Pro-Wrestling PODs

I'm sorry if this has been done before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything.This thread can be used to discuss Points of Divergence that occur in the Pro-Wrestling Industry, both the little and the small. Anyone know of any good ones?

The first three that tragically come to mind are what if Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit hadn't suffered their unexpected deaths?

Another smaller one is what if the movie Suburban Commando was never made? It was in this film that Hulk Hogan met Mark Calaway. Calaway at the time was a wrestler in WCW under the name of Mean Mark Callous. It was through Hogan that Calaway got his chance to sign with the WWF, and would become The Undertaker. If the movie never happens, how would this effect Calaway's career?


What are some of the ones you know of?

Calaway would probably have come to the WWF anyway (he had expressed interest in doing so at the time, since he wasn't doing much in WCW). The Undertaker gimmick probably wouldn't have happened, though.

A few more I can think of off the top of my head:

• Andre the Giant refuses to put over Hogan in their Wrestlemania 3 match
• Hogan is injured in one of his title reigns, prompting McMahon to find a replacement for him in the interim (this happens to be the POD of my wrestling timeline)
• Jesse Ventura's career lasted longer
• WCW never went kaput
• A television deal for ROH is reached early in their history, prompting a larger following

And of course, there are countless gimmicks that could be changed/modified/butterflied away.

A few Steve Austin PODs:

1. Austin allowed to continue with his ECW 'Extreme Superstar' gimmick (complete with kayfabe crushing shoots on WCW talent and management) and receives an immediate push after signing with WWF in late 1995. Royal Rumble '96 would have been a good spot for him to debut, either as a surprise entrant in the Rumble OR as a surprise run in during the main event (Taker vs. Hitman) targeting Taker as the whole point of HBK winning the Rumble was to set up the main event of HBK vs. Hitman for the title.

2. Owen Hart doesn't botch the piledriver. Austin was never the same after the neck injury.

3. Austin says 'Hell no!' to the 'hit and run by Rikishi' angle that ended up seriously messing up his neck, leading to surgery and almost a year on the shelf. I'm not sure what the hell anybody involved was thinking on that one. I really don't. It was the stupidest stunt in the history of wrestling. Period.

A couple of Shawn Michaels PODs:

1. Vince tells Brett to take the money from WCW in '96, goes all in with HBK as the face of the company.

2. HBK doesn't take the casket bump at Royal Rumble '98. The back injury damn near ended his career and made a feud with Austin impossible, a feud that, had they been able to properly develop it and run with it through '98, could have blown the doors off anything WCW could have offered during that time.

And now one that would have prevented the death of the NWA:

Magnum TA never gets into that car crash in late '86, an unfortunate trick of fate type of accident (Magnum hadn't been drinking, on drugs or even speeding when the accident occurred), and never sustains his massive career ending injuries at the age of 27, just as he was about to become 'The Heir to Flaire' as the NWA's standard barer.

• Gene Gagne has a lick of sense when negotiating Hulk Hogan's contracts, so that he can't just jump ship to the WWF when he did without turning heel permanently and ruining his career, and Greg tells his father two years early on no uncertain terms that he wants to come in from the cold.
• Jim Crockett discovers Sting and The Ultimate Warrior in late 1985 and buys their contracts before they turn heel for two years, so that he has more options for a face World Champion against Ric Flair than just Dusty Rhodes when Magnum T.A. has his motorcycle accident.
• Wrestlemania I somehow crashes and burns, forcing Vince McMahon to go into damage control mode if not outright bankruptcy.
• The "Curse of the von Erichs" never happens, and World Class Wrestling continues at least until the younger von Erich brothers retire.
• "Macho Man" Randy Savage has many possible PODs:

1: He is called up to the majors before he decides to wrestle full time.
2: He takes up Vince McMahon Sr.'s offer (as a heel) in 1978 (I.E. his father doesn't get greedy)
3: International Championship Wrestling (his father's promotion) is bought by Jim Crockett or Vince McMahon in 1981 instead of Jerry Lawler.

4: He joins TNA in 2001-in the back office as a booker and trainer.

• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson went into the NFL instead.
• Either during the congressional investigations of 1988-93, or later during the Montreal Screwjob or the investigation into the death of Owen Hart, Congress and/or the Canadian parliament dig up some huge new dirt on Vince McMahon and rip the WWF/E a new one, so much as giving him prison time he simply can't wiggle out of.

Have you ever heard of the website Wresltecrap.com? It's a wrestling comedy site, but it also hosts a series called "Rewriting the Book," founded by author Jed Shaffer (he's now the editor, with other writers taking over stories).

Most of the stories are kayfabe stories, detailing how wrestling stories themselves would've turned out differently with certain in-story changes (ex: Hulk Hogan had chosen to sell the WWF title to Ted Dibiase, Randy Savage had beaten the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VII).

But a couple of them are reality-based stories that detail things that would've changed the entire pro wrestling industry. Here are some of them.

By Jed Shaffer: "What if...D-Generation X had gotten into the Norfolk Scope arena during their 'invasion' of WCW Monday Nitro?" The members of DX are let into the arena thanks to the influence of their friends, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, and make a jaw-droppingly unexpected appearance on Nitro. What follows next takes the Monday Night Wars in a whole new direction.

http://www.wrestlecrap.com/more/rew...rfolk-scope-during-their-attack-on-wcw-nitro/

By Jed Shaffer: "What If...the Montreal Screwjob never happened?" Vince McMahon doesn't go through with screwing Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1997. Out of loyalty to Bret, he goes through with the tentative plan they had before: a double disqualification between him and Shawn Michaels, followed by Bret relinquishing the WWF title the next night on RAW. Without the impact and controversy of Montreal, where do the Monday Night Wars go?

http://www.wrestlecrap.com/more/rewriting/what-if-the-montreal-screwjob-never-happened/

By Neil Cathan: "What If...Bruiser Brody hadn't died?" Frank "Bruiser" Brody is not murdered in Puerto Rico. The story covers his continuing career in the 1990's, as Brody wrestles in the WWF, WCW, and ECW.

http://www.wrestlecrap.com/more/rewriting/what-if-bruiser-brody-hadnt-died/

By Shane Jeffries: "What If...Hulk Hogan hadn't left the AWA?" The biggest butterfly-killer posted by Rewriting the Book thus far. Hulk Hogan is not lured away by Vince McMahon to the WWF in 1983, thus denying Vince of the superstar he would use to launch the World Wrestling Federation into the stratosphere. The butterflies...the butterflies...

Part 1 of an as yet unfinished series: http://www.wrestlecrap.com/more/rewriting/rewriting-the-book-what-if-hulk-hogan-never-left-the-awa/

Sigma7 said:

3. Austin says 'Hell no!' to the 'hit and run by Rikishi' angle that ended up seriously messing up his neck, leading to surgery and almost a year on the shelf. I'm not sure what the hell anybody involved was thinking on that one. I really don't. It was the stupidest stunt in the history of wrestling. Period.

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This one is covered by Rewriting the Book too, in a kayfabe story. And believe me, it's one of Jed's best.

"What If...Rikishi wasn't the guy who ran over Stone Cold Steve Austin at Survivor Series 1999?"

http://www.wrestlecrap.com/more/rewriting/what-if-rikishi-wasnt-the-guy-who-ran-over-stone-cold-steve-austin-at-survivor-series-1999/

Sigma7 said:

2. Owen Hart doesn't botch the piledriver. Austin was never the same after the neck injury.

3. Austin says 'Hell no!' to the 'hit and run by Rikishi' angle that ended up seriously messing up his neck, leading to surgery and almost a year on the shelf. I'm not sure what the hell anybody involved was thinking on that one. I really don't. It was the stupidest stunt in the history of wrestling. Period.

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Might his in-ring career have lasted longer is one/both of these didn't happen?

VidaLaVida said:

Have you ever heard of the website Wresltecrap.com? It's a wrestling comedy site, but it also hosts a series called "Rewriting the Book," founded by author Jed Shaffer (he's now the editor, with other writers taking over stories).

Click to expand...

Haha...yes, I love Wrestlecrap, I didn't know they dabbled with Alternate history though. Thanks for sharing that with me.

Could we get a pro wrestling that's less scripted?

Keep the stories and theatrics, but what happens in the ring is a real fight.

That would mean more fluid story lines, since outcomes can't totally be predicted. Some of the flashier moves would have to go though.

Sigma7 said:

A few Steve Austin PODs:


3. Austin says 'Hell no!' to the 'hit and run by Rikishi' angle that ended up seriously messing up his neck, leading to surgery and almost a year on the shelf. I'm not sure what the hell anybody involved was thinking on that one. I really don't. It was the stupidest stunt in the history of wrestling. Period.

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First of all, this angle came about BECAUSE he needed the time off for neck surgery.
Secondly, the stupidest stunt was Owen Hart goingup to the rafters with no preparation and a faulty harness. Period.

theReturner said:

Might his in-ring career have lasted longer is one/both of these didn't happen?

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I think so mainly because the neck injuries damn near ended his career.

The first one, on the botched piledriver, damn near killed his meteoric rise in the industry. Heading into Summer Slam '97, he was embroiled in a feud with the Hart Family, which was a continuation of his epic feud with Brett Hart that culminated in their 1997 Match of The Year winning 'I Quit Match' at Wrestlemania 13. 'Austin 3:16' tees as far as the eye could see at most events. He'd arrived and a World Championship run was just a matter of time.

Then he takes the botched piledriver and almost ended up paralyzed. First time in his life that he was able to shine and show people that he was a main event performer and true superstar and one botched move almost ended it all AND could have left him crippled for life.

He dodged the bullet there, but every match from there on out, he had to protect his neck and it continued to cause him pain up until he finally had surgery on it...after the 'hit and run'.

After the hit and run thing did what it did to his neck, his career was pretty much on the clock. Even repaired, he knew he only had so much longer he could go.

I think busting his neck twice for Vince and still getting handed the shit assignment of having to work an angle with Flair (who was NOT someone Austin liked at all) was what killed Austin's desire to keep going, even though he came back later, it just wasn't the same.

I think, without the neck injuries, Austin would have been more flexible when asked to work certain angles towards the end of his career OTL.

Also, I think we'd still see him show up from time to time and have a match or two, because the guy still keeps himself in pretty good shape for a guy pushing 49.

Two British Wrestling PODs that I can think of right now:

* ex-Olympian Norman Morrell walks away from the business during WW2 and does not pen the Mountevans Rules for wrestling, resulting in British wrestling being an entirely different beast to the one we knew from the 1940's to the 1990's with an entirely different set of rules.

* Bert Assirati is stripped of his British Heavyweight Title and black listed from all British promotions in 1958 after a major falling out with the promoters and decided to try to make it in America. The result is that Shirley Crabtree does not retire in 1966 after years of harrassment from Assirati and never becomes Big Daddy while Assirati has the chance to carve out a career in America and fight the likes of Lou Thesz (who he claimed was afraid of him) and Buddy Rogers but likely ends up more like Bruiser Brody moving from territory to territory beating the top guy then moving on because of his history of double-crossing promoters and opponents.

PoD of my own

WI; David Von Erich lives and Kerry doesn't lose his foot.

David gets the World Title instead of Kerry and has a longer run (Kerry was seen as unreliable for good reason, David isn't)

At a minimum: I don't think the other Von Erichs become wrestlers.

How would this impact things like the death of Gino Hernandez, UWF, and AWA/CWA/WCCW co-promotion?

Are there any recent PODs (let's say post-2000) that could have helped TNA to be more competitive with WWE?

What if Mick Foley falls wrong at Hell in a Cell vs the Undertaker and seriously injures himself or dies going through the announce table? Thought I saw a thread about this here before...

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=275496

Pesterfield said:

Could we get a pro wrestling that's less scripted?

Keep the stories and theatrics, but what happens in the ring is a real fight.

That would mean more fluid story lines, since outcomes can't totally be predicted. Some of the flashier moves would have to go though.

Click to expand...

They tried something like that once, The Brawl for All.

CT23 said:

Are there any recent PODs (let's say post-2000) that could have helped TNA to be more competitive with WWE?

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A few off the top of my head:

* Jim Ross is given full creative control
* Paul Heyman is given full creative control

Both were rumored to have gotten nice offers in the past few years, but both insisted on running the ship completely the way they wanted to, and it didn't happen. Heyman puts out an edgier product, JR embraces the Southern roots, but both do it with much more long-term clarity than the bookers they've had.

* TNA beats WWE to Bryan Danielson (or WWE cuts all ties with Danielson after the tie-choking incident to kick off the Nexus angle)
* TNA keeps CM Punk and pushes him hard

Of course, the danger here is they'd get messed around with via crummy, inconsistent booking. They've had AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Nigel McGuiness, Homicide, Low Ki and some other indy favorites and it didn't seem to do them much good

* TNA signs Brock Lesnar instead of Kurt Angle

Dixie Carter claimed that TNA had its choice of those two, Batista and Goldberg and decided Angle would have the most impact (as it were). It's probably bullplop, but let's going with it. Angle didn't really move the needle that much. Lesnar wouldn't have been around as much, but if he's working UFC and doing big shows for TNA, it could open the door for a working relationship. Given a choice between being aligned with Dana White and Bellator, where would you put your money?

theReturner said:

Haha...yes, I love Wrestlecrap, I didn't know they dabbled with Alternate history though. Thanks for sharing that with me.

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Definitely check the stories out. I think they'd be right up your alley. It's been slow going recently, though.

Some of the biggest wrestling PODs, besides the ones already mentioned, that I've wondered about include:

*Hulk Hogan invokes his creative control and refuses to turn heel at Bash at the Beach '96. Instead of Hogan being Hall and Nash's third man, it is, according to the backup plan they had then, Sting who turns heel and joins them. I seriously doubt that this would've been as impactful and successful as the OTL nWo that launched WCW to unprecedented heights and kickstarted a new boom period in wrestling.

*Eric Bischoff, along with Fusient Media Ventures, succeeds in buying WCW in 2001, either because WCW isn't pulled from the Turner networks, or they find a new network in time.

*After the AWA folded, Eric Bischoff had been hired by the WWF rather than WCW

*After leaving WCW, Paul Heyman had gone to work for the WWF rather than starting ECW

*The Madison Square Garden "Curtain Call" incident (where Shawn Michaels, Kevin "Diesel" Nash, Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley broke kayfabe and embraced and celebrated with each other right in the middle of the ring) hadn't happened. HHH isn't de-pushed as punishment as a result, and he goes on to win the 1996 King of the Ring tournament instead of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

*ECW had signed with a TV network that gave them a better deal and promotion than the screwjob contract that TNN gave them

*Vince McMahon had been found guilty in his steroid trial, and gone to jail

As for the steroid trial, have better witnesses (it's not going good when your star witness choked McMahon over a disputed payout and admitted on the stand that he hated McMahon's guts.) or better evidence.

WI Linda McMahon hadn't run for the Senate in 2010? (Keep in mind that voters elected the other guy...who lied about serving in Vietnam over Linda McMahon.)

Unknown said:

WI Linda McMahon hadn't run for the Senate in 2010? (Keep in mind that voters elected the other guy...who lied about serving in Vietnam over Linda McMahon.)

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Is that really a wrestling POD? I know she's married to Vince McMahon, but how would this impact the WWE?

theReturner said:

I'm sorry if this has been done before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything.This thread can be used to discuss Points of Divergence that occur in the Pro-Wrestling Industry, both the little and the small. Anyone know of any good ones?

The first three that tragically come to mind are what if Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit hadn't suffered their unexpected deaths?

Click to expand...

If Eddie hadnt died we wouldnt have gotten the storyline about Rey Mysterio JR getting a bigger push than he was worth and getting the heavyweight belt.

Chris Benoit was a great wrestler, but less god with the microphone.

WI John Cena stays in the military and dont join wrestling?

theReturner said:

Is that really a wrestling POD? I know she's married to Vince McMahon, but how would this impact the WWE?

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Some people think the 'PG era' were currently in is a result of Linda running for the Senate in an attempt by McMahon to remove any negative stigma which would have been attached to Linda by her political opponents.