: King Of The Ring. Steve Austin beats Jake Roberts in the finals. He gives his famous "Austin 3:16" speech and his career really takes off.

In a dark match, Hunter Hearst Helmsley pins Aldo Montoya in a Dark Match. The future Triple H is being punished for his participation in the Madison Square Garden Incident aka The Kliq Curtain Call a month earlier. Helmsley and Shawn Michaels broke kayfabe to have a group hug with Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) and Diesel (Kevin Nash) who were leaving WWF for WCW. Michaels went largely unpunished because of his main event status, but Helmsley was largely de-pushed until the formation of D-X. Helmsley was allegedly booked to win KotR '96 but thanks to the Curtain Call plans were changed and Austin won instead.

What if Helmsley had still won King Of The Ring in 1996? Would HHH have been as successful or would his push have come too early? What about Austin?

And if Helmsley goes unpunished he probably didn't participate in the Curtain Call. Maybe it was just a missed flight or a bad cold. Or maybe he didn't want to risk the very punishment he would end up receiving? Would such a decision have sat well with Shawn Michaels or would it have damaged their real life friendship?

First card: June 23, 1996 - King Of The Ring PPV

Weekly Shows: Monday Night RAW (1 hours - alternates weeks between live and taped) & Superstars (1 hour - taped/syndicated)

Pre-PPV Show: Free For All is a 30 minute countdown show before each PPV which usually includes one match.

Monthly PPVs: Royal Rumble (Jan), Wrestlemania (March/April), King Of The Ring (June), Summerslam (Aug), Survivor Series (Nov). All other months have a In Your House PPV.

Champions As Of June 22, 1996
WWF Title = Shawn Michaels
WWF Intercontinental Title = Goldust
WWF Tag Team Titles = The Smokin' Gunns

King Of The Ring '96 PPV Lineup:
The Bodydonnas vs The New Rockers
Ultimate Warrior vs Jerry Lawler
Title Match: Goldust vs Ahmed Johnson
Title Match: The Smokin Gunns vs The Godwinns
Title Match: Shawn Michaels (w/ Jose Lothario) vs The British Bulldog (w/ Jim Cornette & Diana Smith). Special Referee: Mr. Perfect
KotR tournament semi-finals & finals*

* King Of The Ring must be won by Hunter Hearst Helmsley. If Helmsley was booked to win instead of Austin, the brackets may have been arranged differently. As a result, the 3 wrestlers besides HHH in your semi-finals may be any of the following: Steve Austin, Vader, Jake Roberts, Marc Mero, Owen Hart, Savio Vega, Justin Bradshaw.

WWF Roster As of June 22, 1996
Ahmed Johnson
Aldo Montoya (Justin Credible under a really stupid mask)
Alex Porteau
Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly
Bob Backlund
Bret Hart
Brian Pillman
Duke "The Dumpster" Droese
Fatu
Goldust (w/ Marlena)
Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/ Chyna)
Jake Roberts
Jerry Lawler
Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw (w/ Uncle Zebekiah)
Mankind
Owen Hart
Savio Vega
Shawn Michaels w/ Jose Lothario
Steve Austin
T.L. Hopper
The 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman)
The British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith) w/ Jim Cornette
The Ultimate Warrior
The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer)
Vader w/ Jim Cornette
Wildman Marc Mero w/ Sable
Yokozuna w/ Mr. Fuji
Camp Cornette (Vader, Owen Hart, & The British Bulldog) w/ w/ Jim Cornette
The Godwinns (Henry & Phineas) w/ Hillbilly Jim
The Bodydonnas - Skip (Chris Candido) & Zip (Tom Pritchard) w/ Cloudy
The Bushwackers (Luke Williams & Butch Miller)
The New Rockers - Leif Cassidy (Al Snow) & Marty Jannetty
The Smokin' Gunns (Billy Gunn & Bart Gunn) w/ Sunny
Tekno Team 2000 - Troy (Erik Watts) & Travis (Chad Fortune)
The Brooklyn Brawler
Barry Horowitz
Freddie Joe Floyd (Tracy Smothers)
Salvatore Sincere (Tom Brandi)
Sycho Sid (returning from injury in July)
Faarooq Asaad (debuting in July)
Mr. Perfect (non-wrestling roles until September)

Commentators: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler
President: Gorilla Monsoon
Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel
Misc Non-Wrestling Talent: Todd Pettengill & Dok Hendrix

WWF Signings From July 1996 - December 1996
July = Who (Jim Neidhart)
August = The Stalker (Barry Windham), Crush, Mark Henry, The Grimm Twins - Jacob & Jared (The Harris Brothers), Jesse James
September = The Executioner (Terry Gordy)
November = Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon, Flash Funk (2 Cold Scorpio), PG-13 - J.C. Ice and Wolfie, The Headbangers - Mosh & Trash, Rocky Maivia

The fall of 1996 saw the debuts of Fake Razor Ramon (Rick Bognar) & Fake Diesel (Glenn Jacobs) as part of an angle with Jim Ross. Whether you wish to use them in this manner is up to you.

The Legion Of Doom - Animal & Hawk - had left WCW earlier in the year and were wrestling in Japan and indys. Though in real life they did not return to WWF until Febuary 1997, there is no reason you need to wait to sign them.

Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy were occasionally used as jobbers by WWF during this time period and paid by appearance. Though in real life they were not signed to contracts until 1997, there is no reason you need to wait to sign them.

any time

Matt Hardy
Jeff Hardy
[both Hardys were jobbers paid by appearance in 1996; they would be signed to contracts in 1997]

EDIT: Added Camp Cornette.

[LillaThrilla]

After putting this all together, the first question that came to mind:

Jul 1, 2010 19:23:58 GMT -5 LillaThrilla said:

The Godwinns (Henry & Phineas) w/ Hillbilly Jim
The Bodydonnas - Skip (Chris Candido) & Zip (Tom Pritchard) w/ Cloudy
The Bushwackers (Luke Williams & Butch Miller)
The New Rockers - Leif Cassidy (Al Snow) & Marty Jannetty
The Smokin' Gunns (Billy Gunn & Bart Gunn) w/ Sunny
Tekno Team 2000 - Troy (Erik Watts) & Travis (Chad Fortune)

Was the WWF's tag division really that terrible in 1996???

[JoshiQ]

You do a really good job on these, Liller. I can't wait to see somebody try and get one of these up and going. I might even do one just for my own enjoyment.

I think that the WWF's tag division was really just that weak at this point. Owen Hart probably could start teaming up with DBS pretty soon after KOTR. I can't remember when they actually started teaming.

It's no wonder Billy Gunn and the Road Dogg got so over in 1997 if this is all they really had to work with.

[ultramagnus]

By the end of 1996 it was getting pretty decent, especially after Furnas and LaFon (Kroffat) came in.

[LillaThrilla]

Jul 1, 2010 20:01:45 GMT -5 JoshiQ said:

You do a really good job on these, Liller. I can't wait to see somebody try and get one of these up and going. I might even do one just for my own enjoyment.

Thanks. The rosters on Solie's Vintage Wrestling plus Wikipedia are a big help. And I do love me some alternate history.

I'm planning to do other writeups for the Invasion, NXT/Nexus, and Summerslam '97 ("What If No Owen 3:16?"). I'm also dabbling with a writeup for an alternate west coast version of ECW.

I'm also open to requests.

Jul 1, 2010 20:01:45 GMT -5 JoshiQ said:

I think that the WWF's tag division was really just that weak at this point. Owen Hart probably could start teaming up with DBS pretty soon after KOTR. I can't remember when they actually started teaming.

Looks like they were already teaming by this point. Thanks for prompting me to look it up.

"The team of Hart and Bulldog debuted on March 31, 1996 at the twelfth WrestleMania event as members of James E. Cornette's Camp stable along with Vader."

Will have to make a few corrections.

Jul 1, 2010 20:01:45 GMT -5 JoshiQ said:

It's no wonder Billy Gunn and the Road Dogg got so over in 1997 if this is all they really had to work with.

It really makes me wonder why they didn't bring The Legion Of Doom back until 1997. Yeah, their career was pretty much running out of steam at this point but they were probably no worse workers than half the tag division and the crowd probably cared about them more than most of the rest of the division combined.

Jul 1, 2010 20:05:22 GMT -5 ultramagnus said:

By the end of 1996 it was getting pretty decent, especially after Furnas and LaFon (Kroffat) came in.

But I don't think they got over on their first run? They did better when they tried again in mid-1997 and were aligned with The Hart Foundation.

[JoshiQ]

Here are a couple I was thinking about if you got interested in them. Or maybe I could try writing one up.

But what about if Shawn Michaels didn't lose his smile in '97. He was originally planned to lose to Bret Hart to pay him back for WrestleMania XII, but instead Michaels lost his smile, gave up the title, and it went to the winner of the Final Four PPV.

If Michaels had kept his smile and continued on and fought Hart at WrestleMania, that would mean that Undertaker and Sid wouldn't be facing off for the Title, Austin and Bret wouldn't have their epic I quit match, and who knows if the double turn would have ever taken place. Interesting to think about.

One other one is that Michaels did lose his smile, but in the Final Four I always hear the rumor that Austin was actually suppose to win the Title there but was injured during the match causing the improv finish of Hart going over. What if Austin won his first Title there? We still have Hart-Austin at WrestleMania probably, but do they still do the double turn? Does the Austin Stunning McMahon, Ross, and Lawler have the same effect? Does Tyson even come in?

I love alternate history too.

[ultramagnus]

Jul 1, 2010 20:05:22 GMT -5 ultramagnus said:

By the end of 1996 it was getting pretty decent, especially after Furnas and LaFon (Kroffat) came in.

But I don't think they got over on their first run? They did better when they tried again in mid-1997 and were aligned with The Hart Foundation.

That's true, but the matches were still pretty good IMO. Wasn't LOD with WCW in 1996? Maybe that's why they didn't make it back until 1997.

[LillaThrilla]

Jul 1, 2010 21:04:41 GMT -5 ultramagnus said:

Wasn't LOD with WCW in 1996? Maybe that's why they didn't make it back until 1997.

They were in WCW in early 1996 but had a dispute with Bischoff and were gone around May or early June. And I don't think they had 90 day no compete clauses back then given the way Hall, Nash, and Madusa switched organizations rather quickly.

[JoshiQ]

I think the reason they were upset (rumors) was the amount of money Nash and Hall were getting to come in and that LOD were making less. Kind of ridiculous since the Road Warriors were by far not worth much at this point as headliners.

[Crpls]

Hall, Nash and Madusa left after expired contracts, they weren't released/fired.