The Biggest What Ifs in Pro-Wrestling

The other night I was pondering scenarios regarding big what ifs for the kung fu movie industry. The big ones were if Bruce Lee and Fu Sheng had lived what would the landscape of the movie industry look like. While I won’t address those specifically in this blog, I think a related topic is the biggest what ifs for pro-wrestling. I am going to avoid anything non-American for the most part for this discussion.

What If Magnum TA Was not Involved in An Accident

This issue is probably one of the biggest ones because the incident happened at a crucial time in NWA’s history in late 1986. Arguably, the NWA was at its height around this time with Magnum being at the forefront as the next major superstar to push into the future. In comparison to Hogan (who would’ve been his contemporary), Magnum was the James Dean at that time; an anti-hero, but highly relatable and popular with the women and still having that hard edge character that made him likeable with guys. Dusty was still hot but probably near the tail end of his career but the main other person at the top in holding the major angles for the babyface side. At that time though, Magnum was still only 27 with 5 years as a pro. The motorcycle accident forced him to retire and completely alter the booking where Nikita Koloff (Magnum major rival in ’86) was turned babyface. While Magnum still did some stuff for the promotion and was occasionally involved with angles, for the most part his pro-wrestling career was done.

While the motorcycle accident was devastating, I don’t know how much of an impact Magnum alone would have had in the NWA if the injury did not occur. The bigger issues for the NWA seemed to stem from their back office problems with (over)spending and trying to compete with the WWF. Also, one has to ask how much longer Magnum would have stuck around the NWA regardless. I think the eventually Turner buyout of the NWA was inevitable and the way it was mismanaged would have caused numerous departures. I wouldn’t doubt that Magnum would have at least had one major reign with the title (than compared to say Ronnie Garvin) by ’87 but that probably would not have delayed the inevitable.

For Magnum himself, I would think that by ’90-’92 at the latest, he would’ve eventually gone to the WWF. Whether he could have survived in that environment is questionable though because in all likelihood by that stage, he would have been repackaged and given a bad gimmick unless he was on the level of Ric Flair. In my estimation, I think the WWF would’ve tried acquiring him mostly to hurt the NWA/WCW rather than make money with Magnum at that point. If he had gained a major title run from Flair in ’87, maybe the WWF would’ve tried making him an offer and he could’ve survived the gimmick change. But he would’ve still been a midcarder at best since Vince wouldn’t relinquish Hogan’s top spot until ’93.

What If David Von Erich Survived and Kerry Von Erich Did Not Get into An Accident

I put these two situations together because of how intertwined and relevant both guys’ fates were with WCCW. I think David probably had the best all around talent of the Von Erich boys and probably would’ve played a more prominent role in the company. But it feels that his demise started the chain reaction that progressed with Mike and later Kerry and Chris. I don’t include Mike in this list because I don’t think he would have made a major impact in the wrestling business outside of how his death influenced Kerry and Chris’ own situations. But David living would have implied that there probably would have been far less pressure in Mike and possibly Chris.

In Kerry’s case, the accident severely impaired him. He wasn’t the same caliber of a pure athlete that Kevin was but from other accounts, he was the one Vince sought out (and got eventually) because he had the look. By the time, Kerry made it to the WWF though he wasn’t the same guy obviously and could not have the matches that could propel him to the top compared to Bret Hart and to a lesser extent Curt Henning. He was still popular and well known but never achieved the level of stardom in the WWF that he possibly could have if he were whole.

Yet there were other issues with the Von Erich boys that lead me to believe that some ill fated situation still would have occurred down the line. It was more about when rather than if. That said, the other question is whether WCCW would have had more longevity if David survived and Kerry wasn’t in that accident. My guess is that eventually they would’ve gotten bought out because their business strategy wasn’t great and the booking wasn’t anything remarkable. Their main strength was in their popularity with their home state but even by ’86, things didn’t look great for them especially when the WWF was making monstrous strides and the other only real competition was the NWA.

What If Bret Hart Was not Screwed Over and HBK Left for WCW?

This is more of a role reversal scenario. Bret recently mentioned that HBK and Vincent were lovers behind the scenes, which possibly is the best reason how HBK wasn’t the one fired or demoted in that situation. Whether or not that is true will probably remain a mystery. But the real question is what would’ve happened if their roles had been reversed or more appropriately where Vince decided to choose Bret Hart and HBK ended up joining his friends in WCW with the NWO?

This is a fascinating scenario because arguably the real key in all of this was Vince eventually embracing the Mr. McMahon character. That single situation is what really put Steve Austin over the top after he acquired the title. And for that one scenario to happen, it required Bret Hart getting screwed over because of how blatant that situation was. I posit that the massive success of the WWF in the late 90s (’98-’99) was due to the Austin – Vince story because of how it reflected the coming of age situation where many Gen Xers were entering the workplace who grew up with the WWF and saw a parallel in Austin vs Vince in the corporate anti-hero vs the big bad mega corps.

If Bret had stayed with the WWF, I think the stories would have been more sanitized, DX never would’ve been a thing, HHH would not have been able to gain power, Bret would not have been concussed and heavily active for another 5 years or so, Owen Hart would still be around and the shift would’ve been still Bret vs Austin but where Bret puts Austin over at WM14 rather than HBK. Austin still would’ve gone on to become the top babyface around the globe and the Rock probably would have not been too far behind but the rest of the Attitude Era would not have evolved in the same manner. But again the key is the missing Mr. McMahon piece. You can’t deny how much of an impact the Mr. McMahon character was for the WWF in the mainstream success. Vince effectively had become the equivalent of Roddy Piper vs Hulk Hogan during the Rock-n-Wrestling connection era. No one else could have replaced him. So with that being said, I don’t think the WWF would have seen the level of success that lead to their eventual IPO.

On the other hand, what would HBK mean to WCW? His arrival would’ve seemed like a tout de gras for WCW because WCW would have the main Clique members (except HHH). But I think HBK would’ve been handled as a high performing midcarder at best. I could see him having great midcard matches against guys like DDP, Booker T, Ric Flair and the various cruiserweights (namely Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko, Mysterio and Jericho). But we wouldn’t have seen him in the world title picture because Hogan was extremely controlling about that environment. Whatever headaches HBK was causing for the WWF in the mid 90s would’ve been transferred to WCW except for Bischoff to handle. Maybe the only other potential scenario as a “big play” would’ve been the eventual return of HHH because of his loss of backstage influence without HBK by his side. But without the major power plays HHH conducted (* cough * marrying Stephanie * cough *), HHH would’ve been nothing bigger than a TV title holder in WCW at that point.

What If Vince Russo Wasn’t Given WCW’s Book?

This is another huge thing to me. I would argue that even as stale as WCW had become in the late 90s, it was still salvageable. What utterly killed WCW that triggered the major downturn (outside of mismanagement) visually to me was the day Vince Russo arrived. The minute Russo arrived, the flavor of the TV instantly changed. I recall reading one recap and it was clear that he took over the formatting of the show. It was so drastic that I immediately had zero desire to continue watching, knowing all the bad stuff in the WWF in the late 90s originated from this guy. At least up until that point, there was enough of a difference in a format and quality where I could enjoy parts of WCW.

I think the main difference without Russo would’ve been prolonging the eventual sale of WCW. I think no matter what the AOL – Time Warner merger turned WCW into a freak show for the TV/internet executives who had no idea what to do with the program. So at some point, there would’ve been more mismanagement that would’ve bungled the right person to get AOL – Time Warner to sell WCW to the WWF. The difference would’ve been speed and cost. I don’t know if Eric Bischoff could’ve been able to buy it back nor if him buying it back would’ve made that much of a difference given what we’ve seen from him joining TNA with Hogan. So much damage had been done by that point that the brand suffered and alienated a huge chunk of the audience. Made a combination of Russo never getting the book and Bischoff salvaging WCW if he could’ve returned to ’96 in terms of where they gained a huge amount of momentum could have turned WCW into what TNA was trying to do around 2005-2006 or so (with a better audience). That’s still a massive what if.

What If Dixie Carter Was Kept to the Background and Bischoff/Hogan Never Joined TNA?

It’s hard to talk about the WCW scenario without taking a glance at TNA’s own situation. I think around 2006, TNA had built up a pretty good alternate brand where they were getting some great major names like Christian and Kurt Angle while developing new stars like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and to a lesser extent Christopher Daniels along with the X-Division. Russo did some damage to the brand but it wasn’t as drastic as WCW. But I think where it hurt fandom the most was bringing in Bischoff and Hogan while Dixie Carter started to become part of the foreground. Even if Dixie Carter was a lot easier on the eyes than Tony Khan, Dixie Carter simply had no business running that company nor being a public figure on a TV show.

But Bischoff/Hogan joining felt like the beginning of the end for what TNA had been building towards. People half jokingly mentioned that Hogan would eventually start bringing in his buddies like the Nasty Boys. Then one week later, they arrived. People perceived that Hogan by that point was merely a leech and that all the harder workers especially the originals were getting the shaft compared to the other stars that were being pulled in. More importantly, neither Bischoff nor Hogan really added anything to TNA. There was the brief “ratings war” that was an embarrassment. I think people thought that the strategies Bischoff believed worked for him in WCW would translate equally in TNA.

I think by that point, people were already sick of Hogan and no one was excited to see a so-called ratings war. The people tuning into TNA at that stage were going to be what’s evolved into the modern era wrestling fans. They weren’t as interested in personalities nor so-called legends as much at that point. People like Christian or Kurt Angle were hot because they still could go and I think people saw them have a new life in TNA when they first arrived. So a big part of the problem was the mixed metaphors going on.

Now, TNA was somewhat stagnant bookwise though at least under the Scott D’more scheme from what I read and had seen. It did feel the booking remained the same week in and week out. Jeff Jarrett for a while was the top guy and people weren’t being moved around a lot. Christian and Kurt Angle did feel like a much welcome relief in terms of freshness but the product overall was stale, did not seem to grow (especially having the show in the same small Impact arena location). The X-Division itself I think became a culprit in developing what we see now as the ridiculous modern wrestling stunt matches. So in general, I think the promotion could have survived but not grown that much without some sort of drastic internal change. But that change wasn’t going to be Hogan and Bischoff.

What If Nikita Koloff Feuded with Hogan in the 80s?

Despite what I think of later Hulk Hogan, no one could deny the force he was during the mid 80s. To show the difference in mentality of the mid 80s, you have to wonder what would’ve happened if Nikita managed to negotiate a way into the WWF at his height in ’86 to face Hogan while maintaining his Russian gimmick. I mean, if Nikita could’ve retained his name and gimmick right after beating Magnum and just before the accident to enter the WWF, how would have things changed for the WWF and Hogan?

The key would have been the ongoing Cold War era, which didn’t end until ’91. Rocky IV (which would’ve been a distant link between Hogan to the Rocky series and the Cold War in general) was only made in ’85 but the USSR/anti communist vibe and propaganda were still huge pieces of American pop culture. Kayfabe was still alive which meant no one would have realized Nikita Koloff’s actual identity. I think at that stage, Vince would’ve been a fool to repackage Nikita given how hot he was in the NWA and Nikita probably would’ve had a major bargaining chip given that he was about to play a major role in changing babyface.

Given that Hogan was in a red hot feud with Paul Orndorff for most of ’86 (and ending in late ’86 around December), Nikita coming in around that time would’ve been a huge game changer for Hogan in having another major feud. Of course, Hogan would go on to have his most memorable match against Andre the Giant in ’87 at the Silverdome but Nikita could’ve been in the background being built up since the Silverdome match really was Andre’s last major hurrah. Hogan’s act was getting stale and Hogan would’ve faced Andre at WM4 but they could’ve easily substituted a super hot Nikita in that spot. I think Nikita’s gimmick vs Hogan’s patriotic gimmick would’ve played out a lot better than when they tried something similar with Sgt Slaughter in ’91.

The one issue in this is Nikita’s actual wife getting sick at the time in ’88. Given that WM4 would’ve been in March of ’88, Nikita would’ve not had the same personal issues I’m gathering since the diagnosis I believe came out in the fall of ’88. So he could’ve going in for a quick major feud then left quietly. The main thing would’ve been giving Hogan another major player to take on where Nikita checks off all the major things for a main event scenario with Hogan. But outside of having a big match with Hogan, I don’t think Nikita would’ve won the WWF world title. And I doubt that the Sgt Slaughter match would’ve been cancelled.

What If Roddy Piper Stayed with Mid Atlantic/NWA in ’84?

This is another huge what if scenario where we take the other half of the big Rock-n-Wrestling connection pieces and see what would’ve happened in an alternate reality. When you look at the lead up to “the War to Settle the Score” match/show, it’s almost impossible to see anyone else besides Piper being in that role. Piper was so notorious and crazy by that stage that almost all the other major heels could not compare. I’ve thought about scenarios like Bobby Heenan replacing Piper. Heenan had the wit and the wrestling knowledge to handle the parts but I can’t imagine him being the one to power slam David Wolfe, breaking the record over Albano’s head and kicking Cyndi Lauper. The only other two remotely capable of landing a similar position would’ve been Gino Hernandez and Ric Flair. But Gino was never at the threat level of a Piper. Flair possibly could’ve pulled it off but he was still being billed as the ultimate star heel athlete. So the tone would’ve been a lot different than the hysterical Piper. Along with that missing component, we would be forced to leave out the infamous Piper’s Pit segments and certainly would not have received the coconut smash on Jimmy Snuka’s head. Even if we had the Body Shop with Jesse Ventura, Jesse wasn’t able to compete much longer and did not have the same wild side that Roddy did at that point. That’s just how irreplaceable Roddy was in wrestling history.

On the other hand, Roddy sticking with Mid Atlantic/NWA is a scenario in itself. I think the biggest contention would’ve been his place vs Dusty Rhodes. Dusty still needed to be on top but his counterpart needed to be able to work with him. Ric Flair was good enough in that role on all fronts, which is how Dusty continued to be hot even though his in ring career was slowly fading because of age and his physique. If Piper had stayed around, there’s no doubt that he would’ve been part of the Four Horsemen. The real question then becomes what would the Four Horsemen have looked like with Piper included?

I imagine Piper would’ve been US title champion, playing a support role to Flair. Flair needed to be world champion to feud with Dusty. Tully would’ve been TV champion and stayed at that level longer since Piper was so incredibly strong and already had a relationship with Flair. Ole and Arn are the interesting pieces because Ole didn’t seem like a good fit with Piper around (don’t forget the feud they had in Georgia Championship Wrestling). Either the Four Horsemen would’ve been a five piece (with JJ Dillon) or the tag champions would’ve been Arn and Tully. I could see Piper and Magnum having the same level of a feud as Tully vs Magnum but I don’t think we would’ve got the same classic bloodbath I Quit cage match as Magnum vs Tully because Piper would never say he’d quit.

And again, the real issue would have to manifest at some point where Piper needed to confront Dusty. The problem I see is that Piper was so good and headstrong that I don’t think he’d ever make Dusty look good. Just a clash of styles and personalities. And would Piper have stayed a heel for his run there? We eventually got to see Piper as a face in WWF when he returned in late ’86. But I can only see Piper as a face if Dusty stepped away from in ring and Magnum still had his accident.

What If Wendi Richter Wasn’t Screwed Over?

Wendi Richter was another critical component of the Rock-n-Wrestling connection in the mid 80s. But her stint was relatively short because of a pay argument that ultimately lead to the “original WWF screw job.” While I don’t think Wendi could’ve been described as the best female wrestler ever, she had such a huge impact with her relationship with Cyndi Lauper and her popularity status rivaling Hulk Hogan at that time. Eventually, Wendy would resurface in the AWA in ’87 to challenge/win the title from Madusa but I don’t think it meant as much in the scheme of things.

However, I think when Wendi got screwed over, it put a massive dent in women’s pro-wrestling especially in the WWF for a few years. Even if Moolah got the belt, the situation hurt the women’s division severely because it seemed like a sign of the old guard maintaining the status quo rather than progressing the values that Wendi was bringing culturally along with Cyndi Lauper. Now, the missing connection to me is where Sherri Martel comes into the picture. Even if Sherri was the one to beat Moolah in ’87, without the screwjob, I think Wendi would’ve held onto the belt for a while until Martel came around. I don’t think Martel beating Moolah was a significant passing of the torch compared to what Sherri beating Wendi could have meant for Martel’s career and the women’s division. Also, I would have to wonder if Madusa made an earlier appearance in the WWF to face Sherri if that could’ve made a major difference before the title was phased out for a while.

What If the AWA Could Have Survived?

In the 80s, when you think of the Big Three promotions, the AWA was the third you’d have to name. Obviously, a lot of mismanagement caused the promotion to collapse with possibly the severest blunder being the mishandling of Hogan and the title. But that was merely the outcome or symptoms of other major problems. From what I’ve heard/read, some of the issues were sticking with the older guard like Bockwinkle or Verne continuing to shoehorn his son into anything major. So for the promotion to have survived, Verne would’ve needed to step back completely. Because in the mid 80s, they had good talent for certain and the best upcoming tag team in the Road Warriors. But people seemed to just pass through and nothing was sticking. So even if the AWA could have “survived” one must wonder for how much longer and in what form?

What If McMahon Had Gone to Jail from the Steroid Scandal?

This is one of the most interesting scenarios in pro-wrestling. From what it seems, McMahon had prepared Jerry Jarrett to take over if Vince had gone to jail. Also, from various accounts, the government itself just were not prepared against Jerry McDevitt, who had his shit completely together. If Vince’s defense failed though and he went to jail, it’s really hard to say just how much the wrestling landscape would’ve changed.

Even without Vince going to jail, the WWF did change peripherally after the trial. The whole Ico Pro and WBF stuff failed massively. There wasn’t as much emphasis on the big bodies with a switch to Bret Hart being the guy leading the charge for the “New Generation” of post-Hogan stars. Hogan would be gone and eventually go to the competitor of WCW by ’94. So those changes by themselves were major for the wrestling industry as a whole.

I suppose the real question is how long Vince would’ve been in jail for, which effects the outcome here. At least for Dr. George Zahorian, he was given three years of prison. So it’s hard to say how much worse/better it would have been for Vince. But if he were given at least that amount of time or more, I think not much would’ve changed about the WWF that we had seen except possibly less silliness if Jerry were in charge of the creative. The problem was that on the other side of the fence, WCW was already doing tons of damage to itself once Hogan supposedly got “creative control” and the silliness started up up until mid ’96 or so. Maybe the only two things that could’ve changed were Diesel and HBK’s positions in the WWF. I don’t think Diesel would’ve been pushed as hard and HBK probably would’ve been fired for his backstage antics. Possibly, the clique would’ve been disbanded or discouraged sooner, which meant HHH would’ve remained a midcarder at best.

However, I don’t think we would’ve seen the Ultimate Warrior return which would’ve meant HHH’s push was more solid as a result of not having the curtain call. Bret Hart probably would’ve been continued to be used as the top guy since he was reliable and still the biggest name in the company. I think Austin would’ve had a major feud regardless with Bret but it’s hard to say if we would’ve got the inaugural Austin 3:16 line that changed wrestling in a single night. If Diesel hadn’t gotten his push as the title holder, then the NWO would’ve never been as huge as it was. Scott Hall probably still would’ve gone to WCW for the money and better working schedule along with Kevin Nash, but I don’t know if they would’ve had the same impact without their industry cachet that was prominent from ’94-’96 in the WWF. Also, depending on how long of a sentence McMahon was given, we probably would never had seen Mr McMahon. I think a lot of the eventual drivers for the tremendous growth in the early 2000s of the WWF/E were necessitated from McMahon’s unending ambition.

What If Hogan Stayed with the AWA?

This is another really interesting what if because of the level of impact Hogan had on the industry. Part of this situation begs the question what it would’ve taken for Hogan to stick around in the AWA. I think obviously him keeping the title. But again even if Verne was mentally clear on that part, it’s impossible to say how long Hogan would’ve stayed and how much more the AWA could’ve grown with Hogan under Verne rather than Vince. Because the comparable situation for Verne later on is when he had the Road Warriors. The Road Warriors in ’85 – ’86 to me were the tag team equivalent of Hogan except not on the same scale. But that’s the key: scale. Verne could not plot out scale whereas Vince was looking to conquer the world.

On the opposite side of the street, if we ask who could’ve replaced Piper in that ’84-’85 period of the height of the Rock-n-Wrestling connection, could there have been another person to replace Hogan? There’s only a few candidates that might’ve come close:

• Sgt Slaughter – Of everyone on this list, Slaughter would be my number one choice to replace Hogan. Slaughter had the size, the look, the mainstream popularity (GI Joe), the gimmick and promo to rival Hogan. In fact, I think that’s why he eventually was programmed against Hogan in ’91 for WrestleMania (since Slaughter’s in ring career was winding down). The only thing really missing from Slaughter was the Greek body. However, it’s hard to see Slaughter represent the RnR side when he’s depicted as a military figure (which generally are more conservative)
• Junkyard Dog – Perhaps, the #2 most popular wrestler in the WWF around this time was JYD. JYD had a lot of the same qualities as Slaughter, not as mainstream (but would become bigger in the WWF), maybe a slightly better body at this point. However, JYD’s main weakness was reliability. A well documented drug habit along with poor matches would make him a poor person to place on top. Hogan wasn’t a great wrestler but he could still work a match enough with the people Vince needed to be at that level. JYD was on a downhill slope.
• Jimmy Snuka – Like JYD, a very popular guy. More athletic than Slaughter and Dog except for a few well documented issues. Also, never could cut a coherent promo. Obviously, one infamous issue practically killed his remaining career and he was quickly factored out of the RnW connection.
• Dusty Rhodes – Not a WWF guy for a while, but I read that Dusty was another major choice to be in the top spot. But by the mid 80s, Dusty’s career was dwindling in the ring and his body was not what Vince would ultimately want to sell. And for Dusty, his own ego and desire to be the booker/in control would’ve conflicted with Vince.

So like Piper, Hogan is almost an irreplaceable component of that era in the WWF. I think the WWF still could’ve pulled off the general vision but not to the degree without Hogan.

What If CM Punk Had Stayed with AEW and the Bucks/Omega Were Fired?

In a more “modern” topic, I think this is one of the more interesting what if scenario discussions. Arguably, CM Punk’s “firing” in conjunction with the video camera footage from the Wembly show had done a tremendous amount of damage to AEW where you can practically say that was the moment that AEW really started to plummet. I think a lot of the goodwill that AEW managed to build up especially during the pandemic was demolished in those moves. It was already bad when the first fight broke out that inexplicably (on TV at least) caused Punk to lose his title and be taken off TV for a while. Clearly though, this situation was the last straw for him and many fans as they saw that the footage was precisely what Punk had described while Tony’s version made him look like an utter fool. I think that added to the fire where the Bucks had been losing ground with the fans and might be described as the main source of failure within the company that needed to be corrected.

Instead, AEW had ended up doubling down on the indy type of wrestling. Collision, which was being used as a vehicle for Punk to have a separate show and attempt to differentiate themselves from Dynamite, ended up becoming another version of Rampage, which was mostly B-listers and indy people (i.e. Tony doesn’t really care as much). That in itself has been reflected in the gradual decrease of ratings to the point where now the most recent Dynamite has fallen below 500k. Even if Max and the alteration to the way Nielsen calculates their numbers, the bottom line is that the overall impact on their ratings has been a steady drop since Punk left. I estimate that he brought and took with him at least 200k views.

But what would’ve happened if Tony ended up siding with Punk and getting rid of the actual cancer in AEW like the Bucks, (to a lesser extent) Omega and by extension of those three, Dave Meltzer? I think judging from the direction of Collision, AEW would’ve had a more focused brand trying to cater more towards what Smackdown was back in 2002-2005. The first few shows were generally really good and seemed posed to remove AEW from the indy drek and re-creating some of the better periods of pro-wrestling during its modern height. Certain key people like Andrade, Buddy Matthews, FTR, Juice Robinson/Jay White and Ricky Starks looked to be posed to become key players in this new version of AEW.

At the same time, I think some of the indy people would’ve been pruned like Jack Perry or the Dark Order. The wrestling would’ve been cleaned up and less gimmicky while there would’ve been more wrestling oriented stories and less goofiness. I think Punk partnered with a more receptive Tony Khan could’ve produced a highly competitive wrestling program against the stagnating WWE around that time. AEW was getting a lot of really good key players but issues like injuries, bad stories/creative and a tendency to do too much etc. I think burned out their core audience that they were starting to cultivate as well as preserving the long term health of their wrestlers. Like even a 2006 version of TNA before Hogan/Bischoff/Dixie and Russo really ruined it for AEW as a mode would give me more hope about the current 2025 landscape of pro-wrestling.

Final Thoughts

While there’s certainly other major what ifs in pro-wrestling, I think these are some of the biggest that come to mind. If I think of more, I’ll do a future follow up.

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