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What do you think of Austin's face turn in late 2001?

12K views 23 replies 23 participants last post by  The People's H2O 
#1 ·
Was it well done? Would you have kept him heel for longer?
 
#3 ·
Looking back at how that angle played out, it would have mad FAR MORE sense if they had just done the double switch from the start so Austin would have never sided with Vince but Shane from the off and took the title to WCW at the end of Mania 17.
 
#6 ·
They had. There was a live segment where Vince was about to buy WCW, but Shane moved first:

youtube.com/watch?v=MnnxV8aoReU

Then they had a match in WM17:

youtube.com/watch?v=8IN5hvJYwxM

But I agree with KingCal: Austin's heel turn after the Invasion story was absurd altogether.
 
#7 ·
RR-WM = FACE
WM - KOTR = HEEL
KOTR - INVASION = FACE
INVASION - SS = HEEL
SS - = FACE

Some year!!!

He just walked up, beat up the guy who cost him at SS, beat on Vince who was on the opposite team, took his title = FACE?!
 
#10 · (Edited)
that face turn is enough proof that austin is one of the best - if not the best - face character in WWE history , and why vince is one of - if not the best - heel character of all time

one day earlier vince was a super-over face while austin was a mega heel , the next night all they had to do to switch that is hit austin's music and have him beat the shit out of vince , they didn't need to cut a promo or have a dramatic finish or any of that bullshit .. all they did is have austin whip vince and boom , austin is a face and vince is satan's twin once again
 
#12 · (Edited)
in 2001 WWE got so many guys great as heel but there's no really strong babyface...Chris Benoit-Kurt Angle-Jericho could make a mini stable with Vince against Austin and HHH. Invasion could start around Royal Rumble or end of the year. as kayface wise Ric Flair is the leader along with Paul Heymen ruining WCW in expense of Vince, even tho Vince is the owner but he can't do anything...

AUstin should have never turn heel..his heel turn is great everything but just doesn't make sense how he align with Vince especially HHH how he trying to take Austin out over hit and run incident.

HHH and Austin had epic match the built up is epic they was killing each other but after WM they became Buddy best friend? i could still have HHH/Austin as odd couple who hate each other but they have common goal that is Vince. Austin/HHH could have great fued with Beniot-Kurt angle and Jericho...
 
#15 · (Edited)
started the decline of the rattlesnake tbh

in 2001 WWE got so many guys great as heel but there's no really strong babyface...Chris Benoit-Kurt Angle-Jericho could make a mini stable with Vince against Austin and HHH. Invasion could start around Royal Rumble or end of the year. as kayface wise Ric Flair is the leader along with Paul Heymen ruining WCW in expense of Vince, even tho Vince is the owner but he can't do anything...

AUstin should have never turn heel..his heel turn is great everything but just doesn't make sense how he align with Vince especially HHH how he trying to take Austin out over hit and run incident.

HHH and Austin had epic match the built up is epic they was killing each other but after WM they became Buddy best friend? i could still have HHH/Austin as odd couple who hate each other but they have common goal that is Vince. Austin/HHH could have great fued with Beniot-Kurt angle and Jericho...
the reason that this was done was to get austin mega heat, he said himself he needed hhh to get him the heat they got, which is why the destroyed the rock, hardys and lita with the chairs.

hhh back then was the heel god!
 
#16 ·
It baffles me how Angle made the switch from Alliance to WWF during the Survivor Series match and becomes a heel. Austin who was the leader of the Alliance gets pinned and becomes a face. It makes zero sense how this occurred but as for Austins face run I found it very mediocre this was no 1998 Steve Austin he was still a big name but i felt he lacked that aura Rock had and what Hunter would have when he came back in January Austin just was there cos he was Steve Austin.
 
#18 ·
Idk what the hell everybody else watched. I thought Austin's face turn was actually great IMO. Austin was never even getting booed that much as a heel after around September... he did get booed SOMEWHAT on the first week he turned back face, but thats fine. He had the crowd back on his side the next week and they stayed there heavily. I thought Austin was awesome the whole 2001 year. I think his Flair/Angle/Vince segment was fucking classic man.
 
#19 ·
I would rather have seen them continue with Austin being a heel going into Wrestlemania. Instead of Austin/Hall or Triple H/Jericho, they should have built toward Triple H/Austin at Wrestlemania XVIII, with Triple H as the returning avenging babyface winning The Royal Rumble (as he did) and Austin as still the evil heel champion who'd do anything to stay at the top, delaying the ostensible inevitable of Rock and, in a certain way, Triple H, surpassing his status at the very top of WWF/E.

Instead, we got two underwhelming feuds and matches for Wrestlemania instead of the one big potential mega match that could have stood almost alongside The Rock vs. Hogan.

After Wrestlemania, Austin could/should have taken the time off he needed after effectively carrying the company on his back for over a year and returned with a huge babyface turn. His natural new enemy would be the new big bad heel Brock Lesnar. And they could have built toward a pay-per-view money match between them instead of the fiasco with creative/Austin/Vince that happened backstage and helped to derail the entire product at the time.

As it stands, Austin's babyface turn in late November 2001 is one of the most anti-climactic, rote, pedestrian and boring turns for a true megastar that has ever happened. Woefully forgettable and completely undeserving of him. Sure, his heel run was nowhere near ideal or even altogether good for business at all but they could have at least written a third and final conclusive act for it rather than rushing him back to being a face just like that.
 
#21 ·
I've said so many times that the heel turn should have been done in 2002 if it was so needed as Stone Cold Steve Austin had been off tv for a year between late 1999 and latter 2000 so by the time he fully returned he was very fresh again and wasn't in need of the heel turn. It took him a couple of months to really find his groove again but by the very end of 2000 he was back to his best and his feud with Triple H was white hot going into The Royal Rumble and even more so No Way Out.

By the time WrestleMania 17 had come around he was arguably as popular as he was in 1998 and 1999 and because WWE knew The Rock was leaving to make The Mummy Returns they should never have turned Stone Cold Steve Austin heel because it left them seriously lacking a major face. As far as in ring work goes 2001 was the best year Stone Cold Steve Austin ever had as his matches with The Rock, Triple H, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho were all Match Of The Year contenders but the fact is that the heel turn completely ruined the character to the point it could never recover unless done over a long time.

I would have been much happier if WWE had used Kurt Angle as the top heel throughout 2001 and the leader of The Alliance in the absence of Triple H as an Austin/Angle feud with roles reversed would have been so much better for both men. Kurt Angle could have gone over Stone Cold Steve Austin at SummerSlam and Unforgiven which would have elevated Kurt Angle so much more because a win over a face Stone Cold Steve Austin meant a hell of a lot in that time period. Survivor Series still could have ended with The Rock getting the win for Team WWE with Kurt Angle eliminating Stone Cold Steve Austin which would have meant pinning Stone Cold Steve Austin three times in a year and really cementing Kurt Angle earlier than they did.

This would have allowed a slow turn for Stone Cold Steve Austin who could become frustrated by being beaten by Kurt Angle three times in a year and then at Vengeance Stone Cold Steve Austin could have beaten Kurt Angle but get beaten by Chris Jericho so they could still do the Austin/Rock/New World Order feud. That could have been the basis for Stone Cold Steve Austin finally snapping and turning heel once WrestleMania 18 had been and gone and WWE would have had The Rock, Hulk Hogan and Triple H as top faces whilst having Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho as top heels. This may have even helped Stone Cold Steve Austin's frustrations with WWE creative as he felt by 2002 he had nowhere to go creatively so a heel turn then a year and a half after returning would have made much more sense and preserved the character.
 
#23 ·
He literally sucks on that role, fans barely can buy that act, Austin gave his best effort to make himself as the hated one but it's not same anymore like when he attacked Brian Pillman.

In late 2001, his face turn was inevitable anymore since Vince took the part by play the mastermind who played and trick both side and in the end of Survivor Series, both Rock and Austin feel been fooled.
 
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