What if Stone Cold didnt leave in 2002?

[quink987]

Ok as we all know Stone Cold Steve Austin left the WWE in 2002, but at the time Austin was in a feud with Ric Flair and the NWO, so my question is

How far would that feud have gone?

Who would of feuded with Austin leading into Summerslam that year?

for me I believe the feud would of Carryed on for a another month or 2 and we proberly would of seen Austin vs Rock vs Undertaker at vengeance 2002 instead of Angle/Rock/Taker, and maybe that would of created an Austin vs Taker match at Summerslam which id love to see again

 

[PsychoBlack]

Austin had to leave for reasons very similar to Edge. Now him staying would not have done anything for his career as he is already considered one of the top 5 performers of all time. Why would he stay when he was financially stable and already had a legacy that anyone who steps between those ropes would kill for.

 

[Twanfusco]

Ok so this is assuming he's not injured? Right well if his injury doesn't happen then his storyline in which he refuses to go home and stunners Vince doesn't happen and with him able to compete at that time maybe instead of the classic Vince/Austin moments he feuds with an actual wrestler and potentially his fued with Vince doesn't happen and maybe his career doesn't take off as big as it did and so maybe he's not the greatest that did it, ergo this thread probably wouldn't exist. Sorry but I hate 'what if's' in wrestling, too many of them.

 

[Pedigree1]

For one Austin was pretty much done health wise in 2002... How me made it through WM 19 is beyond me. Lets not forget he wouldnt job to Lesnar and i dont blame him!! At that time Austin was a multi-time champion brock was a monster destroying everybody in his path. Although i missed austin competing i didnt wanna see him paralyzed or hurt... If you wanna see him get his dvd see the best of monday night raw.. There will be only one SCSA

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

Well if Austin didn't leave in 2002, he might be in a wheelchair or dead right now. How he managed to continue wrestling after his injury? I don't know but hell if he didn't leave when he did we would be probably mourning him right now.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Austin wasn't in that bad of a shape as you guys keep saying. Yes, he was in pain. And yeah, he was at risk of having a career-ending injury. But in no shape or form was he in this terrible shape you guys keep describing. Edge was probably a lot worse, because I was told that he would limp to the back during commercials and hold it in while on camera.

Austin got out before he ever had to be like Edge. I don't blame him, he had a hell of a career and kept on making occasional appearances and even served as commissioner for a time.

Austin wasn't in horrible shape, nor is he now. He just doesn't want to be. I could see him having one more match. One more match, without any hardcore antics, could totally be doable. He could be in pain for the week, but other than that, I doubt a 13-minute classic with CM Punk would damage him to the point of injury.

Anyway, I think its possible we might see Austin come back. I don't know if Austin would want to do it at a PPV that centers around Rock though... Maybe the year after.

 

[crowbartotheface]

Austin wasn't in that bad of a shape as you guys keep saying. Yes, he was in pain. And yeah, he was at risk of having a career-ending injury. But in no shape or form was he in this terrible shape you guys keep describing. Edge was probably a lot worse, because I was told that he would limp to the back during commercials and hold it in while on camera.

Austin got out before he ever had to be like Edge. I don't blame him, he had a hell of a career and kept on making occasional appearances and even served as commissioner for a time.

Austin wasn't in horrible shape, nor is he now. He just doesn't want to be. I could see him having one more match. One more match, without any hardcore antics, could totally be doable. He could be in pain for the week, but other than that, I doubt a 13-minute classic with CM Punk would damage him to the point of injury.

Anyway, I think its possible we might see Austin come back. I don't know if Austin would want to do it at a PPV that centers around Rock though... Maybe the year after.

You hit it on the head my man. Just to elaborate on what you said a little bit more. Austin was in pain yes, but it was manageable to a certain degree. Still moved like a cat in the ring and pushed the pain out until he got into the back. There is an excellent video on youtube I saw a while back after the last Rock and SCSA match that shows as such. As you said a clash with Punk isn't beyond doable it just a matter of how much does he want to do it, he being Austin, and if the money is right. Edge was a different beast. Where Austin caught it early and had enough money and an acting career to get him by Edge wasn't given that luxury. He had to fight through the pain until it became unmanageable, then you all saw what happened. Austin was lucky, WWE films was based off of SCSA and the Rock and his acting career stemmed from it. When it was time he had a viable solution for cash flow and left. It also helped that he made a fair amount of money from merch and other business ventures. While I am sure that Edge was sitting comfortably cash wise I am almost positive if given a chance to look at the books he wasn't making near what Austin was off of total revenue from sales, salary, endorsements and all that jazz.

To add something new to the fire, Heyman said it best. Lesnar was the next big thing and everyone was watchin SCSA in his twilight. I don't believe that Vince was being unreasonable by having SCSA job to the future star of the company. It would have put Lesnar over and wouldn't have hurt SCSA legacy. The 14 year old me would have probably seen things different back in 02 but from a logic standpoint Steve needed to ask himself should that really have been the straw that broke the camels back?

 

[WWEIsLife2]

Well Austin was in the middle of a Feud with Ric Flair and was suppose to take on Eddie Guerrero at King Of The Ring that year,which would have been pretty awesome. So its really hard to say what if he hadn't left what would have happend after that. He was also suppose to put over Brock Lesnar during that time so I think that was also part of why he left as he even said he was frustrated with where his Character was going.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

If Austin would have stayed in 2002 I believe that he would have been stuck in upper midcard feuds with the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and maybe at a later stage with an up and coming John Cena. He would have maybe gotten one last title run before he retired but I am pretty sure that he would not have been the main event staple and the megastar that he had once been. The feuds would have been fine, nay maybe even great, but with the short time that he had left in the ring and considering the megastar that he once was, it was not acceptable to him and I can understand his point.

Austin was certainly on the decline both in terms of popularity and wrestling skills in 2002. Sure he was still popular enough to garner huge pops every time he went out into the ring, but at the same time I do not feel that he was popular enough to be the top babyface of the company over guys like Rock, a returning Hogan and a returning HHH. On the flipside, the fans did not want to see Austin as a heel as he had been the biggest hero ever to a lot of fans around the world. It was quite a conundrum and if you combine that Austin's deteriorating health I am sure that you will be able to understand why Vince wanted to phase Austin out.

But then, there are reasons to sympathize with Austin as well. Here was a huge star in his decline who wanted a proper sendoff and yet he was being given pretty shoddy storylines to work with. He has said in his autobiography that he wanted a proper feud with Lesnar in order to elevate him but he was asked to lose a match on Raw to Lesnar in a KOTR qualifying match. He did not want the WWE to give away such a match without proper build up. And considering how quickly Lesnar used to win his matches during his run in 2002 and that he even squashed Hogan at that time, I have no trouble in believing that Lesnar was booked to squash Austin as well. Maybe, Austin thought that that was not the correct way to book him. You can call him unproffesional, sure, but at the same time if you consider things from his perspective you cannot fail to see his point either.

Frankly, Austin did not have much of an incentive to work with the WWE at that point. His health had deteriorated, his personal life was in shambles and his popularity was decreasing by the day. The thing that he could have done was to leave amicably and by working things out with the WWE rather than leave in the way he did.

 

[Wolf Pac]

No way in hell should Austin have jobbed to Lesnar. Austin was asked to job to Lesnar at a time Lesnar was feuding with The Hardy Boyz and he hadn't built himself up as a total beast just yet. I think fans would've been too pissed at the WWE & Lesnar getting a big push too fast only one month after he just debuted. Lesnar was green and it would've hurt Stone Cold more than it could to build Lesnar up. Maybe after Brock defeated Hardyz, RVD, Hulk, Rock and anybody else I'm forgetting then Austin could've jobbed to Lesnar seeing as Austin is above all those guys and Lesnar had built himself as unstoppable & truly as the "next best thing" at that point, so it would've been believable that Austin could lose to him but definitely Austin should not have lost to Lesnar too early in his career after just only defeating Jeff Hardy on PPV.

But onto the OP's question, I too believe Austin would've been stuck with mid-carders. He was set to face Eddie at KOTR then I believe he would've went on to face Benoit in his return match at Vengeance seeing as Benoit attacked Austin his first night back, so it's pretty obvious they put the blame on Benoit's neck injury in 01 on Austin. As far as Summerslam goes, hard to say who he would've faced but again I don't think he would've been anywhere near the main event or for the title as that was Rock's last night, so they had to make Rock go out with a bang. After that I could see him back in the main event picture, feuding with Lesnar for the Undisputed Title or HHH for the World Title as Lesnar had moved to SD with the Undisputed belt after SS and HHH had just turned heel, so they could've continued where they left off from last year with HHH & Austin. But if it was Lesnar he was feuding with though, I don't think Austin would've won the title but if HHH then possibly Austin could've won but he would eventually lose it back to HHH then eventually Austin would just waste time against anyone till his final match with Rock at Mania X9.

 

[JasonSensation]

To add something new to the fire, Heyman said it best. Lesnar was the next big thing and everyone was watchin SCSA in his twilight. I don't believe that Vince was being unreasonable by having SCSA job to the future star of the company. It would have put Lesnar over and wouldn't have hurt SCSA legacy. The 14 year old me would have probably seen things different back in 02 but from a logic standpoint Steve needed to ask himself should that really have been the straw that broke the camels back?

This has been misconstrued for years. Austin said himself that he had no problem putting Lesnar over. The issue he had was that he didn't find out about it happening until he was told the day of the show. He thought that McMahon was being foolish by not taking advantage of a possible money-making machine of a feud in Austin vs. Lesnar. He felt that it made absolutely no sense to take a man as decorated as Austin and have him job to Lesnar in one fell swoop, in their first encounter, with no hype, on free TV. And I don't blame him for leaving. It would have made much more sense to build the feud up and make the fans clamor for the match to happen so it could be sold on PPV as a history-making event. Austin has said that he had nothing but praise for Lesnar and wanted him to succeed and would have put him over, but felt disgusted with the way it was being done.