HHH in 2001

[Shooting Star 0]

What do you think was waiting for hunter in '02 before his injury? were they really planning to have the triple threat a king of the ring or was it going to be HHH vs Austin?and what do you think would have been his role in the invasion? would he have been with ECW?discuss

[bob_barron 0]

He got injured in 2001. He came back in 2002

[Guest Trivia247]

better question would be, how would have HHH contributed to the Invasion angle?

 

Would he remember his blue blood roots and go to WCW or remain in the place he dominated and have influnce in the WWE at the time?

[Shooting Star 0]

My bad....hope this doesn't turn into a 14 page long make fun of the dumbass thread.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The KotR was meant to have Austin v Jericho and Hunter v Benoit. The Austin v Hunter match was tentatively scheduled for Summerslam. The plan for Hunter during the Invasion storyline was for him to jump to WCW and be the guy it would get built around, and eventually unify the belts.

[TheFranchise 0]

My bad....hope this doesn't turn into a 14 page long make fun of the dumbass thread.

It won't now..

 

He would have been on Team WWF - At the expense of Jericho, who'd have gone to WCW/ECW to add more power to them.

[Dark Age 0]

The KotR was meant to have Austin v Jericho and Hunter v Benoit. The Austin v Hunter match was tentatively scheduled for Summerslam. The plan for Hunter during the Invasion storyline was for him to jump to WCW and be the guy it would get built around, and eventually unify the belts.

Wouldn't have made more sense, then, to have Trips keep the IC title and defend it in his match with Benoit?

[natey2k4 0]

better question would be, how would have HHH contributed to the Invasion angle?

 

Would he remember his blue blood roots and go to WCW or remain in the place he dominated and have influnce in the WWE at the time?

They would of had to sign Alex Wright so Triple H could of gotten his job back.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The KotR was meant to have Austin v Jericho and Hunter v Benoit. The Austin v Hunter match was tentatively scheduled for Summerslam. The plan for Hunter during the Invasion storyline was for him to jump to WCW and be the guy it would get built around, and eventually unify the belts.

Wouldn't have made more sense, then, to have Trips keep the IC title and defend it in his match with Benoit?

It would have, but given the choice, Hunter likely would have gone with dropping the IC Title to Kane before losing to Benoit, which itself he would probably have tried to get out of. Losing the IC belt to Kane didn't do that much for Kane, as he was already at the main event level at that point in time. However, dropping the IC Title to Benoit would have probably elevated Benoit to the edges of the top level, and I don't see Hunter doing that.

[iggymcfly 0]

Actually, I'm pretty sure that the reason HHH dropped the IC Title to Kane was that he wanted to win his feud with Benoit leading into the eventual matchup with Austin. They also wanted to get an early start on the tension between the two of them, so that it would be strong enough to make one of them actually jump to the Alliance.

[Guest DeputyHawk]

Yeah, KOTR 2001 was originally Austin-Jericho as the main with HHH-Benoit as the semi. Jericho & Benoit got over huge in June 2001 and we all felt it was finally their time, but the handicap match at KOTR killed that stone dead. Two face challengers against one heel champion does not do wonders for the faces, duh. Especially when neither one of them can beat him. HHH tearing his quad and scuppering the Jericho/Benoit push was just another way of holding them down. The cad.

 

Seriously, there's no way of knowing how the InVasion would have worked out had HHH and Benoit not got injured at roughly the same time. Maybe a six-man rather than a five-man tag at the PPV (Austin, HHH, Jericho, Benoit, Taker & Kane putting their differences aside for the good of the company vs. Booker, Bagwell, DDP, Kanyon, Storm & Awesome?). Maybe more 1-on-1 matches instead of a multi-man tag. Maybe ECW would have never even reformed.

 

What's fairly certain is that HHH was going to turn face for a run against heel Austin at some point. The face turn was teased in late 2000 and came through upon his return in 2002. 00/01 heel HHH was actually really fucking cool (more so when he still had the old DX music) and would get more cheers than most of the faces on the roster. He probably would have beat Austin for the belt at SummerSlam, after that who knows?

[Use Your Illusion 0]

I know the Taker/Kane vs Austin/Haitch bombed, but what did the following feud with Benoit & Jericho do for business?

[Guest Ransome]

If he hadn't gotten injured, I imagine Triple H would have been caught up in the godawful InVasion as a generic WWF face standing up to the evil WCW guys who want a 'piece of the pie'. It's probably a good thing for the careers of both Triple H and Chris Benoit that they were injured at the time and managed to avoid this dark period of WWE history.

[Black Lushus 0]

I know the Taker/Kane vs Austin/Haitch bombed, but what did the following feud with Benoit & Jericho do for business?

I don't know how it did for overall business, but that was one awesome tag match...that's one thing I certainly remember from that horrible period (end of 2001 to beginning of 2004)...

[BUTT 0]

For those who were wondering what the Benoit/Jericho push did for ratings, here are the Raw ratings from the day after WM17 through summer 2001:

 

04/02/01 Austin-Rock cage match (First Raw after Nitro finale, day after WM17) 5.72

04/09/01 Austin/HHH/Steph-Hardys/Lita 5.42

04/16/01 HHH-Jeff Hardy 5.12

04/23/01 Austin/HHH/Edge/Christian-Undertaker/Kane/Hardys 5.11

04/30/01 Austin-Undertaker (Day after Backlash) 4.93

05/07/01 Austin-Rikishi 4.64

05/14/01 Austin/HHH-Kane 4.52

05/21/01 Benoit/Jericho-Austin/HHH (Day after Judgment Day) 4.22

05/28/01 Austin-Benoit, WCW invasion begins with Lance Storm appearance 4.24

06/04/01 Austin-Jericho 4.34

06/11/01 Angle-Benoit cage match 4.10

06/18/01 Austin/Dudleys-Benoit/Jericho/Spike, DDP debut 4.21

06/25/01 Jericho/Tajiri, WCW attacks WWF (Day after KOTR) 4.65

07/02/01 First WCW match: Booker-Bagwell 4.62

07/09/01 First interpromotional match: Booker-Angle, ECW reunion 4.73

07/16/01 Undertaker/Kane-DDP/Rhyno, "The OLD Stone Cold" returns 5.03

07/23/01 Booker/Dudleys-Angle/Edge/Christian 5.35

07/30/01 Rock returns, Booker-Angle (Booker wins 5th WCW title) 5.68

08/06/01 Rock-Shane 5.40

08/13/01 Rock/Jericho-Booker/Rhyno 5.16

08/20/01 "Austin Appreciation Night", DDP-Sara, Angle milk truck angle 5.16

08/27/01 Jericho/Angle-RVD/Tazz 4.85

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

It appeared that they sped up the Invasion angle because their Austin/HHH program for the summer was killed. I dunno what was exactly said about this by Meltzer, but that's the way it looked on TV at the time.

[Carnival 0]

07/30/01 Rock returns, Booker-Angle (Booker wins 5th WCW title) 5.68

wow i'd like to think thats cuz of book vs kurt. but i know it's all rocky.

[Jingus 0]

Those ratings are indeed interesting. They seem to indicate that people hated Austin as a heel, and not in a good moneymaking way. Also, Rock=ratings.

[CBright7831 0]

The KotR was meant to have Austin v Jericho and Hunter v Benoit. The Austin v Hunter match was tentatively scheduled for Summerslam. The plan for Hunter during the Invasion storyline was for him to jump to WCW and be the guy it would get built around, and eventually unify the belts.

So Triple H would have been the first Undisputed Champ instead of the second.

 

Makes sense...especially today.

[Carnival 0]

I'm glad it was Jericho.

 

i bet it eats hunter up inside.

[iggymcfly 0]

It appeared that they sped up the Invasion angle because their Austin/HHH program for the summer was killed. I dunno what was exactly said about this by Meltzer, but that's the way it looked on TV at the time.

Actually, at the time it looked like their big program for the summer was going to be Austin/Rock. I don't think anyone on earth has a decent explanation for why Austin/Rock didn't headline SummerSlam in 2001. It could have had the biggest non-WM buyrate in history.

[iggymcfly 0]

I'm glad it was Jericho.

 

i bet it eats hunter up inside.

Yeah, HHH is soooo jealous that Jericho got a title reign while he was injured, that he personally ended four months later.

 

This is why Vince thinks the internet fans are all a bunch of marks.

[Jericholic82 0]

It appeared that they sped up the Invasion angle because their Austin/HHH program for the summer was killed.  I dunno what was exactly said about this by Meltzer, but that's the way it looked on TV at the time.

Actually, at the time it looked like their big program for the summer was going to be Austin/Rock. I don't think anyone on earth has a decent explanation for why Austin/Rock didn't headline SummerSlam in 2001. It could have had the biggest non-WM buyrate in history.

Thats a good point. I assume they were going to save it for later on down the line, but the invasion bombed so they had to drop it by survivor series.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

They were sowing the seeds of decention between HHH and Austin before HHH's injury. At the time, HHH was on the verge of becoming face, only they were delaying it. Rock was busy doing a movie (Rundown?) at the time. It was pretty clear the direction they were going was HHH/Austin with the face/heel roles reversed.

[Jericholic82 0]

They were sowing the seeds of decention between HHH and Austin before HHH's injury. At the time, HHH was on the verge of becoming face, only they were delaying it. Rock was busy doing a movie (Rundown?) at the time. It was pretty clear the direction they were going was HHH/Austin with the face/heel roles reversed.

Rock was filming The Scorpion King Hope that helped.

[Guest DeputyHawk]

Actually, at the time it looked like their big program for the summer was going to be Austin/Rock. I don't think anyone on earth has a decent explanation for why Austin/Rock didn't headline SummerSlam in 2001. It could have had the biggest non-WM buyrate in history.

Austin-Rock was being saved for WMX8 (Survivor Series 01 team showdown was leading towards it), but the NWO angle and Rock's preferance for filming more movies scuppered it. Plus, I believe Vince wanted to defy logic and keep pressing ahead with the Austin heel run - having heel Austin beat face Rock AGAIN at SummerSlam wouldn't have made much sense. In retrospect, the Austin heel turn was the beginning of the end for the WWF Glory Years. That's when they lost their momentum and it's been all downhill ever since.

[iggymcfly 0]

Not really. If anything, the refusal to pull the trigger on the Austin/Rocky match was the end of the WWE glory years. The fans wanted to see that more than any other match on earth, and by the time the finally did it, both guys were retired and nobody gave a shit anymore.

 

You can't tell me Austin doesn't work as a heel if they could have drawn a 1.5 buyrate for him taking on Rock at Summerslam. It's tough for anyone to draw well as a heel if you won't put them against the top babyface.

[Jericholic82 0]

Actually, at the time it looked like their big program for the summer was going to be Austin/Rock. I don't think anyone on earth has a decent explanation for why Austin/Rock didn't headline SummerSlam in 2001. It could have had the biggest non-WM buyrate in history.

Austin-Rock was being saved for WMX8 (Survivor Series 01 team showdown was leading towards it), but the NWO angle and Rock's preferance for filming more movies scuppered it. Plus, I believe Vince wanted to defy logic and keep pressing ahead with the Austin heel run - having heel Austin beat face Rock AGAIN at SummerSlam wouldn't have made much sense. In retrospect, the Austin heel turn was the beginning of the end for the WWF Glory Years. That's when they lost their momentum and it's been all downhill ever since.

I dont think heel austin killed the boom. thoguh it seems like a bad idea now, after awhile he got over well as a paranoid funny heel, infact so much that they basically turned him face again. The death of wcw and to a lesser extent ECW certainly helped the boom end and the fact that they bungled the WWF vs WCW war.

[Carnival 0]

I'm glad it was Jericho.

 

i bet it eats hunter up inside.

Yeah, HHH is soooo jealous that Jericho got a title reign while he was injured, that he personally ended four months later.

 

This is why Vince thinks the internet fans are all a bunch of marks.

Ya cuz since HHH has been back Jericho hasn't been in a world title match. Like that doesn't say something right there.

 

Especially since Trips was gonna be the guy to unify the titles. Then he got hurt. Then Austin a big supporter of Jericho pushed for Jericho to unify the titles as a swerve. I'm sure Trips thought that was great. Thats why he came back squashed Jericho and then over the next 2 years buried him.

 

It's all just a big work to make us think that Trips hates Jericho, when actually they are best friends. Yeah Right. I guess the same with RVD too huh?

[Guest DeputyHawk]

It was Rock as opposed to Austin who really pushed for Jericho, wasn't it?

 

Also, momentum had already been lost well before the bungled Invasion angle. The Glory Years lasted precisely three, from WM14-WM17.

 

Things had already started to founder in late 00 when they wouldn't pull the trigger on the HHH-Stephanie-Angle storyline (which had already stupidly taken precedence over Rock's title reign). It got worse with the whole 'Who ran down Stone Cold' Austin return angle winding up to be Rikishi, but then really HHH all along when that fell flat. Things picked up a little in early 01, peaked with WM17 - then one of the company's top faces left to make movies and the other one turned heel at the biggest show of the year, which post-WrestleMania, left Undertaker, Kane & The Hardy Boyz to carry the company. THAT's when the stalling momentum shuddered to a complete standstill, and I think the severe ratings slump corroborates that. The Invasion angle and The Rock's summer return provided a brief respite, but the rot had already set in and casual viewers had already started to turn off in droves. When it became clear the Invasion was being completely bungled, they lost even more.