It's hard to say that Waltman was the one issue that "changed it" with it's ripples in the manner suggested, the idea of the Butterfly Effect is it's something so small... Waltman going was relatively big, just it fell to WWE's advantage because Bischoff had not really done it publicly.
Little things that completely changed the course? Mankind instead of Manson the Mutilator was one... Vince was all set for the cartoony direction/feed to Taker route for Mick Foley, but Foley's suggestion of Mankind for his name/gimmick didn't immediately impact...but in the 3 years after allowed for the growth to a main event star and cornerstone of the victory...
A Butterfly Effect moment is Mabel crushing Taker's face... it led to a change in how WWE used Undertaker away from "Monster of the Month" and they finally let him in the ring with Bret, Nash, Shawn, Austin and Foley... he then showed his true talent of being a VERY fast learner from those guys and became a ring general in almost record time... all from one botch.
Likewise, Farooq injuring Ahmed Johnson with a kick also changed the direction of both mens lives... Ahmed never recovered and a "chosen one" became an also ran within a year...while it also showed the "nasty, ruthless" side of Farooq enough that they took of the gladiator helmet and let him run with the Nation., which led to APA, Damn and Ron Simmons being relevant even now... without that kick, he would have been in WWE Has Been Hell in a blue hat rather than one of Hell's Henchmen and a Hall of Famer.
A little thing was Triple H starting to use "Ode To Joy" in 1996 and move slightly away from the "blueblood" thing, he foreshadowed DX a full year in advance with that for people smart enough to spot it... he used the music from Clockwork Orange, changed his look to include the cane like Alex and his manner... Alex is one of the true "Degenerates" of literature/movies... and Hunter made definite choices that impacted his character later...
Owen sitting out instead of dropping to his knees and thus damaging Austin's neck, Austin getting his mouth bust open badly at KOTR...all are accidents that caused ripples... Part of why Austin 3:16 worked was you could see he was messed up... his rise may not have worked the same if he'd still been the top worker he was before the neck injury... it forced them in different directions with him but allowed them to call him the "Toughest SOB" because the fans had seen he was.
Small ripples that changed were things like Pillman not calling a cab and thus getting hurt... a fit Pillman and Attitude plays out far differently. Chris Jericho not being able to dodge Bischoff and having to actually sign his new deal would have changed it (meaning he couldn't have jumped...)
These are the kind of things that are true Butterfly Effect moments... big signings, defections or onscreen moments were calculated to make change, these smaller ones weren't but ended up causing huge change.
