Going back in 1999: Hbk get brutally attacked in the parking lot

[kpgreece]

Originally Posted by hlhbk

Before I even respond to anything else are you actually saying you dno't think Shawn needed back surgery and he made it up in 99 since the spotlight wouldnt' be on him?

I'm not saying he didn't need a back surgery. I'm saying, why put him in so big angles if he wasn't going to wrestle? The entire thing seemed pointless and had no result whatsoever.

[PDepew2181]

Originally Posted by KingOfKings249

no, Shawn was retired until 2002, he asked the doctors that year since he had more of prominent role then he did post late 99

No, Swarles Barkley is right, at least partially. Just put on the chapter from the Heartbreak & Triumph DVD entitled "Rock Bottom." They talk about him being very erratic in late '97 and early '98 leading up to WrestleMania XIV, culminating with the match against Austin. They depict him as being quite pissed that he had to lose because of the injury and simply because he didn't want to lose. He mentions himself that he did a ton of pills of drugs, which carried into his marriage and the birth of his son.

Triple H says that the breaking point was the night that Nitro ended. Trips says that they were in Vince's office watching the end of Nitro when Shane came out. In walked Shawn "pilled out of his mind, stumbling all over the place and half drooling on himself." According to Triple H, Undertaker was there to witness it and got extremely pissed off. (Note: If you believe Bret Hart's book, Taker told Bret several times he didn't trust or believe in Shawn.) Triple H said they were going to do "something" with Shawn, he doesn't say if it was a storyline or if it was going to involve wrestling, but that when Vince heard about Shawn's condition, he called it off and essentially told Shawn to get lost. Probably explains why he was completely absent from his guest ref stint during the Rock/Triple H Iron Man match until he came back to join the nWo in 2002.

Triple H concluded the story by saying that Shawn, after being sent away by Vince, came into the locker room and proceeded to rip Triple H for not sticking up for him, then stormed out. This led to Shawn and Triple H not speaking for over a year.

So whether or not Shawn would have wrestled in 2001 is hard to say, but he was definitely gone from TV longer than originally planned.

[relentless1]

the reason HHH said "maybe, maybe not" and xpac said "what goes around comes around " was because HBK was with the corporation at first and screwed over DX then he turned face but DX didnt forget how he treated them so thats the story behind the payback

[relentless1]

and the HBK HHH feud started the night after WM 14 really with HHHs speech about how shawn dropped the ball

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Not any inside information, but it seemed with the way Shawn was used in late 98 and early 99 there was some sort of plan of him returning. He was gone for a good 6 months after Mania XIV to rest and heal up. So he comes back and is featured prominately on tv in late 98 and early 99. I would have to think there was some sort of plan for his return, which was probably put on hold after he got the news that his back was not fit for a return. Because at some point in the spring of 99 they wrote him off and from that point he never had as prominate a role as he did in late 98-early 99.

[nbda1997]

Originally Posted by kpgreece

Is it just me, or these small details hinted the start of the Triple H-HBK rivalry?

Actually, they were planning to start the HHH/HBK feud shortly after that, however, HBK was still having substance abuse & injury problems at the time, so they ended up shelving it until the early 2000s when HBK was back in ring-shape.

[donfryeismyhero]

Originally Posted by The Brain

I doubt the WWF even knew where they were going back then. Things seemed to change on a whim on a week by week basis. Back then it was all about lame swerves to pop a high rating for Raw regardless of how it affected anything down the road. Instead of storylines being planned out ahead of time and using the tv show to get to that goal, the tv shows seemed thrown together every week and the storylines were adjusted accordingly.

They were probably hoping to do something with HBK and HHH in early 1999. There were a couple times between 1998 and 2002 that Shawn was expected to come back but whether it was injuries or drug problems there was always something that prevented it. When he finally did come back in 2002 he jumped right into the feud with HHH and you could just tell it was something they had thought about doing for years. It worked out pretty well because their match at SummerSlam 2002 was one of the best I've ever seen.

This post is pretty spot on I think. Post WM14, HBK's career was pretty much an unknown as far as wrestling again throughout 98 & part of 99. I think WWE was hoping for a HBK/HHH in ring feud for WM15 but when HBK decided to go ahead with the back surgery & semi-retire, it was put on the back burner. The whole superkick to the Rock on Smackdown, I don't think it was intended to set up a in ring feud between HBK & Rock. I think Shawn was just supposed to be a heel commish to aid the "new" heel owner Shane since Vince had "lost control" at Fully Loaded but from what I remember reading on WZ all those many years ago, there was some huge backstage blowup involving HBK getting pissed with Austin not wanting to put over HHH, then The Rock I guess took Austins side saying something to the effect of "I'd break his back." My memory is foggy as it's been a long time but basically, Shawn's jacked up back & piss poor attitude made doing any kind of business with him unbearable and the difference between dealing with Shawn in 1997-early98 & 1999-2001 is that in 97-early98, HBK was very much needed on the roster so they'd put up with his issues where as in 99-01, he wasn't.

[THTRobtaylor]

A lot of this would also have to do with his conduct prior to his World title. Shawn had been notorious for not wanting to drop titles and causing problems with putting people over, even at IC level. He buried Tatanka famously, costing him his shot with the strap and things didn't improve as his push increased.

By 98 the time had come for him to not only put people like Austin over but to do so "for the good of the company" and the injury gave him that out. Come 99, his attitude had only worsened and there were legit guys who could not only outshine Shawn in the ring but were also making the right moves backstage to make Vince believe in them more than Shawn. Why would he risk a big spot on an out of control Shawn over one of these newer talents who were getting over so huge?