Thank you to everyone that hit me up, publicly and privately, with kind words about the first column in my new “Alternate Routes” series.
If you missed it, it’s the same format as the Trey Wingo and Kevin Frazier podcast of the same name. On their show, they look at some of the biggest “What If” scenarios in sports history, discussing what would’ve happened if things were different. They take a look at the wild and crazy “butterfly effect” scenarios where so many things could’ve changed, in multiple aspects of life. My columns would do the same, but for the “What If” scenarios in pro wrestling.
I started the series off by looking at WCW’s Bash At The Beach 1996 pay-per-view. Hulk Hogan wasn’t fully committed to a heel turn at that stage of his career, and Eric Bischoff has said that the backup plan was for Sting to be the “third man” alongside Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, forming the nWo.
This time around, we’ll be traveling to a much darker place and looking at Tommy Dreamer’s insane plan to shock the world at WrestleMania 17.
Many of you already know about it, but whenever it comes up, there are always people who are hearing about it for the first time, so let’s go over it quickly.
Dreamer says that he put a ton of his own money, as well as money from his parents, into ECW in an attempt to keep it afloat in the tough years. When ECW went under, and everyone found out that Paul Heyman was on the WWF payroll as ECW and its employees struggled to pay their bills, Dreamer was pissed. Tommy said that he received a WCW contract worth $750,000 and turned it down after Heyman convinced him that if the “heart and soul” of ECW left, the company wouldn’t be able to survive.
As Dreamer fell into depression, Heyman reached out and told him that the WWF was bringing him in at WrestleMania 17 for involvement in the TLC Match between the Dudleyz, Hardyz, as well as Edge & Christian. Just when Dreamer began to feel good again, he was told that the plan was changed, and he would no longer be involved in the match.
Then, he was told that he would be coming in to be the centerpiece of the Hardcore division, only for that plan to fall through, as well. He didn’t know if it was Heyman lying to him, or if it was like a million things through the years and simply canceled by Vince McMahon at the last minute.
Knocked on his ass again, Dreamer wanted to seek revenge on Heyman, and the idea he had was as insane as anything you’ll ever hear in wrestling.
Taking advantage of the not-so-tough gun laws in Texas, Dreamer’s idea was to bring a gun into the Astrodome for WrestleMania 17. Then, at some point during the show, he would show up behind the announce table, where Heyman was doing color commentary, take the gun out, and shoot Heyman in the head on live pay-per-view before turning the gun on himself and ending his own life.
If this is the first you’ve heard of that story, I want you to go back and read that last paragraph one more time and truly soak it in.
A phone call from Jim Ross, telling Dreamer that the company still had him on the radar for a potential working relationship, and that was what put an end to Dreamer’s plan.
Now that we’re all caught up, let’s take a look…
What if Tommy Dreamer followed through with his WrestleMania 17 plan?
The absolute first thing you have to look at is what would’ve happened to the rest of WrestleMania 17. Your thoughts and opinions may vary, depending on how you feel about Vince McMahon.
Let’s not forget that WrestleMania 17 took place just under two years after Over The Edge 1999, which was the night that Owen Hart tragically passed away. Vince made the decision to keep the show going that night, and he has been judged for it ever since.
What would’ve happened at WrestleMania 17 if Tommy Dreamer murdered Paul Heyman and then killed himself? That puts Vince McMahon in another tough spot. Two tragedies on almost completely different ends of the scale.
Would Vince have called off the rest of the show if Tommy Dreamer followed through?
One, we’re not talking about Over The Edge here. We’re talking about WRESTLEMANIA. The biggest wrestling event in the world. At that time, the WrestleMania 17 crowd was the third-largest in company history, behind only WrestleMania 3 and SummerSlam 1992. Over The Edge saw 430,000 pay-per-view buys, while WrestleMania 17 saw 1.04 million buys. If Over The Edge carried on, largely due to the logistical issues that would’ve come from canceling the show, then canceling WrestleMania 17 would’ve been an absolute logistical nightmare.
Two other things to consider there are… what part of the show did it take place, and did any of it get captured on camera? Dreamer doing it after the opening match of the show would be totally different if he did it right before the night’s main event. It also would’ve been different if, like the Owen incident, Dreamer did what he did when the cameras weren’t broadcasting live, although you would think that Tommy could tell if they were live simply based on what Heyman and Jim Ross were doing at that particular moment.
It sounds crazy, but I think the dollar signs cloud over Vince’s thought process again, but as long as the “right” scenario falls into place. If we’re closer to the end of the show than we are to the beginning of the show, and maybe if the production team caught things in time and switched to another camera before anyone got to witness the murder-suicide, then I think WrestleMania would’ve continued on as intended.
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What happens in the immediate aftermath?
If the show goes on, we’ll probably have Jim Ross forced to make a statement or two on-camera, just as he did at Over The Edge. Obviously, if Dreamer’s plan played out on-camera, there’s no need to explain much of anything. However, if the majority of people were spared and didn’t see it, JR is going to need to explain the sounds of gunshots, people screaming, and everything that occurred.
I have no idea how JR was able to pull it together and make the announcements at Over The Edge, and I have no idea how he would be able to do it here, but I think he would find a way to be the professional that he is and do what he was asked to do.
Speaking of Jim Ross, though…
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Can you imagine a scenario where Dreamer’s actions push JR out of pro wrestling? I can.
I’m not necessarily saying that JR WOULD leave wrestling after the deaths of Heyman and Dreamer, but I’m saying I can see it, and I would understand. The man was already dealing with health issues like Bell’s palsy, and watching the death of Owen Hart would be very stressful. Pardon my crassness here, but having to clean bits and pieces of Paul Heyman’s skull off of him and his clothing probably wouldn’t do a whole lot of good for Jim’s mental state.
I could definitely see him walking away from wrestling and doing commentary for something like football on a permanent basis.
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The biggest story coming out of the real world version of WrestleMania 17 was “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s heel turn in the main event, which saw him align himself with archenemy Vince McMahon in an effort to take the WWF Championship from The Rock.
Let’s go with my alternate route scenario that the Dreamer incident took place, and that Vince decided to continue on with the show…
Does the Austin heel turn still happen?
In a “normal” situation, I would say that the heel turn is called off, at least for the night. After what happened with Dreamer and Heyman, a shocking heel turn seems like it wouldn’t have quite the same feel to it, and you would want to send the fans home as happy as possible.
What muddies the waters here is that WrestleMania 17 wasn’t a “normal” situation. Austin turning heel and teaming up with Vince McMahon should’ve been one of the biggest shocks in company history, but because it happened in Austin’s home state of Texas, the crowd was more excited to see him win the title than anything else. Does anyone think that Vince, Austin, or anyone else in any position of power within the company expected the crowd to cheer, even just a little bit?
Whether you’re expecting the crowd to cheer or boo, maybe the smart idea would’ve been to hold off on the heel turn, anyway. Imagine the biggest heel turn in WWF history being completely overshadowed by a murder-suicide that took place at the same show. That’s not ideal on any level.
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I think it’s pretty obvious that Tommy Dreamer would become absolute poison in the sport. His name, his image, and his likeness would be banned for the rest of eternity. Any and every single thing he accomplished in the sport would be swept under the rug.
The problem with that, of course, is that, to many pro wrestling fans around the world, Tommy Dreamer IS ECW. It is incredibly difficult to talk about ECW, and to tell the promotion’s story and history, without saying Tommy Dreamer’s name and showing his face.
So… if you’re wiping Dreamer from the history books, do you just wipe ECW from the history books, as well? It may not seem fair, but it’s almost easier.
Think about what that would mean, though. Let’s cover a few of the dominoes that would fall… or not fall… if ECW were to be erased from history.
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Soon after the real-life WrestleMania 17, ECW would play a big role in the Invasion storyline. In this alternate timeline, ECW is removed from the plans, and WCW is the sole focus. Without the addition of the ECW wrestlers in the story, the WWF would’ve been forced to either shell out the big bucks to get WCW’s bigger names out of their AOL Time Warner contracts earlier, making the Invasion infinitely better, or bring in even more of WCW’s lower-tier talents to compete right away, making the Invasion infinitely worse.
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Do we even get the Invasion storyline in this alternate universe?
I think an argument can be made for Vince McMahon completely scrapping the entire thing, simply based on the plans that were already made for ECW’s involvement.
I think we still get the storyline in the end, though. As we saw, it was ultimately nothing more than a way for Vince to stroke his ego and show how much better his company was than WCW, and the subtraction of ECW from the mix wouldn’t get in the way of that chance. Maybe the angle would’ve been over quicker. Perhaps it would’ve featured less overall wrestlers. It still would’ve happened, though.
We’ll get back to the falling dominoes a little later. For now, I want to take things in a different direction.
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Five months after WrestleMania 17, the entire world stood still due to the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. The immediate aftermath of the attacks had the entire United States scared and on edge. We didn’t know if more attacks were coming, and if they were, where they would be. Damn near every event in the country that would’ve seen more than a few people converging on the same place at the same time was postponed or outright canceled.
Vince McMahon, in a move that was incredibly controversial at the time, decided that he and his company were not afraid of the potential for more attacks, and the WWF held a live episode of Smackdown from Houston, Texas just two days later, on September 13th. It was easily the biggest gathering of people in the country since the attacks took place.
If Tommy Dreamer murdered Paul Heyman before killing himself on live pay-per-view five months earlier, do we get the September 13th episode of Smackdown?
Vince McMahon would’ve still been feeling an overwhelming sense of patriotism in the wake of September 11th. I have no doubt about that. What changes here, however, is how he and his company (and the sport, as a whole) are viewed by people after what Dreamer did at WrestleMania. It wouldn’t have been Vince’s fault if Tommy did it, but that doesn’t matter, especially if Vince made the decision to continue on with the show.
Let’s say, for a second, that Vince did cancel the rest of WrestleMania, right there on the spot. The Dreamer and Heyman stuff still happened. People still witnessed it. It doesn’t go away. Five months isn’t a long time, especially when it comes to something like live murder. Vince can WANT to hold shows and carry on like things are normal, but he and his company are going to be viewed in a much different light after what happened at WrestleMania. Throw in the vast array of emotions that everyone had following September 11th, and I don’t think any arena in the country would’ve wanted to run a WWF show at that time.
THAT man… THAT company… THAT sport? No, someone and something else entirely would’ve needed to be the defiant face of American freedom after the attacks.
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What happens to anyone with ECW ties that was already on the WWF roster when WrestleMania 17 took place? Raven, Tazz, The Dudleyz, Steven Richards, Saturn, and so on?
We already mentioned the possibility of ECW being wiped from existence moving forward after what Dreamer did, but how does that affect those names who were already with the company? It’s easy to say that the WWF wouldn’t have signed any other ECW names, but would those already under contract be “grandfathered” to safety?
I can see Vince wanting to scale things back a bit when it comes to those guys. Cut back on any pushes they were receiving. Maybe take them off of television for a while. That kind of thing. Short of finding out that any of them knew about Dreamer’s plan ahead of time and didn’t say anything to anyone, I don’t think he would’ve kicked them to the curb for someone else’s misdeeds.
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If you’re looking for other major changes in the future if ECW is wiped from the history books, how about the wonderful Rise & Fall Of ECW documentary that was released on DVD in 2004?
Nearly 20 full years since it was released, it is still viewed as one of the greatest professional wrestling documentaries ever made. It was an enthralling watch then, and it remains an enthralling watch today.
No ECW, no ECW documentary. Even if it was just Tommy Dreamer that was wiped from history, there’s so much that you would miss out on in the documentary without him. Tommy Dreamer vs Raven is one of the company’s biggest and best feuds. Dreamer vs Sandman is the feud that helped Tommy get accepted by the ECW diehards. Dreamer vs Cactus Jack in the “anti-hardcore” phase of Cactus’ time with ECW provided some of the greatest wrestling promos of all-time from Mick Foley. Dreamer played a huge role in ECW’s solution to the problem that came up when Mike Awesome, who was the ECW World Heavyweight Champion at the time, jumped to WCW because he was upset over being owed back pay by Paul Heyman. Again… Tommy Dreamer IS ECW to so many.
If we don’t get The Rise & Fall Of ECW, or if it’s seriously neutered because of any mentions and footage of Tommy Dreamer being eliminated, something else probably goes away, too…
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It has been said by numerous sources that the success of the Rise & Fall DVD directly led to Vince McMahon realizing that ECW’s “brand” had a lot more value to it than he initially realized.
Eight months after the DVD was released, we had the very first ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view. The success of the show led to a second One Night Stand pay-per-view the following year. That, of course, immediately led to the revival of the ECW brand altogether, with their own roster and a weekly television show on Sci Fi.
The ONS shows alone provided a ton of great moments. Paul Heyman’s quasi-shoot promo on WWE and people like Edge, JBL, and others. The Sandman’s original “Enter Sandman” entrance in 2005. Some of the most hostile crowd reactions you’ll ever see, directed at both Randy Orton and John Cena in 2006. Tommy Dreamer & Terry Funk vs Edge & Mick Foley in 2006. John Cena vs Rob Van Dam in 2006.
That last one is especially important here. It was RVD’s rise to the top of the WWE, where he cashed his Money In The Bank shot ahead of time and won the WWE Title, after years of being one of the most popular performers on the WWE roster.
Imagine if none of that ever happened.
Earlier, I talked about the “ECW guys” that were already members of the WWF roster at WrestleMania 17. Rob Van Dam wasn’t one of them. Yes, he wrestled a few matches on WWF programming in 1997, but he didn’t officially sign with the company until the summer of 2001 was approaching, and he “debuted” in July 2001 as the Invasion storyline was going on.
If ECW becomes you-know-who and must-not-be-named like Lord Voldemort, I don’t think Vince McMahon signs RVD. It’s one thing to keep the ECW talents that were already around, but it’s another thing entirely to spend extra money to bring other ECW talents in.
It’s crazy to think about a WWF/WWE without Rob Van Dam in it. I would venture a guess that he would’ve gone on to become one of the cornerstones of NWA: TNA or maybe even Ring Of Honor in 2002 if he didn’t join the WWF in mid-2001. He could’ve made a fine career out of that, but that career gets viewed very differently all these years later without his WWF/WWE run.
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Since we’re talking about careers that would be viewed differently, how about we discuss another one?
On the March 18th, 2002 episode of Monday Night Raw, the wrestling world saw the debut of a highly prized rookie from the Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental territory.
That rookie?
Brock Lesnar.
At Lesnar’s side for his debut?
Paul Heyman.
For the better part of the next two decades, Heyman remained at Lesnar’s side, both in and out of the ring. He was a trusted confidant and ally, someone that Brock could trust in and count on. On-screen, Heyman was given the job of handling almost all of the talking for Brock, who was never the strongest speaker, nor did he have the desire to be.
The thought of a green-as-goose-shit 24-year-old Lesnar making his WWF debut completely on his own is a wild thought. Remember, 2002 WWF wasn’t exactly being confused for the “golden age” of wrestling managers. If Paul Heyman wasn’t around to help Lesnar reach wild heights in a brief period of time, the pickings were slim to get someone else to help him.
The best bet was someone who was a WWF employee, but wasn’t working as an on-screen character on WWF main roster programming at that time. However, this person was already familiar with Brock, as he had been working with him from the moment Lesnar signed his WWF contract. This person was the head booker and part-owner of Ohio Valley Wrestling, after all.
Jim Cornette.
Cornette is on the short list of the best talkers and the best managers in wrestling history. He had stepped away from that part of his career to focus on his OVW work, but perhaps the lure of working with one of the company’s brightest prospects of all-time could’ve changed things. I think Corny could’ve done a good job of helping Lesnar get over and doing the majority of the talking for him. I’m just not sure it could’ve come close to the work that Heyman and Lesnar did.
I’ve only been talking about that first stretch of time for Lesnar, too, by the way. Nobody on the planet could’ve done the work that Heyman did for Lesnar upon Brock’s return to pro wrestling in 2012.
Brock is entirely too talented to have been completely ruined by not having Paul Heyman at his side. He’s too big, too strong, too fast, and too athletic not to be able to find success, either on his own or with someone else in the Heyman role. It’s just difficult to picture him reaching the levels he did without Heyman by his side.
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One more name to wonder about is none other than Chicago’s favorite wrestling son, CM Punk.
Right away, many of your minds immediately went to the work that Punk and Heyman did together on-screen, leading to some amazing work by both men.
It runs deeper than that, though.
Without Paul Heyman, Punk’s career with WWE might have lasted only a few months. Heyman was the man helping to run the creative side of OVW at the time, and Punk was assigned there upon signing with the company. After a brief time, things weren’t “clicking” between Punk and the front office, and he was on the verge of being released. Heyman, who had already taken Punk under his wing and became his mentor, went to bat for Punk, furiously arguing with Vince McMahon and those in charge, saying that Punk was going to make the company a ton of money one day. Heyman’s efforts worked, Punk was kept on board, and things took off from there.
Punk’s main roster debut came… on the newly launched ECW brand. If ECW was wiped away five years earlier, what would’ve happened with Punk’s post-OVW career? It would be easy to say that he would’ve been on Raw or Smackdown, but it was pretty clear that Vince McMahon still wasn’t a huge CM Punk fan in 2006. Even if he would’ve jumped to Raw or Smackdown, there’s no telling how far down the proverbial ladder he would’ve been.
Punk joins OVW, but without Paul Heyman, he probably gets fired before ever debuting on WWE television. If he did make it to the main roster without Heyman’s help somehow, he would’ve struggled to find his footing, and there’s no telling if he would’ve been able to reach the level of back-to-back Money In The Bank winner and all of the career accolades that came with it.
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Craziest Scenario If The Alternate Route Happened
I have two of them, actually.
The “butterfly effect” is described as the “sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.” If you make one small change in a particular timeline, you have the potential to have huge ripples because of it.
So… let’s make a small change and create a huge ripple.
If Tommy Dreamer murders Paul Heyman at WrestleMania 17… and if Vince McMahon makes the decision to remove ECW from the history books to the best of his ability… and if ECW is never brought back as a brand in 2006…
Then Chris Benoit, Nancy Benoit, and Daniel Benoit are all alive today.
Well, at least they all remained alive after the weekend of June 22-24, 2007.
Again, we’re just talking about the ripples made from one small change in the timeline. I’m not saying that ECW was the direct cause of Chris Benoit doing what he did that weekend. If there wasn’t an ECW brand in 2006, then Benoit doesn’t get drafted there the following year, and he doesn’t miss a couple house shows and the Vengeance: Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
Please don’t try to respond to this with “logic.” We’re talking about completely made up scenarios to begin with.
Even if Chris Benoit didn’t do what he did during that June 2007 weekend, his brain was deteriorating to the point that I don’t see a scenario where he would still be alive, 17 years later.
Ultimately, this scenario is merely trading the biggest tragedy in pro wrestling history for what would’ve been the biggest tragedy in pro wrestling history.
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The more likely “crazy” scenario if Tommy Dreamer followed through at WrestleMania 17 is that we aren’t even having this conversation right now because pro wrestling doesn’t exist anymore. At least on a major level like that in North America.
For decades, people in positions of power have been trying to “cancel” pro wrestling in one way, shape, or form. When WCW was winning the Monday Night War and making money hand over fist, there were still multiple executives and higher-ups in the Turner and Time Warner organizations that wanted to get rid of the company from their company portfolios. The United States government went after Vince McMahon and tried to get him shut down, accusing him of supplying illegal steroids to his wrestlers. We would see the sport’s detractors have a field day after the final weekend of Chris Benoit’s life, with people desperately trying to tear down Vince McMahon, WWE, and the entire sport, even if people had never met Benoit, let alone worked with him in any way. The list goes on and on. No matter how popular the sport has been, someone, somewhere, has been working extra hard to bring that to an end. Pro wrestling is that little red-headed stepchild, as the saying goes, where it gets mistreated and viewed poorly compared to its other “siblings” and things of a similar nature. It is what it is.
How do you think people in power would’ve reacted if Tommy Dreamer killed Paul Heyman on live pay-per-view? That would’ve been all the ammunition (no pun intended) people needed to get the WWF smooth out of here.
Television networks, pay-per-view distributors, sponsors, and on and on and on and on… all would’ve done everything they possibly could to distance themselves from the shit storm after WrestleMania. Eventually, the pressure and the attacks would’ve been too much, and WWE would’ve had nowhere to go. If you lose your spot on television and the pay-per-view companies don’t want you, there’s not much you can do anymore. Ask WCW about that.
There probably would’ve been “outlaw” promotions running around the country, catering to much smaller audiences, but any chances of seeing a major wrestling promotion in this country would’ve gone out the window in the aftermath of WrestleMania 17.
That’s about as “crazy” a scenario as there will ever be. Think about EVERYTHING the company did from, let’s say, mid-2001 until this very day… none of it ends up happening. All the superstars, matches, promos, and moments… never exist. I’m literally shaking my head as I type this sentence, just thinking about that being real life.
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Who Was The Biggest Winner Of What Really Happened?
Paul Heyman. Obviously. First and foremost, he wasn’t murdered. It’s hard to be more of a “winner” than not having your life ended before an audience of millions. Even if he made it through WrestleMania 17, was fired the next day, and never returned to the wrestling business another day, he’d be a pretty big winner.
Call it icing on the cake, but Heyman would go on to cement himself as arguably the greatest manager in the history of the business. His work with the likes of Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar and CM Punk alone places him in the conversation.
Hard to be much more of a winner than Heyman has been from April 1st, 2001 to this very day.
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Who Was The Biggest Loser Of What Really Happened?
This is one of those situations where nobody is really a “loser” based off of what happened. Nobody was murdered on live pay-per-view. That’s cause for celebration.
You could say that Tommy Dreamer is the biggest loser, because him coming out of nowhere to admit that he had this plan for WrestleMania 17 made a lot of people look at him in a different light from that moment on. However, it hasn’t really affected his career in any way. He continues wrestling here and there, all these years later, and he is a big part of the very popular Busted Open podcast.
If I’m going to go with a “loser” here, I’ll go with Evan Husney and Jason Elsener, the creators of Dark Side Of The Ring. The episode, or even multiple episodes like Owen Hart and Brian Pillman received, covering this story would be completely bonkers. It’s something the sport had never seen before, and has not seen since. The ground that a DSOTR episode could cover would be groundbreaking, and would’ve gone on to be one of the most classic wrestling-related episodes in television history…
…unless, of course, pro wrestling was, for all intents and purposes, canceled in 2001. We probably wouldn’t have Dark Side Of The Ring 18 years later if that’s the case.
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What Would We Have Missed Out On If The Alternate Route Happened?
I’ve pretty much covered a lot of that. No ECW involvement in the Invasion storyline because ECW was being swept under the rug. No Rise & Fall Of ECW documentary, no One Night Stand pay-per-views, and no ECW relaunch in 2006. No Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman pairing. No CM Punk and Paul Heyman pairing, and perhaps no CM Punk on WWE’s main roster whatsoever. Perhaps no post-9/11 episode of Smackdown, Rob Van Dam in WWE, and maybe no tragic final weekend in the lives of the Benoit family.
There are SO MANY branches on this tree, stretching out in all directions. Some likely, and perhaps some not-so-likely, but they’re all there to be discussed. It’s a mind-blowing thing to take a deep dive on.
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Conclusion
I have been a pro wrestling fan for longer than a lot of you have been alive. In my time as a fan, I can honestly say that Paul Heyman is one of my favorite things to have existed in the sport. He is one of the greatest creative minds that wrestling has ever seen. His work as a color commentator was always entertaining, and you just never knew what he was going to say.
It’s his managerial work that I have especially loved, though. In my opinion, he is the best manager in the history of pro wrestling, and it isn’t even close. No offense to Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Jim Cornette, “Classy” Freddie Blassie, Miss Elizabeth, Sherri Martel, “Captain” Lou Albano, Paul Bearer, Jimmy Hart, or anyone else that you might want to place high on a list like that. They were great, but Heyman was not only able to take his biggest clients to the top, but he was able to take them multiple levels beyond that. We’re talking legendary, Hall Of Fame pairings, with title after title after title won. He could talk fans into the building, as the saying goes, or get them to order pay-per-views. His facial expressions were so great that he didn’t need to say a single word to advance an angle and tell a story.
I cannot even fathom a pro wrestling world that didn’t have Paul Heyman involved in it for the last 23-plus years. Of all the “What If” scenarios in wrestling, there aren’t many ranked ahead of this one when it comes to my happiness and relief that things didn’t go in a different direction.
Before I get out of here, I want to say that I understand there are concerns about the length of these Alternate Routes columns. I completely understand those concerns, but I wouldn’t be doing the column idea justice if I half-assed things and breezed through the scenarios. If you see “Alternate Routes” in the title, just know ahead of time that it’s going to be longer than my usual columns.
You’re up. What do you think about Tommy Dreamer’s plan for WrestleMania 17? If he followed through with it, are there any scenarios I missed out on that you think would’ve happened (or not happened)? What do you think about the scenarios I did mention? As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, let’s get to a greatly shortened version of my Weekly Power Rankings, followed by my playlist of the songs I was listening to when I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
Will Ospreay vs Kyle O’Reilly: I think it’s a pretty safe bet, at this point, to assume that you’re going to see Ospreay in my Weekly Power Rankings if he wrestled during the previous week.
Penta El Zero Miedo vs Konosuke Takeshita: This was another one of those unfortunately booked spots where both competitors deserved a win. As it is, this is the start of mini-push #52 for Takeshita. The previous 51 were wiped away quickly. We’ll see where this one goes.
Ricochet vs Ilja Dragunov: Yes, the match was cut short due to interference by Bron Breakker. However, that means that we’ll not only get another Ricochet vs Dragunov match out of it, but Bron will be involved, as well. Take that as a win.
Kazuchika Okada: Nobody in history has held the IWGP Heavyweight Title, or had as many successful defenses of the title, as Okada. He’s the only two-time winner of the new IWGP World Heavyweight Title, with more successful defenses than anyone else. Four G1 Climax tournament wins. Two New Japan Cup wins. One NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Title reign with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii. Eight Wrestle Kingdom main events, second only to Tanahashi’s ten in history. With all that said, it’s pretty clear that Okada is having the time of his life with his current role in The Elite. He is showing off so much hilarious personality these days. On top of that, he’s probably making more money now than he ever did in Japan, so that’s a nice bonus.
Casino Gauntlet Match: The rules of the match still don’t make any sense to a lot of people, but this one was better than the previous edition. More star power here, and more entertainment value overall as Will Ospreay continues his quest to win every title in AEW.
Paul Heyman: He’s getting closer and closer to having a complete mental breakdown without Roman Reigns around, and it has been incredible to watch.
Lio Rush vs Roderick Strong: While it’s great to see Lio back in a spot like this, Roddy is just so good in the ring. He wrestles like a star.
Liv Morgan vs Becky Lynch: This match was historic because it could be the last match Becky Lynch ever wrestles for WWE, as her contract expired and she is now a free agent. Do I think she wrestles anywhere else? MAYBE in Japan for a brief stint, but that’s it. Would it shock me if she ended up in AEW? Shit, we’ve seen far more shocking things than that. I just think she’s taking a break. Her husband is reportedly going to miss several months after finally getting the knee surgery he has needed for a while. Now, Becky can stay home and be with her husband and her daughter for a while, and we’ll back in on her down the road.
Ethan Page: His NXT debut was quite the surprise, and he has a good chance to truly succeed there. Then again, a lot of people said that about him showing up in AEW, so we’ll see.
Jordynne Grace: The working relationship between WWE and TNA continues, as the current TNA Knockouts Champion is heading to Battleground to challenge for Roxanne Perez’s NXT Women’s Title. I love it.
Swerve Strickland vs Killswitch: Swerve continues his momentum, but as I’ve said before, it’s time for him to get more that he can really sink his teeth into.
Chad Gable & Otis: On one hand, Gable is really building a ton of heel heat for himself with the way he’s treating Otis and the rest of the Alpha Academy. On the other hand, we might not get a chance to get the pay off, as Gable’s WWE contract expires four days after this column is posted. If Otis finally snaps on this week’s Raw and beats the hell out of Gable, expect the rumor mill to be in full swing about Gable’s departure from the company.
Daniel Garcia & Katsuyori Shibata vs The Workhorsemen: It’s time for Garcia to be in the title picture. Any title picture.
Rey Fenix vs Isiah Kassidy: Lots of fast-paced, high-flying action. Good stuff here.
Apollo Crews: Wait… not only did Apollo get a match on television that saw him look good (even in a loss), but he got a backstage segment, AND he’s getting another match on television the following week?!? What?!? He hasn’t wrestled on television in back-to-back weeks since last May, and one of those two matches was a Battle Royal appearance. Incredibly, the last time he had back-to-back televised matches that didn’t feature Battle Royals was when he wrestled on Raw four straight weeks, from December 27th, 2021 to January 17th, 2022. Even then, there was a tag match, six-man tag, and an eight-man tag in the mix. This is the biggest “push” Apollo has had in years, and I am ALL for it.
This Week’s Playlist: “Rainforest (Original Version)” by Paul Hardcastle… “Ribbon In The Sky” by Intro… “Let Me Be The One” by Intro… “Houdini” by Eminem… “Anabelle” by Shaboozey… “Drink Don’t Need No Mix” by Shaboozey & BigXThaPlug… “Survivor’s Remorse” by Roddy Ricch… “ANYTHING > HUMAN” by Bad Omens & ERRA… “Still Here” by Lecrae… “Feedback” by A Day To Remember… “Blood & Scars” by Self Deception… “Secrets Of The Shadows” by Nathan James & Paleface Swiss… “Why Don’t We Fall In Love” by Amerie… “Love Sosa” by Chief Keef… “Infest” by Papa Roach… “Last Resort” by Papa Roach… “Broken Home” by Papa Roach… “Dead Cell” by Papa Roach… “Between Angels And Insects” by Papa Roach… “Blood Brothers” by Papa Roach… “Bad Girlfriend” by Theory Of A Deadman… “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit… “Addicted” by Saving Abel… “The Reason” by Hoobastank… “The Diary Of Jane” by Breaking Benjamin… “Cheese And Dope” by Project Pat… “Blacker The Berry” by Field Mob… “We Know” by Talib Kweli & Faith Evans… “Around My Way” by Talib Kweli & John Legend… “Hustle Blood” by Big Boi & Jamie Foxx… “East Coast/West Coast Killas” by Group Therapy… “Shittin’ On The World” by Mel-Man… “Death Before Dishonesty” by Bootleg… “Victory Lap” by Nipsey Hussle & Stacy Barthe… “My Lowrider” by The Game, E-40, Crooked I, Techniec, Chingy, Lil Rob, Paul Wall, WC & Ice Cube… “Geronimo” by Sheppard… “Sara Smile” by Hall & Oates… “Kiss On My List” by Hall & Oates… “You Make My Dreams (Come True)” by Hall & Oates… “Out Of Touch” by Hall & Oates
