Scott's Blog of Doom

Plans always change in wrestling by different things (like injuries, suspensions, etc.).  So, there are a couple of questions I have on some storyline plans that changed because on certain events.  I know you might not be able to answer the questions with 100% accuracy unless you were actually one of WWE's writers, but I thought it would make for an interesting blog entry.
1) Before Shawn "lost his smile" what was the original plan for him for that year's WrestleMania?  I heard it was going to be Michaels-Hart again, but what would Austin have done?  And would Taker-Sid still be on the card?
2) Again its about Shawn, but it's a little harder to answer.  Had Michaels not injured his back in that casket match with the Undertaker, what would have happened post-Mania?  We all knew that Stone Cold was going to take the title from Shawn before the injury, but what would have "possibly" happened?  Would Triple H still say that Shawn dropped the ball and turn on him leading to HHH vs. Shawn Michaels being a top feud?
3) What if Bret Hart stayed with the WWF?  Would Hart-Austin headline WrestleMania 14 instead of Michaels-Austin?
Again, I know it's a bunch of "what ifs", but I like reading and talking about stuff like that.

 

A)  Shawn's crippling jobberitis of the knee didn't so much screw up the Wrestlemania plan as it did the title picture.  Shawn was always going to pass the title to Sid so he could lose to Undertaker at WM, it just made it more of a headache.  According to Bret's book, Shawn was going to drop the title to Sid and then do a ladder match with Bret at WM, with the loser (Shawn) getting his head shaved.  It was never going to be for the belt.  I don't think there was any serious plans in place for Austin's role at that point, unless it was going to be screwing someone over on the show or whatever, but that's just a guess.

B)  That whole period was not exactly a hallmark of long-term booking in the first place, as the original plan was of course Bret v. Austin for the title before the Montreal thing happened, so the whole Shawn v. Austin rework was all very last minute, relatively speaking.  However, watching the old RAWs on 24/7 from that time, I can definitely say that they were sewing the seeds for the Outlaws to join D-X, so I don't imagine that the gameplan deviated much from the original plan.  A rematch with Shawn at Backlash seems like the logical direction for Austin (rather than the thrown-together Foley feud) so they couldn't really turn him face at that point.  And then with Russo, who KNOWS where things would have gone because it was all made up on the spot anyway. 

C)  Again, Hart-Austin for the title at WM 14 was absolutely set in stone up until everything went wonky.  That was the whole direction of the promotion for the year leading up to it and nothing else would have made sense.  Bret was always under the impression he'd be dropping the belt to Austin, as soon as he got it back.