And of course, that angle also produced this awesome moment:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ymZPM3W2W0

I'm so glad for the Youtube era of wrestling fandom.

These days, that would count as a sexual agression. French people in NY hotels, this sorta things...

Andre was hyped for the Rumble. His picture was even in WWF Magazine's Royal Rumble preview. WWF quietly removed him from the match about a week before the event, saying he was injured in Japan. The "who will manage Andre" angle came later in the year, IIRC.

I'll carry it over from the '92-'96 thread. Santana being the original choice to dethrone Flair, until they decided to go with Bret.

 

I'm giving Tito the benefit of the doubt only because the supposed reason was that the WWF had a South American Tour planned, and the title changed was nixed when the tour was cancelled. Consider that in '91 on a show in Spain, Santana, then in his El Matador gimmick, was put over the Undertaker, who was unstoppable at that point in time.

I'll carry it over from the '92-'96 thread. Santana being the original choice to dethrone Flair, until they decided to go with Bret.

 

I'm giving Tito the benefit of the doubt only because the supposed reason was that the WWF had a South American Tour planned, and the title changed was nixed when the tour was cancelled. Consider that in '91 on a show in Spain, Santana, then in his El Matador gimmick, was put over the Undertaker, who was unstoppable at that point in time.

Tito was put over Taker on 10/05/91. This was at the end of Taker losing pretty much every competitive match from Mania (beating Snuka) until his push to Hogan started (beating Duggan like a drum). He initially starting losing to Warrior by DQ, then lost those body bag / casket matches to Warrior, then Sid when Warrior got fired, with others like Savage and Piper tossed in as well. He did get the rare occasional win, as I see one time he went over Savage once. But for the most part was a non-stop losing streak from 3/26/91 (his team lost in a handicap against Hogan) through 9/30/91 when his feud with Duggan got a trial run at a TV taping. He also lost to Piper by DQ in England after the Santana loss, but for the most part went on a winning streak after that (losses to Hogan of course.

 

Taker wasn't Taker yet when Tito beat him. Hard to be after six straight months of jobbing all over the country.

 

I don't think there's any chance that Tito was the first choice to beat Flair. Someone can go back through the 1992 WONs that are online over on WO.com (my sub just lapsed) and see if there's anything in there about it. There's nothing in Tito's push in 1992 that indicates the company had any serious ideas about him.

 

John

As I think someone mentioned in the other thread, Bret even said in his book that was told (by either Strongbow or Patterson IIRC) that Tito was one of the other names on the list they wrote up of potential new champions.

At one point early on in the WM8 hype for the match, it was teased that Hogan vs. Sid would have a guest referee. That idea was quickly dropped.

 

It may not fit this thread because without any actual knowledge of the plans, it would make sense that this guest ref would be the Ultimate Warrior, who returned anyway. Or was someone else in mind for that spot?

Warrior as a ref would have been funny.

As I think someone mentioned in the other thread, Bret even said in his book that was told (by either Strongbow or Patterson IIRC) that Tito was one of the other names on the list they wrote up of potential new champions.

And I tend to think that it was along the lines of what was mentioned in the other thread: throwing shit on the wall and seeing what stuck.

 

Flair was always going to be a bridge champion to the next Face. The business tanked when Hogan left after being very strong prior to Mania (the Hogan-Sid-Flair tags did business). Flair-Savage bombed around the horn, which isn't surprising how it was booked with Savage winning at Mania. They were committed to Savage-Warrior for the title at Wembley after a certain point, but got the belt off Savage at the first tapings after it.

 

Flair-Warrior the program out of those tapings, and built towards Survivors.

 

One suspects that when they were tossing names that Warrior and Davey Boy were also on the list, as they worked until early November. Bret was an obvious person to be on the list: pushed as a singles for the past two years, IC Champ from 8/91 to 8/92. He was in the third most pushed match at Mania: Piper-Bret was behind only Hogan-Sid and Flair-Savage. Three of those six were gone, while Flair-Savage were failures at that point. Most pushed match at Summer Slam, where the top four mix was Bret-Davey and Savage-Warrior.

 

Beyond that, the company had no one they could slot up. They had three pushed faces at the time.

 

If one wants to see where Tito fit into the mix, look at Survivors. When Warrior got fired, who stepped into his spot to team with Savage against Flair & Razor?

 

Hennig.

 

Was Tito even on the card?

 

No.

 

Do were really think someone who was seriously considered to be the Franchise Of The Promotion back on 10/16/92 was then thought so lowly of that he was left off the Survivor Series card initially... then not used to fill the gap when Warrior and Davey were fired?

 

Please tell me that Bret said other people were considered. It's not like the WWF knew on 10/16/92 that they were going to fire Warrior and Davey. Right after Bret won the title, they announced Bret-Shawn and Davey-Mountie title matches for Survivors, along with the Warrior & Savage vs Flair & Razor already being the pushed main event.

 

John

Checkd the book, and that wasn't where he mentioned Tito. It was an interview later, IIRC. That's the only name I remember.

Gino was supposed to be part of the rat pack instead of Borne.

The ultimate Gino story was that he was pegged to replace Ole in the Horsemen while he took time off but his death hit first.

I though the story was that they were going to bring Hart, Adams, Gino in as a unit?

It was Gino solo from what I heard years ago as Dusty & Flair were fans of his and they thought that a move to JCP could've helped him stay alive.

Being in JCP would have kept Gino off the coke? That's a hoot.

 

John

It wasn't the coke it was the people in the Metroplex that he had dealings with that eventually killed him.

Please don't tell me you buy the "Gino Was Murdered" myth.

 

John

I don't, but I do buy the "Gino had way more money than he ought to have had." mindset

I have no belief in what happened other than he ODed but he had some shady shit going on around him then.

Gary Hart felt that getting Gino away from his local connections in Texas would at least slow him down, though in his book it seemed like he realized in hindsight that it wouldn't have mattered much.

Hindsight is always 20/20 so we would never know what would've happened.

 

To get back on topic and tying JCP & World Class together.

 

Meltz had numerous stories in Spring 1988 that Crockett was looking to buy World Class and farming out all the old UWF talent and others familiar to the market there. That would've been fun.

What was the site that had Yokozuna joining the Hart Foundation every week for like all of 97? That rumored arrival went on for a while.

What was the site that had Yokozuna joining the Hart Foundation every week for like all of 97? That rumored arrival went on for a while.

Al Issacs' Scoops?

What was the site that had Yokozuna joining the Hart Foundation every week for like all of 97? That rumored arrival went on for a while.

Al Issacs' Scoops?

 

I remember that site. And that weekly rumour. I feel old.

We all know the best rumor that year was every week HBK was going to be on Nitro joining the nWo especially after the infamous pic hit the news boards.

Even the WWF magazines were spreading rumors Yoko was set to join the Hart Foundation.