Why?
By Scott Keith on 22 August 2014
Scott,
After reading your 1994/95 Raw rants,a few "why" questions…..1. For WrestleMania XI,why Lawrence Taylor in particular? For that matter,why Bam Bam?2. If the Diesel push was such a disaster,why did Vince go with it for TWELVE MONTHS? He was tanking business,drawing no heat,sinking PPV matches with Sid,Mabel,Bulldog etc…..3. Why don't we ever hear of Shawn being a dick to Nash at this point? Nash is champ within 18 months of joining,Shawn is the first heel fed to him. Shawn then appears happy to smile and high-five his way through 1995 as the #2 face and IC Champ. Was Shawn totally and utterly on board with Nash as champ? He seems so patient through this time.
1. Taylor was the one willing to take the $150,000 payout and sacrifice his credibility, as apparently he was in need of the money for various reasons. He was friends with Bam Bam in real life and I guess Vince felt there was one last crack at pushing Bigelow as a main eventer out of it. Vince actually was on board with Bigelow as a top guy.
2. Vince is nothing if not stubborn, I guess. It actually seemed like something of a running joke in the Observer at that point, with Meltzer basically asserting that every Diesel title match would be the one where Vince pulled the trigger and changed the title. He predicted Bret winning at the Rumble to get it off him, and predicted Shawn winning at Wrestlemania and feuding with Bret over the summer, for example.
3. Shawn absolutely was, but you'll notice how well he made himself into the guy that the fans REALLY wanted to see as champion. Clearly by KOTR he was the real star of the promotion and usurped any heat or cred that Big Kev might have built up. It was too early for him to get the title anyway as a babyface, so it likely didn't bother him.