Why didn't the two man power trip ever have there feud when HHH returned?

[AttitudeEra]

I am probably guessing this thread has been done before and if so my apologies but I am still new to this board so I couldn't find it anywhere.

I was sitting back thinking about this earlier back in 2001 when Austin and HHH teamed up together everyone new it wouldn't last forever. The speculation is that if HHH didn't tear his quad he would have feuded with Austin a few months later with Hunter being the babyface and Austin the heel. However, as we all know that never happened, HHH got hurt and then the invasion angle happened....which I know many people hated but I thought it was kind of underrated the only thing it lacked was more WCW starpower. Anyway, back onto point then after SS 2001 the Invasion ended and Austin went back to being a Babyface. About 5 or 6 weeks later HHH came back as a mega face and they both went there seperate ways.

Now I know that Austin could not have been a heel forever, especially when he started getting cheered towards the end of his heel run but I still wonder why they didn't keep him heel a little longer so he could have his much needed feud with the returning HHH. It wasn't like they had to wait 5 or 6 months for Hunter to come back it was only a little over a month. If people remember when HHH got hurt Austin bashed on him for a couple weeks, saying that he was the weak link and that he brought down the power trip. This obviously was ammo for a feud between the two upon his return. This actually reminds me of how the Jericho/Edge program has started, hopefully they actually go through with this one!


Personally IMO they should have kept Kurt Angle face for a little while longer since he just helped WWE win the Invasion Angle and then have Austin defend the title in a 4 way match or something at the next PPV and have him retain the title by cheating. Then have him keep the title till Wrestlemania and have him defend it against HHH after Hunter won the Royal Rumble. Then after HHH beats Austin at Wrestlemania 18 and Backlash have Austin turn Face again, it would have only been 3 or 4 months longer as a heel. I know the NWO came around after RR 2002 but it's not like they couldn't have found an opponent for Scott Hall at Wrestlemania. I really think this should have happened and it didn't!

So my question too you guys is this, why do you think the feud never happened? Was it because they had to turn Austin back to being a face? Was it because it happened 8 months prior and would have been out of the fans mindset? Or do you think it was for another reason?

 

[JETER123]

Excellent thread. I really think you are onto something here.

But you answered your own question already. It was because Austin was SO OVER towards the end of the Invasion angle. "What?" was the hottest thing going in wrestling and the fans were ready to jerk off onto Austin.

Vince's hands were tied on this one.

But I too would have loved to see Austin/HHH at Mania 18.

Jericho could have still won the title at Invasion. He could've feuded with a face Angle at WrestleMania too.

The WrestleMania 18 card would've been perfect like this :

HHH vs Austin
Rock vs Hogan
Jericho vs Angle
Taker vs Flair
Hall vs Kane

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Probably because HHH didn't want to fued with Austin.... again. This was one of the first instances where an injured guy did the whole 'I've been hurt for months and i'm back now, so i'm going to dump on everyone and become champion.' and that's exactly what he did.

You say that there was only a month between the Invasion ending and HHH returning? I think you'll find that the Invasion ended in November and HHH didn't come back until January of the following year, following Chris Jericho becoming first the Undisputed Champion at Vengeance, and Ric Flair being named the co-owner of the company, a LOT of big things had gone down in the Game's absence, and they had 3 more big developments coming up in the form of the brand split, the NWO and subsequently the full time return of Hogan. So HHH v Austin was SOOOOOOOOOO old news by then that it really didn't seem like it was worth doing.

Plus i think they wanted to build up Jericho as a believable champion of sorts. Everyone was shocked that Jericho beat the Rock AND Austin in one night, that they didn't think he'd last 2 minutes as Champion. So, he defended it against The Rock, and won, and they followed it up the next month with him defending it against Austin, and he won that as well. Basically they said 'You don't think Y2J can beat Austin or Rock, let alone both? Well now he's beaten them both twice, whaddya think of him now?' and it was a smart way to do it. What they should of done is have Y2J face someone else at WM instead of HHH, so that he could have then lost to Hogan the next month, who would then lose to HHH, who would then lose to Taker, and the rest of the year could have gone just as it did.

On top of all that, you have to consider other variables like, how was that angle supposed to play out? Was HHH supposed to run down during the KOTR triple threat and intefere on Austin's behalf? Or was he supposed to run down and cost Austin the title (seeing as HHH had already lost the IC title and they weren't the tag champs anymore)?

And also, who was it that actually hurt HHH? And by that i mean, who was he wrestling and what were they doing when his leg gave out? Because if he got hurt in a match with Benoit, then he couldn't come and get revenge on him because he had a broken neck, and if was Jericho, then he got his revenge anyway, when he took his title. Surely he'd want to punish the guy who hurt him, and not the other guy whining because he got hurt? Edge isn't going to come back and hurt Jeff Hardy, because Edge caused his own injury, but he'll hurt Jericho for bad-mouthing him all year (assuming they do).

 

[Stormtrooper]

The main reason HHH didn't feud with Austin when he came back was because they were both faces (and the #1 and 2 faces, respectively at the time). Austin never really got over as a heel, so they had to turn him face again ASAP; and Triple H was coming off the injury, which always seems to result in a face-turn. Triple H (I believe) turned heel again shortly after his title reign (he lost the belt in April, and turned heel before SummerSlam that year), and probably could have feuded with Austin once he turned, but Austin had left the company at that point, closing the door on a potential feud between the 2. When Austin came back, HHH was the Champion, and Austin was not going to be in the title hunt anymore (he only came back for a month long feud with The Rock before calling it a career after WMXIX).

Triple H went right into the title picture because, when coming off an injury, there are really only 2 logical routes a superstar can go. They can either seek revenge for the injury, or they can chase for the title. Since Benoit himself was on the shelf, you couldn't go after him for causing the injury. Jericho was the champ, so HHH going for the belt against the guy who he could seek revenge for the injury on killed 2 birds with 1 stone.

Unfortunately, HHH and Austin were never able to rekindle their feud, because of Austin's "taking his ball and going home" as the WWE put it. If they feuded while they were both faces, then Jericho would have nobody to work with when defending the Title, and he would have had to defend against lesser faces, killing any chance of him getting over as a legit Main Eventer. So they probably hoped that they could have started it up again once HHH turned heel, but by that time Austin was gone, so it was a missed opportunity.