TOP FIVE LIST: Some big “what if?” names who weren’t fully chosen to be a Face of the Brand despite flirtations with them such as Luger, CM Punk, Rude

There were two passions I had in middle school that very few people knew about. I’ve told my middle school child multiple times that someone would have to pay me handsomely to convince me to experience those years a second time. You’re learning who you are and not ready to let others know who that is until you’ve really figured it out. In those years, not only did I want anyone to know that I loved that “fake wrestling stuff for kids,” but I also hid my love of comic books.

Nerd culture is cool now. We live in a niche society thanks to the globalization of the internet, so we can always find a community no matter what you’re into, and it helps you know that you’re not alone. I’m glad nerd culture is huge, as it’s what I do to pay the bills. (Check out http://nerdstalgia.shop – Mick Foley cheap plug tribute). In the ’90s as a junior high school student, the girls and cool guys were always left unimpressed that I knew all the Green Lanterns in every sector, or that I had Joe Quesada’s autograph on a Chromium Cover X-O Man of War #0. I guess most probably still aren’t all that impressed by that.

What I learned as life evolved was that I loved them because they were the same thing.

Larger-than-life heroes and villains, long convoluted stories, characters who had different interpretations as years went on to stay relevant, no breaks in storytelling, crossover events… the list is long! The common question of “Who would win in a fight? Superman or The Hulk?” could easily be swapped out for Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair. Then I got into Mexican wrestling and found out they have secret identities!

One of my favorite comics to check out as a kid was Marvel’s “What If?” It would consider an alternate reality where one small event, if it happened differently, would change the entire course of continuity. What if the radioactive spider in Spider-Man bit someone else in that class other than Peter Parker? What if Dr Doom was a good guy? What if the X-Men failed on the first mission that Professor X sent them on? The options for storytelling were endless.

I’ve had this idea for pro wrestling’s what if’s for a while, but it impossible to make it a top five, so I decided it could just be a reoccurring feature within the top five column. I also liked the idea of not every “what if” scenario being a positive move, which would disqualify it from a “top five.”

Decisions always have to be made, and one of the most important decisions the booker/writer/creative officer has to make is who is going to be the star. You have a “face of your brand” and it’s very important to have the right person who will satisfy a number of masters. This needs to be someone kids look up to, older fans respect, and comes across well on mainstream platforms such as the talk show circuit. So let’s explore a few people who were right there ready to break through the proverbial glass ceiling, but another person was chosen on instead.

Lex Luger

Vince McMahon had one of the biggest decisions in his life to make. He had ridden the coattails of Hulk Hogan as long as he could. Hogan was a massive star and had made the then-WWF a lot of money on top as the company’s champion. His mainstream appeal was massive in the ’80s and fit right in with the Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger types who had massive box office appeal in that era. But all things must come to a point of change.

Fans didn’t want to continue the saga of Hogan being the main character in the WWF, plus you had steroid scandals and Hogan wanted to pursue outside ventures and not continue the same wear and tear he had been putting on his body (especially in those years he broke the time zone and created time flying from to and from Japan.)

Vince had tried this once before with The Ultimate Warrior, and it simply didn’t stick the same way it did with Hogan, leaving Vince no other choice but to return to Hogan on top. This was a tough period for the company for multiple reasons and the choice of who replaces Hogan as the company babyface could help them return to form or end the company as we knew it.

We know now that the choice made was Bret Hart, but the runner up was Lex Luger. Vince McMahon’s decision came down to replacing Hogan with another muscled-up, charismatic character or would he choose something completely different. Had he stuck with Luger, would the crowd lose interest as they did for Warrior? How would that look in the midst of a steroid scandal? How many heels did they have that could make Luger look like a credible champion? Hogan didn’t become a star on his own; he needed Roddy Piper, The Iron Shiek, and Paul Orndorff, among others, to make him a credible champion, and they’d need to do the same with Luger, who’s quality of ring work on his own was even lesser than Hogan.

Also, had Luger become the top guy in WWF, that would have changed the trajectory of WCW, not having the initial surprise reappearance on the first episode of “Nitro.”

Magnum T.A.

A sad story with Magnum T.A. in that a car crash paralyzed him on his rise to superstardom. He had the strongman physique that appealed to those who appreciated the muscular male figure of the time. Terry Allen went by Magnum T.A. because of how much he reminded people of Magnum P.I., a popular detective character on a top rated CBS series at the time. Magnum was played by Tom Selleck, whose mustache and chest hair made him a sex symbol of his day. He had the charisma, ability, and respect of both performers and fans. Just as the breakout was ready to happen, a crash and injury derailed his ability to walk, let alone wrestle.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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A.J. Styles

“Creative is subjective.”

I’m a Jeff Jarrett guy. I have all the respect in the world for him as a business man, in his ability to “produce” a match, and his eye for talent. That doesn’t mean that I always agree with him. TNA was too often recycled old wrestling that Jarrett knew at times combined with the worst parts of “crash TV.” Jarrett’s eye for talent, though, loaded up a legendary roster that has gone on to be major players in so many companies. One of the decisions Jarrett made in terms of who would be his top star was an excellent choice in A.J. Styles.

If you listen to Jarrett’s rationale, he put the title on himself to drop it to Styles as a way to make him their top star. To Jarrett’s credit, he did that. Then a new TV deal happened. Jarrett didn’t think the audience will follow Styles, and it would be best to put it back on himself since he was a more established name, with the idea to build Styles up for the new audience.

This was Jarrett being behind the times. The audience can follow and the audience can catch up. Show some great packages introducing that story. In that era, a DVD with the story of a pre-Spike TNA in a documentary would help those who got into it later and wanted the background. Later when Sting came in, it was again time to put the title on Jarrett, as the biggest match they had was Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting, and in Jarrett’s mind, it also had to be for the TNA Championship.

This left Styles as “not quite enough.” Wrestling fans have seen an unimaginable number of performers become “defined down.” It makes one lose their passion for a performer who the fans want, but the promoters keep saying no (see Karrion Kross).

What if… Styles was the top guy feuding over a title while Jarrett and Sting handled personal business? Or if he was simply always a top guy going into new TV deals? Fans could have seen a new, young, exciting wrestler on top, not the failed WCW guy. Jarrett is super important and I think he needs to be on AEW more often, but he was never an exciting champion.

“Ravishing” Rick Rude

Anytime I can keep the legacy of Rick Rude alive, I will leap at the opportunity to do so. As a kid, I loved pro wrestling’s heels. They were funny, as I’ve always had a darker sense of humor. I liked their cockiness. I loved when they’d lose a match or back down as a coward, just to take the mic and talk trash acting as though that never happened. I think heel wrestlers prepared a lot of up for politics.

I broke into wrestling in the Dangerous Alliance era of WCW, and the feud that captured my attention was Sting vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude. To me, he was the greatest heel ever. He never played a babyface, and I never would have wanted to see it. I wanted my bad guy to be self-confident and strong in his values, no matter how misguided they were.

When I went back to watch VHS tapes of old wrestling, I paid a lot of attention to Rude’s days in WWF. He was the type of heel that was missing from the product at the time. Established names who were not cartoony, but a viable threat and juxtaposition to the babyface, and within the match itself, elevating that babyface and making him look better than his actual ability.

I’d loved to have seen Rude be the “mailman” in between Warrior to Hogan in the Sgt. Slaughter spot. Rude and Warrior already had good chemistry and would have been a chance for the Hulk Hogan vs. Rick Rude match fans were robbed of.

C.M. Punk

Entire books can be and will be written about Punk’s influence on the wrestling business. He really was a voice for the voiceless. There were a lot of us back in the 2010s wanting Punk to be the guy. The boos for Cena, as much as WWE told you otherwise, were not always a good thing. We were trying to say we liked wrestling, but not this part. Cena had spent too long on top, and was not a versatile enough personality at that time, and we wanted change. Punk got fed up and burned out and left, but with that, some ripples spread that came back a few years later. Had he never left the way he did, we may never have gotten:

• The Yes Movement.
• The AEW return, exposing many to the brand for the first time.
• Hell freezing over.
• The McIntyre cage match.

But what could we have had? A real brand divide like when Steve Austin and The Rock were truly considered equal top stars. Another long term player who could have had those ten years of feuds we never saw. It’s always fun to imagine.