What If Stone Cold Steve Austin Never Broke His Neck?

[PlayTheGame]

I think he would have wrestled for a few more years and would not have retired at WM19. I could see him winning a few more world titles and having some GREAT feuds with HHH, Cena, Edge, Orton, Batista, HBK, 'Taker... hell, pretty much ALL of the top guys of today. However, I think by the around this time (2008-2009) he would have been pretty much done with his in-ring career (as he would have probably been working a more limited schedule from 2005/2006 onward) and maybe he would have had his retirement match at WM25 in Houston. Then, I could see him staying with the company for a few more years by taking on the GM role that he opted to do after his in-ring career was actually over in the early 00's. This means that I could have seen him staying with the WWE in some fashion or another until about 2011/2012.

What do you think would have happened with Austin if he never broke his neck?

 

[Mr. Serotonin]

I think he would have wrestled for a few more years, possibly still main eventing around 2006-2007, he may have still been active today. I believe it would ave kept the WWE higher in popularity, even though it is still #1. I would have liked to see him against Edge or Orton. If he was to wrestle again, this year would be his last chance, due to his age and his health, i cant see him wrestling anytime after 2010, but i would still like to see it, he ws the greatest entertainr this business has ever seen, and he would always be welcomed back

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

I think he still would have retired at WM 19. However, I don't think either HHH or The Rock would have been as big as they were during the Attitude Era because Austin would have been the top dog all the way from 1998 up to the Invasion. Without Austin taking time off in 2000, neither of these guys would have had the opportunity to show what they were made of.

By 2002, it was apparent that Austin's star was declining; sure, he still could have been the company's top draw for years to come, but he wouldn't have brought in viewers like he did from 1997 to 2001. And, I think that, more than any other wrestler, Austin is worried about his legacy. Thus, he would have gone out while still in top form just like he did at WM 19.

 

[Slyfox696]

I don't think it would have had much of an impact. First of all, part of what sold Austin WAS the breaking of his neck, and him still winning the match. Second of all, Austin as a draw was good, but wasn't sustainable. What made him such a great draw was his shocking and over-the-top antics. Those eventually become impossible to top. I mean, they even had him turn heel at WM 17, because his character was getting stale.

I don't think it would have changed much.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think Sly's right. Close to the end of his career, Austin was still a huge name but you could clearly see he wasn't as big of a star as he had been in the past. Austin was at his best when there was no one but him to carry the load and he did just that. When Austin was hurt he was the show. People talk about how many other stars there were around him and while that's true, if you believe for one second that it was anyone but Austin carrying at least 80% of the load you're simply wrong. Taker, Foley, and Rock and HHH at first were there as other people to go along with Austin. They were never the centerpieces or close to it during Austin's heyday. Austin was great because there was no other choice. Broken neck or not, he would have done the same thing.

However, and this isn't something I agree with but it's possible, maybe Austin being healthy would have been a bad thing. Think about it: what made Austin? Vince McMahon. Without Vince to rebel against, Austin is almost nothing. He's just another loud guy that's mad for the sake of being mad. He would have been a star, but not a megastar. Vince's heat came at first because Austin, the people's hero, was hurt and Vince tried to keep him out of the ring. Austin rebels and wrestles anyway and the crowd eats it up. Without that the rebellion is lacking and so is Austin's star power. Without that, hard to say where we are today. Again, not saying that would have happened, but it could have.

 

[Mr. Serotonin]

The Stone Cold/McMahon feud not only made Austin, but it made the WWE popular again (along with other things) No matter how stale his gimmick got over time, at its peak, it made the WWE the #1 promotion in America in 1999.

Whether he always did "the same thing" he was "the man", and that is what is most important in wrestling: Commanding the attention of the crowd. All the guys in the WWF before him couldnt do it as well

Austin, whether people wan to admit it or not, changed the wrestling ndustry, more than anyone since Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan

 

[DD84]

I don't think it would have had much of an impact. First of all, part of what sold Austin WAS the breaking of his neck, and him still winning the match. Second of all, Austin as a draw was good, but wasn't sustainable. What made him such a great draw was his shocking and over-the-top antics. Those eventually become impossible to top. I mean, they even had him turn heel at WM 17, because his character was getting stale.

I don't think it would have changed much.

I actually agree with you on this. He was like lighting in a bottle. Thats what makes him so great now when he makes his one day apperance. Everyone does miss though.

By the way Punk all the way

 

[Ghostboy259]

I think he still would have retired because of his knee's or legs or whatever. But since he did break his neck, and still wrestle after that, says he isnt afraid of the chalange, and he most likley wouldn't be as much as the "Son of a bitch" he is today

 

[randy ortons #1 fan]

personally i think he would be in decent shape but i think he would have retired at wm 21 or 22 then this year he would of had his last match in Houston i still think he might come back for one last match this year. but all in all he still would of had bad knees and i think when you preform the stuff they do you need to have decent knees. so i think it would of just added another run with the title and a definite match at wm 25.

 

[GameOver]

Yeah he woulda gone atleast another few yrs. He woulda already been battered an bruised b4 coming to WWF

Something else, the Cena era would not have started when it did,
Austin would not have turned into a pussy heel
We'd be seing more Triple H vs Austin Vs McMahon fued matches and could throw HBK into that.

So all in all it woulda been a much better place for atleast a half dozen yrs more

But thats all guessing, he woulda still injured himself in the following yrs one way or another.

 

[Phoenix]

I think things would be similiar, also in the year before Wrestlemania 19, Austin was having a creative fallout, put in programmes with Scott Hall and wouldn't put over Brock Lesnar (which I think is fair enough as it's Austin against an unknown by then). If I had to be honest, he finished at the right time,

I don't know if anyone seen the Mania of Mania clips from WM19, but he had a heart issue prior to the match. So alot of things were panning out by the time he reached Wrestlemania 19. But if other things were different, I think he would have faced Hogan at WM19 and retired at WM20 if he could reach it.

 

[BlitzSage]

Well, if he was healthy, and not just the neck, but the knees and everything, we would have gotten many more years of hell raising, but I don't know if it would've been the same. By the time he retired, they had exhausted every storyline with Vince, and plus, his antics defined an era, but that era was over. It was now the Post-Monday Night War Era, and I just couldn't see him as a guy like Taker or Shawn, who wrestle every night as legends but are not necessarily the top main event guys. That mantle now belongs to Cena, Batista, Edge and Orton. Austin was always the center of attention, not the guy who loses but you still give a standing o for. I'm not saying HBK or the Deadman loose all the time, but they have a diff. dynamic than those other guys. I like him in short bursts, and I will choose a Monday Night War Era wrestler than a post-war generation wrestler any day, but I still don't think he would've fit in anymore. Sadly, of course.

 

[silrock316]

First I have to say this is a nice choice of a topic...Second had he not broken his neck it would have been somewhat the same however had he not gotten hurt and missed time at all he would have been bigger than what he was and for a longer duration. The main reason he became somewhat stale was the fact the long absences killed his momentum big time and it allowed fresher talent to gain the love and interest of the fans, by the time he would come back it was same old Austin next to new exciting peoples champion. Had he not lost the mighty mo The Rock may not have been as big.

 

[Blade]

Well his wrestling ability would've stayed much better, as he was a technical wrestler for the first half of his career!

But I think he still would've retired after Mania XIX. Think about it this way, he didn't really retire because of his neck, but rather his place in the company by 2002. He was being put in upper midcard matches, and wasn't getting any title shots so he left for 9 months. And then Vince wanted him to lose to Lesnar, which he didn't want to do. So backstage problems played a much bigger part in his departure than his health.

 

[Tuck]

I think Austin would have be gone either way as well . . . I love the guy . . . he was my favorite - but I like to see him every once and awhile and then disappear.

I have a feeling Austin is going to show up one of these nights on Raw and have a little talk with Jericho. If ANY Hall of Famer is going to wrestle Jericho it's going to be Austin. Piper vs. Jericho would be TERRIBLE, same for Steamboat.

One last match for Austin and thats Wrestlemania 25.