What If…Part 2

Welcome to part two of my "What If" trilogy. If you are saying, "Part two? I don't remember part one", then click here to read the first part. I got a lot to cover so I'm going to dive right into the "What Ifs" and skip an introduction.

What if Shawn Michaels had a match for the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania 13?


On February 13, 1997, Shawn Michaels "lost his smile" and vacated the WWF Championship. Michaels said that doctors told him he had a knee injury and he was forced to retire. Michaels returned to the WWF just a few months later but he missed Wrestlemania 13. At Wrestlemania 13, the WWF Championship was on the line in a match between Sycho Sid and the Undertaker. On that same night, Bret Hart defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin in a submission match. The match is considered to be one of the greatest matches in WWE history and the image of Austin not quitting despite bleeding profusely from his head while Bret had him in the Sharpshooter helped Austin become a legend. There are rumors on the internet that say that Michaels didn't really injure his knee. The internet rumors say that the WWF wanted him to drop the title to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13 and Michaels didn't want to do the job so the WWF started a retirement angle for Michaels. Stone Cold Steve Austin won the 1996 Royal Rumble so if those rumors aren't true, does that mean Michaels would have faced Austin at Wrestlemania? The winner of the Royal Rumble usually faces a WWE World Champion at Wrestlemania. However, there are other internet rumors that say Stone Cold was never booked to be in the main event despite being the official winner of the 1996 Royal Rumble. Those rumors could be true because Austin did not have a WWF Championship match at Wrestlemania but would that have stayed the same if Michaels was the champion? I don't know for sure that Michaels would have faced either Austin or Bret Hart if he had a WWF Championship match at Wrestlemania 13 but there might have been a completely different Wrestlemania 13 match card if Michaels was scheduled to defend his title that night. If Michaels defending his title at Wrestlemania 13 meant no Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold match, then I would say it is a very good thing that Shawn Michaels vacated his title. I'm not going to guess if he really was hurt or if he just didn't want to lose to Bret Hart. Shawn Michaels was gone from the WWF for only a few months so maybe the rumors of him not wanting to lose to Bret are true but that is not really important. What is important is that Austin's submission match with Bret helped Austin get closer to becoming a WWE legend and I don't want to know how Austin's career would have turned out if he didn't have that match.


What if The Rock never turned heel? 


When The Rock first started in the WWF, he was a babyface known as Rocky Maivia. The problem was that he had a gimmick that the fans didn't like. I wasn't watching the WWF when Rocky Maivia first debuted but what I have read and heard is that Rocky smiled too much and had good guy catchphrases like, "I'm going to always give my best, make my family proud, and be respectful to my opponents." This was during the start of the Attitude Era. The fans were into the anti-hero like Stone Cold Steve Austin. They rooted for the guys who beat up their own boss not the guy who would help an old lady cross the street. So, the fans weren't happy when Rocky got an immediate push after debuting. After winning the 1996 Survivor Series in his WWF debut, Rocky won the Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley only three months later. What I have learned as a WWE fan is that pushing a Superstar right away is not the best way to get a positive reaction from the fans. You need to build his character first. You can't just have him be the sole survivor at Survivor Series and give him the Intercontinental Championship and say, "Look at all the great things Rocky Maivia has accomplished! Isn't he great?" No wonder fans were chanting "Die Rocky Die" and "Rocky Sucks". I might have hated him too. The WWF must have had several Superstars who deserved a push and they gave a push to a guy whose gimmick was not popular with the fans yet. I can see why fans were upset that the WWF gave Rocky the Intercontinental Championship. The IC Title may not mean much now but back in 1997, it had a lot of value. The fans HATED Rocky and he received heel heat at Wrestlemania 13. Luckily the WWF realized they couldn't let Rocky be a face anymore so they turned him heel. Rocky turned heel on April 28, 1997 when he joined The Nation of Domination. Soon after that, he began calling himself "The Rock" and became one of the greatest heels of the Attitude Era. His heel character was so entertaining that the fans started liking him and he eventually went face again. After turning face, The Rock's career became legendary and became arguably the most entertaining Superstar in WWE history.


What if The Rock didn't turn heel? What if the WWF said, "Screw what the fans think…we are keeping Rocky as a face"? If Rocky Maivia never became The Rock, then I don't think he'd be a legend right now. Maybe Rocky would have tried to change his gimmick while still being a face but in real life, Rocky's name was Dwayne Johnson and Dwayne's motivation at the time was money. I'm sure Dwayne would have done whatever the WWF wanted him to do just so he wouldn't have to go back to making $175 a week playing football in Canada. If the WWF wanted to him to continue to be a boring face that nobody likes, then that's what Dwayne probably would have done. Rocky turning heel may have been the most important heel turn in WWE history because I think we would have never seen The Rock if Rocky never turned heel.


What if Owen Hart didn't break Stone Cold's neck?


On August 3, 1997, Stone Cold Steve Austin faced Owen Hart for the Intercontinental Championship at Summerslam in East Rutherford, New Jersey. During the match, Owen hit Austin with a piledriver but Owen landed on his rear end instead of landing on his knees. Because of this, Austin was dropped on his head and he broke his neck. Austin was even paralyzed for a moment but was able to crawl over to Owen and pin him for the win using a roll-up pin. Austin was forced to vacate the title but was able to return to the WWF right before Survivor Series that year. However, the injury caused him to have problems with his neck for the rest of his career. Doctors later told Austin that he could end up paralyzed if he continued to wrestle so in 2003, Austin had his final match at the age of 38. What if Austin didn't break his neck at Summerslam? Is it possible Stone Cold would be still wrestling in the WWE even if it was just part-time like the Undertaker? Or maybe he would be having a couple matches a year like Mick Foley did during his last stint with the WWE from 2004 to 2006. What great match-ups did we miss because of the neck injury? We could have seen Stone Cold vs. John Cena. We could have seen Stone Cold vs. Undertaker at Wrestlemania. We could have seen Stone Cold vs. Randy Orton or maybe even Stone Cold vs. Hulk Hogan. One thing I do know is that the WWE would definitely be more entertaining right if Stone Cold was making more than one or two appearances each year.


What if Owen Hart ended Stone Cold's career?


Instead of thinking about what great Stone Cold moments we might have missed, maybe we should be thankful for the great Stone Cold moments that we were able to see. Stone Cold's career could have ended that night in New Jersey at Summerslam. Austin said that he thought he was the next Christopher Reeve. Christopher Reeve was an actor (best known for playing "Superman") who became a quadriplegic after he was thrown off of a horse. In his "The Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin" DVD, Austin talked about his immediate reaction after the botched piledriver and he said, "I didn't think I was ever going to move again in my life." Wrestlers have been paralyzed in the ring before. Former WWF Superstar Droz is still a quadriplegic after he was paralyzed during a match with D-Lo Brown in 1999. The match took place at a WWF Smackdown! taping but since the taping wasn't live, the match was edited out of the Smackdown episode that aired two days later. Droz never wrestled again. Stone Cold's last match was almost six years after the accident. The Summerslam accident happened after Austin's Wrestlemania 13 match with Bret Hart but before his first title reign, his rivalry with Mr. McMahon, and his rivalry with The Rock. Austin career might have ended a little early but his career was long enough for him to have several classic moments.


What if Bret Hart never left the WWF?


In late 1997, Bret Hart decided to leave the WWF to join WCW. The exact reason why he left does not seem to be clear but from I read, it seems like Vince McMahon had no big future plans for Bret Hart at the time and both McMahon and Bret felt it would be best if Bret signed with WCW. I also read that Bret did not want to be in the WWF during the Attitude Era and liked the family-friendly version of the WWF better. Some internet articles say that McMahon wanted to terminate Bret's contract and asked Bret to leave because of financial problems. However, I also read that McMahon would have honored Bret's contract or renegotiate the contract if Bret wanted to stay so it seems like Bret had a decision and he picked WCW. At the time, it seemed like the right decision. WCW was going to pay Bret more money and Bret did not like how he was being used in the WWF. However, it was a hard decision for Bret because he wanted to stay with the WWF and he later said that he regretted leaving. After the decision to leave the WWF was made, McMahon and Bret had to decide what to do with Bret's WWF Championship Title. Bret had to drop the title at some point before he joined WCW. Again, the plan of what to do with the WWF Championship does not seem to be clear. I read that Bret was willing to drop the championship but he refused to lose at the 1997 Survivor Series Pay-Per-View in Canada to Shawn Michaels. I also read that Bret refused to give up the title at all. For what it is worth, Bret said on his DVD that he never said he was unwilling to drop the title in Canada and pointed out that he has lost in Canada many times. Bret also said he would not have taken the title with him to WCW. McMahon was really worried that Bret would show up on WCW Nitro wearing the WWF Title or maybe he was mad at Bret's refusal to lose to Michaels so he booked Michaels as the winner of the Survivor Series WWF Championship match without Bret knowing. What happened was that Michaels put Bret in the Sharpshooter, the ref immediately rang the bell, and Bret was screwed out of the WWF Championship in his final WWF match before the WWF became the WWE. This match is now known as the Montreal Screwjob. After that, everything went wrong for Bret. He was poorly used in WCW, his brother Owen tragically died in 1999 after falling from the arena rafters at a WWF PPV event when he was released from his harness too early, and on December 19, 1999, Goldberg gave Bret a concussion during their match that eventually forced Bret to retire from pro wrestling.


Bret has said he wish he hadn't joined WCW so what if he stayed with the WWF? I think that decision would have changed a lot of events. First of all, the Montreal Screwjob never happens. Bret Hart fans would probably say it would be a good thing if the Montreal Screwjob never happened but it is a very memorable moment in WWE history and one of the moments WWE fans mention when they argue why the WWE should keep Survivor Series. I guess that means the Bret Hart vs. Mr. McMahon Wrestlemania 26 match never happens but I think fans were more excited about Bret being back in the WWE than the actual match. Another thing that does not happen is Bret's career-ending concussion. Another thing Bret has said was that he regretted not being with the WWF when Owen died and maybe Owen wouldn't have died if Bret was around. I heard that Owen was afraid of heights but Owen agreed to be lowered into the ring from the arena rafters anyway because that is what McMahon wanted him to do. If Bret was around, maybe Bret could have talked to Vince so Owen wouldn't have to be lowered from the rafters. Or maybe Owen would have died even with Bret still in the WWF. If that happened, the WWF probably would have given Bret a push as part of an Owen tribute storyline. It sounds awful but the WWE has used the deaths of Eddie Guerrero and Jerry Lawler's mother in storylines before and I wouldn't be surprised if they created a storyline for Bret that ended with Bret winning the WWF Championship because of Owen's death. Even if they didn't exploit Owen's death, I think Bret would have won back the WWF Championship eventually. It may have been McMahon's plans to use Bret less in the future but I think the fans might have forced McMahon to give Bret a push. Bret Hart had a Hall of Fame career in the WWF but he might have added a few more accomplishments if he never left to join WCW.




This is the end of part two. I had six "What Ifs" planned for this article but I had to cut one because this article was getting too long. As a result, I am planning on doing a part three AND four in the near future.