Quoted By:
He tapped at WM 20 to Benoit
He got annihilated by Batista at WM 21, Backlash and Hell in the Cell
He tapped at WM 22 to Cena
All 3 were great moments and would haven't been as great as they were without the Reign of Terror.
Goldberg was too uncompromisable. Scott Steiner was working hurt and would need to be protected in a limited way that couldn't work long term as world champion.
Austin and Rock were already gone. The NWO were difficult to work with and a flop.
I can understand Vince's logic of "Taker, Kurt and Big Show have agreed to work with me on building up Brock as the next top guy on Smackdown, so Raw should be headlined by an already-established top star, who do I have left?"
RVD went through a lot of bullshit paying his dues and he still fumbled the ball when he was finally handed it. According to writers at the time, they thought the brand split would lead to building up RVD as WHC vs Brock as WWE World champ but Vince was like "this isn't a story with an end date, Brock is the project, Raw and the new WHC belt need to be carried by an already-established star"
If Brock stuck around, I think there was heat in drafting RVD to Smackdown and booking RVD vs Brock at Summerslam 04.
Kane's character would never work as the top guy and losing the mask was the right call, they made the story work.
Booker T was saying he was going to retire because his back was shot -- in the buildup to WM 19. He was signaling that he wasn't sure if he wanted to stick around.
Jericho... he's the only one that has a convincing case of being picked over Hunter. But he has shit the bed with his ideas some times. He'll admit that he would go about things the wrong way when politicking with Vince.
Admittedly, HHH fucked over Orton. It should have been Orton leading a coup and Evolution kicking out HHH. But HHH didn't want to work babyface because he knew it had a shorter shelf life, so he kneecapped Orton in order to extend his own run for a few more years.
