The WWF managed to not only sign the biggest name outside of the WWF away from their competition but they did so when he was still currently holding the WCW Championship. When Ric Flair debuted on WWF television he was actually briefly holding the actual WCW Championship before they threatened to sue and a fake tag title was used in its place.
Ric Flair first joined the WWF in 1991, making his television debut on the September 9 episode of Prime Time Wrestling. After signing in August 1991, he appeared with the WCW "Big Gold Belt," styling himself as "The Real World's Champion" and was managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
What I would have done, knowing this was going to be a very brief opportunity, would have been to have Ric Flair show up at that very first television appearance with the real WCW Championship and right there on the spot challenge WWF Champion Hulk Hogan to a title vs title match to settle the score once and for all. This match needed to happen for the sake of history and having a once in a lifetime opportunity to do this with the real title belts was too good to pass up. Now obviously with this being WWF television, I would have had Hulk Hogan win the match clean 1-2-3 in the middle of the ring, just like their eventual match in WCW years later, to put over not only Hogan but the WWF itself as the better brand and better champion. When the match was over I would have wanted some quick pictures of Hulk Hogan posing with the WCW Championship before smashing it in the middle of the ring, destroying the belt. This would have outraged Flair at the time who would swear his revenge, and also brought on a huge lawsuit from WCW I’m sure, but it would have been worth it for one of the most talked about moments in wrestling history!
Ric Flair’s Revenge
Now obviously this would have led to a huge rematch and a chance for Ric Flair to get his revenge on Hulk Hogan. However, I would have dragged this part out for a long build up. I would have had it look like Hogan had no interest in facing Flair again since he had already defeated him and destroyed his title.
Slowly, Flair’s plan would start to be revealed. I would start by revealing that it was in fact The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase that had paid to bring in Ric Flair, to ultimately do what he had failed to do over the years, and defeat Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship. So the first thing he would do is award Ric Flair his Million Dollar Championship, as well as his bodyguard Virgil.
Then Ted would arrange for Bobby The Brain Heenan to be Ric Flair’s new manager, basically taking the place of his old manager JJ Dillion and turning the Heenan family into the new Four Horsemen. I believe around this time most of the big names were gone from the Heenan family, but that is why I would want them to bring in Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard as the Brain Busters at this time, as well as Mr. Perfect (Curt Hennig) to complete the group. However, Anderson and Blanchard had already left the WWF by this time, so to complete the group you could have added IRS, the Genius, maybe Rick Martel or the Mountie.
Now at this time in the WWF, in 1991 Bret Hart had won the Intercontinental Championship from Mr. Perfect so this would easily set up a great storyline where Ric Flair would step in and challenge Bret Hart for the title as revenge for his Heenan Family partner Mr. Perfect. In fact, it would make sense for Mr. Perfect to interfere in the match costing Hart the title. I wish for the sake of the storyline, it could have been the Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich that Ric Flair defeated for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, but Bret Hart would have been my second choice. Ironically both won the belt from Mr. Perfect.
Following this I would have loved to have seen Flair also grab the Tag Team Championships, which were held around this time by the Legion of Doom. The obvious partner for Flair would have been Mr. Perfect but it also could have been Ted DiBiase. Regardless, it would have been a quick short reign as Tag Team Champions, they would have clearly cheated to win the belts, and then lost them in a quick rematch, of course by pinning Perfect to protect Flair.
This would have quickly made Flair: the new Million Dollar Champion, the Intercontinental Champion, and then the Tag Team Champion as well. This would have made Flair the first Grand Slam champion in the WWF which would have made sense in the history books, once he won the WWF Championship from Hogan, which is what this would have all been building too…
Flair vs Hogan II
After all of Flair’s quick success in the WWF he would have proven himself and earned a rematch against Hogan for the WWF Championship. I would have had Flair and the rest of the Heenan Family holding all the gold, walking in Flair’s first WWF PPV Survivor Series and I would have had their team win their match. Afterwards, I would have Flair declaring himself the number one contender for Hogan’s title.
The way things worked back then they only had the four major PPVs each year, so this match would have probably taken place on an episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event. Hulk Hogan defending his WWF Championship against Ric Flair, who would be holding the Intercontinental and Million Dollar Championships at the time, possibly even putting them on the line against Hogan’s title.
Obviously, Ric Flair needs to win this match and the WWF Championship to even the score and make this whole feud worthwhile. However, he would do so with outside interference protecting Hogan. I’m sure Ric Flair would be working over Hogan’s knee the whole match trying to set up for an eventual figure four leg lock to get the win. I imagine a key spot in the match when Hogan would be on his back in the corner with his leg wrapped around the ring post, Flair working it over. Just then DiBiase jumps up on the ring apron with the Million Dollar Championship as if he is trying to get involved in the match. The referee would be quick to run over and stop him, meanwhile this would give Mr. Perfect the opportunity to grab the Intercontinental Championship and smash it over Hogan’s knee which was still up against the ring post.
Now the storyline here would be that Perfect seriously injured Hogan’s knee with this spot. Hogan wouldn’t be able to stand or put weight on that knee as a result. The referee would have no idea though. And for the rest of the match Flair would continue to attack that injured knee.
With no one coming out to help Hogan, he would be defenceless against all of the Heenan Family at ringside causing distractions and taking cheap shots at him. This match would really play up the idea that Flair is now the dirtiest wrestler in the WWF. If more was needed he could use other cheap shots, a low blow behind the ref's back, possibly brass knuckles in his tights, or even a WWF Championship shot to Hogan’s head… whatever it takes to eventually put Hogan down for the loss. I’m sure this finish would be tough to negotiate with Hogan especially at that time, but he would be protected with this finish, which I’m sure could not involve him actually tapping out, but I would still want the finish to be in the figure four, so I imagine Hogan would pass out in the hold or be knocked out before being put in the hold to get the finish.
Ric Flair WWF Champion
Now we would have Ric Flair as the WWF Champion. I never liked that he won it from a Royal Rumble. I always thought he should have won it by defeating Hogan. This way it would have evened the score to one victory each, which means they would clearly need to have one more final match to settle this feud.
In the meantime, Flair would enjoy his run as the WWF Champion. First, he would give the Million Dollar Championship back to Ted DiBiase. Then he would award the Intercontinental Championship back to Mr. Perfect, upsetting Bret Hart and the rest of the WWF. Together they would hold all of the singles gold.
1992 Royal Rumble
Now this is often considered to be the best Royal Rumble. Mostly because it was the first time the title was put on the line in this match, but it was also just an all-star cast of wrestlers that year. So obviously I wouldn’t want to change too much about this match. However, I have always disliked the ending of the match. I didn’t think it made any sense of Hogan to cheat in the end and be a poor loser and pull Sid out of the match. Also, as a kid, Sid was my new favourite wrestler and who I was cheering for to win, so this really upset me, and I think it did for a lot of the fans back then as well.
So how I would rebook the ending. Keep the same final four: Flair, Hogan, Sid, and Savage. I would still have Sid eliminate Savage. However, what I would change would be having Hogan then eliminate Flair. In this timeline, Hogan would be getting revenge on Flair who had just defeated him for his WWF Championship. Also, evening up the PPVs since the Heenan Family’s team had won at the previous PPV Survivor Series, now Hogan would be defeating Flair at the Royal Rumble. I think this would have got a huge pop from the crowd that desperately wanted to see Hogan get revenge on Flair, and I also think the crowd would have been electric to see the two most popular stars at the time, Hogan and Sid as the final two in the match, the way it should have been.
Now in keeping with this match as much as possible, the ending would still be the same, only with some roles reversed… now Flair would be the sore loser on the outside wanting to cheat and Hogan would be the one getting screwed over. As Hogan turned his attention to Sid on the inside, Flair on the outside would have grabbed ahold of his boot, Hogan would have then turned his attention back to Flair on the outside, just long enough for Sid to run over and clothesline Hogan over the top rope to the outside for the win.
I think this ending has a much more natural flow. It makes more sense for Flair to be the cheater since he is the dirtiest player in the WWF, and it makes the most sense for Hogan to be the wrestler he goes after since they have the biggest feud going. It all balances out, Hogan gets to say he eliminated Flair, but Flair gets to turn around and say he caused Hogan to get eliminated. Meanwhile, with all of that going on, a NEW WWF Champion was just crowned, the exciting new wrestler in the WWF Sid Justice as he was then known.
I think fans forget how over Sid was at this time, he was the most cheered wrestler in that Rumble, and he went on to main event WrestleMania that year with Hulk Hogan, so he was the biggest star. I think having a huge Royal Rumble win like that would have been the best way to make a new star and champion and build Sid as the future of the then WWF.
WrestleMania VIII
Now what would have been the outcome of this? Who would have challenged Sid in the main event of WrestleMania that year for the WWF Championship? I think both Hogan and Flair would have had a strong case. Hogan could have said he was the runner up in the Royal Rumble. Meanwhile, Flair could have said he was the former champion. Both deserving of a rematch for the title.
Therefore, for the first time in history, the main event of WrestleMania would have been a triple threat match… Sid defending his title against Flair and Hogan. Not only that, but this would be Flair vs Hogan III the final match to settle this feud once and for all.
In the build up to this match I would have done the same thing the WWF did at the time anyways, and turned Sid heel for his match against Hogan at WrestleMania. While I didn’t agree with it myself as a kid as a Sid fan, I really liked him, I think it does make the most sense as the WWF at the time had a lot of great babyfaces, but they needed a major heel. Sid was perfect for that spot.
So I would have had Sid turn on Hogan. In a tag match against the Heenan Family, Flair and Perfect could have been against Sid and Hogan, with the rest of the Heenan family getting involved. And Sid could have done what he did in the original timeline, and just walk away from ringside and leave Hogan all alone to get destroyed by all of the Heenan Family. This would have made Sid the most hated man in the WWF. It could then be revealed that he had joined the Heenan Family as the fourth Horseman in essence… Flair, Perfect, DiBiase, and now Sid, all managed by Bobby. This would have been an unstoppable alliance.
Going into the main event of WrestleMania Hogan would have been outnumbered two to one and would have been destroyed. However, this is when Hogan would have needed help from others to even the score.
The first person coming to Hogan’s rescue as usual would have been the Macho Man Randy Savage. This would have made the most sense since in the original timeline at WrestleMania VIII it was Savage vs Flair for the WWF Championship. So in this timeline Savage would get involved to save Hogan. However, his rescue attempt would be short-lived as Sid would attack Savage on the outside of the ring, and in a shocking, at the time, moment, powerbombed him through the announce table at ringside.
With the crowd fearing the worst, the huge shocking return of the Ultimate Warrior would have come next. In the original timeline, Warrior returned during Sid and Hogan’s match to save Hogan. I would want to keep that moment alive by having Warrior charge to the ring to attack Sid after he powerbombed Savage through the table. Warrior would be fighting Sid all around the ring and then down the aisle all the way to the back disappearing from the match.
This would leave Hogan and Flair all alone, one on one, to finally settle the score. By now Hogan would already be badly beaten and powerbombed in the ring, his old knee injury aggravated by the attack by Flair all through the match. But by now Flair would also have taken a few shots from Hogan and Savage before Sid took them out. So neither would have much left, but obviously Flair would be the one in control of a weakened Hogan.
Flair would then take that moment to drag Hogan’s body to the middle of the ring and slowly lock in the dreaded figure four leg lock on a practically unconscious Hogan. As the crowd feared the worst, looking like there was no hope left for Hogan, a badly injured Savage would crawl over to the ring apron, and slowly start climbing from the outside of the ring to the top rope. From there, Savage would deliver his finisher the elbow drop onto Flair who was trapped in his own figure four at the time. The impact of the move would crush Flair who would naturally release the leg lock.
As Savage rolled out of the ring back to the floor, the crowd would be chanting for Hogan to get up, but unable to, Hogan would simple roll over draping his arm over Flair, and the referee would slowly count the 1-2-3 as Hogan won the match and regained his WWF Championship, ending the entire feud with Flair once and for all, giving Hogan a 2-1 victory in their feud.
I think this gives everyone the best outcome involved with the feud and sets up great storylines to follow.
The Aftermatch
Heading out of WrestleMania VIII there would be some nice feuds to follow. Firstly, you have Hogan as the WWF Champion, however his feud with Flair would be finished.
So this could leave Sid to challenge for his rematch at the title he technically never lost. So you could have an interesting Hogan vs Sid feud following WrestleMania, possibly headline Summer Slam.
Meanwhile, the man Flair would ultimately blame for his loss at WrestleMania would be Savage so this would ignite their own one on one feud heading towards Summer Slam.
Meanwhile, you have the return of the Ultimate Warrior to factor into the mix. He attacked Sid at WrestleMania so they should be in a feud now with each other, but Sid also wants his belt back, so he would be going after Hogan. I think this would play into an incredible triple threat match at Summer Slam between Hogan, Sid, and Warrior.
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