What Might Have Been
By Drowgoddess · · 4 Comments“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.'”
—John Greenleaf Whittier
As a wrestling fan, one sometimes ponders possibilities that went unrealized in terms of character development, feuds, angles, and so on. The topic refuses to take up residence outside of my brain-meat, so it has now morphed into an article, of sorts. In the comments section below, discuss wrestling-related happenings that you would have liked to see take place, but somehow did not. As the resident TNA person here at boredwrestlingfan.com, my list consists mostly of TNA things, but any and all wrestling companies are fair game here. Post as many as you like, and explain why you feel an opportunity was missed.
Serotinin vs. LAX feud
Most people thought that the Serotonin stable was incredibly lame, if they noticed it at all. I stand by my original assertion that something good could have come of this. In LAX, you had a brutal gang of street thugs who prided themselves on how much pain and torture that they could dish out. In Serotonin, you had a goth/punk group who prided themselves on how much pain and torture they could take. LAX had a charismatic leader in Konnan to talk for them. Serotonin has a charismatic leader in Raven to talk for them. Imagine a tag team feud when LAX gradually realizes that Serotonin relishes the suffering that is inflicted on them, and has to come up with new tactics. It’s two heel groups against each other, I hear you cry! LAX were better heels in the first place. Serotonin actually started to get some babyface reaction because of Raven’s beatings and mindgames. They could easily have been tinkered with to be like the hero in so many martial arts movies. The mentor and leader destroys their fear and separates the body and the mind, so that they can endure and succeed. Sure, it may not have worked, but it could have at least had a chance.
LAX vs. the MCMG feud
You wanted to see it. Everyone wanted to see it. We got a few matches here and there, but not the sustained feud for the tag team titles that should have happened. This needs little explanation, and there really is no excuse for it not happening.
Petey Williams with the Beautiful People
Nobody, I repeat, NOBODY wanted to see Cute Kip as fashionista to the Beautiful People. If a man needed to be put with them, Petey Williams should have been it. His “Maple Leaf Muscle” persona was absolutely perfect to join the Beautiful People. Instead, Petey is released and Cute Kip adds nothing to the act.
True heel Sonjay Dutt
When Kevin Nash took over the X-Division (again), with the idea of giving the wrestlers in it personalities and “helping them get over,” the groundwork was beautifully laid for Sonjay to resent Nash’s preference for Jay Lethal, and finally explode and feud with his former best friend. Sonjay could have been a legitimate heel, and a quality program could have ensued. What happened? “Oh, he’s Indian, so let’s make him The Guru. For no reason.” Sonjay was still a goofy caricature heel rather than a realistic guy. On a related note, the fight over SoCal Val would have been the perfect time to scrap the worn-out “Black Machismo” gimmick, rather than dragging it out for months afterwards. If Sonjay had been a realistic heel, Val could have said that she chose Sonjay over Lethal because Sonjay knew who he was, was comfortable with who he was, and wasn’t afraid to be a real man instead of a cartoon character. Boom, you’re done.
Kevin Thorne and Ariel
Whether you believe that Kevin Thorne had any talent as a wrestler isn’t the point here. He was absolutely right when he said that WWE acted short-sightedly in releasing him and Ariel just as the “Twilight” craze and general pop culture explosion of all things vampire was about to hit. Anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to popular culture could see that it was coming, and anything vampire-related will sell a great deal of merchandise, particularly to teen and tween girls. The pair had good chemistry, a fantastic look, and a memorable entrance. Let’s not pretend that in-ring skill rates high on Vince’s scale of importance. Thorn improved a great deal in the ring anyway, and he wasn’t THAT bad.
The WCW/ECW Invasion
Oh, haven’t we all bemoaned this one? The one un-screw-uppable story in all of pro wrestling was screwed up beyond belief. Ego killed it, and there isn’t much point in rehashing all of the details, but this is the one thing that pretty much every wrestling fan on the planet wanted to see, and it could have been so legendarily epic. This really was unforgivable.
Your thoughts? Post comments below, and let’s see what peeps wish could have been.
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4 Comments
RobotPartyWeek
Oh, I think about scenarios like this a lot! The Invasion is obviously the big one – I think every fan has their own personal way they would have done things differently.
I know I'm always incredibly bias towards Mr. Brian Kendrick, but I feel his WWE run could have developed into something fantastic. Granted, he was clearly unhappy towards the end of his tenure – and seemed to even actively seek his release by continually toking – but his gimmick was fantastic, and screamed with potential. When I started watching wrasslin' again, he had just debuted this persona, and he was one of the characters I was instantly drawn to.
I think he could have been an extremely solid IC or US champion. Rather than have him hide behind Zeke, I'd have developed a sort of… Pillman-esque side to him. Sure, he's small, but he'd be bat-shit insane and would go to disturbing depths to get the win. Of course, how viable this would be in WWE's current PG climate is definitely questionable.
Jamie Kennedy
Completely agree with the Kevin Thorne/Ariel one there, although I think the company would have done well to tweak the character to fit a more teen audience. Less cartoon vampire (like Thorne was) and more moody, misunderstood vampire. It's very unlike WWE and specifically Vince McMahon to have an oversight like this which could feasibly benefit his promotion, even though it's happened a few times. Paul Burchill as a Captain Jack Sparrow-like pirate anyone?
The Invasion would surely top my own personal list here. Infact, all the irritating things about that entire project could have its own list! Talk about oversight, the amount of dollars in revenue thrown away by having Diamond Dallas Page look like a creepy loser bitch at King of the Ring 2001 alone is unbelievable. I'm not saying DDP in particular was the draw but a top WCW superstar in a feud with The Undertaker, one of the top WWF stars of all time, so close to the Atlanta-based fed going bust/being taken over? That's money right there.
The main thing which annoys me here is how many awesome moments I had to miss out on as a fan simply because those and such as those at WWF/WWE were not prepared to allow anybody from WCW to look competitive whatsoever. Instead, they all looked like morons who had no real right being on WWF TV or Pay-Per-View. Vince McMahon must have known that WWF vs. WCW would have made MILLIONS, yet he pissed it all away just because he couldn't stand to think one of those rejects from "that" promotion could realistically hang with one of his WWF Superstars in the fans eyes. YOU HAD ALREADY WON VINCE.
Great article, as always!
Gee Hall
Waxing poetic… huh? 🙂
This is a good list. I read it a couple days ago, and thought about this before I wrote it (warning not epic, nor mindblowing).
I like all proposed storylines, but wanted to note one in particular.
"True heel Sonjay Dutt"
At first I read this one with the other ideas, and it stood out the most. During the stereotype character TNA made into a clown (not as if WWE is not guilty of this either), he was buried. But like the Marvel Comics series "What If?…" that I loved as a kid, it made me wonder. In fact, I would have loved the following to ensued. Let's assume he has to do this clown shtick regardless… and toss him into the initial storyline with So Cal Val and Macho Man Jay Lethal, before the love triangle storyline. As opposed to do the love angle, just have him beatdown Lethal backstage… So Cal Val can scream and run off (she's not relevant after what happens next). Dutt lays out Lethal. Then takes off all the clown related gimmick stuff, and toss it on Lethal… cut a promo later on Lethal about not being the court jesters for TNA, call the gimmick the racist image for what it is. Then rip on Lethal for imitating Savage, and being a puppet of the bookers/writers/Russo/etc. Then just let him roll with a "serious" character type, like Lance Storm or RTC….
RYTMAN
I'm adding a track to thist train of thought.
Most of my "might've been" items are ideas/concepts that got pulled too soon.
LEGACY – Randy Orton, Ted Debiase Jr., and Cody Rhodes. This idea had HUGE momentum out of the gate but got buried way too soon. A title on each guy would've helped.
LONDRICK – Weird that I'd list a team that got 2/3 runs with the tag titles under the "might've been" catagory, but the thing is, they were tag champs during a period when no-one cared (as opposed to now?) Their reigns were after-thoughts and never made into anything like they should've been.
HOGAN vs. FLAIR – It was all in place, Hogan v Flair, Wrestlemania, WWF championship. A match people fantasized about for ten years was finally going to happen at the biggest dance of all. Instead, we got Hogan vs. Sid Vicious w/a run in by Papa Shango. The fued would happen a few years later, in WCW, and prove anti-climatic as would everything else in WCW.