During an Instagram video in 2020, Old School WWF Legend The Rock talked about working with WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, their three WrestleMania matches, and what he said to Austin after beating him at WrestleMania 19 (which took place on this day in 2003).
Below are the highlights:
On his first meeting with Austin on WWF TV:
“We had a night, we had a first night to see if there was any heat or attraction between ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and myself.
We come out live on RAW, and we come out at the top of the ramp … we come out and Stone Cold basically says, ‘Bring it, I don’t give a sh*t who you are, what color you are, one of you, all four of you come on down to the ring and get some of this.’
We get to the back that night, I see Vince McMahon, Steve Austin, and some of the agents backstage. Everyone collectively felt like … there’s something special between [myself] and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.”
On their WrestleMania 15 match:
“Steve had broken his neck and he’d come back from a broken neck, so he was very particular with who he wrestled with. He trusted me and there were only a handful of guys he trusted with at that time.”
On their WrestleMania 17 match:
“So much of our stuff had to be adlibbed because Steve was working with a broken neck. Every night was a different match.
We knew the finish, whether he would win or I would win, but we had to call everything out in the ring. Basically, based on how he would feel. We have a phenomenal match.
The night before we went out for a steak dinner, myself, Austin, Pat Patterson. We were talking about the match, it was a nice quiet before the storm because who knows what would happen the next day.”
On what he said to Austin after beating him at WrestleMania 19:
“I hit him with three Rock Bottoms – I believe it was three Rock Bottoms – appropriately that’s what you need to beat ‘The Rattlesnake’.
I beat him in the middle of the ring, 1, 2, 3. That moment, in front of 55,000 people, you can actually see me…when you watch it back. I’m sitting up, and I sit next to him, and he’s laying there in front of everybody.
And I whispered to him, ‘I thank you so much for everything that you’ve done for me. And, I said ‘I love you.’ He said ‘I love you too.’ I hit him on the chest and I left, left him in the ring. That was it, he retired that night.”
On passing the torch to John Cena in 2013:
“In New York is where I did for John what Steve did for me, which was do right by the business that we love — professional wrestling — and that’s the way you go out.
That’s the way you end your career, it doesn’t matter how big of a star you are, you go out on your shield and on your back: one, two, three.”
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