Hello everyone, I bring you a new What If, which is What if Wrestlemania VIII's Matches Results were Different?
This is part of a series where I look at every Wrestlemania and its matches, and how it would look like if all its matches' results were different, and see if the alternate Wrestlemania is better, worse or about the same than the Wrestlemania of our timeline.
Last time I did Wrestlemania VIII, which you can find here: https://www.reddit.com/r/fantasybooking/comments/1x5ucro/what_if_wrestlemania_viiis_matches_results_were/
As always, the Wrestlemanias are not continuous.
Now let's begin!
Dark Match:
- Papa Shango defeats Tito Santana:
This wouldn't have hurt Tito that much, since he was leaving the company in the year to go to ECW, and Papa Shango winning could potentially mean Charles Wright keeps the gimmick, and thus doesn't become Kama later in 1995!
Main Matches:
- Tatanka vs Shawn Michaels for the WWF Intercontinental Championship:
This ended in a count-out, so we will see the two scenarios where either competitor won:
- Shawn Michaels retains cleanly: While this would end Tatanka's undefeated streak and hurt him in the short term, in the long term it wouldn't hurt him that much since his undefeated streak ended later that same year. This would boost Shawn's credibility and give him momentum when fighting with Marty Jannetty over the title and later with Razor Ramon in their iconic Ladder Match at Wrestlemania X.
- Tatanka becomes the new WWF Intercontinental Champion: This would give a lot of momentum for Tatanka, as his undefeated streak would gain much more aura, and he would hold the title until September 27th 1993 where he drops it to Razor Ramon so he can have his first IC title. Tatanka would have been IC Champion for a total of 176 days.
- The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu) defeat the Steiner Brothers:
This would hurt the Steiner Brothers' credibility, and while I think they would still defeat Money Inc to win their first WWF Tag Team titles, WWF would have had to find a way to rebuild them. Potentially, it is the Headshrinkers who end up winning the WWF Tag Team Championship from Money Inc, meaning they win the tag team titles a year earlier!
- Crush defeats Doink the Clown:
Had this happened, the other Doink wouldn't have appeared at the event, and instead the other Doink would have appeared at King of the Ring 1993, distracting Crush to cost him the IC title, either against Michaels or Tatanka in this timeline.
- Bob Backlund defeats Razor Ramon:
While this would have been great to see Backlund win in his first major pay-per-view since his return in 1992 and performance at the 1993 Royal Rumble, this would hurt Razor Ramon's credibility, and while I think he would still win the IC title at the end of the year, WF would have had to find a way to rebuild him.
- Money Inc (Ted DiBiase and IRS) vs The Mega-Maniacs (Hulk Hogan and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake):
This match ended in a disqualification, so we will see the two scenarios where either competitor won:
- Money Inc retain cleanly: This would boost the tag team picture, as it would make the Steiner Brothers' win over Money Inc even greater.
- The Mega-Maniacs become the new WWF Tag Team Champions: Had this happened, both Hogan and Beefcake would have dropped the Tag Team titles at King of the Ring, as both men were leaving the company later in the year.
- Mr. Perfect defeats Lex Luger:
Ironically, this might be a good thing for Luger to lose at Wrestlemania, as this would build sympathy for him, as he would build himself back up, leading to his Face turn on July 4th where he bodyslams Yokozuna and get the crowd to cheer him. As for Mr. Perfect, this would give him another Wrestlemania win, but I don't think it would lead him to a singles push as he was on his way out of WWF due to his back injuries.
- The Undertaker vs Giant Gonzales:
This match ended in a disqualification, so we will see the two scenarios where either competitor won:
- The Undertaker wins cleanly: This would make the match a bit better by having Undertaker win clean, but not much would change, and perhaps Gonzales attacking Undertaker with the chloroform happens after the match.
- Giant Gonzales defeats the Undertaker and prevents the Streak from happening (2-1): Had this happened, Gonzales would have won by disqualification or count-out, and their feud would end with Undertaker winning back over Gonzales at Summerslam 1993.
- Bret "The Hitman" Hart defeats Yokozuna to retain the WWF Championship:
Had this happened, I think the Royal Rumble stipulation of "The Rumble Match winner gets a title opportunity at Wrestlemania" would have been abandonned if Yokozuna lost the main event of Wrestlemania as he was the first Rumble winner to get the title opportunity at Wrestlemania.
- Bret "The Hitman" Hart defeats Hulk Hogan to retain the WWF Championship:
Bret Hart beating both Yokozuna and Hogan at Wrestlemania IX would have allowed his popularity to skyrocket as the Face of the New Generation Era, as he would still go on to win King of the Ring for a second time, and potentially, I think he drops the WWF Championship to Owen Hart, who wins the 1994 Rumble, and defeats his brother at Wrestlemania X, as Bret would have been champion for 350 days.
So what do you think? Is this alternate Wrestlemania IX better, worse or about the same as the original Wrestlemania of our timeline? Let me know how you think the matches would have gone differently if someone else won the match and your thoughts in the comments!
