What If? - Austin Never Turned Heel at Mania X-7

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Continuing my What If? Series (which I'm thinking of changing the name of. If you have a good name for it, let me know.), What if Stone Cold Steve Austin never turned heel on The Rock at WrestleMania X-7 and aligned himself with Mr. McMahon? How would 2001 have played out? Would the Invasion still have been crap? Would there be the two man power trip of Austin and HHH? Would HHH still have gotten hurt? Voice your opinion below.
 

jminter2698

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Continuing my What If? Series (which I'm thinking of changing the name of. If you have a good name for it, let me know.), What if Stone Cold Steve Austin never turned heel on The Rock at WrestleMania X-7 and aligned himself with Mr. McMahon? How would 2001 have played out? Would the Invasion still have been crap? Would there be the two man power trip of Austin and HHH? Would HHH still have gotten hurt? Voice your opinion below.
Had Austin never turned heel then the WWF's ratings don't flush down the toilet because The Rock leaving after the RAW the day WrestleMania X-Seven and Triple H teaming up with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon after the two of them were his enemies for so many years, were why a lot of people stopped watching wrestling after that because Austin being the anti hero against HHH and McMahon was a big part of what made it popular and Austin going heel along with The Rock leaving fucked it all up. So if Austin doesn't go heel, Triple H doesn't team up with him and he doesn't get injured because he was teaming up with him at the time when he tore his left quadriceps (the first time not the second time because he did it again in 2007 on the other leg). As for how The Invasion angle plays out, Austin not turning heel changes everything too.
 

Tyler2

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Well I started watching WWE in 2004 but from what I've studied if he'd stayed face WWE would be booming and doing the millions of dollars dance
 

Paul Diaz-Berrio

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Continuing my What If? Series (which I'm thinking of changing the name of. If you have a good name for it, let me know.), What if Stone Cold Steve Austin never turned heel on The Rock at WrestleMania X-7 and aligned himself with Mr. McMahon? How would 2001 have played out? Would the Invasion still have been crap? Would there be the two man power trip of Austin and HHH? Would HHH still have gotten hurt? Voice your opinion below.

I feel that Austin should never have turned babyface in the first place. I think he actually harmed the company by becoming a babyface, because WWE turned him into a fan favorite for the benefit of the audience, thereby making selling Austin, rather than letting him stay true to the heel character he was when he signed up. In the create your own company thread, I expressed my feelings on the matter of turns from heel to face and vice versa. I don´t like them, I don´t appreciate people changing from good to bad, or bad to good. I much prefer people to stay true to the identities that they had when they came in.

Triple H would never have gotten injured had Austin still been a heel. He´d never have been paired with him, so he´d never have lost the part of his career he did and he´d have gotten on with it instead of having to sit on the sidelines. The Two man power trip was a weak way to create a litle more excitement and I say weak because from 98-01, Austin had spent years of his life playing the opposite of the guy that made WWE so devilishly delicious back in 1996.

In the end, 2001 sucked because of the rather scatterbrained idea of returning Austin to form. They should´ve just left him to be a heel and then they wouldn´t have had to bother about the shock of a heel turn, the mysterious new show of allegiance to a man he was against for two years. That hurt Austin´s credibility, in the sense it made him look like a two faced bastard.
 

Grievous 3D

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I feel that Austin should never have turned babyface in the first place. I think he actually harmed the company by becoming a babyface, because WWE turned him into a fan favorite for the benefit of the audience, thereby making selling Austin, rather than letting him stay true to the heel character he was when he signed up. In the create your own company thread, I expressed my feelings on the matter of turns from heel to face and vice versa. I don´t like them, I don´t appreciate people changing from good to bad, or bad to good. I much prefer people to stay true to the identities that they had when they came in.

Triple H would never have gotten injured had Austin still been a heel. He´d never have been paired with him, so he´d never have lost the part of his career he did and he´d have gotten on with it instead of having to sit on the sidelines. The Two man power trip was a weak way to create a litle more excitement and I say weak because from 98-01, Austin had spent years of his life playing the opposite of the guy that made WWE so devilishly delicious back in 1996.

In the end, 2001 sucked because of the rather scatterbrained idea of returning Austin to form. They should´ve just left him to be a heel and then they wouldn´t have had to bother about the shock of a heel turn, the mysterious new show of allegiance to a man he was against for two years. That hurt Austin´s credibility, in the sense it made him look like a two faced bastard.
So...basically you don't think one of the most popular faces
in the history of professional wrestling should ever have been
a face in the first place?

I mean...I'm all for different opinions & views...but...that just
seems...wrong...to me.

I actually think the WWE made a great move by running with
Austin & letting him evolve into a badass everyone cheered
for.

Seriously...when that glass shattered...the arenas could barely
contain the sound.

If only they did that these days...perhaps more of their audience
would actually leave their shows happy.
 
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Seeing as my screwjob what if just blew up, I thought I would bump this and see if it gets anywhere close to the same reaction as my other what if did.

Yes. I know people shouldn't bump a thread just for the sake of bumping it but this is not that.

Proceed as you may...
 
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bullyballmm

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Like I said, before my time (also I must have misremembered, I started watching in 2009 after Mania, not in 2010)

I haven't heard much about the Austin heel turn relative to other wrestling events that occurred before my time as a wrestling fan (e.g. the controversial Montreal Screwjob), so I assume out of whatever else is going to be in this "What If?" series, this would have the least impact on the wrestling world if it (in this case didn't) happen
 

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Many people who say Austin turning heel was the end of the wrestling boom and made the ratings flush down the toilet are wrong. The ratings were the same post-WrestleMania X-Seven with heel Austin.
Many say Austin's heel turn was the reason for the end of a wrestling boom which is funny because around the same time WCW and ECW disappeared so the wrestling fans had no real alternatives in North America.
You have on one only one wrestler, a popular one but still only one guy and on the other side you have 2 popular companies with loyal fans for years coming to an end so guess what was more responsible for the end of the wrestling boom.

Although I agree that Austin's heel turn was the straw that broke the camel's back where most fans said "First WCW and ECW gone and now Austin works with McMahon and Triple H, I have no motivation to watch it" I don't think that's the main reason.
Ironically the ratings went down 1 year later after Austin walked out unhappy with the company. Until May 2002 WWE had the same ratings they had with face Austi although many can claim the ratings didn't drop because WCW was bought at the same time and people tuned in to see WWE shows with heel Austin because of the Invasion storyline expecting to see Goldberg, Hogan and Sting to show up and not because heel Austin wasn't a failure.

What if Austin didn't turn heel? The Invasion storyline would still be crap because Austin being a heel or face had nothing to do with WCW big stars choosing to sit home for more money waiting for their contract to expire. Austin not turning heel means the Two Man Power Trip would not make any sense. Injuries happen because a wrestler is at the wrong place at the wrong time with an unlucky timing. With Austin having a different booking in 2001 means Triple H would also being booked different and their match vs Benoit & Jericho where Triple H got injured would not happen
 
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NovaGB

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The Invasion was crap because they had every one except for the top guys, no Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Sting, Bret Hart, they literally had Booker T and DDP.

IF they had the top guys they could have booked the following so well..

Undertaker Vs Sting
Stone Cold Vs Goldberg
DX vs nWo
Stone Cold Vs Hogan
Angle vs Bret Hart.

But instead they started switching the WWF guys that had wrestled in WCW years ago as WCW's top guys, like Austin, Jericho etc, it just felt wrong.

And to top it off they got Goldberg and the NWO guys in only like a year later because of all of that Time Warner contract stuff so they should have just waited.

Its a shame Vince couldn't smooth things over with Bret Hart and convince Sting earlier.