What do you think would've happened to the WWF had Shawn not broke his back??

[Lucky Millionaire]

Even though HBK is one of the GOAT performers in wrestling history he has a bit of a smudge on his legacy because of his coked up ego and politicking. HBK initially didn't want to job to Austin at WM14 (taped fists ) as well as allegedly having beef with the Rock, the two stars of the Attitude Era, so if he didn't break his back at the RR in 98 and was able to continue wrestling after WM14 where do you think the WWF would be? Would the Attitude Era be even more successful with his in-ring presence or would his antics help DX at the cost of everyone else and the WWF?

 

[Riley Escobar]

Shawn breaking his back is probably the best thing that could have happened to the WWF at the time. It allowed Rock and Austin to do their own thing and become megastars.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

In b4 pat pat jokes

 

[Ohnoits]

I honestly wonder if he really did break his back.

I've been suspicious that they just forced him out because:

1. He was never a big draw
2. He was a tempermental drama queen backstage
3. His drug addictions had gotten out of contorl
4. Austin had shown himself to be the more reliable and greater draw--if not the greatest draw wrestling had ever seen since Hogan

...So they didn't need HBK anymore, and once he got his act together and found God and his wife they let him come back.

 

[Jmare007]

Taker would have broken his neck

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

WCW wins the Monday Night Wars

 

[firemanBk]

At least we would've seen HBK vs. The Rock

 

[jackswstd]

Austin would've risen regardless. There was absolutely nothing that was gonna stop that from happening. If anything that injury saved Shawn's life cause he very well could've died from his addictions.

 

[StatUS]

Austin was unstoppable now HHH might not be as big and that there would have better future implications for the company.

 

[Silkk]

Wouldve got that strap back in a few months time

 

[Swiggy]

Hiatus after Mania loss to Austin, then Shawn would've come back as Vince's check against Austin for sonning him nightly on RAW.

At some point, a finger-poke-of-doom angle would go down, putting Shawn back at the top of DX.

His return would have gone down after the Nation feud, that helped elevate Rock/HHH.

Shawn and DX cause fukkery and it helps him reclaim the world title.

Mad heat on DX, as the crowds are eating up everything he does, going unchecked in promos and mic burials. shyt gets to the point where he's getting Attitude Era Hart Foundation heat, getting mixtures of cheers and boos, prolly Cena-esque.

They'd catch Austin one day, giving him them boots, until the Rock makes the save, putting all three together at once.

Soon after, they catch Rock and Austin with the numbers, then they get saved by Taker, Kane, and Mankind, setting up that GOAT Survivor Series match

I can't go on anymore brehs. I'm lovin this too much

 

[Da King]

It would have elevated the Attitude era to such a point where nikkas would have been like this

 

[Slystallion]

Attitude era would still be successful and there would have been some rock Austin Shawn matches

Don't know if HHH gets elevated or if Shawn takes a back seat for him

 

[Henzo]

It would have elevated the Attitude era to such a point where nikkas would have been like this

pretty much

every time Shawn showed up as commish, he had the crowd shytting their pants at how hard they were marking out

HBK really only missed the invasion angle where the quality and popularity went down significantly and ratings crawled down into the bushes

he was involved in the main event storylines during most of the best part of the era (russo era, rise of HHH/Steph)

 

[DANJ!]

HBK in the full-blown Attitude Era woulda been ill... he was definitely a great heel during that run between his turn in '97 and WrestleMania. Can't imagine he woulda fallen back too far on the card.

Austin was already the top face, and destined to be even more so after Mania. Vince was the top heel that year, so Michaels/Foley/Rock all would've alternated at #2 on the heel side. Undertaker probably would've never gone heel at all in '98/'99.

HHH probably would have taken longer to move up. At the very least, it would've taken him longer to be seen as a forefront person, because he never would've been the frontman for DX. Only way that woulda went down is if they'd done something where HBK turned his back on them and they went face from there... which I guess could've happened, but who knows.

We def. would've gotten to see Rock vs Michaels tho'... probably a number of times. And probably more Austin/Michaels, more Foley/Michaels, and of course HHH/Michaels much sooner than it took to happen.