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WWF: Hulkamania era (1984-`1992)

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
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I wonder how long Race would have rode the road in the mid card had he not gotten hurt? There's an alternative history where he sticks it out into 1990, maybe doing the blow off of his career at Mania 6 like Andre. Then sticks around the back for a bit before taking a managerial role when Heenan bows out. (89 Race/Dusty feud?)

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Akeem is one of the odder guys to fall out of favor with Vince. Good size, charisma, willing to job.... Wanting to get rid of the OMG gimmick has to be some weird Vince-ism about creating his own thing.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
I wish Race had gotten the Honky Tonk Man push.
King of Rock and Roll instead of the King of Wrestling?
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April 84 – Vince McMahon visits Stu Swartz, general manager of KMSP-9 in Minneapolis, to offer a six-figure upfront cash payment to stop airing AWA television and air WWF programming in its place. Swartz declines the offer. [DEATH OF THE TERRITORIES, pp. 125]
April – Hisashi Shinma promotes the UWF debut with some deceptive advertising, creating a poster that includes Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Antonio Inoki, Bob Backlund, and Satoru Sayama with a caption that states, “These wrestlers have possibilities of making an appearance on a UWF mat.” [WON MAY 1984]



April 11 – Former NJPW President Hisashi Shinma’s plans to air a new show on Fuji-TV with Satoru Sayama as the top star fall apart as Shinma and Sayama have a personal falling out over Shinma’s allegations that Sayama’s business manager has ties to the criminal underworld. The first episode was intended to be matches from the March 25 WWF card at Madison Square Garden, where Sayama would return to the United States and be rebranded as The Tiger, thus opening the door for Vince McMahon to start promoting him as his top star in Japan. Shinma travels to New York, Mexico, and Calgary to attempt to book foreign talents on his show; however, NJPW officers Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi have already met with those promoters, which impedes his progress. [WON MAY 1984] This leaves Shinma to form the Universal Wrestling Federation, which runs its first card without television. Surprisingly, All Japan Pro Wrestling extends an olive branch by offering Mach Hayato for the group’s first week of shows. Stories surfaced initially that Dory and Terry Funk booked the week’s American wrestlers, but those were later refuted, as John Blackburn, son of AWA President Stanley Blackburn, handled the booking of American wrestlers. [WON JUNE 1984] New Japan Pro Wrestling also sends young Nobuhiko Takada to the UWF for its first week and allows Yoshiaki Fujiwara to main event the April 17 card.

April 21 – Having lost local television in San Jose, Vince McMahon travels to San Francisco to meet with James Gabbert, the owner of KTVO-20, which airs AWA All Star Wrestling, and offers Gabbert $2,000 per week to replace AWA programming with the WWF’s Superstars of Wrestling. The arrangement with the AWA was that KTVO could air the show for free and keep all advertising revenue; Vince proposes $2,000 per week and they can still keep 100 percent of advertising revenue. Gabbert agrees to the proposal, and since the AWA does not have a TV contract that KTVO has to honor, the WWF immediately takes over the time slot. [DEATH OF THE TERRITORIES, pp. 123]

 

King Kamala

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Conspiracy theory is that he stunk and wasn’t worth being even by ‘86 WWF standards.

If he was remotely passable, they would have tried to make him Andre’s successor.
 

King Kamala

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If he wasn’t one of the worst workers of all time then surely some territory would have found use for a legit 7’5’’ guy. Entire conceit of that article is dumb.
 

Valeyard

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I wonder why Vince never tried to bring Giant Haystacks in. Worst worker of all time but definitely fit the 1980-86 vibe.
 
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