WI Odoacer replaces Romulus Augustulus with another puppet Emperor?

The end of the Western Empire is dated to 476, early in Zeno's reign, when the barbarian general Odoacer deposed the titular Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus, but declined to replace him with another puppet sending instead the Imperial Regalia to Emperor Zeno recognising him as Emperor of East and West...
WI Odoacer deposed Romulus and didnot recognised Zeno as Western Emperor? He could pick up any Roman to act as a puppet Emperor while he stayed as the power behind the throne...
How is that altering History? Any thoughts?
 
He was already very popular among the people of Italy without an emperor.

But what is interesting, is that Odoacer already did recognize a Western Emperor after deposing Romulus. After doing so, he requested Emperor Zeno to legalize his title of Patrician. Zeno agreed to do this, if Odoacer would recognize Julius Nepos as Western Roman Emperor. Odoacer did this, so until 480 there still was a Roman Emperor that Odoacer recognized. There would be no point for him to crown a second one. Maybe after Julius Nepos died though....
 
By 476 Zeno had just recovered from a brief usurpation by his brother in law Basiliscus... He was in a weak position so he could had accepted a puppet imposed by Odoacer as Western Emperor... He wouldnt risked confronting Ostrogoths...
 
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