Guest Mattdotcom Report post Posted July 2, 2002 Fans, we are desperately OUTTATIME! by Matthew Hardaway Today: A Look at HHH: What Was and What Could Have Been... Note: OUTTATIME is a serious look at how one little thing could have changed the entire landscape of wrestling. As a time travel, well, Back to the Future buff, we'll use the Timeline theory, as seen in BTTF2. How It was: March 2001 -HHH, the promotion's biggest heel, begins a fued with thee Undertaker, who was a face biker, basically playing the same character he does today. The Jeff Hardy beatings are noticeably absent, however. A match between the Game and Booger Red is signed for WrestlemMania. -Shawn Michaels is reportedly penciled in for a run-in during said match. -Shawn Michaels shows up at a SmackDown taping in "no condition to perform." His run-in and appearance are scrapped. HHH is reportedly livid. Wrestlemania X-7 -HHH vs. The Undertaker The Undertaker wins clean (kicking out of a sledgehammer shot and a Pedigree) to keep his WM Streak alive. This result surprised quite a few people, as HHH was a favorite going in. In fact, he would have won, had Michaels been able to show up in a different condition, and had a DX Reunion. WWF Title: The Rock vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin -Everyone should know that Austin wins with help from Vince, becoming the most popular "heel" ever. I mean, he was in his home state, but that's a rant for another day. RAW-The Next Night -HHH "swerves" in and out of a face turn and finally joins Austin in a beatdown of the Rock to form the Two-Man Power Trip, Vince's personal team. The Next Two Months -They kill the Hardyz and feud with the Canadian Chrisses. Here's where things get interesting. RAW, the day after Judgement Day -In one of the greatest main events in the history of RAW, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho defeat the 2MPT for the tag titles, and as you all know, this is the match where HHH tore his quad. He misses around nine months of action. The WCW/ECW InVasion -sucked. I need not remind you of anything else aftter this point. Let's go back and see what would have happened... IF SHAWN MICHAELS SHOWED UP IN A WORKING CONDITION (What follows is speculation only) WrestleMania X-7 -HHH defeats the Undertaker after Michaels runs in and delivers his trademark Sweet Chin Music. The Undertaker's streak is dead, and the original DX is reborn (sans Chyna and Rick Rude and Sgt. Slaughter chin jokes). RAW, the next night -HHH and Shawn Michaels run rampant with their heel antics and cost the Rock the title in a cage match. The next few months -More of the same, basically. No tag team gold for HHH/Austin, though. Therefore, HHH's quad remains fine, and we move onto- InVasion -The E/WCW team defeats Team WWF when Steve ASustin stuns HHH, defecting to the Alliance. RAW, the next night -A HHH/Austin brawl places them in a feud, culminating at- SummerSlam -In the WWF's original, rumored plan, HHH beats Austin for the title. Kinda funny, isn't it? That's twice Shawn Michaels has cost HHH a big push, only to have HHH get a bigger push later. I also wonder if ECW would have played a role, had Hunter still been kicking (pardon the pun). I've always understood that ECW was brought in to add star power. And who would have been on Team WWF? Well, Austin and HHH and taker are surefire definites. Angle, probably. Jericho, yes. And Benoit? How? Well, he and Jericho would not have had to go through TLC IV, so he might have been able to wrestle through a few more shows. Interesting. Of course, a million different things could've happened if HBK had found God a year early. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
