ArabGuy

How do you think this would have happened? And why didn it happen? They were building towards it but they suddenly gave us the match on Heat in the weeks prior to Breakdown. Austin did cut two of his finest rare promos on the Heat episodes leading up to the match with Ken.
A badass vs a badass feud between the two would have been great to see. Ken would have been the only man believable who could legit beat up Austin. And they had the history from 97.

So would you have liked to see this? Or would you rather leave things the way they happened at Breakdown then judgment day and SS?

ShowStopper '97

I don't think they were confident enough in Shamrock to have a full-blown feud with the biggest star in the business in just his (Shamrock's) 2nd year in the company. I know they weren't confident enough in Shamrock's promos on that level to go toe to toe with Austin. If Shamrock was a bit more polished in the ring and on the mic and had a couple more years of experience by 1998, it might have worked.

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"I have the ability to push the buttons of people that would never, ever lose their temper."

ArabGuy

For sure shamrock's promos had to be short and sweet. They would have had to book the feud centred around fighting, ie not the attitude era storyline driven programs we were getting.
It could fall within the McMahon vs Austin storyline. But have shamrock feud with Austin in an old school who's the tougher SOB kind of feud culminating in a hand shake and establishing shamrock as a main eventer.
Come to think of it.. How was sabu vs taz built up? Wasn't it for almost a year with taz cutting all the promos and sabu not saying anything? Maybe such a formula could have worked with Shamrock constantly staring down Austin? (Of course you would have to build shamrock up as a monster before beginning the program).

ShowStopper '97

True. But in the Attitude Era promos were very important. They were very promo heavy in this era. So, the top guy of the company feuding with a guy who for all intents and purposes would be a mute (or, like you said, short and sweet promos) would have been very difficult to book around, especially as the top feud of the company. You can get away with that sort of thing with a mid-card feud, but not when you're feuding with the top guy in the business in a very promo heavy time period.

And I'm not convinced the matches would have been all that great. Shamrock was obviously a UFC fighter. But he never became a great WWF worker and was still very much finding his way in '98.

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"I have the ability to push the buttons of people that would never, ever lose their temper."

ArabGuy

You do make a good point it was a promo heavy era.
I figured the matches wouldn't be that great. It was 98 and the wrestling really sucked that year in the WWE. But I was looking forward to the intensity that the feud could have brought, a new dimension to SCSA (having a face of equal toughness take it to him) and the legitimacy both men could bring to the table.

ShowStopper '97

Yeah, like I said earlier, if Shamrock had a little bit more experience by 1998, and was a bit more polished in the ring (WWF style) and on the mic, then yeah, it could have been a good feud. But unfortunately in '98, Shamrock was just in his 2nd year in the WWF. So, he was still very green as a WWF wrestler and still had alot more to learn.

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"I have the ability to push the buttons of people that would never, ever lose their temper."

Tuesday night slam

I think this feud could had worked and been very very good, I mean UFC legend v the biggest star in WWE at that time Steve Austin.

I feel a feud could had worked