5 Times WWE Offered Short-Term Fixes To Long-Term Problems

4. The Fake Razor & Diesel Debacle

Fake Razor Ramon Diesel
WWE

Vince McMahon must have been having kittens when two of his biggest stars left the promotion to join rivals WCW in 1996. Or maybe full-blown cats.

Scott Hall and Kevin Nash's departure left a near-13 foot hole at the top of the Chairman's top-tier, and it was one he had no idea how to fill. So he had a genius solution: pretend it never happened.

Jim Ross repeatedly teased that 'Razor Ramon' and 'Diesel' were returning to the WWF in late-1996. This turned out to be true - sort-of. Instead of a dramatic return by the departed duo, Rick Bognar and Glenn Jacobs were squeezed into the pair's old costumes and popped up on TV acting as if nothing was amiss. The Butlins' Outsiders caused a lot of embarrassment to fans duped by JR's phony claims.

The actual reveal wasn't the key part here - it was actually a pretty slick bit of meta-storytelling, designed to turn JR heel (for what reason, God only knows). The WWF's teasing for weeks and weeks was designed to drum up interest in Raw when there was realistically no chance that the real Razor and Diesel were going to waltz back onto federation programming. Instead of trying to find viable replacement, McMahon instead tried to pull the wool over his audience's face.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.