Austin was confident his deal with the devil would work out.
At WrestleMania 17, Stone Cold battled The Rock in the main event for the WWE Championship. Austin defeated The Rock at the event with the assistance of Vince McMahon as Jim Ross was absolutely disgusted by the act by the Texas Rattlesnake.
On the latest episode of The Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy, Hardy talked about the controversial turn.
“I mean Steve was really confident in himself and he thought he could make this thing work and I like that mentality, I like the approach of trying something different and new. You have to always change, you have to always evolve, right? Stone Cold became a character that was so beloved, it was very hard to get him booed and that was gonna be problematic all the way through that. I almost, to me, it feels very similar to Jeff Hardy. It would be hard to make Jeff Hardy a full fledged heel because he’s just such a beloved character and people connect with him in a way that very few people do. Stone Cold was that way too. I know he went out, and it was in Texas of all places where he is absolutely put on a pedestal, and he was getting cheered when he was beating The Rock’s ass after aligning with Mr. McMahon or whatever. They knew that was going to be problematic so they said ‘How can we get some legitimate heat on this guy?’ and he said ‘Well, let’s call in these young heartthrobs, the Hardy Boyz and Lita, Team Extreme.’ Let’s get some heat on those guys.”
Matt Hardy
Shortly after Stone Cold’s turn, he would team with Triple H against The Hardy Boyz in a fun program.
Austin’s turn would not set the world on fire, but it definitely was an interesting time for fans of the Texas native.
H/T to Fightful
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