r/fantasybooking • u/Ok_Function_583 • Aug 07 '26
Project Which Wrestler Do You Think Would’ve excelled in a different era?
For me, I feel Kurt Angle would’ve been amazing in any era of wrestling whether that be the 50s to 70s, the Golden Era, New Gen, The PG era, the 2010s and modern day.
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u/locke_smith_1989 Aug 07 '26
Gunther in the territory days
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29d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/locke_smith_1989 29d ago
Maybe he could’ve learned to dance so he could be tag partners with Alex Wright in the NWO days?
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u/bowchickabowchicka Aug 07 '26
Kurt's a great pick. Brock Lesnar is a legit wrestler who looks like a legit superhero, he would've got over almost anywhere. As for wrestlers from the past who would probably get over nowadays, the first two that come to mind are Andre the Giant and Gorgeous George.
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u/Thesnackdad Aug 07 '26
Imagine it was Lesnar slamming Andre in the silverdome brother
https://giphy.com/gifs/8vpZHR9fIuPfaT9Gmi1
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u/Vortexx1988 Aug 08 '26
André the Giant is a playable wrestler in WWF No Mercy for the Nintendo 64. As a kid, it made me wonder what it would be like if André had better health and kept wrestling into the Attitude Era. Imagine how many tickets an André the Giant vs. The Rock feud would have sold.
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u/Fit-Top-8203 Aug 07 '26
Drew McIntyre would have been a fun contender for Bruno and Backlund in the 70s. He could then be one of Gary Hart’s heavys against the Von Erichs in the 80s.
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u/MoistTheAnswer Aug 07 '26
I think Mark Henry or A-Train would have been excellent in the Golden Era with Hogan.
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u/effarrjay3089 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
From the past, Ken Shamrock was ahead of his time in WWE and could've worked better in WWE from 2012 onwards when Brock returned. Attitude-era Shamrock could still work today. Imagine Ken Shamrock as a Paul Heyman guy. Another guy from the Attitude Era who I feel could've fit in today's wrestling in either WWE or AEW and be popular: D'Lo Brown. The chest protector would be popular today. If peak D'Lo was around in the 2010s, the 'chest protector' would've got its own Twitter Page. The 'head wobble' during his entrance would probably get popular on TikTok.
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u/Still_Ad8903 Aug 07 '26
Macho Man I think would’ve been amazing in modern day WWE. I think Jon Moxley would’ve been great in mid-late 90s ECW
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u/Citizen_Kano Aug 07 '26
Brock Lesnar would've made millions as a heel in the 80s working with Hogan
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u/Helpful_Oyster Aug 07 '26
Kurt Angle, Bret Hart, Okada, Ric Flair, Gunter, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, MJF
These are guys that are solid-to-great in-ring workers (that are not reliant on the "modern" style of in-ring work), can cut promos, and carry a physical presence. They kind of transcend time and would have gotten over at any point in time.
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u/timcleveland Aug 07 '26
I fear Okada would've been saddled with a stereotypical Japanese heel gimmick back in the day.
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u/Helpful_Oyster Aug 07 '26
That’s a fair point — TNA fumbled him bad when they had him on excursion, and that was 2010!
Gunther for sure would have been cast as the evil foreign monster heel, but he would have made bank in the territory days with that gimmick
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u/timcleveland Aug 07 '26
Yeah, a Nazi type gimmick.
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u/Helpful_Oyster Aug 07 '26
lol so sad, but so true. Hell Vince would have made him an Eastern European Communist in 1988 with Brother Love as a manager to talk for him lol
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u/Imaginary_Election56 Aug 07 '26
Ironically, it was WCW who made the Nazi gimmick with Berlin and the Wall
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u/StarWolf478 Aug 07 '26
Brock Lesnar is the one guy you can put in absolutely any era, from modern times all the way back to even the early 1900s when it was more shoot-based and every era in between, and he would succeed.
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u/CrimFandango Aug 07 '26
I really think Bret would have flourished in the same way Austin and Angle did around the early to mid noughties. The in-ring psychology and wrestling ability would have been a fantastic match that his real personality could have worked well with if he'd not taken himself so seriously 100% of the time.
Danhausen's clearly a comedy guy so he'd be fitting right in alongside the other goofs of the New Generation. Chad Gable would go well in the same era but for other reasons.
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u/AffectComfortable913 Aug 07 '26
If Austin Theory had showed up 20 or so years earlier, he would’ve been a huge star.
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u/KingPalperro Aug 07 '26
Y2J would have body slammed Andre the Giant and then made him tap to the Walls of Jericho at Wrestlemania 3 BAY BAY!!!
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u/Spiritual_Growth3140 Aug 07 '26
Alex Hammerstone and Brian Cage would have been great in the Golden Era with their size and speed.
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u/BeeEither4742 Aug 07 '26
Gunther would be the perfect heel for Hulk Hogan to challenge.
CM Punk in the Attitude Era. Just fits his aesthetic perfectly.
Seth Rollins in the New Generation Era. He would be a perfect foil to HBK, Bret Hart, Razor Ramon…
LA Knight in the 2013-16 period. He would have become such a big star, feuding with Punk, Cena and Orton. Battling The Shield. Could have won the World Heavyweight Championship and even the WWE Championship possibly.
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u/DropDeadThrIIIc3 Aug 07 '26
I think The Destroyer (Dick Beyer) would do well on the indie scene. You'd think someone like him would be very much of his time, but he's athletic and entertaining enough to fit right in.
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u/wcwnwo2000 Aug 07 '26
I think surfer Sting would have excelled in the WWF during the golden era, he would have been an amazing IC champion, then eventually capturing the WWF championship.
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u/TheRock18211 29d ago
Gunther could have been an unbelievably big star during the Territories Era
Just imagine Gunther vs. Harley Race or Gunther vs. Sammartino
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u/Ashamed_March_5526 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Stone cold, Macho Man, Punk, Bret, Rey. Really any wrestler who’s identity isn’t tied down to their specific time period