June 3, 201411 yr comment_5605665 Well in fairness, Luger did technically headline Wrestlemania in 1994. But think about why Sting and him were "washed out". Sting because Hogan came into WCW and took his spot, Luger because they tried to push him as the second coming of Hulk Hogan in WWF and gave him a shitty countout win at Summerslam 93 which cut his balls off. WWF went with Bret as a new kind of champion / throwback to Backlund. WCW went with Hogan. In neither case is Dustin really fitting the mould, and he's not a guy who had so much charisma or X factor that he'd break the mould either, especially not in his WCW incarnation. I think Dustin's push and run were about right.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605672 On the topic of Dustin - I think there's an alternate universe where he beat Vader for the title in 92' instead of Ron Simmons. In that same universe, he wrestled Windham or a non-injured Rude at Starrcade that year. That being said, I understand that his look did make him somewhat of a tough sell in that era. I always thought the somewhat flabby look was why McMahon put him in the full body suit, even when he was actually in good shape initially. Obviously, he took himself out of the game essentially, but I might nominate Scott Hall. I know he's not always rated so highly, but he was certainly more technically skilled than Nash and, had he stayed sober and motivated (maybe even coming back to the WWE in 99' or 00'), it's hard not to see him having some good matches/feuds with The Rock, HHH, Taker, and Steve Austin, who, by then, were all pretty much wrestling the kind of main event brawling style that Hall certainly wouldn't have been out of his league doing. There's a lot of huge IFs when it comes to Scott Hall, but that goes without saying around these parts...
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605673 Are we saying A top guy or THE top guy? Because I do think Scott Hall was A top guy.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605674 Tito Santana. Namely, in early-mid WWF instead of Bret Hart & target the Latino demographic. Tito had pretty much everything that I look for in a pro-wrestler & he was an incredible babyface. Not that Bret ended up badly or anything when they went with him but Tito did when he got the El Matador gimmick. Great babyface, great face-in-peril, excellent bumper & seller, good, solid offense, good look, decent promo.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605676 I still don't get why the Tito vs. Martel feud didn't get a proper blow off. Could have made Tito a bigger star in the eyes of some (even though it was Martel getting the push).
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605680 Evan Bourne. Dude was red hot for a period of time in 2010, and people were going bonkers for him. He could have been the next Rey Mysterio. Part of his decline was probably size bias. Part of it was WWE's asinine 50/50 booking. Part of it was because he liked pot too much and got hurt too much. But man, that dude should have been in mains consistently.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605686 Their marijuana policy is idiotic, but I understand it to a degree. The price of being a publicly traded company.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605691 Their marijuana policy is idiotic, but I understand it to a degree. The price of being a publicly traded company.The problem wasn't weed though. Bourne was using that fake weed that's actually dangerous .
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605705 Are we forgetting that Dustin couldn't talk? Was he a worse talker than Sting?
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605708 Goldust was a great promo, and when he broke away from that character he was better on the mic. Sting didn't need to be that intelligent an interview, his enthusiasm and intensity would get over more than his verbiage.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605726 On the topic of Dustin - I think there's an alternate universe where he beat Vader for the title in 92' instead of Ron Simmons. In that same universe, he wrestled Windham or a non-injured Rude at Starrcade that year. Is this the alternate universe where WCW held onto Austin, Pillman, Foley, and Regal and pushed them as major players instead of Hogan & Company? Because I love that one.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605727 Call me crazy, but...Stevie Richards. He was a great comedy character, but he eventually got over as a serious main event level guy in ECW. He did variations of his comedy gimmick in both WCW and WWE, but he showed a completely different side of himself yet again with the RTC gimmick. Very versatile performer overall.
June 4, 201411 yr Author comment_5605730 Are we saying A top guy or THE top guy? Because I do think Scott Hall was A top guy. THE top guy. Ace of the promotion, the centrepiece. Had a lot of feedback elsewhere voting for Scott Hall as well.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605734 Scott Hall could never be THE guy. He was about right on the card. Sting was a lot more over than Dustin, which helped his promos.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605749 Did this thread take a time warp to 2011 "sting should be in the WON HOF" Parv. I think as we work towards the 1991-1994 shows, that Dustin is not far off from Sting at points getting great reactions from the crowd.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605750 Scott Hall could never be THE guy. He was about right on the card. Sting was a lot more over than Dustin, which helped his promos. I still think they could have run with Scott Hall as the top heel in 95 challenging Nash.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605751 Did this thread take a time warp to 2011 "sting should be in the WON HOF" Parv. I think as we work towards the 1991-1994 shows, that Dustin is not far off from Sting at points getting great reactions from the crowd. "Not far from" means number 2 guy. Speaking of which, I don't see anyone pimping Steamboat for this thread and he had a better look than Dustin, was arguably better in the ring than Dustin and in periods was more over with the crowd than Dustin. Note, I'm not knocking Dustin with this, or trying to talk up Sting, I'm just talking about realistic aces. I don't see Dustin as one. I don't see Scott Hall as one.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605753 You said a lot more over which feels like a wider gap than #1 to #2. Steamboat feels too straight laced babyface to ever really be the guy. Backlund is the only guy at top that I can think of that was as generic as a face and showed as little edge as Steamboat did and he still has the Texas Death match stuff with Patera to fall back on. I think Steamboat even more than Dustin is hindered by his look and the landscape of what the top guys of the 90's would look like. Dustin is taller than Austin was.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605758 If Steamboat was ever going to be an ace, it would have had to have been roughly in that same period Backlund was. 78-83. ARGUABLY he was ace for Mid-Atlantic during that time, but it's difficult because there's the Flair factor and it's hard to say that anyone but Flair was the ace in Mid-Atlantic. But Flair was more often than not a heel and more often than not drew against Steamboat.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605762 I still don't get why the Tito vs. Martel feud didn't get a proper blow off. Could have made Tito a bigger star in the eyes of some (even though it was Martel getting the push). was supposed to be at summerslam 89 but Martel was injured. then they just stopped caring seemingly, as Tito had reached Koko B. Ware status by then and they came up with other angles for Martel in spite of all that, you could argue that they actually DID have a blowoff match: the SNME one in late 1990. probably wasn't sold as such on commentary but hey!
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605764 Ron Simmons during the initial Nation of Domination run. I don't know about THE top guy, but Stevie Richards could've been a top guy for sure. He's in great shape and could hang in WWE if he was brought back now. Corino was definitely a victim of timing, as he could have been huge too.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605766 Call me crazy, but...Stevie Richards. He was a great comedy character, but he eventually got over as a serious main event level guy in ECW. He did variations of his comedy gimmick in both WCW and WWE, but he showed a completely different side of himself yet again with the RTC gimmick. Very versatile performer overall. Stevie took the WCW deal slightly too early. If he stays in ECW another six months, being that over, I'm guessing he gets a run as a top guy (probably main events November to Remember) that would have shifted the perception of him going forward. Heck, you could absolutely see the WWF in 1998 signing the bWo whole cloth and Stevie getting a decent push. Not sure he could have ever been THE guy, but he could have been way closer to the top.
June 4, 201411 yr comment_5605797 Are we forgetting that Dustin couldn't talk? Was he a worse talker than Sting? I'd have to say yes.
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