Someone referenced his drug issues which he started cleaning up after his surgery/re hab, time away, etc. It's possible that if he would have been physically able to continue he might have imploded. He needed the time away to "get straight", both from drugs and from his destructive attitude.
He also may have been gone from WWE....It was clear that Austin was #1 guy in away that HBK had never been, or Brett for that matter. While there still would have been plenty of room and his talents, especially as a lead heel, he wasn't going to get sole possession of the top spot, HBK in the past wasn't easy to work with when he wasn't on top of the charts and Vince might have been forced to cut his losses with the ascension of Austin, Rock, the continued success of Taker, the rise of Foley, etc.
Certainly if HBK, with his drug issues, lands in WCW he self destructs. Nash clearly wasn't up to the task of helping Hall, who by 1998 was already himself on the outs with the company and becoming a part time talent and high profile jobber, and we've seen how well his life & career were moving forward. WCW was the place where Louie Spiccoli OD'd and Curt Henning went live on Nitro drunk, it was a wild west show and Bischoff for all his creative talent and ability to craft some of the best TV done that decade wasn't up to the task of riding herd on the talent when needed. HBK's worst behavior would have been indulged by himself and likely ignored by everyone else, I doubt Brett Hart would have done anything to help him, he wasn't as close to Flair at that time as he was in later years, and certainly Hogan wouldn't have gotten involved, the more guys ruin themselves the less likely they are to steal his spotlight. When someone posted that HBK might have been dead without that break in 1998 that doesn't seem so far fetched.
In the end, his second act post 2002 saved him, mainly because he came back as a team oriented guy who did right by the company and his co workers, he put over up and comers like Randy Orton & John Cena to help burnish their cred with the audience as well as working well with legends like Taker, Flair, & HHH. He wasn't treated poorly or jobbed out all the time, he was treated exactly the way you are supposed to treat a top star on the second act of their career, give them meaningful wins, don't saddle them with secondary losses, win a few titles, but share the spot light with the new generation and occasionally give a big win and big moment back to elevate those guys legitimately in the eyes of the fans. Without post 2002, even if he doesn't end up dead, If HBK's career is done post 1998 he is well below the status he has now, both strictly in terms of his in ring accomplishments and as an over all performer.
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