WWF in 1998 without Steve Austin

[ChrisBenoit]

At Summerslam 97 Steve Austin had his neck injury which he attributes to him retiring as early as he did but what if it was worse and he was never able to wrestle again? What would WWF look like in 98 and 99? Would they have taken over the Monday Night Wars? Would they have tried to keep Bret Hart?

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I don't think it would have changed anything with Bret.

Austin was already over but the McMahon feud was the reason he went into the stratosphere and I don't see anyone else filling the Austin role even close to as well as he did.

Without the attitude era being as successful maybe WCW never hires Russo so that would be a boon to them although they were still massively overspending on contracts so could well have ended up in trouble anyway.

 

[bng]

Planet Stasiak and Val Venis would carry WWF on their backs

 

[FilipEmoFights]

Woulda been the Rock and Triple H, perhaps Vince could have conVinced HBK to come out of his early retirement/back injury earlier than he did when he made his Summerslam return against Triple H. Obviously Taker would have been used a lot and was anyway.
I don’t really see how the MSJ caused the Austin McMahon feud when Bret was stupid enough to think he could leave with the belt that makes Bret look bad in my opinion

 

[Thrawn33]

I don’t really see how the MSJ caused the Austin McMahon feud when Bret was stupid enough to think he could leave with the belt that makes Bret look bad in my opinion

Bret didn't want to drop the belt to HBK in Canada after HBK refused to return the favor for his WM Moment, and Bret was going to relinquish the belt the following night on RAW.

Vince agreed and told Bret so...the rest we all know.

 

[Pierce 34]

Without Steve Austin wwf loses the Monday night wars. They either get bought out by wcw or wcw becomes the #1 company and wwf becomes like TNA

 

[Thrawn33]

Without Steve Austin wwf loses the Monday night wars. They either get bought out by wcw or wcw becomes the #1 company and wwf becomes like TNA

WWF probably does lose without Stone Cold but...

I think WCW still fails and pro-wresting goes through a dark age.

 

[LEWIS540]

Personally think WCW was gonna fail either way.

Always thought it telling Bischoff wanted nWo to go on forever. Should have been a 2 year thing with WCW defeating them for good with Sting or Goldberg.

nWo was a huge reason in the death of that company, ultimately.


Natural fit would have been Austin going over Bret at WM14, instead of HBK. Not sure how you’d fit Tyson in.

Even without Austin, WWF would have found a way to win, imo, though the industry as a whole would not have been as hot by a big margin.

 

[Pierce 34]

WWF probably does lose without Stone Cold but...

I think WCW still fails and pro-wresting goes through a dark age.

WCW was going to fail anyhow.

 

[Thrawn33]

WCW was going to fail anyhow.

It's funny how obvious that was now, but unless you were deep in the dirtsheets and websites back then, WCW appeared unstoppable for a time.