Would you be stanning Magnum T.A.?
- Thread starter El Cocodrilo
- Start date
Beautiful Bobby Eatin
SWEEEEEEEEEETNESS!
He probably would have fell on the wayside like a Barry Windham. Great talent in a very very big pool
This... it's one of those factors that you gotta factor into his career. He was definitely about to win the NWA title at Starrcade '86. He and Flair would've been the top two in NWA through '87 and barring any injuries, he probably would've been the top face for years... BUT...
There's the dynamic of the fukkery that went on in the NWA/WCW. When people weren't getting paid and Turner took over in '88 (which lead to Dusty, Arn, Tully, Windham, Garvin, etc. leaving)... Magnum mighta been one of 'em, and then had an IC title at best career. Or if he got past that, mighta had to deal with Jim Herd's shyt which led to Flair, LOD, Cornette, Sid, etc. leaving... then goes to WWF and became a cowboy or some shyt in the early '90s. He was def, on his way to the top tho'- it's probably one of the biggest "what ifs" in wrestling.
Art Barr
INVADING SOHH CHAMPION
@Art Barr I feel Hogan had too much magnetic charisma to be completely ever left by the wayside, but dapping you for very interesting history lessons
hogun's lack of quality, is why I changed the channel and did not switch back.
nwa, was just a better higher quality product, from top to bottom.
the bad guys and the faces in nwa.
were just higher quality versions of the goofy in the wwf.
where the wwf singlehandedly created phoney in my gen.
in the nwa,
.... Nikita koloff, was an incredibly scary dominant heel.
who was what Goldberg was, before both turned face.
plus, the answer to the wack wwf alternative of nikita koloff.
flair and the horsemen were the best villains in television history.
tully, arn and flair were argueably the best actual workers.
flanked by ole, who at that point was booked accurately as hardcore heavy lifting goon.
plus, they were scary, to the point.
you did not find them cool, just plain flat out scary.
the laugh the horsemen have in the car.
when, they follow duh-tay and tied him up in fishing cord.
still haunts my brain as a one of the sociopathically sadistic lol moments in my tv viewing history.
the horsemen were not the cool heels.
where, you wanted to be them.
plus, the thought they could lose, was far from a possibility.
after you saw flair keep the belt, after losing on purpose by dq.
was the first eye opener that the world was not fair like my mom would say.
plus, was where I learned about how the title could and could not change hands.
even though flair was a great babyface prior.
he was solidly a heel.
although, flair would later show he could easily transition.
to face from heel and back again versus funk, after steamboat.
it was not till magnum was gone and Nikita turned did I buy into a heel being this great good guy.
there was macho, but wwf took a lot of edge off of macho.
then, neutered him against hogun in the megapowers.
the issue with the wwf was.
hogun, and the wwf, were so constrictive to the book , quality and other grapplers.
they could never show higher quality after macho/steamboat.
so, it took down the entire quality of the card.
as, hogun and the wwf tried to keep the rest of the card from upstaging the me.
it would not matter, if hogun was more charismatic.
as, the practices to limit quality would have hampered the further traction.
if magnum was not injured.
quite possibly, magnum's higher quality and similar look with better antagonist.
could have rivaled the wwf.
only exception was hogun piggybacked off of much higher mainstream accessible franchises in rocky and Mr t.
of which, the nwa had no possible way to close the gap
art barr
I need to go back and watch him on the Network. Dont remember any of his matches off-hand.
I remember Flair on Austins podcast telling the stroy after Magnums accident, in the hospital Magnum was telling Flair not to let his wife find out about his girlfriend.
I remember Flair on Austins podcast telling the stroy after Magnums accident, in the hospital Magnum was telling Flair not to let his wife find out about his girlfriend.
Art Barr
INVADING SOHH CHAMPION
I need to go back and watch him on the Network. Dont remember any of his matches off-hand.
I remember Flair on Austins podcast telling the stroy after Magnums accident, in the hospital Magnum was telling Flair not to let his wife find out about his girlfriend.
whatever you do....
watch the ;
magnum vs tully Blanchard, I quit match....
one of the greatest finishes in a match, period.
easily the best finish in any I quit match, ever.
after that,...
watch him and flair at comiskey park, in the chi.
where they brawl all over the field, and back to the ring again.
art barr
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Vince.Russo
Booka
He would have continued doing boring southern wrestling bullshyt until I came to WCW and gave him the condom salesman gimmick he deserved. It's the only way he'd get ova.
I personally think that Flair would not have dropped the belt to Magnum because Flair would have tried to pull the creative control card. Add to the fact that Crockett was always short on main event babyfaces during that period. That's how JCP booked. Heels dominated. For them to groom Magnum as the top babyface in the company was unlike anything they did before or since. But I have a different scenario. Let's just say that Magnum didn't have his accident and he ends up being the champ at Starcade 1986. Once the return bouts with Flair end with Flair "putting him over", then you have new contenders for the title:
-Tully Blanchard: In a non-kayfabe sense Tully would have made his play for the main event as soon as Flair jobbed, citing that he just worked a vicious program with Magnum the year before.
-Nikita Koloff: who just worked a program months before.
So both of those guys are automatically elevated by proxy.
Then right down the pipeline you have Sid, Barry Windham, Sting and Luger.
Luger and Sting were main eventing by 88. Sid by 90
And you had Jim Herd wanting to push Flair out the picture. Flair would have been gone. So Flair would have fukked Magnum over(pause) on the way to becoming the champ, or afterwards by hogging the spotlight or threatening to jump.
And now Flair says that he would have put Magnum over?
SHEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!
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IF Magnum wasn't gonna be put over at Starrcade '86 (which by everything I've ever seen was the plan, because he was consistently built up to be THE face), he was gonna go thru a bunch of those "Dusty Rhodes finishes", which would've still resulted in several main events with Flair. But I do think that it would've been hard to move away from Flair, because Flair was the draw in JCP during the 80s. They had lots of faces, they were just never booked to be the top guy for long periods of time, not even Dusty. It probably would've also depended on if Magnum could draw without it being a Flair match.
That's why I always believed what I believed about the bullshyt that went on in regards to Magnum during that time.
Magnum would have been just another babyface going against Flair. Everybody SAYS he would have been huge, but given the track records of all the parties involved... I dont believe it.
And, quiet as its' kept, the idea of anybody being groomed as a top babyface while Dusty was around is laughable. I have a feeling that Magnum would have turned on Dusty before 1987 ended.
I agree with what someone said earlier that JCP/WCW never truly effectively knew how to market babyfaces. Throughout their history, the only major babyfaces were Dusty, Sting, and Goldberg. I don't think they would have used TA effectively to get him over. Plus Flair and the horsemen would have continued burying him like they did all top faces. He would have won the title, but it would have bounced back and forth, and in the end, Flair would come out on top. Say what you want about the quality of WWF, but they had the marketing and character development downpact. And the babyface always going over was good business. You liked Hogan, Savage, Warrior, etc. So to wrap it up, no I would not have stanned TA, esp in those days when I was a kid. He was a mullet haired Bob Selleck lookalike who I probably wouldn't relate to.
Yea Dusty definitely would have fukked him over with the book. This was after Starrcade 85 when Dusty fell in love with the dusty finish
That is one of the reasons why Dusty should have been fired in 1987. The Dusty Finishes were bad for business.
NYSTATEOFMIND
Superstar
Magnum was suppose to be the NWA answer to Hulk Hogan. Hard to say how much different wrestling would have been
Would he have went to the WWF?
Would Sting and Luger been big if TA would in full control of NWA/WCW?
Would he have went to the WWF?
Would Sting and Luger been big if TA would in full control of NWA/WCW?