[Reacher]

This is a difficult question to answer: On the one hand, turning Austin heel was ill-advised because The Rock was on the verge of switching to part-time due to his burgeoning Hollywood career and so with an Austin heel turn, you’ve effectively gotten rid of your top two baby faces. On the other hand, there was evidence to suggest that Austin’s character was cooling off a bit. It’s inevitable. It happens. It happened to Hogan, it happened to The Rock, it happened to Cena, and it likely would have happened to Austin had he stayed face, although in Austin’s case, I don’t think he would have been booed out of the building. He likely would started to receive lukewarm face pops.

Personally? I would have still done the Austin heel turn, but I would have committed to it. No face turn after Survivor Series. I would have kept Austin as a heel until Wrestlemania 18 and would have had Jericho go over Austin in the main-event. Basically, Austin and Triple H would have switched spots on that card for me while Austin would have never turned face while Jericho would have never turned heel.