Post by LillaThrilla on Feb 18, 2011 19:24:14 GMT -5
1997 was a heck of a year for WWF. Even though you had undercard stuff like The Gang Wars (blacks vs bikers vs Puerto Ricans), lots of big stuff was happening at the top of the card:
Febuary: Shawn Michaels vacates the WWF Title on Thursday Raw Thursday due to some combination of a knee injury, depression, and not wanting to lose the Title to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania.
March: Wrestlemania 13 sees a famous match between Steve Austin and Bret Hart. It was huge because of the double turn, making Austin a face and Bret a heel. Plus the brawling style of the match would be heavily imitated in WWF as well. Meanwhile, the WWF Title match is Undertaker vs Sid. If Michaels doesn't temporarily quit, he loses the Title to Bret and Undertaker faces . Bret is probably still a face and Austin is still a heel.
July: If Bret doesn't turn heel, we don't have the US vs Canada fued. If we don't have that fued, the Canadian Stampede PPV doesn't feature the HUGE main event tag match.
July: Due to the US vs Canada fued, The Patriot (Del Wilkes) is signed by WWF. Some criticized the decision to bring in a new wrestler solely to put him in one of the biggest angles in the company. What if WWF had elevated someone already under contract instead or at least signed someone with more long term potential? Goldust sheds the makeup to become "The New American Dream" Dustin Rhodes? "All American" Rocky Maivia? Crush? Bob Holly? (what's more stereotypically American than NASCAR?) Billy Gunn? Jesse James?
August: Bret Hart vs Undertaker with Shawn Michaels as guest referee. If Michaels doesn't suffer another injury (this one legitimate?) earlier in the summer, he doesn't vacate the Tag Titles he was holding with Austin, participates in the Canadian Stampede match, and probably wrestles someone at Summerslam instead of refereeing this match. If he doesn't referee this match, he doesn't hit Undertaker with a chair. If he doesn't hit Undertaker with a chair, he doesn't have the first Hell In A Cell match against Undertaker and doesn't wrestle in a Casket Match at Royal Rumble '98 and thus doesn't wreck his back on a bad bump.
But wait: there's more! Owen 3:16 as Austin suffers a severe neck injury thanks to a botched piledriver. Allegedly this didn't actually cause any serious changes to booking plans; they merely pushed some stuff back a month to let Austin heal. But even if this is true, this neck injury would later cause Austin to take a year off for neck surgery ("Who hit Austin with the rental car?") and surely shortened his career. But take it another way: what if the piledriver was actually botched WORSE: Austin has to take a year off immediately or is forced to retire. No epic Austin vs Vince fued! Are piledrivers banned? Does Owen possible quit out of guilt or get fired as punishment?
Also in August (busy month!): the return of Rocky Maivia from an injury, immediately joining The Nation and turning heel, launching The Rock. And the formation of D-X.
November: Montreal. What if Bret doesn't sign the contract he did, renegotiates, or otherwise isn't leaving WWF for WCW? What is Bret's future in WWF? How does the US vs Canada fued end? Does Evil Vince McMahon still happen and if so stemming from what? What if Michaels hadn't "lost his smile" back in Febuary and had lost the Title to Bret at Wrestlemania? Does the WWF at the end of 1997 look anything like it actually did?
What's the most interesting Point Of Departure if you were going to book a WWF circuit starting in 1997?
Febuary: Shawn Michaels vacates the WWF Title on Thursday Raw Thursday due to some combination of a knee injury, depression, and not wanting to lose the Title to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania.
March: Wrestlemania 13 sees a famous match between Steve Austin and Bret Hart. It was huge because of the double turn, making Austin a face and Bret a heel. Plus the brawling style of the match would be heavily imitated in WWF as well. Meanwhile, the WWF Title match is Undertaker vs Sid. If Michaels doesn't temporarily quit, he loses the Title to Bret and Undertaker faces . Bret is probably still a face and Austin is still a heel.
July: If Bret doesn't turn heel, we don't have the US vs Canada fued. If we don't have that fued, the Canadian Stampede PPV doesn't feature the HUGE main event tag match.
July: Due to the US vs Canada fued, The Patriot (Del Wilkes) is signed by WWF. Some criticized the decision to bring in a new wrestler solely to put him in one of the biggest angles in the company. What if WWF had elevated someone already under contract instead or at least signed someone with more long term potential? Goldust sheds the makeup to become "The New American Dream" Dustin Rhodes? "All American" Rocky Maivia? Crush? Bob Holly? (what's more stereotypically American than NASCAR?) Billy Gunn? Jesse James?
August: Bret Hart vs Undertaker with Shawn Michaels as guest referee. If Michaels doesn't suffer another injury (this one legitimate?) earlier in the summer, he doesn't vacate the Tag Titles he was holding with Austin, participates in the Canadian Stampede match, and probably wrestles someone at Summerslam instead of refereeing this match. If he doesn't referee this match, he doesn't hit Undertaker with a chair. If he doesn't hit Undertaker with a chair, he doesn't have the first Hell In A Cell match against Undertaker and doesn't wrestle in a Casket Match at Royal Rumble '98 and thus doesn't wreck his back on a bad bump.
But wait: there's more! Owen 3:16 as Austin suffers a severe neck injury thanks to a botched piledriver. Allegedly this didn't actually cause any serious changes to booking plans; they merely pushed some stuff back a month to let Austin heal. But even if this is true, this neck injury would later cause Austin to take a year off for neck surgery ("Who hit Austin with the rental car?") and surely shortened his career. But take it another way: what if the piledriver was actually botched WORSE: Austin has to take a year off immediately or is forced to retire. No epic Austin vs Vince fued! Are piledrivers banned? Does Owen possible quit out of guilt or get fired as punishment?
Also in August (busy month!): the return of Rocky Maivia from an injury, immediately joining The Nation and turning heel, launching The Rock. And the formation of D-X.
November: Montreal. What if Bret doesn't sign the contract he did, renegotiates, or otherwise isn't leaving WWF for WCW? What is Bret's future in WWF? How does the US vs Canada fued end? Does Evil Vince McMahon still happen and if so stemming from what? What if Michaels hadn't "lost his smile" back in Febuary and had lost the Title to Bret at Wrestlemania? Does the WWF at the end of 1997 look anything like it actually did?
What's the most interesting Point Of Departure if you were going to book a WWF circuit starting in 1997?