2017 Pro Wrestling Thread

A rather recent one: What if Reid Flair hadn't gotten hooked on drugs and died from them? He might have fashioned a decent career in wrestling, but the flip side is we might not have seen Charlotte Flair in a wrestling ring, since she has said she got into the business to realize her brother's ambitions.

 

Besides Owen, my ultimate what if...

What if TNT or USA gave Bishoff TV time in 2001 and Vince didnt buy WCW?

What if Bret doesnt have a stroke and bike accident? Does he comeback and have a real second WWE act?

What if Punk never left? And back on the womens Rumble, what if AJ was still around? She was the first one to go at Steph over this even before give divas a chance

 

Speaking of Punk, has there ever been another instance of a new wrestler straight up using a well-known wrestler's finisher from the same company as his own without some explanation for it or evolution of it? I'm not familiar with Hideo Itami's repertoire, so seeing him finishing a guy with the GTS the other night was a bit surprising.

Lots of guys have used powerbombs, but most have some variation of it. The Undertaker's Last Ride is slightly different from Nash's Jackknife, which is slightly different from a Batista Bomb, for example.
Randy Orton had the RKO and Diamond Dallas Page had the Diamond Cutter, but they were in different companies when they started using them. Similarly, Jericho took the Codebreaker from a Japanese wrestler.
Seth Rollins used the Pedigree as an in-storyline homage to Triple H. Similarly, Kane and Undertaker have used similar moves in keeping with their characters' stories.
The choke slam has become a big man staple like the DDT eventually became a regular move. When it was newer, though, it was mostly the Giant/Big Show and Undertaker who used it, and they were in different companies.
I guess the closest thing I can think of is the top rope elbow drop that Savage started and HBK made his own.

Seeing Itami use the GTS, a pretty unique move in the WWE that was used by an iconic -- and recent -- champion, feels kind of wrong. Is it disrespectful to Punk? An F-You to him from WWE? Or has Itami been using it for 10 years, Punk signed off on it in a Twitter post I'm not aware of, and I'm way off base here?

 

The GTS was essentially perfected by Itami when he was still in Japan.

 

Wrestler wise - @MisterCreosote hit on the nail.

Another to add: What-if HBK never injures his back?

 

More what ifs:

What if Hogan doesn't go to WCW and what if he chickens out on turning heel?

What if Austin never recovers from his neck injury from Owen's piledriver?

What if Dwayne Johnson kicked ass in in the CFL?

What if Mr. T gets too nervous and leaves before Wrestlemania?

What if Chris Benoit, well, you know ...

 

What-if Vince McMahon was found guilty in '93?

 

Had no idea. Did Punk steal it from him, then?

 

Either that, or did it in "tribute."

WWE News: Did CM Punk Steal His Move-Set from a Japanese Star?

Hideo Itami Called Out CM Punk In A Super Serious Twitter Blood Feud

 

Huh. How about that. I take back my rant.
Even if Itami was first, though, it's still going to be weird seeing him use that move. A lot of people are probably going to be like me and be pretty clueless. I'd expect a lot of "CM Punk" chants during his upcoming matches.

 

Weird thing is when Itami first came over he wasnt using it. If I remember my lore right the first time he did the crowd went apeshit. He'd teased it a few times at nxt house shows but never pulled the trigger.

The first time he did it might have even been the pre Mania San Jose house show which legend has it was the first nxt show Vince ever saw. Wonder if he gave it his blessing or something, or what changed that they decided to use it.

Maybe we'll find out on the dvd someday if Itami gets over. Sucks that he never had a run on top in nxt. Not sure how well it could posibly go with the 205 livers

 

What if the WWF wrestlers successfully unionized back in the 80s, when Hulk Hogan helped torpedo the effort?