Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock: WWE Championship Match, WrestleMania XVII

The Backdrop

Back in the early 1990s, the WWE (back then it was the WWF) had just recovered from practically one superstar carrying the company in Hulk Hogan, and there was a dynamic shift towards multiple young, talented superstars such as Shawn Micheals, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart and The Undertaker, with a vision towards the future. The WWF did not have to rely on a single superstar to become the face of the company primarily because of the talent in its roster. This, coupled with the beginning of the Monday Night Wars with WCW, meant that the WWF had to reinvent its ‘product’ offering pretty regularly.

Towards the mid-nineties, there were two superstars who the WWE backed in a big way. One was a former WCW and ECW superstar who entered the WWF with the name – The Ringmaster. But his big breakthrough was after a promo he cut at the King of the Ring pay per view in 1996, when he gave the wrestling world the catch phrase ‘Austin 3:16’. The passing of the baton of superstardom began when Austin had a long feud with Bret Hart and subsequently with Owen Hart for the Intercontinental Championship all through 1997.

The other superstar was a third generation wrestler, who made his debut at Survivor Series in 1996. Even though he won the Intercontinental Championship beating Triple H at the start of 1997, his big break came when he joined the Nation of Domination in early 1997. This was also the beginning of ‘The Attitude Era’.

The end of 1997 saw these two young superstars collide for the first time – over the Intercontinental Championship. Austin used his bad mouth Texas image while the Rock was a classic entertainer on the mic. Promos included The Rock tossing the belt into a river on an episode of RAW.

After this brief feud, Austin spent the next year ‘defying’ the authority of Mr. Mcmahon, while The Rock took over as the leader of the Nation of Domination, overthrowing Faarooq and feuding with D-Generation X.

The year 1999 saw these two tussle again, not only for the WWF Championship, but also for the ‘unofficial’ No.1 wrestler in the WWF. Austin , who won that year’s Royal Rumble, beat The Rock at Wrestlemania 15. The year 2000 saw these two tussle with Triple H, Kurt Angle and The Undertaker at numerous points, before culminating in a 6 man Hell in a Cell match at Armaggedon in December 2000, from which Kurt Angle emerged Champion.

The Build Up

In the subsequent Royal Rumble, Stone Cold eliminated a dominant Kane to become the No.1 contender for the title¸while The Rock beat Kurt Angle to become the WWF Champion. The next night on RAW was the first of a series of amazing promos, with both not backing down and staring into each other’s’ eyes. Another time on Smackdown, after Austin’s match, The Rock gets into a position for the Rock Bottom, but it is only for intimidation. On a subsequent edition of RAW, Vince McMahon throws a cat amongst the pigeons when he names Austin’s wife Debra as The Rock’s manager “in the interest of fairness”.

In a one on one interview with Jim Ross, just days before their epic clash, The Rock said that Debra is not his responsibility, while Austin told him to make sure that nothing happened to his wife. In a match against Kurt Angle on RAW, The Rock couldn’t save Debra from the Angle lock. Austin then saved Debra and stunned The Rock. For the first time in this latest rivalry, they ‘made contact’ with each other. On the next episode of Smackdown, The Rock wanted revenge and had Austin in position for the Rock Bottom, Angle interfered and The Rock received another stunner for his troubles. A visibly livid Rock called out Austin on RAW and at the end of the show, used the stunner on him.

The battle lines were drawn. This feud had become personal. There were more promos, fists, punches and kicks and it all boiled down to one match – for me, personally, a match which defined The Attitude Era.

The Match

The match began with Howard Finkel announcing that it would be a No Disqualification match. As Austin made his long walk towards the ring, the crowd was in raptures. There was no real face or heel at the start of the match, and there were cheers for Austin and boos for The Rock, only because this match was taking place at Texas. The match started with Austin throwing punches even before The Rock finished getting off the turnbuckle, much before the bell sounded. The Rock countered by going for the Rock Bottom, while Austin reversed going for the Stunner, all this within the first 30 seconds of the match.

Both wrestlers then took it to each other on the announce table and then over the railing into the crowd. Austin briefly took the ascendancy, putting The Rock on the ropes and went for an early pinfall. A huge superplex later, Austin had all the initial momentum. The Rock then tried to fight back with right hands, amid a chorus of boos, and got himself a near fall. Once again, action spilled outside the ring, with Austin’s face once again meeting the announcer’s table. Austin got one back when he hit The Rock with the bell right between the eyes. And when he got up, The Rock got a taste of the steel steps.

By this time, the Champion was busted open, and was taken down by a series of blows from a fired up rattlesnake. Any momentum The Rock could muster was immediately stuffed out by a counter punch from the challenger, first through a neck-breaker and then having his head kicked about a dozen times. Then came a momentum shift – through an exploding clothesline that almost took Austin’s head off and then banging his head on an exposed turnbuckle. A dazed Austin was then met by the ring bell – this time in The Rock’s possession – and he too started bleeding. The referee counted to 2 and 3/4th before Austin kept himself alive. The Rock then laid Austin out through eight right hands and an elbow to the heart outside the ring. Back and forth it went with Austin catapulting The Rock on to the steel ring post and then clattering him with a TV monitor. An attempted pinfall then resulted in The Rock just getting a shoulder off the mat. A bloody Rock then applied a sharp shooter on Austin and a minute later, the latter got to the ropes. Austin then applied the same sharpshooter on The Rock and held the advantage now. The Champion’s knee was targeted by Austin and a second sharpshooter later, it seemed the damage had been done.

Austin then rolled back the years – and put the Million Dollar dream lock on The Rock. It seemed as if Austin wanted this real bad. But the champion almost got a near pinfall as he reversed the lock. The Rock then scored with Austin’s signature Stunner but took a while to make the cover, which allowed Austin to kick out.

Little did anyone know what was to come later, but Mr. McMahon made his way down to the ring and took a ringside seat. Austin almost got victory with a spinebuster but The Rock delivered a spinebuster of his own, before nailing The People’s elbow. As the battered champion made the cover, Mr. McMahon pulled The Rock off Austin, thus saving the match, to the utter shock of the commentators and the fans. The Rock then chased the Chairman around the ring and walked into a Rock Bottom from Austin, but still had the energy to kick out. An attempted Stunner was countered by The Rock and he pushed Austin on to referee Earl Hebner, who went crashing out of the ring. Austin then stooped to the depths of a low blow and asked Vince to get a steel chair into the ring. Stone Cold held The Rock up as Vince landed a blow to the Rock’s skull with the chair. Vince went about reviving Hebner, pushed him to the ring to count, and that delay was enough for The Rock to hang on, only just.

Austin got the chair himself, talked trash and tried to nail The Rock, but found himself at the receiving end of another Rock Bottom. Vince McMahon distracted the referee and The Rock, already seething, threw him in the ring and landed punches on the Chairman. That allowed Austin to nail The Rock with a stunner and just when everyone thought that was it, The Rock kicked out …again. Another chair shot to the skull and as Austin went for the pinfall, The Rock kicked out once more. It seemed that The Rock would just not stay down. Austin then went berserk, pounding The Rock with several shots of the steel chair, and pinned him to finally pick up the win.

What happened next?

Austin turned heel and formed a dominant force with Triple H, before feuding with the Undertaker, and then leading the Alliance in a winner take all match at Survivor Series in 2001. Personal issues rocked Austin through 2002, and Austin’s last match would be with The Rock at Wrestlemania 19.

The Rock invoked his rematch clause the next night on RAW, but it was the beginning of the Two man power trip (Austin and Triple H). The Rock was suspended for four months (he was shooting for the Scorpion King), before successfully returning to lead Team WWF to victory over the Alliance. Appearances on WWF became fewer in the next year(2002) even though he became WWE champion for a month, and left again for filming, thereafter returned in early 2003. He wrestled only three matches between April 2003 and March 2012.