Week 5:- What if....SCSA had not needed to retire?

[d_henderson1810]

Time for my "What if..." series again.

This week...."What if "Stone Cold" Steve Austin had not needed to retire?

Or, even more, what if he hadn't retired because he never got the neck injury which ended his career?

Would "Stone Cold" Steve Austin work today? I know he gets pops, but would he grow stale, if he had been on, week after week, for years?

Would Austin still be used in today's PG era? Who do you think he would feud with?

So, what do you think if "Stone Cold" had not needed to retire?

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

I saw an interview of Stone Cold on his own website. A fan asked him, "If you didn't have the neck injury, how long would you wrestle?" Stone Cold said that he probably would of wrestle to his mid 40s and probably retired in '06-'08. I think Stone Cold would of had some feuds with Edge, HHH, Batista, and Undertaker. I think he would of passed the "torch" to Cena at WM 24 and retired.

 

[Dyscord]

Wasn't that injury the reason he left in 2000? (The infamous "Who ran down Austin" angle)

Once he left, the company was pretty much thrust on Rock's shoulders. Not to say that he wasn't well on his way to mega stardom at that point. In that case, it's hard to say where he'd be now and how many outcomes would have come to pass. Would Rock still have gone off to make movies? Would Cena be the person he is?

Let's assume that aside from the neck injury, everything else stayed mostly the same. I do not think that Austin would fit in with the PG era. For all we know, WWE wouldn't have gone PG. I see him and Rock carrying the company for longer than they did. I see Cena, still being prominent, but nowhere near his levels now and certainly not as a goody two shoes face. In fact, I can see a huge feud between the two of them. I also see feuds with Goldberg and an extended feud with Lesnar, assuming he stuck around as well.

I see him scaling back around 2006/2007, as the new generation started to rise. He'd take more of a mentor role...or even take a hiatus from the WWE like Shawn Michaels did. Cena wouldn't be the huge face of the company like he is now, so they wouldn't be afraid to have him lose more. Maybe even turning him heel. Or even face if they waited that long to do so. If Austin did indeed take a mentor role, I see him taking on (and this is my fanboy side speaking probably) CM Punk as a protege of some sort with a WM match down the line being a Mentor vs Student type match, which would also be his last match. With that he passes the Torch completely to the next generation (Punk, Cena, Orton, etc)

After thinking about it, it makes one realize that Austin staying healthy would have changed a LOT in the company.

 

[i'm a cm punk girl]

it's pretty simple actually.

1.he would be in the main event
2.iwc would be calling for him to job to everyone on nxt
3.iwc would be saying he is more stale than year old bread
4.iwc would say he was overrated and not as big of a star as he thinks
5.iwc would also say he'd be better off in a backstage role

as much as i would want him back the bitching the iwc would do it's not worth it.

 

[dman1373]

Wasn't that injury the reason he left in 2000? (The infamous "Who ran down Austin" angle)

Once he left, the company was pretty much thrust on Rock's shoulders. Not to say that he wasn't well on his way to mega stardom at that point. In that case, it's hard to say where he'd be now and how many outcomes would have come to pass. Would Rock still have gone off to make movies? Would Cena be the person he is?

Let's assume that aside from the neck injury, everything else stayed mostly the same. I do not think that Austin would fit in with the PG era. For all we know, WWE wouldn't have gone PG. I see him and Rock carrying the company for longer than they did. I see Cena, still being prominent, but nowhere near his levels now and certainly not as a goody two shoes face. In fact, I can see a huge feud between the two of them. I also see feuds with Goldberg and an extended feud with Lesnar, assuming he stuck around as well.

I see him scaling back around 2006/2007, as the new generation started to rise. He'd take more of a mentor role...or even take a hiatus from the WWE like Shawn Michaels did. Cena wouldn't be the huge face of the company like he is now, so they wouldn't be afraid to have him lose more. Maybe even turning him heel. Or even face if they waited that long to do so. If Austin did indeed take a mentor role, I see him taking on (and this is my fanboy side speaking probably) CM Punk as a protege of some sort with a WM match down the line being a Mentor vs Student type match, which would also be his last match. With that he passes the Torch completely to the next generation (Punk, Cena, Orton, etc)

After thinking about it, it makes one realize that Austin staying healthy would have changed a LOT in the company.

no he retired in 2003 after his match with the rock. He was out 9 monthes when he got ran over.

 

[thebarber]

no he retired in 2003 after his match with the rock. He was out 9 monthes when he got ran over.

well yes actually it was because of the initial neck injury suffered against Owen Hart in 1997 that led to Austins neck issues, him missing most of 2000 and ultimately retiring for good in 2003.

Had Austin not suffered the "stinger" against Owen, I dont see his history changing up until Survivor Series 1999. That was the night he was origianlly in a triple threat with HHH and The Rock until Big Show repalced him and won the title. Austin I believe would have gone over thatnight and gone on to Wrestlemania 2000 defending the title in a fatal four way with HHH, Rock and Jericho.Jericho was originally booked for the fatal four way but Vince decided to throw Foley in to add star power. Had Austin been there at the time, he would have had the star power of the other 3 guys. Following on, I do not see any reason for Austin to have not continued on at the top for a few more years. Cena took off in late 2003 early 2004 when he turned face and feuded with Big Show, maybe Austin still in the mix would not have opened that door at that time. These fantasy questions have too many intangilbes, Austin may have suffered anothe rknee injury and retired in that time.......it is all fantasy and guesswork to say when he would have retired, if he retired at all. Hollywood would still have come calin so he may be being talekd a bout like The Rock is, who knows

 

[aza1294]

Things would've been extremely different were Austin to stick around. First up the PG era most likely would never happen due to Austin being the top guy and definitely not fitting into PG. Second a lot of stars probably wouldn't be elevated to the main event. HHH wouldn't need to carry RAW, meaning Orton & Batista wouldn't have had the easy ride to stardom through evolution. JBL also would never reach the main event. An argument could also be made that Guerrero and Benoit wouldn't make it to the same heights that they did were Austin to be around.So yeah alot of things would change were Austin to stick around

 

[closet_fan]

For me, seeing Stone Cold now doesn't make me as excited as it used to be. His character has become a caricature of how he used to be. He's still really good on the mic, but the whole "SUMBITCH" stuff gets old fast. And what he had done in the 90s would have been very toned down for today's viewers.

 

[Mustang Sally]

it's pretty simple actually.

1.he would be in the main event
2.iwc would be calling for him to job to everyone on nxt
3.iwc would be saying he is more stale than year old bread
4.iwc would say he was overrated and not as big of a star as he thinks
5.iwc would also say he'd be better off in a backstage role

as much as i would want him back the bitching the iwc would do it's not worth it.

Hmm. Not bad. Actually, real events would probably follow that analysis pretty closely.

After all, we're talking about a lot of years for a performer to be doing the same act over and over......and Austin's schtick didn't seem to allow much in the way of variety; his "Enter---Raise Hell---Leave" t-shirt seemed to pretty sum up the extent of the Stone Cold character.

What else could he do as SCSA? Remember the attitude change in which they had Austin crying as Kurt Angle bullied him? Remember how quickly they got him back to his Rattlesnake persona? Jeez!

The only thing I can add to the "what if" aspect of this thread is: His stupid "straight to DVD" movies would probably have done better if he had been an active wrestler when he first started making them. By the time Austin hit the big screen, his fame had faded to the point that his past wrestling exploits didn't help him make the transition as much as it should have. Younger folks didn't even know who he had been. If he had made one of his action films at the height of his SCSA character, can you imagine the crowds at the movie theatre?

 

[DirtyD79]

Eventually he'd be getting every bit of flak Hulk Hogan gets from the IWC. They would be wanting him to job to every flavor of the month midcarder and cryin' about 5 moves of doom. Eventually regular fans would have gotten tired of him and his whole "arrive, raise hell, leave." routine and like it or not John Cena and Randy Orton's rise to the top would have happened.

 

[HBsam31]

Austin would have stayed on top, and of course he would have gotten "stale" like all of the other guys that stay on top as long as they do. That not my opinion, but it happened with Hogan, HBK when he was champ, even The Rock on his way out, and not to mention Cena. It is just something that happens in the business. I am happy that Stone Cold retired when he did. He went out on top, and I still enjoy seeing him when he comes back from time to time. It may have also affected Rock's time on top and even Lesner if Austin had stayed around. I can't see Stone Cold being a guy that would have been happy anywhere but in the main event at that time in his career. I don't generally like these what if threads but I do like to speculate on this one.