“Buff, F*ck Your Stuff”

By Scott Keith on November 14, 2013

Morning BoD. The original idea I had for this “What If” topic was pretty big pictured. It evolved into a series of 3 smaller related questions. Lucky you! Feel free to weigh in on all of them or none of them.

WWE buying out WCW was a paradigm changing moment for the entire wrestling industry. The follow up and logic behind reestablishing WCW has always mystified and interested me. I’m sure we are all familiar with the reports that the original plan was for WCW to become a separate entity/brand from the WWF. They would have toured separately, had its own tv timeslot, ran their own ppvs, etc. Apparently, 1 moment changed all that…

What if Buff Bagwell vs Booker T on Raw (July 2, 2001) was a 4 star match, with legit crowd heat? Apparently the crowd apathy, along with Buffs lackluster skills was a huge reason Vince soured on this entire idea. Buff was never seen on WWE TV again.

Things to consider:

– WCW wrestlers had only been appearing on WWE TV since May 28. Lance Storm, Hugh Morris, then Booker T were the first 3 to appear, if memory serves me correctly. Should WWE have spent more time building these guys up as legit threats?

– How damaged was the WCW brand at this point?

– Was the idea of a separate WCW brand dead on arrival without big stars headlining it? Could Vince have established WCW without them? What if Vince shells out the multimillions to bring in the Goldbergs, Nashs, etc.? Would WCW still be a viable brand to this day? Would these guys have given the initial WCW a strong enough reintroduction where it would have gotten the momentum it needed to become a sustainable long term brand?

– Was Vinces ego the real reason a WCW brand never stood a chance at being reestablished? Was Vince always intent on “crushing WCW in kayfabe” that no situation could have prevented this? If you could ask Vince one question while he was on sodium thiopental (truth serum), what would it be? This would be in my top 5.

This is pretty open ended, so Ill keep it short and leave the dicussion up to you. Go in any direction you want.

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