Hello, Cagesiders!

This is the inaugural edition of Wrestling What-If's! This is going to be a new series that will take a look at some of wrestling's biggest stories and game-changing events and try to find out what would happen if history had played out a little different!

Today, we look at one of the most infamous events in the history of professional wrestling that altered the future for WWE Superstar Triple H (HHH): The Curtain Call Incident at Madison Square Garden.

For those who don't know, on May 19, 1996, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels were involved in two separate matches. These were the last two matches that Nash and Hall would work in the WWF, as they we're headed to WCW. After the matches were complete, Hall and Michaels, who were faces, celebrated with Nash and HHH, who were heels.

This was considered a severe breach of kayfabe and broke the mystique that Vince McMahon had established between faces and heels. Since Nash and Hall were leaving, and Michaels was the WWF champion at the time, HHH bore the brunt of the punishment, which included his scripted win of the 1996 King of the Ring tournament. Because of this, a man by the name of Stone Cold Steve Austin won said tournament final and gave birth to Austin 3:16 and thus the attitude era.

So what would happen if there was no Curtain Call? Would there still be an Austin 3:16?

Can you say 6 time WWE Champion and Hall of Famer Owen Hart?

What? You can't? This is madness, you say?

No my friend, this is WW-if!

Let's look back at the KOTR Tournament in 1996 and figure out what would have changed.

King of the Ring tournaments were mainly predictable as you had (mostly) face vs heel matches throughout the tourney. In order to achieve the desired result of HHH winning the KOTR, we are going to switch him and Austin in the bracket. So it now looks like this (click to expand):

Now even if you change the brackets, the booking was made to favor an Austin win. So we're going to have some fun. It's best to keep an open mind, especially when you have to think like Vince!

Round 1 on RAW

Ahmed Johnson in a surprise victory beats Vader. Vader, angry at his loss, takes his aggression out on the next KOTR match and costs Ultimate Warrior a match against Goldust. Austin loses to Jake Roberts by rollup, and Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw beats Henry Godwinn. Triple H beats Bob Holly, Savio Vega beats Jannetty, Marc Mero beats Skip and Owen Hart beats Yokozuna. The actions of Vader set up a hoss fight at the KOTR 96 pay-per-view that has the Ultimate Warrior going against Vader.

Round 2 on RAW

Ahmed Johnson beats Goldust, but Goldust keeps stalking Ahmed. Austin takes out Jake Roberts therefore costing him the match and Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw advances. Triple H beats Savio Vega and Marc Mero beats Owen Hart. This also sets up a match at the King of the Ring pay-per-view between Austin and Jake the Snake Roberts.

King of the Ring PPV 1996

The Ultimate Warrior vs. Vader match at KOTR goes to a no contest after they are both counted out, setting up a No Holds Barred match and big pay day for both of them at SummerSlam.

Shawn Michaels still faces Davey Boy Smith at KOTR so there's no change there.

Austin beats Jake Roberts and is still able to cut his infamous Austin 3:16 promo.

HHH defeats Ahmed Johnson in the KOTR final after interference from Goldust and Marlena.

Your 1996 King of the Ring: Hunter Hearst Helmsley!

Because of the interference by Goldy, it sets up Ahmed vs Goldust on RAW the next night and Ahmed wins the Intercontinental title.

Sounds simple and things play out mostly the same, right? Well this is the point where it really gets interesting.

Post-King of the Ring and SummerSlam 96

On Monday Night RAW after KOTR, Jake Roberts gives a speech that sounds like he's retiring, until Stone Cold comes out and beats the crap out of him and says "You don't retire until I tell you that you can retire". Jake is out for a couple weeks.

Due to the extra matches that Ahmed Johnson was in at KOTR, WWE did a physical and found out about his kidney problem in advance. Because of that, Ahmed forfeits the IC title and that kicks off a tournament, one that Ron Simmons ISN'T in. But since the injury wasn't exacerbated by Simmons like it was in our original timeline, he was only out for a month and a half.

To catch on to the popularity of 3:16, Stone Cold is in the finals of the IC Title tournament against Wildman Marc Mero. But right before he was about to win, Jake the Snake returns and attacks Austin.This leads to a bitter and violent blood feud that ends in a retirement match at SummerSlam in which Stone Cold wins with the help of Brian Pillman.

And since the I.C. title tournament happened a month prior to the original one, that means there was no Gladiator Faarooq, but you won't miss it though, will you?

DAMN!

Ahmed Johnson comes back and wins an 11 man battle royal to become the #1 contender for the WWE Championship with the match set to take place the day after SummerSlam. Ahmed Push Time! How do you feel about that?

The Vader/Warrior match at SummerSlam is labeled the hoss fight of the century. Vader wins when a debuting Faarooq takes out the Warrior and Warrior is legit injured by both Faaroq and Vader in a hit ordered by McMahon for holding him up for more PPV and merchandise money.

Because Vader had a match with Warrior, the Vader/Michaels match never took place..........

Vince and Jim Cornette decided that Owen Hart is the likely suitor to challenge Michaels for the title. So on TV, Owen Hart challenges Shawn Michaels for a title shot at SummerSlam. The match steals the show and becomes one of the greatest matches of all time.

Even though Shawn Michaels wins the match, people start cheering for Owen and eventually he becomes a face and earns Michaels' respect. Shawn extends his hand at the end of the match and Owen (against Cornette's wishes) shook it, sparking a face turn.

Unhappy with the outcome, Cornette instructs Vader to attack Owen Hart on RAW, which leads to a couple RAW matches and a Calgary Street Fight match at In Your House 10.

Cornette, looking for a new client, approaches Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who is on a hot streak as of late. Helmsley accepts.

Ahmed Johnson gets his title shot the day after SummerSlam, but Vader's interference makes it a no contest. They go on to feud that ends at In Your House 11.

Stone Cold, after the Jake Roberts blood feud, goes after Bret Hart using the same vignettes, though the timeframe was shorter. This time around, however Owen answers the call of The Rattlesnake. He defends his brother (as he is a full blown face now with fan support) and they face each other at In Your House 10.

A cheap win by Austin leads to controversy and a #1 contenders match for the WWE title at In Your House 11 between Austin and Owen. But in a shocker, a returning Bret Hart helps his brother Owen win which sparks the Bret Hart/Austin feud.

Survivor Series 96

A three way dance at Survivor Series culminates as Triple H and Ahmed Johnson argue who should be the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship. A match leads to a double pin. Gorilla Monsoon decides they both get a shot at the title in an elimination-style 3 way dance against Marc Mero.

Triple H wins and becomes the Intercontinental Champ!

Which means that whole weird Goldust/Marc Mero thing? Never happened. And that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing.

Owen Hart beats Shawn Michaels in a highly contested match that saw Owen Hart knock out Jose Lothario with the jumping back kick that was meant for Michaels.

Your new WWE Champion: The Rocket Owen Hart!

Bret Hart/Austin plays out like it originally did at Survivor Series.

A returning Sycho Sid leads Team Sid against Team Vader to a victory. So no Sycho Sid WWE title run:

Rocky Maivia also makes his debut, but we will get to that later:

For now.......Onto 1997

Michaels looks to get his rematch at Royal Rumble 1997 against Owen Hart. Knowing that Bret was supposed to be booked to win at Wrestlemania 13, he convinces Vince to let him job to Owen, causing a booking change to how the Rumble itself would be booked. Bret Hart was supposed to win the Rumble, but instead the events that took place in the original timeline take place, with Stone Cold winning the Rumble via shenanigans.

Michaels then decides to take time off due to his "losing his smile".

The Final Four match at In Your House happens but it has Ahmed Johnson, Undertaker, Austin, and Bret Hart for the #1 contender at Wrestlemania 13, one that the Undertaker wins. But only because The Nation of Domination costs Ahmed Johnson the match while Bret Hart and Austin were brawling in the back.

Wrestlemania 13

The next night on RAW, Bret Hart blames Austin for all of his missed opportunities since his return, and thus the match is set for Wrestlemania 13 in a submission match against Austin. It still ends up the same with a Bret Hart win with a double-turn, as Hart still attacked him after the match and Stone Cold still had a strong tweener following.

The Undertaker defeats Owen Hart and wins the WWE Championship for the second time.

Rocky Maivia defeats Triple H to win his first ever Intercontinental Championship!

Ahmed Johnson recruits the L.O.D to help fight The Nation of Domination to victory.

A couple of changes, yes. But mostly everything ends up right for the most part, albeit a little rushed. So why did I go through all of this to keep things 70% the same?

Remember, it's only April. Now it's go time.

Post-Wrestlemania to October 97

Shawn Michaels returns from his hiatus to a heroes welcome. He joins Austin in his feud with The Hart Foundation, but it's a matter of time before his eyes are set on the WWE title again.

Bret Hart goes full heel and re-forms the anti-American version of The Hart Foundation.

Stone Cold continues his feud with them for the next two months. He also wins the WWE Tag Team Championship from Owen and Davey Boy Smith with his partner Ahmed Johnson.

His rivalry officially ends with Stone Cold winning the King of the Ring 1997 by going through each member of The Hart Foundation in every round, beating Bret Hart in the finals.

This means that he didn't feud with Owen at SummerSlam for the Intercontinental Title. So no broken neck for good ol' Stone Cold! You can celebrate now:

Triple H goes through a gradual personality change from Connecticut Blueblood to a more aggressive version of himself and starts showing a darker side since losing the IC Title. This eventually leads into a feud with Mankind and The Undertaker over the WWE Title. A very good series of matches follows where The Undertaker comes out on top, but puts Triple H firmly in the title picture as a solid main eventer.

Bret refocuses on becoming the WWE Champion again. He would get his chance, but in a Triple Threat Match against Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at Survivor Series. This doesn't end well, as Bret pins Shawn via roll up right after Shawn was closing in on a win and hit Taker with Sweet Chin Music. This sparks The Undertaker/Michaels feud.

Since Rocky Maivia won his IC Title later, he didn't injure his knee. But he loses the belt to Owen Hart, who ends up in a match at SummerSlam against Ahmed Johnson. He does the inverted piledriver and ends up breaking Ahmed Johnson's neck. Since he was much heavier than Austin, this ends Ahmed Johnson's career.

Ahmed was supposed to win the belt. But because of the booking change, Austin, angered that this soul brother from another mother has his career ended, starts one last feud with Owen Hart and ends up winning the IC title.

Survivor Series 97 and the redefined Montreal Screwjob

By this time, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chyna and Rick Rude formed D-Generation X. Triple H was being touted as the next WWE Champion. However, he had to go through Owen Hart, who was the new WWE Champion, at Survivor Series in Montreal because Bret Hart, who was leaving to go to WCW, convinces Vince to let him drop the belt to Owen Hart a month prior at In Your House.

So the stage was set for Owen Hart vs Triple H at Survivor Series with Bret Hart as the special guest referee and Shawn Michaels as the outside enforcer. So how was it a screwjob? When Owen put the sharpshooter on Triple H, Bret calls for the bell immediately and Owen walks out of Montreal still the WWE Champion.

Prologue

To sum it up:

Austin still was able to do 3:16 in 1996 and became King of the Ring of 1997 in even more legendary fashion. He goes on to win the WWE Championship in a match against Triple H and Shawn Michaels in 1998 at Wrestlemania 14.

The Rock became The Rock, because he is The Great One!

Triple H would be in his first Wrestlemania main event in the triple threat match. Though in a losing effort, Triple H takes out Michaels after the match and becomes the new leader of DX. He wins his first title at SummerSlam 1998 to go on and have a successful career, but at a price..........

Since Triple H was already established, he didn't need the push of joining The Corporation nor creating the McMahon/Helmsley faction. Which means he would not have been as close to Stephanie McMahon, which also means that he wouldn't end up marrying her.

There also wouldn't have been any direct shots fired at WCW by DX, because, since there was no "Curtain Call", no one would know about the whole "Kliq" thing and Nash and Hall being friends of Michaels and Helmsley.

Because Owen was a 2-time champ and became a draw as a heel, he had no need to go back into the Blue Blazer costume. OWEN HART IS ALIVE, SUCKAAAAAS! Owen Hart would eventually be a decorated champion. Already winning the belt twice, he would win it four more times between 1999 and 2005 before retiring.

Shawn Michaels would end up still wrestling for a long while, since he didn't feud with The Undertaker over the WWE Championship in a casket match. We wouldn't get his late run, however, as he retired around the same time Owen Hart did. Which means no DX 2.0 and no Michaels/Taker Matches.

So looking back, that's a hell of a butterfly effect. Some things stayed the same. But a lot of other things changed, and not necessarily for the better. What do you think, Cagesiders?

Next Friday we will go into WW-if Vol. 2, where we look at the sale of WCW, and what would happen if Fusient Media Ventures was able to complete the transaction and buy the struggling promotion!