TEW20 - Flashpoint 2020 | Over the Edge, by Fleish

What Is the Flashpoint Series?

Well to give it it's full name "Over The Edge: Flashpoint" are mods where Owen Hart never fell to his death at the Over The Edge PPV. It then changes the timeline from this date (remember, everything that happens before the timeline interruption remains the same as with Flashpoint, or if you're not familiar with that comic book term, then the Butterfly Effect).

The Story 1999-2018

Over the Edge (1999) and the Raw after.

Vince McMahon wanted to have Owen Hart appear from the rafters, and descend into the ring. Owen, who was seemingly already being punished by having to endure the Blue Blazer gimmick again was reluctant. After trying the stunt on Sunday Night Heat in November 1998, Owen stated he did not like the height and refused to do the entrance telling McMahon, "I'm not doing the entrance, fire me if you want but there is no way I am doing that stunt again. I hated it in November, and it affected my performance due to the diziness I suffered."

McMahon tried to persuade Owen that the entrance would be something to be remembered, but Owen stuck to his guns and said he will sit the show out if McMahon tried to force him to do something he felt was dangerous and with little pay off to the owen Hart character.

Vince relented and told Owen that because he was refusing to do the stunt entrance, he was giving his IC Title match to Jeff Jarrett with Blue Blazer being beaten down backstage, writing him out of the match.

Jarrett would win the title and dedicated it to Owen, vowing to find whoever beat him down backstage and exact revenge.

The next night on Raw, Owen came out alongside Jarrett, Debra and without the Blue Blazer gimmick and cut a promo saying how he was sick of the WWF taking away his opportunities and paying for the sins of his brother. He said they could stick the Blue Blazer gimmick up their ass and if McMahon wanted to make him wear the ridiculous costume, he'd have to come down to the ring and put it on him by force.

Jarrett then said that last night he won the belt for Owen and handed Hart the title belt. Jarrett said he only had the belt because Owen had been assaulted backstage and that he wasn't about to take away what his friend had been promised.

Owen looked confused at first but then realising they had one-upped Vince, he smiled and raised his arms, prompting the chairman to come out to the stage.

McMahon told Owen he couldn't just be given the belt by his friend and that if he wanted the title, he would have to fight Jarrett for it later tonight. "Make no mistake Owen, that belt is my property, and I decide if someone is given it or not." growled McMahon. "Oh and one last thing, if you even think about just laying down Jarrett, not only will you be stripped of the title, but you will both end up working in catering!"

Later that evening, during the match between Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett, with Owen in full control of his friend and tag team partner, Vince McMahon came down to ringside distracting the referee. this allowed Mark Henry to come in from the crowd and assault Owen, allowing Jarrett to pick up the pinfall victory. After the match Mark Henry entered the ring and hit a huge splash on Owen before leaving. Jarrett and Debra checked on Owen, before helping him to his feet and to the back.

To be continued...

... The Continuation

The next week on Raw, Owen and Jeff were in a tag team against Mark Henry & D'Lo Brown. As Owen was about to put D'Lo in the Sharpshooter, Mark Henry stole Jarretts guitar and hit Owen over the head, causing a DQ. This tag team feud would continue and culminate in a cage match at King of the Ring between the two teams. During the match, Jarrett escaped the cage, leaving Owen alone to fight off both Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown. D'Lo then made his escape from the cage, leaving Mark Henry and Owen. Just as Henry was about to leave through the door, Jarrett ran and slammed the door on his head, knocking him out cold. This allowed Owen to escape over the top, with Jarrett and Owen winning the match.

The next night on Raw, saw Jarrett start a feud with Edge over the IC Title when Edge interrupted Jarretts non-title match with The Godfather, causing him to lose. Owen came down to assist his friend and nailed Edge from behind with Jarretts guitar. The crowd began to boo Owen, to which he flashed them a smirk and proceeded to put Edge in the Shapshooter. The next couple of weeks saw a bit of a rift form between Hart & Jarrett, with Owen becoming increasingly more "heelish" in his behaviour.

At Fully Loaded 99, Edge defeated Jarrett for the IC Title when Owen came down to the ring, and hit Jarrett with his own guitar. At first Owen looked shocked, playing on the "it was an accident" role. He entered the ring after the match to see if Jarrett was Ok, helping him up to his feet. As Jarrett asked Owen what he was playing at, Debra hit a low blow on Jarrett from behind as Owen then DDT'd Jarrett into the mat, cementing himself as a heel in the process.

Unfortunately, their feud would take an abrupt halt, when Owen injured his back in a match against D-Lo Brown (who Jarrett would then spend time feuding with over the IC Title after winning it back from Edge).

During a Jeff Jarrett vs. Al Snow match, Owen Hart would make his return a couple of months later, knocking out his former partner and raising the IC Title belt above his head. A match was signed for WWF No Mercy 1999, with the loser having to leave the WWF, and the winner being the IC Champion. The match was won by Owen Hart, who began his third reign as Intercontinental Champion, and Jarrett was forced to leave (his contract was up and he'd already agreed to join WCW).

Owen Hart would then go on to win 2 WWF World Heavyweight titles (June 25, 2000 to October 22, 2000 and April 1, 2001 to September 23, 2001) and a further Intercontinental reign (September 6 2004 to September 12, 2004) before retiring from in ring duty in 2005. In 2010 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of fame. Owen still makes the odd appearance now and then, but not in an in ring capacity.

Owen's alive! How exactly has that 1 event changed things in the world though? Well that my friends is the beauty of the Butterfly Effect, it can create huge differences, or it can create smaller, less significant differences.

One Remains... One Never Got Started. The biggest difference

The landscape of the United States scene is pretty much as it is in our timeline... well except WCW stayed in business (I researched the potential buyers and chose Randy Savage as the new owner - I read that he made a bid in real life for the tape library but was too late as WWE were already in advanced talks). Jeff Jarrett became a huge part of WCW (eventually becoming their head booker in 2009 when Arn Anderson wanted to lighten his duties and stepped down into a more advisory role) and as such, Total Nonstop Action Global Force Impact Wrestling was never created.

The WCW never reached the heights it had done in 1996, but maintained a steady pace moving forward, both creating new stars and bringing in the underutilised and released WWE workers over time. They have a solid roster with several decent names (Cody Rhodes joined in 2016, Drew Galloway, Ryback, Damien Sandow etc). One of WCW's biggest home grown stars from the mid 00's (Mark Jindrak) opted to leave the company when they refused to pay him what he believed he was worth. The former 3 time World Champion headed down to CMLL and never looked back.

WCW and WWE's rivalry also cooled over time, with both companies concentrating on their own respective business and not paying the other too much attention. In a 2008 interview, Savage was quoted as saying "I didn't buy the company to beat the WWE, I bought it for the tape library. I don't see any point in "Wars" on any day of the week and we will concentrate on our model, and they can concentrate on theirs. It's about making money for me now and not enemies." In 2015, Savage would step away from the business (He remains the owner of WCW) and would place long time booker, Jeff Jarrett as CEO. Jarrett brought in Scott D'Amore to head up his booking team having seen his work in Stampede. There were rumours in late 2016, that Savage was about to sell up, but when questioned about this, Jarrett said he had spoken to Savage and there was no truth to the matter."

Another smaller change to the United States was that NXT was a company Paul Heyman had suggested opening in a conversation with Triple H. A hybrid promotion with a lot more in ring action and a more Indie wrestling feel. Triple H loved the idea and took it to Vince McMahon who gave him the go ahead to open it as the WWE's new development league. Triple H was appointed CEO of NXT , with Heyman acting as the head booker.

Other Happenings...

Neville was released from NXT in 2015 and never made it to the main roster... where oh where did PAC end up?

Uhaa "Apollo Crews" Nation was never signed to the WWE, neither was AJ Styles Curtis Axel left, and headed to WCW where his dad is (very much alive) and doing colour commentary for the WCW. He is using the name J.C. Hennig and has had a little success (especially alongside his tag partner Matt Morgan as The Blueprints of Perfection).

I don't want to give too much more away as to where some people have ended up, and which wrestlers were never signed by WWE but they do have a slightly less bloated roster as there was never a reason for a brand split.

Also, the title situation...

WWE World Heavyweight Title
WWE Intercontinental Title
WWE World Tag Team Titles
WWE Women's Title
WWE Cruiserweight Title (The Cruiserweight Classic happened)
There are none of the other "brand split" belts in the data, they are all the original belt's (including the Women's being the lineage that dates back to Moolah) which I have updated. No, the UK Tournament did not happen so there is no WWE United Kingdom championship.

I have also done all the lineages for WCW belts from 2001-2018. Although the WCW Television title was not reinstated until July 2014, and the WCW Women's title didn't make a comeback until April 2016.

Canada saw a change in it's landscape with Stampede Wrestling making a comeback in 2010. Bret Hart re-opened the company as due to Owen never dying at Over the Edge, Bret didn't get bitter towards the industry. He had a semi-successful run in WCW and never suffered the botched Mule Kick from Goldberg. He left the company in January 2008 and made a shocking return to the WWE as the on air General Manager from March 2008 until he re-opened Stampede in May 2010.

The company promotes 2 title belts, the original Stampede North American Heavyweight title, which dates back to 1968 and the newly created (well in 2010) Stampede North American Tag Team belts. Two of the most successful tag teams in recent years have been Jack Evans & Teddy Hart (Hart Foundation 2.0) and Ashley Sixx & William Brady (both teams are 4 time holders). In 2015, Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart came out of retirement to win the tag team titles from Ashley Sixx & William Brady after Bret (as the on air authority) had tired of their constant rule breaking. The match stipulated that if Bret and (at the time) his mystery partner beat Sixx & Brady, they would be crowned the tag champions, but if Sixx and Brady won, then Hart handed control of Stampede over to them for one year.

The company uses various wrestlers from across Canada and America on their shows but usually have a few "regulars" who appear frequently.

In 2017 Bret Hart & Vince McMahon struck a deal with the WWE to show Stampedes big events on the WWE Network. They also began running a 1 hour weekly show on the network. The public were of the opinion that WWE was also funding them. Hart stated in an interview that although they were appearing on the Network, they were only getting exposure and no monetary gain from the WWE at all - and that it afforded them the use of the vast Video Library from Stampede's past that Vince McMahon owned which would normally cost them a fortune to use.

WoS Wrestling re-opened in 2005 but remain a small promotion for the time being (32 Popularity across the UK). They do not have any PPV events and run a strictly TV Only schedule (Saturday Afternoons on ITV).

They have 2 titles, the WoS British Heavyweight Title has been the main belt since the re-opening in 2005 (with Sha Samuels having held the title on 4 occasions - the record number of times held by one person). The current champion is Paul Burchill (his 3rd reign) who didn't leave the business in this alternative timeline.

Their WoS British Heavyweight Tag Team was unveiled in 2012, with Will Ospreay and Scotty Essex the first Champions. The current champions (and holders of the belt on the most occasions) are Jody Fleisch & Jonny Storm who are currently on their 4th reign. They beat Trent Seven & Pete Dunne who have currently left the company.

AJ Styles stayed with WCW (2001 until present) and became one of the Franchises of the company, he never jumped to the WWE. He did however spend time in Japan at various times between 2014 & 2016 due to the working agreement between NJPW and WCW. He also had a small run with ROH when WCW loaned him to the company in 2003. In 2017, AJ, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson reformed the nWo faction (nWo: Evolved) and began a feud with Shelton Benjamin & Jake Hager (The former Jack Swagger). During his tenure with WCW he has held the Cruiserweight Title (5 reigns), Tag Team Titles (2 reigns with Christopher Daniels), The United States Title (2 reigns) and the World Heavyweight Title (5 reigns).

Samoa Joe also opted for a career with WCW, having some great matches with AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels in the companies attempt to rebuild it's identity. His most notable feud however came when he and J.C. Hennig fought over the WCW United States title, with Hennig beating Joe for the belt in May 2016, only to drop it back to him 4 months later.

Finn Balor (who?) That's right, Prince Devitt never made it to the WWE either. Instead he continued with his role as Bullet Club leader in NJPW. He moved up from the Junior Division and began fighting in the Heavyweight class (despite still being one of the smaller guys on the roster). He has held the IWGP Heavyweight title on 2 occasions

Ted DiBiase Jr. was an instant hit with Vince McMahon who began building him as a top heel in the company giving him his first World title reign in August 2011. Unfortunately this would only last 1 month before he dropped the belt to John Cena in September that same year. A month later, he would regain the belt, only to drop it after only another month! This time, he lost it to CM Punk. The next 5 years saw DiBiase drop down the card, usually in filler matches. That was until he was given a second chance to prove he could run as a top heel. Having worked on his ability both in the ring and on the mic, his third reign as World Champion would last a little longer (4 months) from September 206 until January 2017, when he lost the belt to his old nemesis, John Cena.

Roderick Strong was signed to the WWE (bypassing NXT) in 2016. He made an instant impact when he won the Intercontinental Title on his debut. This was following an open challenge by the Miz to "anyone in the World who thought they had what it took to be a WWE Superstar". This brought the surprise appearance of Strong from the crowd to accept. He would only hold the title 5 weeks before losing the title back to The Miz. His second reign was only slightly longer when once again he defeated the Miz for the title before 2 months later dropping it back to the "A-Lister".

Cezar Bononi signed a contract with WCW in 2016 rather than accepting an NXT deal with WWE. He started out as the hired muscle for newcomer, Tony Nese. After a few months however, Bononi became tired of Nese's abuse and knocked his former "boss" out. This made him an instant fan favourite. Afetr a short feud with Nese, Bononi was given an opportunity to wrestle for the United States title when he beat (in an upset some say) Samoa Joe. He then stunned the entire WCW World when he beat James Storm to become the United States champion in March 2018.

There are a lot more changes (both complete and in the pipeline) but thought I'd share those as they are a few of the bigger surprises (but not all).

Lex Luger continued wrestling with WCW until his contract ended in 2002. Neither he nor Savage wanted to renew the deal due to their real life feud surrounding Miss Elizabeth. Luger went on to wrestle for various NWA affiliated promotions, capturing the NWA World Heavyweight title from November 2002 - June 2003, again in October 2003 - April 2004 and finally a one month reign from September 2005 - October 2005. Luger retired in 2006 and 2 years later, both he and Savage mended their relationship, which would see Luger eventually inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 2014.

Booker T left WCW for the WWE in September 2001. He remained with the WWE until 2007, winning the WWE Hardcore Titile (2 reigns), the WWE World Tag Team titles (3 reigns), the WWE King of the Ring and the WWE Intercontinental Championship. He made a surprise return to WCW in 2007 and eventually retired from in ring action in 2013. He was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 2014. He was inducted again into the WCW Hall of Fame, this time as part of the Harlem Heat Tag Team with his brother Stevie Ray. He is now on the Commentary Team for WCW Thunder alongside Mike Tenay.

Scott Steiner stayed with WCW, still wrestling for them occasionally today. He won the tag team titles another 4 times, as well as a United States title reign in 2010. In 2017, he and his brother Rick were inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame tag team wing. In 2015, Scott began taking on a lighter schedule with the company.

Eddie Guerrero is currently working for AAA in Mexico as a member of the booking team and wrestles on a limited, part-time basis. He left WWE in 2014 following 2 reigns as their World Champion in Februay 2004 (his real life reign) and December 2009. At that point, Eddie was 47 and looking to wind down his career due to health scares. In 2005, his nephew Chavo, found him unconscious in his hotel room. Eddie was revived by the paramedics and spent 6 months away from the business whilst he recuperated. He was again taken ill in 2013 and doctors told him he should start slowing down and maybe consider retirement. He won the AAA Campeon de Parejas alongside Pentagon Jr in December 2014 with the team holding onto the belts for 10 months. Penta would carry the bulk of the in ring work during their defences, with Eddie getting the "hot tag". Eddie also took Penta under his wing, mentoring him.

Charlotte Flair began her career with WCW in 2012 and helped catapult their women's division in 2016. Charlotte had the opportunity to join the ranks of NXT but opted to continue her fathers legacy in WCW instead. She is currently enjoying her 4th reign as women's champion and has had a heated rivalry with our next WCW Women's division competitor...

Nattie Neidhart was the first Women's champion in WCW since Devil Masami in 1997. Nattie started out working in the WWE developmental leagues before making her main roster debut in 2008. She would spend 5 years with the company before leaving in 2013. In 2014 Nattie joined the WCW and spent the next 2 years setting the women's division alight with Charlotte Flair, becoming the WCW Women's champion on 3 occasions.

AJ Lee remained one of the WWE's biggest female draws until she left the company in 2015. She took a bit of a hiatus from the ring before turning up as April Lee in Stardom in 2017! She had been living in Japan for a couple of years with her husband, CM Punk (that stories coming soon) and decided to step back in the ring when she realised just how much she missed competing.

A tiny something extra about the women's scene...

2012 saw the return of one of the 1980's most popular cult favourites, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling! Bought by Canyon Cemen, the company held it's comeback show in May 2012. The show was deemed a success, with fans praising the 4 corners match for the new G.L.O.W. Queen of the Ring championship, which has become the primary belt for the company. The match involved Glory (Christie Ricci) defeating Shark Girl (Daffney), Paige Webb (Serena Deeb) and Kandi Kisses (Lizzy Valentine) to become the inaugural champion. The show also featured Siren (Shelly Martinez), Felony (Rain, Bonnie Maxon), Beatrice Bristol (Holly Blossom) and Brooke Lynn (Becky Bayless). The company (along with SHIMMER & SHINE) became a part of an alliance dubbed "RISE Women's Alliance".

So what changed in the UK? WoS re-opened, and NWA UK: Hammerlock never closed.

WoS was bought by John Chapman who initially only wanted to use the tape library when he saw that British wrestling was on it's way back. He figured investing now would make him huge profits in the future, however there was so much talk on the internet about WoS Wrestling making a comeback, he decided to hold a "One Off" show in 2005. The show was such a success that he decided to bring the company back full time after ITV, agreed to air a weekly show due (in part) to them owning the World of Sport name (Chapman was allowed to use the WoS Wrestling name and tape library but could not take the company to say the BBC to air). Their first show back on TV was headlined by Doug Williams vs. Drew McDonald to crown the WoS British Heavyweight Champion. The card also saw Alex Shane defeat Johnny Storm, Mark Sloan defeat Andy Simmonz and Jody Fleisch defeat Jimmy Havoc.

NWA UK: Hammerlock stayed open, even after the death of owner Andre Baker. Both Danny Garnell and current CEO Johnny Kidd help run the company and have remained a part of the NWA. The company almost closed down in 2015, however they were saved at the 11th hour by an unknown backer who took the company over. In April 2017, Fergal "Prince" Devitt made a couple of appearances for the company, winning the United Kingdom Heavyweight title from Joel Masters before dropping it back to him and heading back to Japan. Jimmy Havoc is currently enjoying his third reign as NWA United Kingdom Heavyweight champion after beating Naoki Tanizaki for the title in February 2018.

The Story of Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt has been causing hell on the denizens of the WWE Universe since he, Rowan & Harper made their main roster debut in 2012. "The Eater of Worlds" has shown no remorse in his quest to destroy each and every obstacle in his path. The Wyatts first made their presence known during a match between John Cena & Randy Orton, when mid match the lights went out and Bray could be seen on the Titantron, laughing before blowing out his lantern. When the lights came back on, Cena and Orton looked bewildered.

It would be 2 weeks before the Wyatt's showed up on an episode of Raw, taking out Kane and destroying the Big Red Machine before carrying his limp body from the ring. Harper & Rowan would continue assaulting wrestlers week after week at Brays order, until Kane returned! The crowd went wild at the thought of Kane finally getting some revenge, but it was short lived and once again Kane was left a heap in the ring (Kane was due to take time off so this was WWE's way of writing him out of stories).

The Wyatts became a dominant force over the next few months, with Bray getting a number of victories over stars such as Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton & even John Cena (before his heel turn). It appeared no one could stop The Wyatt Family's reign of terror, until The Shield interrupted one of Bray Wyatts "Sermons" to the crowd. This set up a match for 2013's SummerSlam event in which the 3 members of the Shield would take on the Wyatt family. The match was an absolute bloodbath with Dean Ambrose finally getting pinned by Bray Wyatt following the return of Kane, who took out Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins before getting beaten down by Rowan & Harper. Kane would feud with the Wyatts for the remainder of 2013, defeating both Rowan & Harper in singles action, before losing to Bray Wyatt at TLC in December.

At the 2014 Royal Rumble, Bray began calling out The Undertaker for a match at Wrestlemania (believing the Undertaker to "fear" The Eater of Worlds), but 'Taker didn't respond. Instead, the next night on Raw, Bray informed the live crowd that Sister Abigail was coming! Mind games began between Bray and 'Taker throughout February & March. On the 31st March edition of Raw, during a match between Bray Wyatt and Zack Ryder, a veiled woman came down to the ring, torn nuns dress, her pale (painted) face with smeared Mascara and a rosary in hand. The sight of her made Zack lose focus and Bray used the distraction to pick up the win. The woman let out a blood curdling scream towards Bray as he stood laughing in her direction. Was this Sister Abigail? Yes, yes it was. And this was confirmed on the next episode of Smackdown Live, when Wyatt introduced her. (Note: Sister Abigail in this timeline was played by Su Yung).

Bray Wyatt cemented his place in history when at Wrestlemania XXX he ended the Undertakers undefeated streak! The crowd were in shock. Bray looked at the fallen Undertaker, laughing like a maniac, malice in his eyes before Harper & Rowan took the fallen Undertaker to the back.

In August 2015, The Wyatts got even stronger when they debuted Braun Strowman as their 4th member. Braun, an unstable 6'8", 385lb mountain of a man began decimating every single one of Bray's enemies, however it was his instability that would soon see him turn against his Stablemates when Bray ordered Rowan & Harper to destroy Braun following his attack on Sister Abigail the week before that saw her slap Braun, only for him to chokeslam her through the announce table (effectively "killing" the character following Su Yung leaving the company). After a mini-feud with Braun that culminated in a 3-1 match, Bray would go on to win the WWE World Heavyweight title at the TLC PPV in 2015, the first of his multiple reigns.

In 2017, Su Yung would return to the WWE as Sister Abigail, tormenting (the now Face) Braun Strowman with shrieks and wails - causing Braun to lose to Bray Wyatt at Fastlane, and helping him retain the World title. Sister Abigail would then go on to feud with several of the women in the Women's division before once again, in January 2018 leaving the company.

In February 2018, The Wyatt Family would gain a new member following the void left by Sister Abigail, when during a Title Defence against Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt was assisted by Paige! Now calling herself the "Sister of Anarchy". Paige would also help Bray retain his title at Wrestlemania 34 against Shinsuke Nakamura.

So that's 1999 up until 2018 but this is Flashpoint 2020... what happens between those 2 years???? Well, you'll have to just download it and play it to find out!