WHAT IF? | Wrestling's Greatest Missed Opportunities 

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The biggest “what if” for me is: What if DX had gotten into the building when WCW Nitro was going on when they invaded it in April 1998

The sad thing is DDP had guarantee contracts too, but he forgo the guarantee contract to stay at home like many other wrestler. He wanted to show WWE that he was willing to play ball with them, and got screwed for doing it.

What if they actually respected DDP and let him do his thing instead of making him a creepy stalker? They missed such an easy home run. DDP vs. Rock, peoples champ vs. people's champ would have been such an easy sell.

Sting vs Taker is the biggest missed dream match in wrestling history.

Sean O haire devil's advocate had so much damn potential and was a gimmick that could hold down a championship run

Biggest missed opportunity for me is what if WWE kept Bret instead of letting him go to WCW. He still had a few years left in him, could have rivaled Austin, Foley, Rock etc and by 99 a certain Kurt Angle would have made a few masterpieces in the ring Also, we'd most likely still have Owen with us as well

Sean O’haire and Mike Awesome were two of WWE’s biggest missed opportunities in my opinion. Awesome was the Brock Lesnar mould before Brock was a thing, and if either of those were paired with Heyman they would have been money

I loved the Mordecai character. The reason why the WWE dropped the Mordecai character because they fired (or suspended) him for getting into a bar fight. If the WWE was unimpressed with him in-ring skills, they should have trained him before the debut of the Mordecai character.

Couldn’t have released this at a better time. I drive my personal car for Amazon. My tire has damn near fallen off. Now my girlfriend, and myself. We are stuck on the side of the road. Just waiting on a tow back home. Thanks for keeping me entertained!!! Lol, love what ya do, keep it up!!!

Sting-taker really is a huge shame. That program could have been amazing. And it could have happend instead of hhh vs sting

Hogan vs Flair should've happened at Wrestlemania VII. The biggest mistake was putting them together on the house show circuit. Vince should've held it off until Wrestlemania. Basically Wrestlemania should've been their *first* meeting. It worked with the Rock and John Cena.

Imo O’Haire should’ve been put on Raw and paired with Hunter and Evolution. Triple H Ric Flair Batista Randy Orton Sean O’Haire

What if indeed...it honestly could've gone so many ways in wrestling...it just take one moment for things to change... Awesome topic though 👌🏻🔥

Sting vs The Undertaker is very frustrating. Sting finally signed with WWE in 2014 and was in pretty good shape. He could have easily worked with The Undertaker at WM 31 but no! We got HHH vs Sting in a very underwhelming bout while Taker buried poor Bray. What was Vince thinking?! At least Shawn vs Eddie not happening at WM 22 had an excuse, with Eddie tragically passing away in 2005. Latino Heat vs Heartbreak Kid would have been amazing.

What if shelton benjamin won the wwe title?

Sean O'Haire suffered the most from the collapse of WCW, He would have been their World Champion by 2002 in my opinion

Muhammed Hassan is a good “What If” story too imo

Failing to have DDP Vs. The Rock is another big missed opportunity.

Sean O'Haire had a very interesting gimmick it was like a Devils advocate or something looked pretty cool and seems he liked it a lot cause you could tell he was living it and playing it well. A man the use your desires against you. Or gives you what you wish atvl the cost of something you never told you want to lose. But in WWE fashion it went down the drain.

Hogan vs Flair at 8 and Sting vs Taker at 31 are the biggest missed ops in mania history.... Dont care what anyone says if they did Hogan v Flair at WRESTLEMANIA it would have worked with that mania electricity

Sean O'Haire was one of my favorite wrestlers. He had everything. Size, charisma, he could work, he looked exactly like what Vince wanted in a wrestler. They should have pushed him more than they did.

Cm punk's 2011 summer was a BIG missed wrestling opportunity, the impact it could've had if executed

What about Hade Vansen? Guy was cutting some dark promos to lead up to a feud with Taker. Then Vince saw how big he was, didn’t think he could square up to Taker, and fired him.

What if macho man becomes the top star instead of hulk hogan I always wonder

Can you make documentary about these superstars 1.Christopher Daniels 2.James Storm 3.Sami Callahan 4.Moose 5.Chris Sabin 6.Eric Young

I was really looking forward to Mordecai making his way to The Undertaker. That would've been a good feud/rivalry.

My dream match was Austin vs Sting at Wrestlemania 18. Both guys have super loyal fanbases. I always wondered who the fans would root for more?

WWE had a second shot at turning Cena heel around the time of the Authority storyline. What I wouldve done is after he tied Flair's record and subsequently losing the title a few weeks later I wouldve had Cena do anything to try and break the record by challenging everyone who had title shots for their title opportunity (either WWE or Universal title) and failing every time, eventually after a couple months of failure it turned into frustration and being hellbent on winning at all costs, even aligning himself with the Authority for guaranteed title matches. It wouldve been about a year long storyline culminating at WM with another loss, the Authority would then chastise Cena which would then have him turn face, delivering an AA to HHH and Nikki Bella (who was still with at the time) coming down to fight Stephanie, they both leave waving to the crowd and Cena begins his part time status.

Ngl, I kinda hoped, after the first failed Cena heel turn vs The Rock, that Bray Wyatt would finally be the one to "Embrace Hate", sadly, Big Match John bamboozled us again.

I'm not surprised about the heel turn of John Cena not happening because of children. Thanks for the new video though 👍🏻

Honourable mention: Rock vs HBK

dream match i want see is was sting vs undertaker

Muhammad Hassan was one of biggest missed opportunities for the WWE. Hassan had genuine white hot heat during his brief run with the Undertaker.

I'm personally glad Hogan never wrestled Flair. Because Hogan sucked. Bum wrestler with bum moves. Flair wasn't super amazing at wrestling, but that man IS wrestling. He's given so much to the industry. Hogan would have schemed to never let Flair beat him. Hulk Hogan was mediocre at best and loved to ride his scripted laurels. Screw him. PS. Great video, Andy. Always watch these when they first drop 🤘 Edit: before anyone says it, I'm talking WCW vs WWF Flair vs Hogan.

I think Gangrel mainly failed as a character because the fans felt like he was too much of an Undertaker rip off.

Looking back, Hogan probably didnt wanna put Flair over.. as evidenced by the fact that he barely ever did, despite all their matches after.. and you know Vince would have wanted him to, given the push he was giving Flair at the time..

I love how you put the Devils Advocate front and center, that gimmick would’ve been gold.

I actually think the devils advocate would work very well as a current character I love to see the ex Dexter Lumis, Samuel Robert Shaw do that same character I think work great for him

The two biggest what-ifs that I can think of are the Superstar Mordecai and also the dream match between Sting and Undertaker. How on Earth did Vince McMahon for several years drop the ball on Sting versus Taker? Mordecai versus taker would have been a great potential main event. I remember his debut on Smackdown very clearly and even asked after a couple weeks LOL

What if Marks didn’t exist? Wrestling would be fine and not cringe

I disagree with Austin vs Chyna. Chyna beating the biggest star in the company would’ve hurt Austin’s credibility. Now if Austin was a heel at the time, maybe it could’ve worked. The Dream match I wanted for summerslam was Austin vs Rock vs HHH with HHH picking up the win giving the pedigree to the rock taking Austin’s title. Instead having HHH lose his title to Vince, Chyna should’ve won the title from HHH instead. It would’ve made more sense do to their history. So yeah Vince should’ve never been WWF champion. The match between Austin, hunter and Foley should’ve never happened. The booked triple threat at survivor series should’ve happened at summerslam. Therefore we wouldn’t had got robbed of that match since they knew Austin was leaving for injury

A big What If: WWE Smackdown becoming WCW Nitro after Vince McMahon's purchase of WCW

The biggest missed opportunity was friar ferguson. He could’ve been a great heel and fought undertaker, but they changed him to bastion booger and jobbed him out instead. Papa shango was another good idea they handled poorly. And Hakushi was a talented wrestler who never got his due.

Hogan/Studd v Andre/Bundy Hogan/Studd v Twin Towers Studd v Undertaker Bundy/Studd v Demolition Bundy/Studd Tag Title run Macho Man v Undertaker Feud Ultimate Warrior v Goldberg Kerry von Erich v Hogan Kerry Von Erich v Macho Man Kerry von Erich v Rowdy Roddy Piper Kerry von Erich v Ultimate Warrior Bam Bam Bigelow v Big Bossman Tito Santana v Steamboat Slaughter v Macho Man Iron Sheik v Nikolai Volkoff DX v NWO HBK v Rock Snuka v Steamboat

Freddie Prinze, Jr., claimed they dropped Hade Vansen because HHH remarked he looked like the guy that cut his grass. That got everybody in the production meeting laughing, including Vince, who was high on Vansen to a point. After that, no one backstage took him seriously.

Holy shit, this was in my recommended section and it certainly did not disappoint. Very well done!

Missed opportunity, nah, Vince knew that Hogan going over on Flair would not be good for business. And having Flair go over on Hogan would be an admission that the other company had the better Champion. He was wise to have Hogan drop the belt and let Flair win it in an Iroman Royal Rumble.

Here's some other missed opportunities here: 1. Razor Ramon vs. Jake the Snake: Had Jake not fallen for the WCW contract that went south, those guys would've been great together. Not only would this be a solid angle, but I could see it ending with those 2 working together. Much better than Razor and 1-2-3 Kid. 2. Wendi Richter vs. Sherri Martel: If not for that screwjob, it'd be a solid angle. Also an angle with Luna would only make things more interesting. 3. Alundra Blayze vs. Sherri Martel: Resurrecting the old AWA rivalry would be something to see if not for the BS reason Vince fired Sherri (this is from what I was told) and would've made things more interesting 4. Chyna vs. other female talent of the time (not counting Trish Stratus, but Ivory, Jacqueline, and maybe Tori): Might've convinced Chyna that she had competition among her own sex. 5. Just letting Luger run wild with the Narcissist gimmick: Might've had a better run that way and may have turned face in a more natural manner 6. Letting Macho Man and Roddy Piper give what they could after 1992: Would have only made the 1990s more solid and Savage might have made a good sucessor to Hogan and Piper might've had a championship run 7. Warrior not no showing: Might've been good at least till the end of the New Gen era. Also in regards to the "invasion", they should've just dealt with ECW the same way they did back in 1997, with a few improvements (Even better with Sabu among others) while waiting for those WCW contracts to expire. They also should have brought back more of the solid old gimmicks (Make Nash Diesel again and Hall Razor for example). It's too bad we couldn't see Macho Man and Hitman being in this too (Yeah I know why they weren't there sadly, but their presence would've been much better than say Mae and Moolah Young amongst the lame characters that appeared). This is just my take.

Believe it or not one of those house shows did so out where I live and I did get to see hulk Hogan versus Ric flair in person

I think a missed opportunity was an extended feud between Steamboat and Savage. During the following wrestlemania they could've had Savage go over Steamboat in the tournament setting up a steel cage title match in the future.

I remember the first time seeing a Mordecai vignette -- I knew exactly where it was heading to the Undertaker. Woulda been awesome

They should have kept WCW. From a business point of view, this was Vince's worst decision to bury it. There was so much unbelievable story lines. It was like having DC vs Marvel.

The biggest mistake with the Invasion was it should have happened in 2002 instead of 2001. Had they waited just a year later, we could have all had the nWo, Goldberg, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Brock Lesnar all be a part of it in some capacity and it would have made for really entertaining television.

Austin would of never recovered if he laid down for Chyna especially in 99

Retribution was a missed opportunity too. It was interesting at first but at the end they were just Jobbers beating Ricochet.

I think they didn't want Cena to be a bad example for the kids watching. Or maybe since Stone Cold says his heel turn never should've happened, they tought Cena should stay a Face Too bad CM Punk never got his Wrestlemania Main Event, he totally deserved it

Cena squashing the Nexus was some bullshit

Austin Jumping ship during Invasion made perfect sense. It was Austin going against McMahon as always, doing whatever he can to make Vince's life difficult and give him that middle finger.

I honestly believe Alicia Fox was a missed opportunity as well. When she had that “mini feud” with Paige she was getting reactions from the crowd when she started acting crazy after the match. Alicia’s “mini feud” with Beth Phoenix, she also got reactions from the crowd during that time. The WWE dropped the ball with her, big time. But, that’s no surprise. They don’t care about talent.

In 1993, in universe 7_22_F, Bret Hart would save a roofied Shawn Michaels from two pimps during that years Royal Rumble. Two pimps recognized Michaels at a bar and planned on robbing him by having one of their girls flirt with Michaels, spike his drink and get him to step into the ally way with her, where they would be waiting with knives. Bret Hart saw the girl pulling Michael toward a back exit and had a weird feeling about it. When he stepped out to make sure everything was okay, he saw Michaels on all four, trying to catch his breath. The pimps were kicking him before Hart stepped in, snapping one man's arm in half and breaking the others nose and eye socket. Michaels would never forget what Hart did for him, and his respect would deepen when the two were chosen to headline wrestlemania 12. Hart, of course, was happy to put Michaels over, which Michaels truly felt honored about. The two would have a instant classic in their 60 min iron man match. It would go into overtime as well, and Michaels would win the title with a super kick. After the match, Michaels would noticeably whisper something to Hart, which would respond a no from Hart before Hart rolled out of the ring. "it was Shawn's moment, you know?" Hart later said. "I got a lot of heat, not shaking his hand after. We felt this was too special for one match. We wanted it to be left unresolved. I know he wanted me to stay inside, that's what he asked. He said, please stay with me. And I felt honored. I wanted to stay kayfabe but at the same time I felt he earned that title. I wanted him to have that moment. He earned it. Just him. That night, that ring was his and his alone. So I rolled out and acted like I have been cheated with the over time thing. I looked mad but I was proud." Shawn would hug Hart after the match, thanking him. Many would credit Hart as being Michaels compass. They would stay in contact while Shawn toured as Champion. Hart would guide Michaels and advise him on his matches, keeping him grounded with Shawn felt overwhelmed. The two would come up with the idea of making Bret vs Shawn more of a war between two entire nations. Bret suggested pairing Michaels with Hunter and changing his name to Triple H. The two were actual friends and Vince loved it. Shawn would suggest bringing back the Hart Foundation with the British Bulldog and Owen Hart and the two groups could fued. Vince felt Michaels group needed more members after it was planned that Jim Knighthart would also join the Hart foundation. Triple H suggested bringing in a female body builder which they did; Chyna. Michaels would also bring back Marty Jannetty, now just known as Jennetty and the four would form D-X. Michaels vs Hart 2 was another Iron Man match that headlined wrestlemania 13. As the last ten minutes began to count down, the score was Michaels 2 Hart 1. Hart would hit a headbutt from the top rope, bursting opening his head. He would get a pin in Michaels, tying the match, but would end up concussed from the pump. Shawn walked Hart through the final ten minutes, making Hart look like a star. During the final seconds, Michaels would tap at the sharpshooter and Bret, face dripping in blood, would be the new Champion. Sadly Bret would forfeit the title two months later to heal from his injuries. Shawn was burned out from being champion, and a tournament would crown Stone Cold Steve Austin as the new champion. Shawn and Bret wouldn't meet again until Wrestlemania 14, where the two would put on what people say is the best ladder match ever to have taken place. Shawn would win the match and the two would officially end their fued with a hug in the ring.

According to Freddie Prince Jr Hade Vansen got the boot because HHH said to Mcmahon in a creatives meeting that Hade looks like the guy who mows his lawn.

The Hogan vs Flair WM 8 match I remember after the Rumble thats what I thought it would be and it didnt happen. Never knew at the time that would be Hogan's last match or he would be gone for a while filming a tv show. The hogan / sid match was pretty crappy but I wasn't too bothered hogan / flair never happened. Just seemed like hogan would win easily and if that match had happened Hogan would have won by dq as he was off for a while after that match so he couldnt win the belt. And the invasion storyline I totally agree and its a shame we never got that. Undertaker vs Sting, shame we never got that or Goldberg vs Taker in 2003. Bret Hart vs Kurt Angle is a dream match we all wish we could have had.

The main reason Invasion failed was not lack of major WCW talent. The main reason it failed was because it was NEVER about WCW and ECW vs WWF. It was all about Shane and Steph vs Vince. It did start as WCW vs WWF originally. I mean, who can possibly forget Booker T's debut in WWF when he, the top WCW star in final months, legitimately injured Steve Austin, top WWF star, in his very first move in WWF.

brian pillman and sean ohaire are always my biggest what ifs.

The Nexus and the Core in 2010 were the beginning of crappy uncarismatic wrestlers. HBK and Batista left in 2010. Undertaker and HHH became part timers in 2010. Looking back now, late 2010 was really the dead-line for WWE.

I really really reeeeeeeally hope u do a full on what if video on what i think the biggest what if in wwe history If undertaker chosen john cena as his opponent at wrestlemania 23 for the wwe championship

You want to know what really happened with the Sting vs Undertaker dream match? Instead of giving the fans what they wanted, Vince decided to feed his own ego and relive the Monday Night wars one last time by having his son in law, Triple H, bury Sting. Another What if? in WWE is the character Muhammad Hassan. The character and his feud with the Undertaker were scrapped after the London bombings in July 2005.

O’haire vs Batista or Lesnar was a huge missed opportunity

It's not too late, but WWE could make Ricochet the modern day Rey Mysterio if they go after it.

What if Cesaro became wwe champ at least once.

No matter what amount of money the big WCW wrestlers would get from WWE , they would not have taken it. They got the luxury of sitting at home collecting the checks from their WCW contract. Get millions hanging out at home or work? I know what I would have done.

Who were all these fans that were heartbroken about old WCW people fighting WWF? Flair was knocking on 50 when they Outsider's plot took off. That was 96. Hogan as you said was also past his prime. Anderson was looking old, Rock n Roll express was EMBARRASINGLY old. Powerplant was turning out young faces with talent. Bringing in Mexican, Japanese and female wrestlers was the thing that started WCW beating WWF. Young, in shape, FASTER technical wrestlers like Rey M, Eddie G, Dean M etc were ACTUALLY impressive. Thats why we were watching WCW. DDP coming out to a Smells Like Teen Spirit rip off, Sting knocking off the Crow. Benoit and McMichals putting new blood into an aging out Horsemen.... Finishers like raising your foot or dropping an elbow from the top rope were not cutting it. I know there was nostalgia for people who watched promotions in the 60-70s and even the 80s kids remembered caring about the classic wrestlers but once again.... who was clambering for old out of shape men to fight guys who arguably had more fleshed out gimmicks and were younger? Bischoff is lucky retrying the "Dark Hogan" angle they did for the Giant introduction was carried by Hall, Nash and Sting as well as all the younger guys or he would have been useless Vince was right to can all that, it would have been silly and didn't fit into the Attitude Era

Sorry I couldn't stand Wade Barrett. There was a lot of cooler wrestlers in the Nexus, but Wade was just a plank of wood, terrible charisma and just not a believable physical threat.

Would drop Mordecai from this list for Monty Brown AKA Marcus Cor Von. No hate for Kevin Vampire Dude, but Monty was a can't miss prospect for both TNA Impact and WWE, and it's both their losses that they failed to get a title run together for him If we can talk about Bobby Lashley being given the ball way too early and that he wasn't ready to step up to the position the way he is now, we can talk about how the Alpha Male clearly had it from day one and both Jeff and Vince failed to realize his career potential, which also means they would never realize how much money he could have made them

Out of all of the greatest missed opportunities and there's a lot of them, the one that I definitely feel got away was the whole invasion angle with the lack of involvement of the big names, it would have worked out so much better if we had all of those WCW guys like Goldberg, Sting, NWO to name a few, the only ones we got was Booker T and DD plus the booking / execution was done very poorly. If WWE waited at least a year then things might have turned out differently. Side note: John Cena turning heel with the right booking and execution would have done very big business not to mention the nuclear heat would have been epic but sadly it never happened. Truly a huge missed opportunity

That Nexus beatdown was incredible -- One of the best visuals ever. Thanks a lot "Big Match John"

Controversial hot take, but hear me out: Sometimes it’s *GOOD* that these dream matches didn’t happen, because sometimes a person can dreams about something, said something become reality and the reality is disappointing. The dream became a nightmare. So sometimes, the best wrestling matches are the ones we can only dream about.

The Invasion with out the WCW headliners was like Avengers vs X-Men without Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus, Storm and Nightcrawler.

It's fun to speculate on what might have been with those could have been stars, but I guess in the end, there can only be so many stars and for every "what if" out there, there's a star who rose who would not have if one of the "what Ifs" had rose in his/her place. If Sean O'Hare had risen, maybe Rotunda would have been the "what if" and Bray Wyatt would never even have even been an idea.

“Both men were past their prime” As flair flips over the turnbuckle 6:26

All these years later I still get pissed when I hear the name Sean O'Haire, he could have done so much for the company / business. More than Cena and Lesnar combined but Vince pissed him away. RIP Sean O'Haire Also I remember that Hade Vanson vignette and never seeing another hahaha

Honorable mentions: Dolph Ziggler’s main event run DX invasion of WCW show Austin vs Hogan Austin vs CM Punk

Austin vs Goldberg

Undertaker vs Nailz at WM9 was another great missed opportunity.

The top "could have been" sin for me was Demolition versus the Road Warriors. we never got the original demolition at full strength vs the original Road Warriors at full strength. At the time Crush had come in because Billy eadie had suffered from food poisoning and almost died so ax was out of commission for a while and that moment could not have come at a worse time for this dream Feud to be played out. And instead of something epic we got a fizzle piece of crap storyline that really was not worth the wait.

There's so many possibilities of what could happen if Vince greenlit the Chyna vs Stone Cold angle as planned. Stone Cold was basically their biggest superstar. To see him lose against a woman, even if that woman was Chyna, would bring some unforeseen consequences. Either Stone Cold would lose popularity, or he managed to turn around his loss to another selling point. Because y'know, it's Stone Cold. On the other hand, Chyna's potential victory might have pushed the revolution of WWE Women Wrestling way earlier than expected, and Vince would have more reasons to prevent Chyna from leaving. So many possibilities. Also, usually, when it cones to Benoit, the usual what-if question is 'what if Eddie Guerrero lived longer'. But I propose a different what if: What if Benoit never married Nancy? While he will still get into the downward spiral, he won't have a family to kill, thus I think Benoit would still be fondly remembered and inducted to the Hall of Fame, and Nancy would still be alive. But since the marriage happened way before, how would that affect Benoit's life before, would he even be in WWE at all? Would he still be friends with Eddie? So many questions.

The thing about the Invasion and lack of stars is you didn't need to get all of them. No one going to complain if you overpay for Hogan, Flair and maybe Goldberg. Having those megastars alone would have helped. Let Sting, Rey, Outsiders, Scott Steiner, etc. sit out.

Cena's missed heel turn makes me sad to this day

What if…booker t beat triple h at wrestlemania

The Mordecai character would have been a perfect match for the Undertaker

Also many people do not know this but Vince McMahon does in fact have a brother named Roderick McMahon. And rumor has it that he was either going to be the one behind the limousine explosion or he was going to take the place of Vince as the CEO of the WWE.

I was disappointed with THE NEXUS getting beat at SUMMERSLAM but I have ZERO regrets about FINALLY witnessing Bret "Hitman" Hart in person.

It wasn’t listed here but Raven’s seven sins gimmick had potential for a nice mid card championship run.

I never saw Nexus as a credible threat personally because it was a group of rookies vs an entire roster of pros.

I don’t want to here anything about John Cena heel turn or the nexus I never liked the idea of Cena turning heel plus he needed that win over the nexus at summerslam 2010 after losing 6 straight summerslams he should have won

The Invasion was never going to work. Whatever you felt was going to go to happen, it would fall below expectations.

Let’s not forget Goldberg vs Stone Cold, Batista vs Lesnar either.

This is a real cool segment. Creative

no one thinks chyna vs ausitn was a missed opportunity......