101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened

Some fans believe that The Ringmaster character was a bespoke creation for Steve Austin because management didn't think he was anything more than a nuts n' bolts, efficient pro wrestler when they hired him in 1995. Time to blast that theory to smithereens, because it was actually an in-house concept crafted years earlier.

Bryan Clark, who eventually became Adam Bomb, was earmarked to become The Ringmaster before Austin was even on the WWF's radar. That almost happened in 1993. Weirdly, Clark was never a workhorse mechanic in-ring, so it wouldn’t have been a good fit anyway. Surely knowing that, he turned the gimmick down and wanted to embrace his Bomb Squad instead.

That didn't pan out the way he'd hoped, but Clark would've had an even shorter shelf life as Ringmaster. There's no way he was spinning out of that or fooling anyone watching into thinking he was the greatest technician this side of Ricky Steamboat. That wasn't something which could realistically happen, so big Bryan went with his radioactive option.

Had he taken The Ringmaster idea in '93, then Austin's fate could've been drastically different when he inked a deal in '95. Lord only knows what sort of scheme the fed's creative services would've come up for him. More on that later, but it's amazing to think that Adam f'n Bomb was nearly in his shoes.

If only someone like Steven/William Regal had been on the roster in 1993 - he might've made that Ringmaster concept fly with fans, but it absolutely didn't fit Clark. It didn't even fit Austin, and he was a better worker.