Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

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Bob-O
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Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by Bob-O » Jan 29th, '20, 11:53

I read an interesting theory the other day along the lines of "WWE signing Karl Anderson resulted in AEW".

A debatable "what if" scenario, but even if WWE just got Gallows, Anderson's standing in NJPW throws a big wrench in the rise of The Elite almost any way you look at it from an organic standpoint.

Got me thinking about similar scenarios, like had Vince convinced Razor Ramon to stay in '96, there probably wouldn't have been an NWO, no Monday Night Wars...


Feed me more! What are some minor things that butterflied into changing the industry?
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Big Red Machine
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 29th, '20, 12:22

I disagree on Anderson. He would have been part of the crew, bit certainly wouldn't have gotten the big push over Omega.

Hall staying probably means no nWo, but the wars and dirty tricks were already well underway by then.


One interesting one I heard is that if Bret stays in the WWF, the WWF doesn't necessarily have the money to sign Hardyz, Angle, and a bunch of others because they're paying Bret so much.
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cero2k
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by cero2k » Jan 29th, '20, 17:49

WCW King of Road match created AEW.
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Big Red Machine
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 29th, '20, 18:04

cero2k wrote: Jan 29th, '20, 17:49 WCW King of Road match created AEW.
Care to explain this one?
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cero2k
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by cero2k » Jan 29th, '20, 20:57

Big Red Machine wrote: Jan 29th, '20, 18:04
cero2k wrote: Jan 29th, '20, 17:49 WCW King of Road match created AEW.
Care to explain this one?
hear me out.

WCW King of Road Match > Dustin Rhodes gets fired > Dustin Rhodes joins WWF and becomes Goldust > Years later, Cody Rhodes becomes Stardust, based on Dustin's gimmick > Cody Rhodes hates his career's direction because of Stardust and leaves WWE > Cody Rhodes meets The Bucks & Omega > AEW.

This type of game can be really broad and generic. I can easily say

Cold Cabana being fired from WWE created AEW
Dave Meltzer giving Omega vs Okada six stars created AEW
Styles and the Bucks bridging ROH and NJPW created AEW


Cabana getting fired from WWE is a big one tho, it kinda led into the creation of wrestler podcasts, ProWrestlingTees, and thus the rise of the indies. There is a chance that all that could had happened one way or another, but it all kinda came out of Cabana getting fired, getting depressed, and having to figure out what to do.
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Big Red Machine
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 29th, '20, 22:00

I think AEW would have happened without Cody.

I don't see the connection between the Cabana stuff and AEW. The stuff that boosted is places like AAW, AIW, etc. ROH (and therefore The Elite) were operating at a much higher level already.

The ROH-NJPW bridging deals one I will definitely buy. I think The Elite (and thus AEW) would have happened if Dave had never gone over *****.
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NWK2000
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by NWK2000 » Jan 30th, '20, 08:09

How about

"If Medusa never throws the WWF Women's Title in the trash can on Nitro, Vince never screws Bret on the way out. in 1997"

Medusa never embarrasses Vince on a public level, Vince isn't as anal about people dropping titles before they leave, and simply concots an off camera excuse to write Bret out of the title picture and that's that.
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by cero2k » Jan 30th, '20, 08:49

Big Red Machine wrote: Jan 29th, '20, 22:00 I think AEW would have happened without Cody.

I don't see the connection between the Cabana stuff and AEW. The stuff that boosted is places like AAW, AIW, etc. ROH (and therefore The Elite) were operating at a much higher level already.

The ROH-NJPW bridging deals one I will definitely buy. I think The Elite (and thus AEW) would have happened if Dave had never gone over *****.
Cody is the one that made the bet that created ALL IN that got TNT/Khan's attention to create AEW, he's definitely a core component for AEW happening, otherwise, Omega would had been 1000% happy in NJPW with Ibushi getting 6*s every weekend.

AEW is still being called a t-shirt company by the haters, the very t-shirt company that Cabana brainchilded along with OneHourTees. Without ProWrestlingTees, guys like the Bucks don't grow and likely end up signing with WWE or LU and don't go and make the Bullet Club huge.

You're right that the 6*s is not exactly the catalyst, but there is something there with NJPW starting to get all the high ratings, getting the attention of the US crowd, and eventually, Omega and Okada did catapult Omega to new heights that made more people pay attention. Omega, Bucks, Cody, Jericho, and Khan are the core components, i don't think AEW would exist if any of them hadn't been in the group.
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Big Red Machine
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 30th, '20, 09:37

I had forgotten about the bet.
I see the Bucks as the real driving forces behind getting Bullet Club/The Elite over in the US/Canada, much more so than Kenny, Cody, Marty. Cole or Page.
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Bob-O
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by Bob-O » Jan 30th, '20, 10:38

AEW happened without Kenny.

He was assumed, but not a sure thing at the time of launch. I'm not 100%, but I'm comfortable enough to say they were already past the point of no return by the time they signed Jericho.

However, anything that disrupts the timelines of The Bucks and Cody potentially stops Marty from getting back to 1985 risks AEW.

I'd never considered Cabana. If the Bucks don't have a platform for their merch, they're still very popular but not making the "we can afford to say no to Vince" money...
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by cero2k » Jan 30th, '20, 10:48

Big Red Machine wrote: Jan 30th, '20, 09:37 I had forgotten about the bet.
I see the Bucks as the real driving forces behind getting Bullet Club/The Elite over in the US/Canada, much more so than Kenny, Cody, Marty. Cole or Page.
100% agree with the latter, it's them that created BTE and that really bridged Bullet Club with ROH, PWG, etc, IMO
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Thelone
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by Thelone » Jan 31st, '20, 08:48

Alright, let's try.

Itami/KENTA getting injured in 2015 lead to NXT signing more and more indy names and to what they (and everything else) are now.

*incoming long, rambling mess*

So, KENTA was clearly meant to win the 3-way at Unstoppable and beat Owens at Beast in the East in Japan. He most likely would have the rematch at the first Brooklyn Takeover, then move on to feud with Breeze for a while (hence why Breeze went over in their little feud before that planned 3-way), maybe another "small" challenger like Crews, then feud with Balor for the belt (with Balor turning because he doesn't stand being in his shadows or KENTA because he's getting cocky) for Dallas or the second Brooklyn TO.

Anyway, with KENTA out of the equation for a while and not much in terms of credible challengers, they signed the biggest name they could find on short notice and that ended up being Samoa Joe. I'm pretty sure he was just supposed to be "monster heel of the month" for Balor to slay and keep him busy while KENTA recovered and came back with a vengeance because the person who attacked him in that parking lot to write him out was really Balor, but that ended up taking an ice age and they just went with Joe instead because he got over huge and knocked it out of the park (also Balor sucked ass as a babyface champion, but I digress).

Anyway, Joe's success opened the gates for more ex-TNA wrestlers/personnel to (finally) come in (Roode, Aries, EY, Abyss, Borash, even AJ to a lesser extent) and helped WWE loosen their stance on indy talent in general (Gargano and Ciampa came in for the DRTTC later that year, also got over big and signed full-time contracts about a year later), Nakamura might not be a sure thing with a healthy KENTA around, and the wrestling world might have been drastically different today.

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KILLdozer
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Re: Butterfly Effects In Wrestling

Post by KILLdozer » Jan 31st, '20, 09:41

I'm gonna add some ideas in and let's see what we make of them-this one is GIGANTIC.

What if Lesnar never came back to WWE ?

What if Edge didn't have to leave for 9 years?

What if they never fed Rusev to Cena?

CM Punk doesn't leave?

What if they actually corrected capitalized off Rusev Day?

Really far back here...Kane never removes the mask and therefore never gets slowed down?
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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