No Start, Timing Issue?

'90 XJ 4.0 Renix
Ok.
Over the weekend I replaced the valve cover gasket, front and rear main seals, oil pump, and oil pan gasket. After I finished the job, I pulled the distributor to prime the oil pump. As of right now, it'll crank really strong and sound like it's starting to catch, then it'll bog down and crank less and less strongly.
I can hear the fuel pump running like crazy, so I'm going to start troubleshooting on the spark side of things.
First off, I'm wondering if I somehow set the timing off when I pulled the distributor and replaced it. I made sure to align everything the same way that it came out, but it's totally possible that the slotted end of the dizzy shaft rotated some when going into the oil pump. I'm suspicious of the timing as it started just fine before I did all of the work, and I'm a bit wary of messing with the dizzy. Isn't the timing managed by the Renix system? So.. shouldn't it be calibrated by such? It just sounds like the timing is off when it bogs down.
I pulled the coil to distrib wire to check for spark last night, and I saw that the wires look HORRIBLE. Way corroded and aged. I didn't have an extra spark plug to check for spark, and I didn't have the nerve to plug something into the boot to test the arc to the block. I'm going to get new wires, rotor, cap, and plugs today to test for spark when I get the chance. Possibly pulling the dizzy out and straining some wires was the last straw for one of them?
I want to know what the deal with the timing is before I continue trying to crank it. No need to damage anything further by something that easy.

Lastly, so long as I realigned the HD on the woodruff key, shouldn't everything be correct down that way? Is there any way to check or confirm HD alignment short of pulling it again? I can put it at TDC and check the timing mark, right? Thanks all.

Your correct, the Dizzy don't effect timing, so they use a term called Indexing. The rotor still must be on #1 at the same time #1 is fired by the Renix ECU, your probably a tooth off.

Sounds like you put the distributor in wrong. Time to do base timing. You do know how to do that right? If not, here's the breakdown.

Don't pull the wires yet, look at which one goes to the number one cyl. Put the engine at TDC on compression stroke. To do this, pull the number 1 plug put your finger over the spark plug hole then bump it until compression trys to blow your finger off the hole, it's on the compression stroke then. Continue to bring the timing mark up to TDC. Now that it is on TDC for number 1, pop the cap on the distributor and see if the rotor is pointing at the terminal for the number 1 wire. If not, pull distributor and rotate the rotor until you can seat it and the rotor is pointing pretty close to the number 1 terminal. Button it up and start it.

Thanks. I reset the timing, but still no luck. It's cranking... getting fuel and getting spark.

At this point I've exhausted my bank account, so it's time to go out and just do some wire tracing and sensor re-plugging.

Ok... so I started secondguessing my job on setting the timing the first go round. Or perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I had my girlfriend help me find TDC. So, I went ahead and reset it by myself and it fired right up. I've got a few other gremlins to hunt down now, but at least it's running.
Thanks.