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Bret Hart Vs Bad News Brown |
Seeing that this was step one of Hart's face turn, a prolific match between the two was in order. It wasn't that we didn't see matches between Hart and Brown, because we did. It's simply that they were forgettable, non hyped matches that never amounted to much. Perhaps not big enough for a PPV, we deserved a promoted, hyped up, SATURDAY NIGHT'S MAIN EVENT semi-main event out of this match.
Why didn't we get one?
Two reasons. Even though WWE was testing "The Hitman" out in singles competition, he was still in a tag team with Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and the main focus was the tag team and their feuds and matches. Rather than use their main television shows and Pay-Per-Views for a singles match with Hart, they would rather use that exposure to get the team over.
The other major problem was with Brown. Brown, who was at best as high end mid-carder during his time in WWE, always saw himself as the top heel in the company. While a good, solid worker, Brown thought of himself as the heel version of Hulk Hogan in popularity, drawing power and overall importance to the company. Thinking as highly of himself as he did, it was like pulling teeth getting Brown to do a clean job for Hogan. If he wasn't winning the match, it was nine times out of ten going to end in a disqualification or a countout. Brown didn't do jobs and he certainly wasn't going to be Hart's first prolific win as a singles competitor.
It's really a shame too, because the two could have had a great match. A match that signified itself as the start of Hart's initial rise to becoming one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time. It probably would have helped Brown's career too. Had Brown not been so stubborn, and more willing to help other guys get over, rather than always worrying about himself and the God like image he gave himself, WWE probably would have done more with him. Not sure if it would have led to any title reigns, world or intercontinental but it would have led to better PPV matches.
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Billy Gunn Vs Bart Gunn |
The Smoking Gunns were indisputably the most popular WWE Tag Team of the New Generation era. Perhaps Billy's heel turn would have been better suited if the team were faces during the time rather than heels, but their feud deserved a longer go and a better ending than what it received.
The teasers and previews up until their Saturday Morning Superstars bout were promising, but the match itself was lackluster. While it started out good, Bart dropped Billy across the top rope injuring him (Kayfabe). The referee stopped the match as Billy's wife, who was apparently going for a Golden Raspberry award ran into the ring and began screaming, "How could you do this? He's Your Brother!!" Bart was left with an obvious concern on his face that he might have seriously injured Billy and we were thrown into a commercial break as medical help began to work on him.
What was going to happen? Was this going to lead to a scene where we saw Bart visit Billy in the hospital and the two would bury the hatchet and become a team again? Was this going to lead to Billy vowing vengeance against Bart, and a huge final confrontation at a PPV down the road? What was going to happen?
Nothing. That's what happened. Not a damn thing. Billy came back to float around WWE wrestling as himself and Rockabilly before finding Road Dogg and forming what would be the Attitude Era's hottest tag team. Bart who was a great talent, was misused and mistreated in a variety of different ways before finally being released and going to Japan where they appreciated the talent that he was.
WWE really dropped the ball on this one. I always thought and still think that somewhere along the line, Bart Gunn should have been a member of Degeneration X. If they weren't going to go anywhere with the Gunn Vs Gunn feud, then turn the feud on its head and have a moment of redemption. At some point have Bart save Billy or Billy save Bart. Have a significant moment where the two come together with the rest of DX, have Bart give the suck it sign and be a member. I think he would have been a nice addition to the group.
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Tito Santana Vs Rick Martel |
We got matches between the two, but nothing prolific. Matter of fact, when the two did wrestle one another, it was treated as just another match on the card. It made little to no sense why they didn't get a SUMMERSLAM pay off or why they didn't feud throughout the year to have a huge pay off at Wrestlemania VI.
They proved that they could have a great match and tear the house down. Fans were into their matches and years later, even during Tito's final year in the WWE with the "El Matador" gimmick they often threw him into the ring with Martel because the two worked so well together.
Why not give them a memorable, monumental match that they deserved? I don't get that. It would have made a lot more sense to have had Martel vs Santana at Wrestlemania VI than to have had Martel Vs Ko Ko B Ware and Santana vs The Barbarian.
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Crush Vs Doink |
It would have been fine if Doink's victory over Crush was the end of it, and both went their separate ways right then and right there. Yet the feud continued to escalate, only to go no where.
The two met in a return match shortly after Wrestlemania with Crush winning via disqualification with Doink having another Doink show up so the two could beat the crap out of him. This only led to fans wanting to see Crush get his revenge even more.
Then at King of The Ring, Crush had the intercontinental championship won against Shawn Michaels, only to have Doink come down to the ring and cost him the match.
We were lead to believe that there was going to be a huge match between these two. A no disqualification, a steel cage match, something big and important to end the feud between the circus freak and the giant can of orange soda.
And what did we get? Another lackluster match that wasn't even televised everywhere, where Crush won via count out.
I don't know if their feud could have ended with a more anticlimactic finish than what it did. We as fans deserved a lot more out of this one than what we received.
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Ultimate Warrior Vs Jake Roberts |
Jake Roberts who could easily draw money as a face on Monday, a heel on Tuesday, and then again as a face on Wednesday, had recently turned heel by betraying the Ultimate Warrior and leading him into a trap where he was bitten on the face by a venomous Cobra. The feud was set in place, for Warrior to find his Gods, search deep within himself and find the power to overcome the evils of Jake the Snake.
Instead, Warrior found himself in financial disputes with the WWE and left Roberts hanging. Perhaps for the best because this lead to the WWE having to come up with new ideas, and two of the best ideas WWE had during that time were then put into place.
First and foremost we ended up getting an Undertaker face turn, which wasn't only red hot in 1992, it was one of the best creative decisions WWE ever made. Secondly, it got Randy Savage out of retirement and back into the ring, which lead to three outstanding matches between Savage and Roberts.
Nevertheless though, it would have been fun to have seen the match that never was between Roberts and Warrior. It's fairly predictable that Roberts would have nailed the DDT, only to have Warrior popped right back up, clothesline him 15 times, hit a flying tackle, gorilla press him over his head and then big splash him for the 1-2-3. It's not like we would have seen anything new, but some songs no matter how many times we hear them, we still like to listen to them again.
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Shawn Michaels Vs Marty Jannetty |
And its not that it didn't happen, because it did. It's simply that it wasn't done right and it wasn't done at the right places. Marty and Shawn put on the most entertaining matches. Even the experts who vote, awarded their Monday Night Raw match where Jannetty defeated Michaels for the intercontinental championship as the 1993 match of the year.
Every match they had during that time was a 6 out of 5 star match, and yes that was written on purpose. Their matches were that good. Their matches on Monday Night Raw, their Royal Rumble match, and their cage match. All of them were marquee, could have easily been the main event matches.
To know that we never ended up getting an ultimate payoff between the two for inexcusable reasons is something that bugs me 25 years later and it'll bug me 25 years after this.
A part of the problem was Jannetty himself and the demons he faced with drugs, alcohol and women. If only he could have controlled these demons, and been more focused he could have taken the WWE by storm and proved he was every bit as good as Michaels if not better.
Another huge wrench in the operation was the Charles Austin incident where Jannetty accidentally broke Austin's neck during a match that ended up seeing Austin awarded $27 million in a lawsuit against the WWE.
Lastly, this feud never came to fruition because of the shady, snide and selfish decisions of an egotistical and narcissistic Shawn Michaels. Shawn sabotaged and ruined a lot of would be great opportunities and moments for many wrestlers throughout his days in WWE, and he did so here in what could have been the hottest thing of the early-mid 90's.
If only Shawn Michaels gave a damn about something other than himself during this time, both he and Jannetty would have torn the house down in the months and even years to come.
It's hard to look back on the career of Marty Jannetty and to know where it ended up. Some of it his fault, some of it not.
Wrestlemania VIII, Summerslam 93, something somewhere.
Instead both moved on to do their own thing. Michaels was given an awesome match with Mr. Perfect that ended in a countout and Jannetty did a squash match job for Ludvig Borga.
And I don't know if anything in professional wrestling, storyline wise with exception to maybe what Shawn did the the British Bulldog at One Night Only, has bothered me more.
