20 WWE WrestleMania Matches We Almost Got (And Why We Didn't)
7. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Triple H - WrestleMania X8
During WrestleMania X-Seven's main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin turned heel against the Rock and allied with Vince McMahon in order to regain the WWF Championship. Meanwhile, Triple H was coming off of a feud with the Undertaker and soon allied himself with Austin to form the Two-Man Power Trip after winning the Intercontinental Championship.
After both winning the World Tag Team titles from the Brothers of Destruction, Austin and Helmsley were in possession of every major title in the company. A career threatening quadricep injury to The Game in May however took him out of action for the rest of the year. Shortly after this, Austin cut a promo blaming his former partner for their loss of the tag team gold with the plan of setting the stage for a match between the two at WrestleMania X8.
Why didn't it happen?
Triple H did indeed recover in time for a Royal Rumble victory but it was Chris Jericho, not Steve Austin who he met in the main event of the Show of Shows. The reason being that Austin wasn't happy with his character's direction during the Invasion and his heel turn in general. He eventually turned face, battling the nWo's Scott Hall at WrestleMania, while Triple H fought Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho.