I've said it many times before that Kurt Angle would have been the perfect choice. With Angle just debuting that night he could have decided to take Austin out. Angle was the "real athlete" that stood for integrity that could have been motivated to take out the foul mouthed, beer swilling, brawler that didn't show respect to anybody. The Olympic champion could have decided Austin wasn't the kind of guy that should have been in the same company as him and in a hypocritical heel move he could have ignored his own integrity by taking Austin out in such a cowardly way. And Angle's plan would have worked too as he became a star in Austin's absence and was about to become champion upon his return. For as obvious as Austin vs. Rock at WM17 was I think if WWF played their cards right Austin vs. Angle could have been a great mania main event if they revealed Angle as the driver.
I've heard the Austin vs. Angle idea before, and I would have actually loved to see that. It makes it even more perfect that WrestleMania 17 would take place in Texas which would have led to Angle drawing massive heat for his promo work alone.
This booking also reminds me of his similar booking with the setup to his match with Eddie at WrestleMania 20. His reasoning at that time was very much the same, and his methods at that time really showed his hypocritical aspects with intent to do anything to get the title off Eddie.
Of course, in retrospect, I might have preferred this to Austin vs. Rock, it was a tremendous match without a doubt, however, this match would have Austin remain the face he should have been at this time, while also elevating Angle to another level a lot earlier.
I do think that perhaps might have hurt Jericho though later down the line and that does bother me a little bit. With Angle essentially having to drop down the card by the next year, and Jericho moving into position. Then again, no heel Austin, HHH might not have gotten injured, so there might not be a huge babyface comeback. Though I could easily see Angle fitting into Jericho's position against HHH at 18, if things did follow the same course.
I don't think it would have hurt Austin/Rock though, I could still see them managing to have their final match at 19, I do think Jericho wouldn't have found himself in the same position, he might have had a few runs or one (like Eddie) with the company, but being the 1st Undisputed WWE Champion, not sure that would have came to pass, if things went like they did above.
