Former WWE Superstar believed he would defeat The Undertaker to become World Champion in 1997
Was The Undertaker scheduled to drop the WWE Championship before he lost it to Bret Hart at SummerSlam 1997?
Ahmed Johnson was initially scheduled to face The Undertaker for the title on July 6 at Canadian Stampede. However, an injury to Johnson leading into the bout forced WWE to change the matchup.
The former Intercontinental Champion was a recent guest on the Iron-On Wrestling Podcast to discuss a wide variety of subjects. In one highlight, Johnson revealed that he believed he was going to become WWE Champion that night, but he wasn't certain.
"I think I was," said Johnson. "I think I was. I don't know, I can’t say for 100%. but the way they were building it up, I think it was going to be for me and The Nation and it fell through," Ahmed Johnson said. "Vince made the decision, I believe, for me to turn. I think it was a good one. Because we had so much heat with each other. I didn't think that the turn was built at the point that they were doing it, but I see why, once you have me give The Undertaker my finish, it started to come together. That's what he was planning on doing."
Can't say enough good things about my interview with Ahmed Johnson. Legit LOL'ed when I asked him about Pearl River, Mississippi.
Watch the full video on the @IronOnWrestling YouTube channel or download the entire audio interview on your fav podcast platform. https://t.co/GMUojFjEEz
Ahmed Johnson believes defeating The Undertaker would have led to him taking over The Nation of Domination
When Johnson was unable to compete, The Deadman went on to defeat WWE Hall of Famer Vader instead.
Due to the injury and the change to the match, Vince McMahon decided to pull the plug on Ahmed Johnson being the leader of the group and take him out of it altogether. In the same interview, the powerhouse recalled how the chairman told him that he was being removed from the group.
"I think I would have become the leader of The Nation," Ahmed Johnson said. "It would have been a trip but when we broke apart, Vince called us into his office and he was like, ‘Ahmed, I'm going to have to take you out of The Nation.’ I was like, ‘What? You just put me in The Nation.’ We asked him why and he said, ‘I was watching you guys walk down the ramp. There's nobody that's going to believe that you guys can be beaten by anybody so therefore, I'm going to take you out and you can go back to fighting The Nation.’ But by that time, we had been fighting for almost a year. but the crowd loved every minute of every time that we did." [H/T: Fightful]
Basketballs don't hold grudges.. but can we say the same about this week's guest Ahmed Johnson?
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Could you imagine Ahmed Johnson as WWE Champion in 1997? It would certainly be interesting to see how the professional wrestling timeline would have played out back then if Johnson defeated The Undertaker.