The Day Wrestling Died

cra0422

Hadley said:
Does anyone have a complete list of who was on the plane?
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Here's who I found:
Sean "X-Pac" Waltman
Justin Credible
"Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig
Brock Lesnar
Scott Hall
Ric Flair
Michael Hayes, "Doc Hendrix"
John Bradshaw Layfield
Vince MacMahon
Linda MacMahon
Dustin Rhodes, "Goldust"
Terri Runnels
Jim Ross
Triple H
Paul Heyman
Fit Finley
 

nezza

cra0422 said:
Here's who I found:
Sean "X-Pac" Waltman
Justin Credible
"Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig
Brock Lesnar
Scott Hall
Ric Flair
Michael Hayes, "Doc Hendrix"
John Bradshaw Layfield
Vince MacMahon
Linda MacMahon
Dustin Rhodes, "Goldust"
Terri Runnels
Jim Ross
Triple H
Paul Heyman
Fit Finley
Click to expand...


The top echelons would be wiped out.
 

Ventriloquist

Oh boy.

You know all of the little big scandals that were systemically covered up under Vince McMahon's rule? The Ring Boy Scandal and cover up, the Melanie Pillman interview, Owen's death, firing Chyna to protect Triple H, Vince raping Rita Chatterton, Jimmy Snuka murdering Nancy Argentino, even the steroid scandal? Without the top brass protecting each other, it'll all rise back to the top of the news cycle. With everyone dead, Pat Patterson will take the bulk of the blame, but it'll have a massive knock-on effect on WWE, and on wrestling as a whole.

I guess the top talent who weren't on the plane like Rock, Austin, Jericho and Undertaker will all band together to build a new, better major wrestling company from the ashes of WWE, but it won't be, it can't be, anything near as popular as WWE was. The artform as a whole will be in the wilderness until...right about now tbh.

On the bright side, this may butterfly away Trump.
 

Hadley

Neoteros said:
People like Rey Mysterio are not though, there are plenty of people that could resurrect a dying WWE in 2002.

Just keep Stephanie away from her father's job.
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At least they could call in a bunch of the developmental guys from OVW and FCW early, and they still had enough big names like Austin, Taker, and Hogan. Wonder if this butterflies away Austin leaving in 2002.
 

Ventriloquist

Austin only left because he didn't want to job to Brock Lesnar on Raw. He's staying, because he's one of the last great draws that the WWE has.

e: Also, I just realised: this probably means we don't get the Doctor of Thuganomics, since Heyman found out Cena was a good rapper, and he's dead now. :(
 
Neoteros

Neoteros

Ventriloquist said:
Austin only left because he didn't want to job to Brock Lesnar on Raw. He's staying, because he's one of the last great draws that the WWE has.

e: Also, I just realised: this probably means we don't get the Doctor of Thuganomics, since Heyman found out Cena was a good rapper, and he's dead now. :(
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Who'd be the top face of the company, then? Someone Vince fucked over in OTL, like CM Punk? I can see him take over an aging Stone Cold as THE antihero of the company.

That said, it'd be nice if the WWE quit the endless touring in favour of getting a permanent stadium and going elsewhere only for PPVs, for the sake of everyone's health.

The revelations about Triple H could result in a storyline about Chyna coming back saying SHE had a hand in the accident, to get rid of him and Vince. From silent enforcer to cold mass murderer. :p
 

Ventriloquist

See, maybe I'm talking bullshit, because I just Googled it and the first link I found was Pritchard claiming that Heyman said the rap gimmick would kill Cena's career. Heyman debunked it, but still, maybe there's a chance that they have a Halloween episode of Smackdown as IOTL and Cena somehow ends up getting over with the rapping gimmick and becoming a main eventer. Dusty Rhodes is alive, maybe he sees it in Cena here, idk.

e: Nevertheless, I agree that Punk would be a damn good foil to Cena ITTL.
 
Neoteros

Neoteros

Ventriloquist said:
See, maybe I'm talking bullshit, because I just Googled it and the first link I found was Pritchard claiming that Heyman said the rap gimmick would kill Cena's career. Heyman debunked it, but still, maybe there's a chance that they have a Halloween episode of Smackdown as IOTL and Cena somehow ends up getting over with the rapping gimmick and becoming a main eventer. Dusty Rhodes is alive, maybe he sees it in Cena here, idk.

e: Nevertheless, I agree that Punk would be a damn good foil to Cena ITTL.
Click to expand...

Maybe this will actually happen...

 

Unknown

nezza said:
POD. The WWE Plane Ride from Hell crashes into the Atlantic Ocean killing everyone on board. When bodies are recovered and given post mortems alcohol and drugs are found in their systems. The analysis of the plane finds that one of the doors had been smashed from the inside.

What would the consequences be?

https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/wwe-plane-ride-from-hell/
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That's assuming the plane is even recovered; the Atlantic Ocean is a deep ocean, and the ocean life gets to the plane and its cargo before the rescuers do, methinks...
 

nezza

Unknown said:
That's assuming the plane is even recovered; the Atlantic Ocean is a deep ocean, and the ocean life gets to the plane and its cargo before the rescuers do, methinks...
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First of all thanks for the feedback.

I'm working on the assumption that the plane doesn't sink. WWE is battered left, right and centre by the inevitable scandals but survives. However it needs new bosses. Stephanie and Shane take on dual control and find themselves having to take on talent from a range of organisations. Jerry Jarrett is brought in as head of the booking committee.
 

Unknown

Oh, and Stephanie McMahon was also on the plane, along with the Undertaker and Arn Anderson (along with Gerald Briscoe and the above-mentioned wrestlers)...

Yeah, this would be the worst plane crash in the history of wrestling...

The plane was a 747, IIRC, and it will probably sink, IMO (I can't see any reason for the plane to stay afloat after it crashes; look at Air India Flight 182 (which was blown up) and Air France Flight 447, which crashed and sank in the Atlantic after running into bad weather); however, the pilots will probably have enough time to send out a Mayday with the approximate location, so it will help recover some of the wreckage and bodies, @nezza, like in other crashes of passenger jets into the ocean...

ITTL, I ain't envying Shane McMahon...

Another wrestler who would return is Shawn Michaels; he was healed from his back injury by this point, and a Michaels/Punk feud would be interesting, along with Austin/Punk...
 

brokenrobot00

If the plane crash is seen as a scandal or there's an attempt at a cover up or the wrestler passengers were found to be at fault for the plane crash then there's probably going to be a public backlash towards the company, events will be poorly attended. This will likely have sponsors dropping out of their advertising packages and Television Broadcasters either cancelling their contracts or not airing the programs if it's too expensive to get out of the deal otherwise. WWE is a publicly traded company at this point too and losing most of its leadership with cause the stock price to plummet as backers try and sell the stock off. The company might not survive this if they do it will likely be under a new name working smaller venues trying to rebuild the company and trust in it, they'll retain whatever headliners are necessary for the transition but a lot of talent big small and midcard is getting cut.

The few month old Ring of Honor and NWA TNA might seem guilty by association as all wrestling promotions take a hit at this time but they attract more of a core fan base and less casual fans so probably survive and probably become the new WWE or whatever it's called biggest competition. Possibly filling the vacuum left for it. Their talented hungry young rosters with fewer connections to the old guard will start picking up steam. Territories might emerge again for a time before a rapid nationalization as Vince already wrote that blue print.
 
volantredx

volantredx

The issue with Punk in WWE is that Heyman was the reason he was in the company in the first place. He was a big part of ROH, but as he said himself the only reason he got a chance in WWE is that Paul Heyman sold the brass on him coming in as an ECW guy. With Heyman on that plane, it's unlikely that any of that happens.

I doubt the plane would be recovered, and it'd be in pieces if it was. Fault would likely be impossible to assign so the scandal such as it was would be more on the airline than any backlash against the wrestlers. The most likely outcome is that Shane takes over and steps back from the camera as he had just started a family and didn't want to travel all that much. This means he likely gets a booking committee to write his show for him. Who'd he trust and who would agree to do it would be a shortlist. Expect to see the product stay just bellow the full Attitude era levels of sex, blood, and violence.

The major change is that Shane would buy the UFC. He had wanted to do so for years, and now have full control and with what I'd imagine was a sizable lawsuit against the airline he'd be flush with cash to do it. So the WWE would transition not into an attempted multi-media entertainment enterprise, but a massive combat sports provider. I can't imagine him not also trying to gain some sort of boxing promotion in the interim. In effect this would turn him into a much more old school style promoter, having several different shows that provide different sorts of acts around the world.

I do wonder how it'd fare in the medium term. The company lost every draw they had going, and the ones who didn't die are old and fading. Many are going to have to quit due to injury soon and new talent would have to be built up fast. In the short term, the sympathy factor would draw eyes, but if they don't get new talent to draw it will take years to regain lost fans.
 

Hadley

Hogan would also likely remain champion longer as he was probably the biggest name they had at that point. I can see them having an Austin/Hogan match at Summerslam, if just as a desperate attempt to retain/regain viewers.
 
Neoteros

Neoteros

Ironically, it looks like the WWE would have to rely on former ECW and WCW talent a lot; what if SmackDown and Raw were turned into a new ECW (edgier content, focused on athleticism) and a new WCW (tamer content, focused on storylines) in an attempt to retain as many fans as possible? Vince did try to resurrect both in some way in OTL after all.

Rather than have an evil general manager, ECW would be managed by a fourth wall-breaking Mick Foley... for example, an early skit would feature Cactus Jack and Mankind arguing about which one of "their" athletes should get which belt, they're about to pummel each other over it when Dude Love appears, bringing some rather potent weed with him - cue all three stoned out of their minds, with the winner still unknown... :p
 
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