Austin/HHH about to split in 2001 before HHH's injury?

[Jindrak Mark]

I just mentioned in another thread that the Two-Man Power Trip angle was cut short due to HHH's quad tear but it actually seemed like they were already starting their split. Austin screwed up and helped cost HHH the IC title at Judgment Day then the next night they teased some dissension and during that famous tag match HHH accidentally hit Austin with the sledgehammer and they lose the Tag titles.

I know things moved fast in the attitude era but the big unstoppable heel duo already starting to fall apart after just a month and a half seems sudden. It definitely appeared to be heading that way though, potentially ending up with heel Austin v face HHH at Summerslam (I believe KOTR was already scheduled to be Austin/Jericho and HHH/Benoit).

How do you think this disrupts things that spring/summer if the angle reaches whatever its planned conclusion was with no HHH injury? Does Austin still join the Alliance and HHH is Team WWF? If that's the case they'd probably have to split HHH/Steph earlier than they did if she still ends up leading the Alliance. It would be weird if he was a WWE babyface and his wife was on the other side trying to run them out of business.

[chronocross]

It looked like they were heading in that direction the night after Judgment Day 01. I think Trips would have turned face at some point probably after KOTR 2001 and heading into the Invasion PPV.

[Aceorton]

Triple H would have been Team WWF, absolutely, and in that sanctimonious, obnoxious Bradshaw way of "THIS COMPANY IS SACRED AND HOW DARE THEY COME INTO MY HOUSE." I don't think his ego would allow it any other way. I imagine he also would have buried all the new talent from WCW and ECW with smartass insider lines for cheap pops. The DX tank footage would have resurfaced for sure. "WE PUT YOU SECOND-RATE JABRONIS OUT OF BUSINESS ONCE, AND WE'LL DO IT AGAIN!"

As for the Austin partnership, I don't think it was destined to last long no matter what. It felt especially out of character for Austin to be associating with HHH, even if he was a heel now. Never bought the "hated enemies agree to work together to screw everybody else" thing. I was glad when it ended and Austin shifted more to the needy/paranoid stuff with Vince.

[crowley1986]

Thought they jump started the Invasion Angle due to HHH's injury - think the invasion story wouldve started later on

[Cranjis McBasketball]

That's all the Alliance would have needed, healthy Triple H to bury them even further. The only WCW draws Triple never got to were Hulk, because he's Hulk and DDP because Undertaker's f***ing wife buried him first.

[wendytorrancev1]

This is an interesting subject that I oft think about. I think personally, Trips would have went face during the InVasion, severing all ties with Austin. I'm not sure how Trips/Steph dynamic would have worked out, tbh, as during InVasion, Stephanie seemed to forget all about Trips and started hanging out with Test again, as if the two forgot all about how they hated each other (with Test calling her a "trash bag ho" earlier in the year). If they would have split up much earlier than they did, than that would have been a shame, however, I could see a short lived feud with Test and Stephanie versus Trips. It made EVEN LESS sense when Stephanie aligned herself with Jericho. For what? Because he was the WWF Undisputed Champion and Triple H was the number 1 contender? I think she shouldn't have been a factor in that, but that's another story for another time.

On the other side of that, I never bought into the Two Man Power Trip and wished that they never happened. It was such a weird move. These two men had spent every waking moment leading from Summerslam '99 to Survivor Series '99, then from Survivor Series '00 to No Way Out '01 attempting to kill each other. Now all of a sudden they're buddies? I understand getting The Rock out of the way (as he was off to go film a movie), but if they were that hellbent on making Austin a heel (which he was a terrible heel), then they should have had Triple H (or even Chris Jericho) as the sole adversary to oppose him. Instead, Austin had an all too brief feud with Taker that fizzled out by King of the Ring 2001, and then a short feud with Chris Jericho (before Jericho was plunged back in the midcards). It just seems like they were trying too hard with The Two Man Power Trip and it really didn't amount to anything at the end of the day.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Yeah, I think the Angle/Austin storyline would have been Triple H/Austin - at least in the basic framework of how it operated. Less comedy obviously but they were headed for a split and Hunter was due for a full fledged face turn. And at least in terms of motivation, I think it would have made the Austin/Alliance switch make more sense. Austin could say something like - Hunter has always been Vince's golden boy, he's family, etc.