Top 20 WrestleMania moments: No. 9
Steve Austin vs. The Rock (WrestleMania X-7, 2001)
The two biggest stars during wrestling’s resurgence in the late ’90s had wrestled each other before – including in the main event at WrestleMania XV two years earlier – but this was their first match against each other with both of them as babyfaces. The atmosphere at the jam-packed Astrodome in Houston was electric for the highly anticipated clash of megastars.
Austin versus Rock in a no-disqualification match for Rock’s WWE title was as good as advertised. They waged a bloody battle and thrilled the crowd with numerous false finishes, including a sequence in which each man used the other’s finisher for a near fall. During the latter stages of the match, WWE chairman Mr. McMahon came down to ringside and – to the shock of everyone – began assisting Austin, his arch enemy.
“Stone Cold” made three unsuccessful pin attempts – twice after chair shots and once after a stunner – before he snapped. Austin proceeded to pound the fallen Rock with 16 chair shots to his chest and back to finally get the pinfall and win the WWE title. Then, in a surreal scene, Austin and McMahon shook hands after the match and drank beer together, as an outraged Jim Ross cursed on the air and said that “Stone Cold is shaking hands with Satan himself.”
Comments
The interesting thing to me is that Austin said in his DVD that if he had known Rock was going to make a movie and that there would be no real protagonist for him, he would have called an audible and dropped McMahon with a stunner to keep their fued going. It was surprising that a top star was not aware of these things.
Posted by: Walter Hollman | March 22, 2008 6:15 AM
This was definitely a top match. I remember watching it in college with my friends and just going crazy over the finish. Austin even pulled out the million-dollar dream!
Posted by: Mike | March 22, 2008 10:41 AM
Other than when I was a small kid - ???years ago , this was about the only time frame that I really enjoyed ahem .. WWE . (that was painful to say ). But these guys really put on a show not just in this match but for the couple years surrounding it . That was my nice WWE comment Kev .
Posted by: jack in hebron | March 22, 2008 3:51 PM
The Rock and Stone Cold clashed three times at wrestlemania and all of them were just classics.
Sixteen?Are you telling me you counted them?
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I did count them. youtube is a wonderful thing.
Posted by: Gaston | March 22, 2008 4:30 PM
Up and down i think wrestlemania x-7 was one of the best wrestlemanias
Posted by: Geckle | March 24, 2008 1:19 AM
One column I read had this as the #1 match (PPV) between 2000 and 2004. #9 is a bit too low for it, IMO. It'd definitely be in my top three, along with another match from Wrestlemania X-7, in my opinion not just the best Mania ever, but the best PPV in wrestling history.
Posted by: James | March 26, 2008 11:23 PM
Mmmh...just for the record....huh...I did check your count and...yes, they were sixteen.
Now that I'm here I want to ask you something about this Wrestlemania moment.
Why Vince helped Stone Cold? Because I can't remember the reason....
Posted by: Gaston | March 27, 2008 10:57 PM