What if Shawn Michaels didn’t injure his back at the 1998 Royal Rumble?
At the 1998 Royal Rumble on January 18, Shawn Michaels faced the Undertaker in a casket match for the WWF Championship. During the match, Undertaker threw Michaels out of the ring, and Michaels’ back hit the edge of the casket. Michaels would retain his championship that night but later Michaels discovered that he had injured his back badly when his back made contact with the casket. Michaels had two herniated disks and one crushed disk. Michaels wouldn’t have another match until Wrestlemania 14 against Stone Cold Steve Austin. Michaels lost the match and Austin became a first time WWF Champion. After that match, Shawn Michaels retired because his back injury. Michaels was out of the WWE for over four years. Michaels spent some time as the WWF commissioner during his retirement. Michaels eventually made his return to the ring at Summerslam on August 25, 2002 in an unsanctioned street fight against Triple H. Shawn Michaels would wrestle for nearly eight years after that and retired at Wrestlemania 26 in 2010.
What if Shawn Michaels wasn’t forced to retire after Wrestlemania 14? A few things come to mind immediately. First, we would have never seen Michaels as the WWF commissioner. Michaels was the guest referee for two Triple H vs. The Rock title matches during his time as commissioner and played a big role in both of them. Shawn Michaels was the guest referee for a Triple H vs. The Rock match during the first official episode of Smackdown on August 26, 1999. That match is probably my favorite Smackdown match because of Michaels screwing The Rock at the end by hitting him with Sweet Chin Music. I remember watching that match on TV when it first aired and I remember being so shocked when Michaels superkicked The Rock because The Rock was going to win the match. Jim Ross saying, “We’ve got a crooked commissioner!” after the match is one of my favorite JR quotes of all-time. Then Michaels controversially disqualified The Rock in an Iron Man match that allowed Triple H to win the WWF Championship at Judgment Day 1999. But I think it is more important to point out that Shawn Michaels missed a lot of the Attitude Era when he was away from the WWF. The Attitude Era was great without Shawn Michaels but I think it would have been even greater with Shawn Michaels. I have no doubt we would have seen at least one Shawn Michaels vs. The Rock match. That alone makes me sad Shawn Michaels got injured. One of the only good things was that Stone Cold was able to rise to Superstardom while Michaels was gone. Without Michaels, Stone Cold became the number one guy in the company. Austin was a big reason why the Attitude Era was so popular so maybe it’s a good thing Michaels did take time off but I watched a lot of WWF from 1999 to 2001 and then stopped watching until 2008 so I am disappointed I never got to see Shawn Michaels in his prime.
What if the Stone Cold vs. Mankind in a Hell in a Cell match at King of the Ring 1998 took place as scheduled?
I love reading books written by professional wrestlers and usually I find something interesting in each book. About a year ago, I re-read Mick Foley’s “Have a Nice Day” book because I was about 11 years old when I first tried to read it. In the book, Foley says that he was originally scheduled to face “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in a Hell in a Cell match at the 1998 King of the Ring. WWE writer Vince Russo called Foley to tell him that Mankind (Foley’s character at the time) would be facing the Undertaker instead. Undertaker vs. Mankind ended up being arguably the most famous match in Mick Foley’s career. It’s one of my favorite matches of all-time. The best moments of the match were Mankind getting thrown off the top of the cell and falling through the ceiling of the cell. I think many people would think the match would be just as good if Austin was facing Mankind instead of Undertaker. It was Mankind, not the Undertaker, who had the biggest spots in the match. However, Foley thinks the match needed the Undertaker. Foley wrote in his book, “Without the Undertaker’s poise and experience, the match would have been over right after the chokeslam through the cage. The Hell in a Cell is actually the closest example I’ve ever seen of one wrestler “bottle feeding” another, until I was able to take my first baby steps.” If Foley really feels that way, then this match needed the Undertaker and not Steve Austin. Although the rest of the match was decent at best after the two Foley falls, the match needed to continue. I doubt the match would have been the classic match it is now if the match ended after Foley fell through the cell’s ceiling. I actually found the rest of the match enjoyable and I’m not sure why. I think it’s because after seeing Mankind nearly kill himself twice, it simply amazed me to see Mankind continue to compete in the match. Sometimes the story of the match can make up for a lack of interesting action and this match was a good example of that. Foley told Undertaker before the match, “If we can start [the match] hot enough, we can make people think we had a hell of a match even if we didn’t.” Foley was right. Take away the two falls and that match was a three star match at best but the beginning of the match helped make it into an all-time classic. That match really helped establish Foley as a WWE legend and it helped the Undertaker’s legacy as well. The Undertaker and Mankind had great chemistry that night and I’m not sure if a Stone Cold vs. Mankind match would have produced the same results.
What if the Wrestlemania 15 main event was Mankind vs. The Rock vs. Stone Cold?
According to Vince Russo, the Wrestlemania 15 main event was originally booked to be a triple threat match between The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and Mankind for the WWF Championship. Russo was the head writer of the WWF at the time so he’s a very credible source. However, according to Russo, Shawn Michaels went to Austin and convinced him that the match should be just between Austin and the Rock. Austin then went to Vince McMahon and McMahon agreed to remove Mankind from the match. All of this information came from Russo’s book titled “Forgiven” and I assume it’s true because that match would have made a lot of sense. In fact, it would have made more sense if Austin was the one cut from the match. Mankind and The Rock were in an epic rivalry from late 1998 to early 1999. They had WWF Championship matches in four straight Pay-Per-Views from the Survivor Series in November to the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in February. In addition, The Rock and Mankind had a match on the January 4, 1999 episode of RAW, an “Empty Arena” match that aired on “Halftime Heat” during halftime of Super Bowl XXXIII, and a ladder match on the RAW after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre PPV. All three of those matches were for the WWF Championship and the title changed hands after each of the three matches. The WWF Championship changed hands five times during the feud. It didn’t seem to make much sense to have Austin enter the picture but I guess the plan the whole time was for Austin to regain the championship at Wrestlemania. The WWF had already planted the seed for Austin winning the title by having him finish as the runner-up in the royal rumble match to Mr. McMahon. After McMahon vacated his right to be in the main event of Wrestlemania, commissioner Shawn Michaels announced that Austin would take McMahon’s place because he was the runner-up. Austin’s main feud at the time was with McMahon and not The Rock. That being said, the match between Stone Cold and The Rock at Wrestlemania 15 was really good. I brought the VHS of Wrestlemania 15 just to see that match (this was way before YouTube). The match featured both men kicking out of each other’s finishing move. Nowadays, we see that happen all the time but back then, I just started watching the WWF and seeing them kicking out of the finishers seemed amazing to me. The Rock and Austin ended up having two more Wrestlemania matches and if I’m not mistaken, The Rock vs. Austin Wrestlemania feud is the only trilogy in Wrestlemania history as of right now. The Wrestlemania 15 match led to a rematch at Backlash and after that, the Rock-Austin feud really became legendary. The match added another chapter to Austin’s great legacy and the match really helped The Rock get closer to becoming a huge face in the WWF. I would have loved to see Mankind in the match because it would have featured my top three favorite wrestlers of all-time in one match but Foley was already a legend at that point. If the match had stayed the way it was booked, I don’t think it would have been good for the future of the WWF. Mick Foley would have his Wrestlemania moment and wouldn’t have to wait until his 2006 Street Fight with Edge at Wrestlemania 22, but it would have delayed the start of the Rock-Austin rivalry. The Rock vs. Mankind feud was very good but the feud did not have to continue. In fact, they had faced each other so many times, I wonder if the fans wanted to see something fresh. Mick Foley probably would have worked really well with Austin because they had two classic PPV matches when Foley was Dude Love. It could have been a really good match but in hindsight, it is good Foley was left out of the match. It was time for the Rock-Mankind feud to end and for the Rock-Austin rivalry to begin.
I’m going to end part three right here. I had more “What Ifs” I planned to use for this article but I want to try to keep each part as short as I can. I will continue to extend the series. I hope you have enjoyed this “What If” series so far. There is plenty more to come.
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