What if HBK never lost his smile?

[ChitownKnight]

It was clear they were going for HBK vs Bret again at mania 13, but what about Austin? Would he have faced the Rock for the IC title? Giving them 4 mania matches potentially? I think he would of faced Bret at mania 14 instead if Bret never left

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Probably Sid or Taker. If Taker, then does an Austin on the cusp of superstardom break The Streak before it ever really becomes a thing?

[rnrk supports BLM]

After the way they stuctured the entire Rumble around Austin, I can't imagine him doing anything but either main eventing for the world title or having his final showdown against Bret.

I have the feeling we would've gotten Bret vs Austin anyway, and even with Shawn the world title match would've still ended up as a thrown-together afterthought. And Michaels could probably see that that's the direction things were leaning in.

[cabbageboy]

Yeah I think they would have just had a random 3 way for the title with HBK/Sid/Taker. Bret/Austin needed a blow off at WM.

[repomark]

Triple threat matches were not really a thing in WWF at the point of WM13 - certainly not as we know them. So I don’t think we would have got Austin v Bret v HBK however great that sounds.

They still had the in your house in Feb to sort it out - the final four. Given the rumble controversy, I think this was always the plan and it seems likely that Bret would have won the match. The seeds of the Bret heel turn had already been planted, but I don’t think there would have been the match with Sid on Raw where he lost the belt the following night and had his little temper tantrum (further planting this seed). Instead there would have had to have been another way of getting Bret across as evil, and probably that would be at the expense of HBK.

Probably ends up being a similar narrative to the Austin match - only HBK is the one that Bret beats up after winning at mania.

The bigger question is what they would have done with Austin instead and how much that might have stunted his momentum. Only really Undertaker, Sid, Vader or Mankind fit - unless you have him actually face Ken Shamrock - who was unlikely to be ready at that stage. You could also have brought forward the Owen feud - but you would need to do the Hart reconciliation before then. Brian Pillman is maybe an option - but he was struggling badly with injuries.

Tricky one to book, but that is only because we all know how brilliant and pivotal the Bret v Austin match was and all the alternatives for Austin at that time would pale in comparison.