10 Times WWE Pressed The Panic Button
Vince McMahon writes sins, not tragedies...
"I tried to say I loved you, but the words got in the way" were the paraphrased and cribbed Gloria Estefan lyrics used in an exceptional piece on Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in the then-exceptional Raw Magazine all the way back in 1997. The article questioned if WWE was big enough for the both of them less than a year before it profoundly proved not to be. They were career rivals, performers capable of having legendary matches if they could park their emotions long enough to lock-up. The year was a story of false starts between the two, before their long-overdue match concluded with a false finish.
Vince McMahon will argue until his puce cheeks turn blue that he had no choice but to screw 'The Hitman' at the Survivor Series, but history will always reflect the act as a calculated assassination rather than the divisive judgment call it appeared as on screen. Triple H's Bad Luck Fale-esque "F*CK HIM" was even included in a WWE video game recounting of the plot, so embedded in company lore as it now is.
Just 24 hours later, Eric Bischoff was waving miniature Canadian flags in support of his incoming new signing on WCW Nitro - he'd smelled more blood in the water from what appeared to all the world as the most panicked misfire of Vince McMahon's life. The Chairman played his cards perfectly in the aftermath, somewhat vindicating his devious misdeeds. If only he always employed such near-the-knuckle logic...
10. All About The Game
Triple H was in the midst of a scintillating organic babyface turn when Stone Cold Steve Austin returned in late-2000 to test his mettle with the audience, but the proof was in the pop when 'The Game' emerged to save 'The Rattlesnake' from a beating at the hands of Kurt Angle and Rikishi at the end of a November Raw.
It was (as it often was back then) a set-up all along. Donning a black glove to batter Austin after cleaning his clock with a sledgehammer, Hunter revealed himself as Rikishi's hit-and-run accomplice, steering Stone Cold's attentions away from the Samoan and towards him with Survivor Series on the horizon.
The booking was logical enough with where the pair were at at the time of the original Austin assault, Triple H's involvement was as much a fire escape for the entire storyline as it was the next narrative progression. Rikishi simply couldn't compete with 'The Toughest S.O.B', nor did Austin want to let him, and the angle was subsequently transferred for the good of all involved - especially the future COO.