So the point of this thread is very simple – what are projects of yours that you have abandoned over time, and wish in a perfect world, you re-visited/finished the story? Or projects you have always wanted to do and have just never actually created? By all means feel free to share your stories about these abandoned/desired BTBs! Comment on others’ posts as well! Just something for us all to commiserate and wish on!
For me, there’s plenty!
When An Empire Falls (WCW 99) – A WCW story!? And in 99 at that!? Oh real original Szum! I don’t know if it’s actually true because I haven’t looked back at it in years, but I think this might still be my best booking I’ve ever done. This ran from Fall Brawl 99 and I think went on hiatus shortly after Souled Out 2000. Essentially instead of Vince Russo/Ed Ferrera coming in, it’s being booked by someone that was never actually revealed in the project, with the character booking WCW writing a bunch of first-hand accounts throughout the project. The key story was sticking with Sting’s heel turn that took place at Fall Brawl, and having him spend the next 3 months in silence, mirroring what happened to Sting after the nWo first debuted, and then breaking his silence the night after Starrcade. Other key stories – Bret Hart trying to finally be the force he knows he should’ve been in The WCW, his progression to The White Knight that the company needs; The Revolution looking to finally break through the glass ceiling by any means necessary, especially by targeting the faces of WCW like Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan; the slow build-up to Goldberg vs Sid; Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller being a wonderful midcard heel with his Kitty-Me (Mini Me rip off) and William Regal doing a whole ass Austin Powers gimmick; and Van Hammer getting an American makeover and having a ridiculous tag team with Jim Duggan. Gotta have the WrestleCrap in 99 folks!
The Trio Ownership (WCW 01-02) – I like WCW, what can I say? In reality I really should have just ended the BTB with WCW still folding at the end of SuperBrawl 2002, as initially intended. Instead, I was a dumbass, changed the ending to have WCW surviving post Nitro cancellation, and crafting another return of WCW three months later in May 2002, just with no Ric Flair as part of the ownership, Hogan/Hall/Nash pitching in to help keep WCW afloat, and a more streamlined roster in the post nWo era. I don’t know if I ever even released any of the shows for the second chapter of TTO. Unfortunate to have made the decisions made here and not actually stick with the second chapter of the saga. Alas! It would’ve finally seen Sean O’Haire get the pushed he 100% should’ve had a long time prior, and also Vader, a whole lot of Vader.
Who Dun It? – WWF 2000 is a lot of fun, but a lot of work! This kicked off from Summerslam 2000, with the pending return of Stone Cold Steve Austin at Unforgiven. The Who Dun It storyline really kicks into gear from there, as Austin tries to find out who almost ended his career. It all culminates at No Mercy…and I think I only wrote two to six more shows after the big reveal! The No Mercy reveal was a real curveball, but also one no one should be surprised about, knowing me and my BTB history! Also featuring – Stephanie McMahon leaving Triple H for Kurt Angle after a callback to Summerslam 99 w/a Love Her Or Leave Her Match; The Rock cementing his place as WWF Champion; and of course WrestleCrap nonsense like Mick Foley’s soft feud with Edge & Christian culminating in E&C doing a 3 Faces of Foley series of matches of Foley picking each team that best personifies Mankind, Cactus Jack, and Dude Love; and one of my favorite silly midcard storylines of Steven Richards’ Right To Censor’s ace for stable being Mr. Class, aka the now former Mr. Ass, Billy Gunn.
ECW vs. N.I.T.RO. (ECW 2001) – This is a far fetched one, to say the least. Former wrestler, unknown to readers, helps keep ECW afloat, and the company gets a lifeline post Guilty as Charged 01 in the form of a new TV Deal with USA. Crux of this project was a whole different Invasion than 2001 saw in reality – this was the Now Introducing, Turner Rasslin Organization invading ECW! WWF buys WCW, but we get a slew of WCW cast offs jumping ship to ECW to invade the company and try to take it over to keep the WCW spirit alive. It starts with Mike Awesome as the ace, and goes all the way to Tony Schiavone, greatest heel in ECW history (well, better than bitch ass Bubba Ray at least).
Ring of Hogan – Bischoff and Hogan start a promotion in 2001 after Hogan is thrown out of WCW. It is meant to be an absolutely terrible promotion the vast majority of the time, while mixing in as many music and Hollywood crossovers as possible because, Bischoff (and Jason Hervey). We’re talking That 70s Show appearing and having a soft feud with a tag team, all of Hogan’s Friends getting signature TV time, Nasty Boys mega push, absolutely terrible nWo rip off as well. There’s so much more terrible WrestleCrap I could’ve done.
I feel like I pretty much only have one major idea that I never did, that I would like to do, and even that is a spin-off!
The Trio Ownership – Multiverse (WCW 2001) – Essentially TTO w/Bischoff and Fusient Media, and a universe where WCW does indeed survive, but they are scaled down heavily in terms of expectations and roster. TV deal on FX instead of a bigger cable network, almost all of the stars of WCW are gone (core would probably be Booker T, Scott Steiner, Sting, and possibly DDP of the stars remaining in WCW at the end). Would see WCW forced to elevate a lot of other talent, including Mike Awesome, Lance Storm, Chris Kanyon, Sean O’Haire and other NBT alums, a returning Vader for one last run, and most of all, Bob Sapp getting a monster debut and run like almost could’ve happened!
What are your projects you would love to revisit or one day create!? I look forward to seeing yours and giving thoughts on some of it!
For me, there’s plenty!
When An Empire Falls (WCW 99) – A WCW story!? And in 99 at that!? Oh real original Szum! I don’t know if it’s actually true because I haven’t looked back at it in years, but I think this might still be my best booking I’ve ever done. This ran from Fall Brawl 99 and I think went on hiatus shortly after Souled Out 2000. Essentially instead of Vince Russo/Ed Ferrera coming in, it’s being booked by someone that was never actually revealed in the project, with the character booking WCW writing a bunch of first-hand accounts throughout the project. The key story was sticking with Sting’s heel turn that took place at Fall Brawl, and having him spend the next 3 months in silence, mirroring what happened to Sting after the nWo first debuted, and then breaking his silence the night after Starrcade. Other key stories – Bret Hart trying to finally be the force he knows he should’ve been in The WCW, his progression to The White Knight that the company needs; The Revolution looking to finally break through the glass ceiling by any means necessary, especially by targeting the faces of WCW like Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan; the slow build-up to Goldberg vs Sid; Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller being a wonderful midcard heel with his Kitty-Me (Mini Me rip off) and William Regal doing a whole ass Austin Powers gimmick; and Van Hammer getting an American makeover and having a ridiculous tag team with Jim Duggan. Gotta have the WrestleCrap in 99 folks!
The Trio Ownership (WCW 01-02) – I like WCW, what can I say? In reality I really should have just ended the BTB with WCW still folding at the end of SuperBrawl 2002, as initially intended. Instead, I was a dumbass, changed the ending to have WCW surviving post Nitro cancellation, and crafting another return of WCW three months later in May 2002, just with no Ric Flair as part of the ownership, Hogan/Hall/Nash pitching in to help keep WCW afloat, and a more streamlined roster in the post nWo era. I don’t know if I ever even released any of the shows for the second chapter of TTO. Unfortunate to have made the decisions made here and not actually stick with the second chapter of the saga. Alas! It would’ve finally seen Sean O’Haire get the pushed he 100% should’ve had a long time prior, and also Vader, a whole lot of Vader.
Who Dun It? – WWF 2000 is a lot of fun, but a lot of work! This kicked off from Summerslam 2000, with the pending return of Stone Cold Steve Austin at Unforgiven. The Who Dun It storyline really kicks into gear from there, as Austin tries to find out who almost ended his career. It all culminates at No Mercy…and I think I only wrote two to six more shows after the big reveal! The No Mercy reveal was a real curveball, but also one no one should be surprised about, knowing me and my BTB history! Also featuring – Stephanie McMahon leaving Triple H for Kurt Angle after a callback to Summerslam 99 w/a Love Her Or Leave Her Match; The Rock cementing his place as WWF Champion; and of course WrestleCrap nonsense like Mick Foley’s soft feud with Edge & Christian culminating in E&C doing a 3 Faces of Foley series of matches of Foley picking each team that best personifies Mankind, Cactus Jack, and Dude Love; and one of my favorite silly midcard storylines of Steven Richards’ Right To Censor’s ace for stable being Mr. Class, aka the now former Mr. Ass, Billy Gunn.
ECW vs. N.I.T.RO. (ECW 2001) – This is a far fetched one, to say the least. Former wrestler, unknown to readers, helps keep ECW afloat, and the company gets a lifeline post Guilty as Charged 01 in the form of a new TV Deal with USA. Crux of this project was a whole different Invasion than 2001 saw in reality – this was the Now Introducing, Turner Rasslin Organization invading ECW! WWF buys WCW, but we get a slew of WCW cast offs jumping ship to ECW to invade the company and try to take it over to keep the WCW spirit alive. It starts with Mike Awesome as the ace, and goes all the way to Tony Schiavone, greatest heel in ECW history (well, better than bitch ass Bubba Ray at least).
Ring of Hogan – Bischoff and Hogan start a promotion in 2001 after Hogan is thrown out of WCW. It is meant to be an absolutely terrible promotion the vast majority of the time, while mixing in as many music and Hollywood crossovers as possible because, Bischoff (and Jason Hervey). We’re talking That 70s Show appearing and having a soft feud with a tag team, all of Hogan’s Friends getting signature TV time, Nasty Boys mega push, absolutely terrible nWo rip off as well. There’s so much more terrible WrestleCrap I could’ve done.
I feel like I pretty much only have one major idea that I never did, that I would like to do, and even that is a spin-off!
The Trio Ownership – Multiverse (WCW 2001) – Essentially TTO w/Bischoff and Fusient Media, and a universe where WCW does indeed survive, but they are scaled down heavily in terms of expectations and roster. TV deal on FX instead of a bigger cable network, almost all of the stars of WCW are gone (core would probably be Booker T, Scott Steiner, Sting, and possibly DDP of the stars remaining in WCW at the end). Would see WCW forced to elevate a lot of other talent, including Mike Awesome, Lance Storm, Chris Kanyon, Sean O’Haire and other NBT alums, a returning Vader for one last run, and most of all, Bob Sapp getting a monster debut and run like almost could’ve happened!
What are your projects you would love to revisit or one day create!? I look forward to seeing yours and giving thoughts on some of it!
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