Why they never got over ...

[Deleted]

It is no big secret that guys like Ted Dibiase , mr perfect , roddy piper , Jake roberts and honky tonky man never were over enough in the eyes of Vince McMahon to won major titles In the WWF .. Now even though piper htm and perfect we IC champs fhey never made it to world title contention and in my opinion they should have . My question is why ? Why didnt roddy piper Ted dibiase or earthquake and mr perfect ever get championship runs ? And why didn't guys like big boss man , Jake the snake brutus beefcake or hacksaw see IC gold? Was it all bc of hogan ?

[Calcifer Boheme]

They were all mega over... But WWF was a far different place back then.

The biggest thing that happened after Vince raped the territories is that he had a company full of main event guys. All of the people you named were huge stars and had main event runs. But titles didn't change hands very often back then. From 84 to 89 there were only 4 world title changes, and two of them were Hogan. There were also only 9 intercontinental title changes, two belonging to Tito Santana and two to Warrior.


It's not like now where if a guy is relatively over they give him a belt. Sure, I would have loved to see all of those guys hold the belt, but I fully realize they didn't need it.

[Deleted]

honestly they didnt really need it.and as pointed out above titles didnt change that much then-plus the IC title was far bigger in esteem then.

[twinn]

I always wish that these guys would have been given title runs because they certainly deserved one, but you guys are right about them not really needing it.

[Deleted]

its even the way characters were portayed.

Duggan,Piper and Roberts didnt seem to care about titles compared to the guys that were in the title pictures.

all they wanted to do was raise hell and kick ass

[Bandalero]

I agree with the majority of this thread - those guys didn't need it. Ted DiBiasie was wrestling circles around guys in the UWF and well when he got the Million Dollar man character he sky-rocketed. Same story for Curt Henning in the AWA, Jake & Roddy in Georgia, and HTM.

The difference between now and then I think is that not only were these guys techincally sound in the ring, most had the psychology to cut promos and really develop their characters. I'm sure Vince had a big part to play in all that too, afterall he always had final say. So they didn't need belts - which was a good thing because Hogan's politicing backstage wouldn't allow himself to job.

[Raine]

We don't really say these days about wrestlers who should have got the belt but didn't like we do about 88-92 era guys. The likes of Mysterio, Benoit, RVD, Hardy, Punk, Eddie, Miz would have never been World Champ in 1989 say, but they do today, it seems they will give the deserving a try these days as kingpin. If it was 1989 now only Cena, Taker, HHH, Orton would ever see the World title. Guys like Dibiase, Hennig, Rude, Jake, Piper would all have been champion in the modern era.

[Deleted]

I personally think it just boiled down to the fact that Hogan was champion and the face of the company at the time, so everyone else - no matter how talented - could only ever achieve second best. Today, the load is shared amongst guys like Cena, Orton, Miz, Mysterio, etc. Back then, everything was pinned on Hogan.

The only time another babyface was elevated to the main event was when Hogan needed to leave to make a movie (Savage for No Nolds Barred, Warrior for Suburban Commando) As soon as both movies wrapped, Hogan reclaimed his spot.

Also, I think WWE used to prefer to have one champion as a face and another as a heel, so the IC title in the 80s and early 90s is largely remember for it's heel champs - we remember Honky, Rude and Hennig's reigns way more than we remember Santana's or Steamboat's.

It's actually amazing how many legends at that time never held gold during the Hogan era - Jake, Snuka, JYD, Piper, Orndorff, etc. But like some guys said above - did any of them really need it anyway?

[Deleted]

I don't know. I mean, to me maybe they didn't -need- it, but when you look back at the career of a guy like the Big Boss Man , or Jake Roberts i feel like you see the big =0= next to championships held and it kind of tarnishes their legacy. Not entirely of course, but just enough to make you question if there career was perhaps Hall of Famer worthy. Specifically with guys like Jake, Earthquake, Boss man and Brutus who are not yet in the hall of fame, i feel like it hurts there case.
For instance Mike Mussina to me if one of the greatest pitchers of his generation. 270 wins, 5 time allstar , 7 time gold glove winner and 26 up/ 26 down three times ! however he doesn't have 300 wins (which is a like a championship in baseball) and he doesn't have a world series ring ( again another title) he may never see the Hall of Fame based on that.

That being said, i know that the WWF hall of fame doesn't work on the writers votes like in pro sports, however i just feel like lack of titles have an impact on the regard in which we hold these former stars.

[ASR (therockisback)]

Dibiase and Piper, those guys i can literally PICTURE being World Champion main event guys and like someone pointed out unless you were super over like Warrior/Savage or really HUGE outside of the WWF like Flair you wouldn't be WWF Champion

[threehgame]

My memory is a bit rusty but DiBiase and Piper never got WWF Title runs because they were so over as heels and Vince believed in the strong face defending the belt routine at the time. As the company moved forward they fell into other roles away from the title.

HTM was to out spoken to be given a title run and Roberts had issues stemming from the HTM's guitar shot. Roberts also had issues with the WWF toward the end of his time in the company in 92.

Mr. Perfect was being groomed to be a legit WWF Champion but his back injury stopped him in his tracks. Issues outside the ring mounted between his time in WCW and return to WWE which ended in his death.

Everyone mentioned had an important factor in them not being WWF Champion: all of them could draw money without having the belt. Roberts had epic feuds without being champion, and Piper can be credited with being 33% of the reason Wrestlemania 1 was a success.

[Emerald Enthusiast]

May 12, 2011 17:15:06 GMT -5 Apocalypse said:

It is no big secret that guys like Ted Dibiase , mr perfect , roddy piper , Jake roberts and honky tonky man never were over enough in the eyes of Vince McMahon to won major titles In the WWF .. Now even though piper htm and perfect we IC champs fhey never made it to world title contention and in my opinion they should have . My question is why ? Why didnt roddy piper Ted dibiase or earthquake and mr perfect ever get championship runs ? And why didn't guys like big boss man , Jake the snake brutus beefcake or hacksaw see IC gold? Was it all bc of hogan ?

That was the Family Entertainment era, and the #1 guy always seemed to be a babyface. Back then, the WWF had clear dividing lines between good guys and bad guys. Vince & co. seemed very wary of putting too much spotlight on who might have been viewed as non-kid friendly. The WWF didn't seem to be comfortable with that until Yoko came along. Even Flair's title reigns were short.

[bountyhunterblood5]

But what about when The Million Dollar Man bought the Title.

[Deleted]

May 20, 2011 15:18:48 GMT -5 bountyhunterblood5 said:

But what about when The Million Dollar Man bought the Title.

a storyline concocted to drive WM4.he was never gonna keep it like.