If you have never seen the injury that happened to HHH on May 21, 2001 during Monday Night Raw go find it. The match itself is an absolute masterpiece, the crowd is going wild and it’s for the tag team titles. Steve Austin and HHH had recently formed the little talked about team of the “Two Man Power Trip” and they were taking on Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho for the tag titles in the main event that night. During the match HHH went to make a save and completely tore his quadriceps off the bone, however he still finished the match including a Walls of Jericho on the announce table on the outside. This is just months before the Invasion angle and you have to wonder how much different it would have looked if HHH were still there. So how would the months leading up to the Invasion have looked and then after how would things have looked with HHH still on the roster and available. Luckily for you I have the pen and I’m booking this shit so sit back relax and enjoy the read.
That night of Raw would not have been changed and actually I think the feud for the tag titles continue into King of the Ring. The main event match would have been HHH and Austin vs. Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit for the tag titles. The build-up would tease some tension between Austin and HHH up until King of the Ring. Stephanie McMahon would continue playing moderator between the two and attempt to bring them together as a team. Jericho and Benoit would lose the tag titles back to Austin and HHH because Benoit was needing time off for surgery.
The Invasion angle would kick off in a bit of a different fashion as it would kick-off with Booker T costing Austin and HHH the tag titles against the Dudley’s on Raw. HHH and Austin would banned together as well as bring the locker room together saying that we can’t let this company be invaded. Stephanie McMahon would also be a big voice in this as she would say we can’t let her brother tear down what her father has built. This would lead to the Invasion 2001 PPV and it would not yet include ECW as its own brand. In the main event you would see Steve Austin, HHH, Chris Jericho, Undertaker and Kane against Booker T, DDP, Rhyno and the Dudley Boys. During the match the referee would get knocked down towards the end when it would just be Booker T, Austin and HHH left in the match. Austin would hit Booker T with a stunner and that’s when Stephanie McMahon would interrupt the three count and Austin would be infuriated. He would corner Stephanie McMahon and that’s when HHH would blast Austin with the sledge hammer. Booker T would cover Austin and HHH, Booker T and the Alliance would celebrate.
The next night on Raw Stephanie would say that she was in on it all along as the owner of ECW and that her husband HHH is the face of the alliance. This would setup the main event for Summerslam with HHH vs. Steve Austin for the WWF Title. Also you would still have Booker T vs. The Rock for the WCW title and Kurt Angle would face DDP. Undertaker and Kane would face the Dudley Boys for the tag titles as well. HHH would get the win over Austin in this match with help from the alliance and that’s what would end the show. Earlier The Rock would defeat Booker T for the WCW title and bring the big gold belt to the side of WWF.
At Unforgiven we would see Steve Austin and HHH in a steel cage match made by Vince McMahon in hopes that the cage would keep out the alliance. Of course this would not be the case as RVD would cost Austin his match which would set up Austins next feud and move HHH away from Austin. The Rock would defeat Booker T and Shane McMahon in a handicap match to retain his title. No Mercy would be the next event and that would have HHH defend his title against Kurt Angle and RVD would take on Austin. Also on this night Chris Jericho lose The Rock and would not become WCW champion.. Austin would of course defeat RVD and HHH would defeat Kurt Angle to retain his WWF title. During the main event a frustrated Chris Jericho would turn his back on the WWF and help HHH retain his title. This would lead to The Rock vs. HHH in a winner takes all matchup to determine the fate of the WWF and also to merge the titles into one. Also Kurt Angle would take on Chris Jericho, Austin would take on Shane McMahon. RVD and Booker T would team up against Undertaker and Kane.
The Rock would defeat HHH on this night to claim the undisputed title and have WWF finally conquer the alliance. HHH would try everything in this match to defeat his long-time rival however Vince McMahon himself would stop his daughter from interfering and the Rock would hit the Rock Bottom for the victory. I think this would have been a proper way to tie in the fact these two really came up through the ranks together and had such a history with each other. Now with companies depending on them they would have the highest stakes match of their feud.
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From here I could see the Rock holding the title for a while possibly until Wrestlemania and having someone like Chris Jericho to win the Royal Rumble. Also you could have gotten Austin vs. Hogan then because Rock wouldn’t have been an option. I think HHH would have loved to work with Ric Flair and you could have had Undertaker work Kurt Angle. My how different Wrestlemania would have locked if you had storylines already in place with HHH. This is how I think HHH’s 2001 would have looked had he stayed around and not gotten injured, what do you think? Please leave your comments below or as always feel free to reach out to me via twitter @awesomephinatic. Thanks for the support and until next time be awesome.
