What if Aleksandr Karelin?

In 1995, when Greg Gagne was working for WCW, he and his father Verne had several meetings with Aleksandr Karelin, the most decorated amateur wrestler in history. (Best known in the United States as the man Rulon Gardner beat for his 2000 Olympic gold medal upset.) Karelin was interested in retiring from competition and getting into professional wrestling after the 1996 Olympics. Karelin was a freakish athlete and would have been built into a monstrous heel challenger for Hulk Hogan. This would have led to a three-match series starting at the Great American Bash, a hypothetical pay per view event in Russia, and culminated at Starrcade '97. However, since Greg Gagne met with Karelin behind Eric Bischoff's back (after Bischoff had stolen credit for Gagne's ideas twice before, Gagne alleges), Gagne was fired. Karelin was only interested in being trained by Greg and Verne Gagne (he respected Verne's amateur background). Once the Gagnes were out of the picture, Karelin decided not to get involved with professional wrestling.

Karelin would have been only 31 in 1997. He was renowned for his freakish strength and endurance. Greg Gagne has said in shoot interviews that his push would have been a lot like Goldberg's, only as a heel. And instead of being rushed through the power plant, he would have been trained by Verne Gagne, who trained most of the biggest names of the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Aleksandr Karelin would have been young, well-trained and could have carried the company for the next 10-15 years.