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Posted in Ask X by Jack at 19:35, May 23 2009
by Jason X
Question: Suppose that Playboy Gary Hart was approached by WCW to be its booker in January 1991 instead of Dusty Rhodes. Jim Ross has replaced Jim Herd as Executive Vice President. Assuming that the 1991 roster is intact, how do you see the first 6 months panning out? Also, if you can, give me Hart's proposed card for Wrestle War 1991 in February.
Question: Suppose that Playboy Gary Hart was approached by WCW to be its booker in January 1991 instead of Dusty Rhodes. Jim Ross has replaced Jim Herd as Executive Vice President. Assuming that the 1991 roster is intact, how do you see the first 6 months panning out? Also, if you can, give me Hart's proposed card for Wrestle War 1991 in February.
A: okay, in doing this, I?m going to take a few liberties, because I?m going to add people to the roster that were favorites of Hart?s. With that being said, Gary will add Chris Adams to the WCW roster as well as Terry ?Bamm Bamm? Gordy, and finally Kevin Von Erich, rounding out an already talent rich roster.
Now with that out of the way, before I do any more fantasy booking. I have to say that I?m going to do my best to rewrite an entire half year of wrestling. This may not be great, but I?m also trying to do it the way Gary Hart did, so bare with me. Now I?m going to start with the first big card of 1991, with was Clash of the Champions XIV ?Dixie Dynamite? and we will fill in the blanks in between the big shows. Let?s go
Clash of the Champions XIV
"Dixie Dynamite"
January 30, 1991 in Gainesville, GA
Georgia Mtn Center drawing 2,200 ($16,000)
Shown live on TBS (3.9)
1. Sting & Lex Luger beat WCW Tag Champs Doom (10:33) via DQ.
2. WCW TV Champ Tom Zenk pinned Bobby Eaton (7:0.
3. The Freebirds (Garvin & Hayes) beat Rock N Roll Express (5:53) when Terry Gordy returns and attacks Gibson behind the refs back and allows Garvin to get the pinfall
4. Sid Vicious pinned Joey Maggs (1:11).
5. Chris Adams Pinned Terry Taylor (11:53.)
6. Kevin Von Erich beat El Cubano (3:05). Via Submission from the Iron Claw
7. Arn Anderson & Barry Windham beat Chris & Mark Youngblood (7:30) when Anderson pinned Chris.
8. Brian Pillman pinned Buddy Lee Parker (3:17).
9. Missy Hyatt beat Paul E Dangerously in an "arm wrestling" match.
10. WCW World Champ Ric Flair drew Scott Steiner(24:25).
You?re champions at this point are:
World Champ ? Ric Flair
US Champ ? Lex Luger
TV Champ - Tom Zenk
World Tag Champs ? Doom
US Tag Champs ? The Steiners
That takes us to February, now on an episode of WCW Saturday Night, Doom is working a squash match, when The Freebirds run out and leave Doom laying in the middle of the ring. The go over to Jim Ross at the interview area and Michael Hayes cuts a promo.
Hayes: For a while now, people have been talking about the Freebirds like we are a joke. Like what we did in Dallas was only in the past and couldn?t be done again. Now Jim you know that me and Terry can cause all kinds of trouble if we really wanted to
Jim: yes I know Michael
Hayes: that?s just it Jim you don?t know. You think what we did to your friend the Cowboy (Bill Watts) back in Louisiana was bad, you haven?t seen bad yet. We aren?t here to sing and dance, we aren?t here for a good time. We are from the last house on the right, on the street where it got badder the further you went. People say if you forget the past you are condemned to repeat it, it seems like everyone forgot what the Freebirds were about, Wrestle War we will refresh your memory.
WrestleWar 1991
"WarGames"
February 24, 1991 in Phoenix, AZ
Memorial Coliseum drawing 6,800 ($53,000)
Shown live on PPV (1.2)
1. Ultraman & Eddie Guerrero beat Rudy Boy & Huichol (7:39) when Guerrero pinned Rudy.
2. WCW Six Man Tag Champs Junkyard Dog, Ricky Morton, & Tommy Rich beat James Earl Wright, Buddy Lee Parker, & Big Cat (9:54) when Morton pinned Parker.
3. Bobby Eaton pinned Brad Armstrong (12:51).
4. Kevin Von Erich beat Moondog Rex (6:47) when Rex submitted to the Iron Claw
5. Dustin Rhodes pinned Buddy Landell (6:33).
6. Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong beat Rip Morgan & Jack Victory (12:05) when Smothers pinned Morgan.
7. Terry Taylor pinned Tom Zenk (10:59) in a "no DQ" match. Afterwards Taylor continues to attack Zenk only for Chris Adams to come down an attack Taylor, Adams and Zenk shake hands
8. Stan Hansen DDQ Big Van Vader (6:21).
9. WCW US Champ Lex Luger pinned Danny Spivey (12:52). After the match Gordy runs down and attacks Luger
10. The Freebirds (Hayes & Garvin) beat Doom (6:56) to win the WCW Tag Title when Garvin pinned Simmons
11. The Four Horsemen (Flair, Windham, Vicious, & Zbysko) beat Sting, Brian Pillman, Rick & Scott Steiner (21:50) in a "wargames" match when Pillman was KOed by Vicious.
From Wrestle War, the feuds shaping up are the Steiners Vs. The Freebirds for the World Tag Team titles, Sting Vs. Flair, Adams and Zenk form a tag team and are entered in the United States Tag Title Tournament, Luger Vs. Gordy. The Big shows coming up are Superbrawl I, and Clash of Champions XV ?Knocksville USA?. On WCW Saturday Night in early March Terry Gordy, interrupts a Lex Luger squash match, and asks ?how is it you are considered the champion of this country when the only guys you beat are scrubs?? Luger dismisses what Gordy says, and goes to walk away, but Gordy pulls him back and say ?what kind of champ are you boy, that you turn tail and run, Hansen was right about you. You?re all body and no fight? With that Luger pushes Gordy and the two brawl. Until the locker room empties and break them up. Also on the same show Adams and Zenk start to climb the ranks in the tag team division with a great face vs. face match against the Young Pistols. Kevin Von Erich cuts a promo with Jim Ross, saying he knows he can beat Arn Anderson, if only Anderson would give him a shot, which ends with Anderson coming out and the two men try to out amateur wrestle the other, only for the Horsemen to attack, and Sting, Pillman and The Steiners run out to run off The Horsemen.
The next week Terry Gordy gets his wish, as he wrestles for the United States title against Lex Luger. Before the match Jim Ross reads a statement from the WCW championship committee, which states ?due to the uncontrollable nature of Mr. Gordy and Mr. Luger, we accelerated the process of determining a number one contender by naming Mr. Gordy the number one contender in hopes that this will pacify Mr. Gordy. If Mr. Gordy cannot beat Mr. Luger he will not receive a United States Title Match until August of 1991?
Also before the match we see footage from after last weeks show, which shows them brawling in the backstage area, you can clearly hear Luger say ?Go Back To Japan Gordy! You Don?t Belong Here!? and Gordy yelling ?I will go back when I have your belt!?
The match which opens up the show is underway. Nick Patrick sends Garvin and Hayes back to the locker room so they can?t interrupt. Luger and Gordy have a fine match, that is back and forth and is worked in a very tight hard hitting style. Luger goes for running clothesline, but Gordy ducks and Nick Patrick takes the hit. Sting runs down and tries to wake Patrick up, out of the crowd comes the Angel of Death! He attacks Sting! Luger who is clearly pre occupied by what is happening to his friend has his back turned on Gordy, finally turns around and is caught with the Oriental Spike! Nick Patrick wakes up and Luger?s arm drops three times, Terrry Gordy is the new WCW US Champion! Hayes and Garvin come out and celebrate with Gordy.
We return to the show and standing with Jim Ross are the Four Horsemen. Jim Ross asks why Ric Flair is so happy. Slick Ric goes onto explain that Sting?s past is catching up with him. He brings out the Angel of Death and says that he paid good money for the Angel of Death to take care of Sting. Arn is next and goes on to say that just because Kevin is a Von Erich don?t mean anything anymore, ?you were run out of your hometown, and I will run you out of here. Kevin you could never win the big match and this time will be no different?. Barry Windham is next, and he mentions that when he is done with Pillman, Gordy you are next.
Fast Forward to April, and with the feuds are building up well. One of the most talk about tag matches took place on World Wide Wrestling, which featured Terry Gordy teaming with Barry Windham to take on Lex Luger and Brian Pillman. Which ended in a pull apart braw, between Gordy and Windham after Windham left Gordy lying and losing the match to Luger. So now not only do we have the Four Horsemen feuding with the top faces, but we also have the Horsemen feuding with the Freebirds as well. Making the Freebirds tweeners in the process, which is a natural fit for the Birds since they are too bad to be faces, but too cool to be heels. Arn has still not wrestled KVE, although the two of them have had many confrontations. Chris Adams and Tom Zenk are the favorites in the United State Tag Title Tournament We are leading into SuperBrawl and the current champions are:
World Champion: Ric Flair
Unites States Champion: Terry Gordy
TV Champion: Arn Anderson
Tag Team Champions: The Freebirds
U.S. Tag Team Champions: Vacant.
It?s two weeks before SuperBrawl, we find out that KVE and Arn will wrestle in a street fight match for the TV title. Now there is no way Arn Anderson can keep the belt on a DQ or Count Out. Also Lined up are Gordy Vs. Luger, Adams and Zenk vs. The Young Pistols in the finals of the US Tag Title Tournament, plus Flair Vs. Fujinami for the Title, The Steiners vs. The Freebirds for the Tag belts, and Sting Vs. The Great Muta.
SuperBrawl
May 19, 1991 in St Petersburg, FL
Bayfront Center drawing 6,000 ($76,000)
Shown live on PPV (1.04)
Mighty Thor pinned El Cubano.
Chris Adams and Tom Zenk Lose Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong (10:19) to win the vacant WCW US Tag Title when Somthers pins Zenk. After the match, Adams helps Zenk up, and then Superkicks him, begning his heel run.
Danny Spivey pinned Ricky Morton (3:11).
Nikita Koloff pinned Tommy Rich (4:07).
Dustin Rhodes pinned Terrance Taylor (8:05).
Big Josh pinned Black Bart (3:46).
Ron Simmons pinned Butch Reed (9:39) in a "steel cage" match.
Barry Windham pinned Brian Pillman (6:0 in a "taped fist" match.
El Gigante pinned Sid Vicious (2:13) in a "stretcher" match.
Sting drew The Great Muta (20:00) after the match both men shake hands
WCW Tag Champs The Freebirds beat the Steiners(11:09) when Scott was pinned by Michael Hayes after he was hit with a loaded boot.
Kevin Von Erich pinned Arn Anderson (11:50) in a street fight to win the WCW TV Title.
Terry Gordy beat Lex Luger by KO with a Lariat (15:20)
WCW World Champ Ric Flair pinned Tatsumi Fujinami (18:39)
With SuperBrawl done and over with, we can now focus on the next Clash of The Champions which is only a month away. Sting comes out stating that he deserves one more shot at Flair, and no sooner does he say that, he gets attacked by The Angel Of Death. The attack is so bad that Sting is taken out of the building on a gurney. Jim Ross interviews the Angel of Death, and asks ?just how much has Ric Flair paid you to stay here in WCW to attack Sting?? The Angel Of Death, notes that Flair only paid him once, but he also helped him secure a contract in WCW. His reasons for attacking Sting was that once he moved on to bigger and better things he forgot out his friends who he started in professional wrestling with. ?You see Jim Ross? The Angel pauses ?Flair helped me get in, paid my way here, Everything since that one time, is me reminding Sting what happens when you forget who you?re friends are?
So the first big match for Clash Of The Champions is signed it will be Sting Vs. The Angel Of Death. A week later, we find out that the Steiners are now the IWGP Tag Team champions and that they will put them on the line at the Clash against Hase and Chono from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Kevin Von Erich comes out with a contract, He states that this contract was signed before he won the Television title, and that the contract states he could wrestle any member of the Four Horsemen whenever he wanted to. The Horsemen come out, and Arn grabs the microphone from Jim Ross ?Von Erich you got lucky once you won?t get lucky again.? The Steiners and Pillman come out and make sure Von Erich is protected just incase the Horsemen try anything. Von Erich snatches the microphone out of Arn?s hand, and says ?Arn Anderson I don?t want you, I?m wrestling Flair!? with that Flair goes ape sh*t and starts screaming ?you want me!, You want me!? there is beside himself. Kevin goes on to say ?You cheated David, You Cheated Kerry, and You Cheated Me over the years, This Time you won?t be so lucky, you and me two out of three falls, see you at the Clash!? The faces walk away, and Flair picks up the microphone, completely out of control ?you want me Von Erich! That contract isn?t Valid!, You want me!? with that Saturday night ends.
We are two weeks away from the Clash, and Chris Adams has admitted that the reason he turned on Zenk was he was tired of carrying around a primadonna pretty boy, who was more concerned about women than winning matches. Adams also states that back in his day he liked being surrounded by pretty women, but pretty women only did two things, leave in the morning and spent his money, and that titles bring in money, and money is better than women or fans. Lex Luger comes out and states that him and Terry Gordy have one more match left in each other, and if Gordy has the guts to put the belt on the line one more time. Gordy comes out, and agrees one more match Luger and that?s it. We?ve led up to the Clash and it?s sure to be a hell of a card as we have Sting Vs. The Angel Of Death, The Steiners Vs. Hase and Chono, Windham and Anderson Vs. Pillman and El Gigante in a loser leaves town match. Luger vs. Gordy in what might be their last match against each other, and finally Ric Flair Vs. Kevin Von Erich in a two out of three falls match for the WCW World Title.
Clash of the Champions XV
"Knocksville USA"
June 14, 1991 in Knoxville, TN
Civic Coliseum drawing 5,000 ($37,000)
Shown live on TBS (3.9)
1. Rikki Nelson pinned El Cubano (6:00).
2. Tracey Smothers, Steve Armstrong, & Tom Zenk beat Steve Austin, Terry Taylor, and Chris Adams (4:49) when Armstrong pinned Austin, Smothers pinned Taylor, and Zenk pinned Adams.
3. Oz pinned Johnny Rich (1:29).
4. Danny Spivey pinned Big Josh (2:49).
5. Dustin Rhodes beat (4:27) via DQ.
6. Sting pinned The Angel Of Death(9:33).
7. Barry Windham & Arn Anderson beat Brian Pillman & El Gigante (3:0 in a "loser leaves town" match when Windham pinned Pillman.
8. IWGP Tag Champs Rick & Scott Steiner beat Masa Chono & Hiro Hase (8:14) when Scott pinned Hase. After the match The Steiners get interviewed and say that they will put their IWGP titles on the line just to have one last match against the Freebirds for the WCW tag titles. Which leads to Hayes and Garvin attacking the Steiners from behind
9. The Diamond Stud pinned Tommy Rich (1:59).
10. Nikita Koloff pinned Black Blood (0:25).
11. WCW U.S. Champ Terry Gordy lost to Lex Luger (10:52) After the match Luger demanded that Gordy shake his hand, Gordy walks away, keeping their feud alive. As Gordy is walking up the ramp, Barry Windham attacks him with a briefcase, and also takes out Luger, He goes over to Jim Ross and says that he took out Pillman, and he will take out Luger and Gordy and be the United States champion one more time.
12. WCW World Champ Ric Flair beat TV Champion Kevin Von Erich (14:26) in three falls.
* Von Erich pinned Flair (9:45).
* Von Erich was counted out (11:42).
* Flair pinned Von Erich with help from Arn Anderson (14:26).
With that we are at 6 full months of booking WCW in the vain of Gary Hart. I hope Spec that I did Gary justice. As this was easily the hardest thing I?ve done yet on Ask X. I left things very open for the Great American Bash. Obviously Flair would probably stay as he is being allowed to have longer matches with great opponents. I think the Sting/Angel Of Death feud would only be short term as I would book Sting to face Flair at the Bash. The Steiners Vs. The Freebirds would be finished at the Bash as well, the Horsemen vs. Kevin Von Erich would also continue past the Bash as I think Kevin had one more really good run left in him at this point and I would milk it for a little longer. But I left it where it was at so everyone reading could come to their own conclusions as to where The Great American Bash was going to go creatively.
Thanks for the question Spec, you made me earn my stripes on this one Ask X will return full time next week.
Later Everyone
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