Is HHH Responsible for the 'Attitude' Boom?

Papa Shango

We all know that if it wasnt for the 'attitude' era then WWF would be pretty much out of business. WCW was slamming them in the ratings for almost 2 years straight.. then something interesting happened.. Stone Cold Steve Austin started to get over thanks to his KOTR Promo in 1996 and slowly worked his way up and turning the fans against Bret Hart.. then moved onto the hottest feud in Wrestling against Mr McMahon.

but things could have been so different.. HHH, Diesel, Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels all ended up breaking kayfabe and having a group hug before Nash and Hall exiled to WCW. Vince wouldnt punish Nash and Hall for this because they abandoned ship.. he couldnt punish Shawn, because he was the Champ.. so he punished HHH by withdrawing him from the 1996 KOTR (Which he was slated to win, to be followed by a huge push), and replacing him with Steve Austin.. Which lead to his infamous 'Austin 3:16 Says I Just Kicked Your Ass) promo

So I ask, If that Group Hug never took place, and HHH was given the go ahead to win KOTR '96.. Would the WWF have died a death? Or would it have moved on to even greener pastures.

This is entirely speculation and 'what-ifs', of course.. and it would be nice to hear what you people think on the matter.

Creature of the Night

I think Austin still would have got over. He turned face on the reaction of the fans to his gimmick and the resultant era of 'attitude' came from the idea that rule-breakers could be cool. The whole DX schtick became a 'liked heel' stable of people that fans could cheer for and hate at the same time.

I think if HHH had won that KOTR, we would have seen his push sooner, and SCSAs later, but they still would have acknowledged the sheer crowd reactions that SCSA was getting. He would have had to work his way up through many a feud, but if he was chosen to be second on the rung behind HHH to win KOTR, that speaks volumes about how much they thought of him anyway, so I think attitude would have happened anyway, just that HHH would have been a main eventer much sooner than he was.