That Was Then 7.28.06: The Rise Of Stone Cold Part 2: Austin vs McMahon

Posted by Sam Caplan on 07.28.2006

The rise continues...

After being cast off by WCW, dismissed as nothing more than an injury-prone midcard act, Steve Austin made his way to the WWF and, thanks to a hot feud with Bret Hart and the Hart Foundation, unexpectedly became the most popular wrestler that the WWF had seen since the heyday of Hulk Hogan. However, one thing remained in order to cement his legacy: winning the WWF World Title. However, the powers that be didn't want Austin anywhere near the WWF Title, and would do anything to keep him from ascending to the pinnacle of Sports Entertainment.

Part I: Top Of The Mountain

When we last left off, Austin had literally handed the Intercontinental Title to Rocky Maivia, considering it nothing more than a runner-up prize. Instead, he had his eyes on the real gold medal: the WWF Title. Step one in becoming the WWF Champion was to win the Royal Rumble. If Austin won, he would be guaranteed a shot at the title at Wrestlemania 14. When the Royal Rumble finally rolled around, Austin was a marked man. He was seen as the biggest threat in the match, and when his music hit to signal his entrance, the action completely stopped as all the wrestlers in the ring awaited Austin's entrance. Austin came into the ring and dominated, and he finished as the last man standing for the second year in a row, but this time there was no controversy. Austin had cleanly won the match in convincing fashion and was now in line for his long awaited title shot.

Meanwhile, in what was at the time seen as nothing more than a celebrity appearance, Austin's victory was observed from the VIP seats by former World Boxing Champion Mike Tyson. The next night on Raw it was announced by Vince McMahon that Tyson would be the guest enforcer referee for the match between Austin and WWF Champion Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 14. Much to the chagrin of McMahon, however, Austin made his way to the ring and got in Tyson's face. Austin told Tyson that he wasn't intimidated by the world famous boxer and that Tyson had better stay out of his way, then shoved Tyson. WWF officials had to pull Austin and Tyson apart, and McMahon was irate at Austin for ruining his big announcement.

In the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania, Shawn Michaels had a surprise of his own, and revealed that Tyson had joined Degeneration X. For weeks, Tyson paraded around with Michaels and company, but when Wrestlemania finally came, Austin hit Michaels with the Stunner and made the cover. The referee had been knocked out, so Tyson came into the ring and made the three count, then tore off his DX shirt to reveal an Austin 3:16 shirt
underneath. Michaels protested the decision, but his protests were silenced with a punch from Tyson that knocked Michaels out cold.

While Michaels would normally be in line for an immediate rematch, he had suffered from a severe back injury for months leading into Wrestlemania and needed some time away from the ring, and could be gone for a long time, possibly forever. Austin, therefore, seemed to be lacking a nemesis for the time being. That was about to change, and nobody could have predicted who was to become that thorn in Austin's side.

Part II: Fight The Power

Leading into Wrestlemania, Vince McMahon, now acknowledging himself on television as the man who truly controlled the WWF, had made statements to the effect that Steve Austin winning the WWF Title would be a public relations nightmare. Now that this nightmare had been realized, McMahon decided to try and make the best of it. He wanted Austin to be a corporate champion like McMahon had made out of so many before him, but Austin would not bow to the pressure to please his corporate master, he was who he is and nothing and nobody could change that. For weeks McMahon tried to convince Austin to do things his way, and Austin not only refused each time, but went out of his way to embarrass and, occasionally, rough up the WWF owner instead.

After weeks of this treatment, Austin decided he was going to put the WWF Title on the line against McMahon just so he could beat him up again. He said he could beat McMahon with one hand tied behind his back. McMahon took him up on the offer, and Austin had his hand tied behind his back, but before Austin and McMahon could get their hands on each other, Austin's former tag team partner Dude Love came to the ring and tried to break things up, insisting that they shouldn't fight one another. McMahon wasn't having it, and shoved Dude on his butt. Dude became enraged and tried to lock the mandible claw onto McMahon, but as Austin came up from behind, Dude turned and locked the claw on Austin instead.

And so Austin's first challenger was revealed. Austin met Dude Love at Unforgiven, but the match didn't have a conclusive ending. Dude got the DQ win, but as Austin went to swing a chair at Dude, Dude ducked out of the way and Austin hit McMahon with the chair instead. Austin left with the WWF Title, but Dude had gotten his hand raised, and so a rematch was signed for Over The Edge. This time, the odds were heavily stacked against Austin. Vince McMahon made himself the guest referee, and Vince also made his stooges Pat Patterson the guest ring announcer, and Gerald Brisco the guest timekeeper. They all interfered freely in the match, and Patterson announced new stipulations that favored Dude as the match went along. Vince haunted Austin with the ruling that the match would end by his hand only, but Vince ended up getting knocked out again, and Austin gave Dude the Stunner, then picked up Vince's limp hand and slapped it on the mat three times to count the fall.

Despite stacking ridiculous odds against him, Steve Austin managed to defeat Dude Love and retained the title. McMahon was outraged at being made a fool again, and fired Dude Love, forcing Mick Foley to revert to his Mankind persona. But Austin would not have to face this different aspect of Foley just yet, because his next challenger, at King Of The Ring, was announced to be Kane. Kane had been a nearly unstoppable juggernaut since entering the WWF late in 1997, and the only person who had managed to beat him was his brother, the Undertaker, and even then it took everything the Undertaker had to barely scrape out a three count. To make things even tougher for Austin, the match was made a First Blood match, which heavily favored a guy who wore wrestling gear which didn't expose much skin like Kane did. Austin had a difficult enough task already, but any chance Austin had of winning was snuffed out when, while the referee was knocked out, the Undertaker came to the ring and, in trying to hit the interfering Mankind with a chair, accidentally hit Austin when Mankind moved out of the way. Austin was busted open, and all the referee saw when he reawakened was Austin bleeding. He called for the bell and declared Kane the new WWF Champion.

McMahon was so ecstatic to be rid of Austin as WWF Champion that he held a ceremony the next night on Raw where he would personally present Kane with the WWF Title belt. However, much to the dismay of McMahon, Austin crashed the party and challenged Kane to give him a rematch that night. Kane accepted and, now in a regulation rules match, Austin hit the Stunner and pinned Kane to regain the WWF Title. Before Austin could think about any more matches with Kane, however, Austin's opponent for Summerslam was announced, as Austin would defend the WWF Title against the very man that had inadvertently ended his first title reign, the Undertaker. There was still many weeks before Summerslam arrived, so in the meantime the main event of Fully Loaded was also announced, and it would be new WWF Tag Team Champions Kane and Mankind defending against WWF Champion Steve Austin and…the Undertaker. Despite the awkwardness of teaming up when they were already scheduled to face each other the following month, Austin and Undertaker worked well enough as a team that they were able to beat Kane and Mankind to claim the Tag Team Title.

After Fully Loaded, rumors of a conspiracy between Kane and the Undertaker began floating around. It was rumored that the two estranged brothers had reconciled, and planned to work together to claim the WWF Title from Steve Austin. The notion seemed ludicrous at first, but several events started pointing toward the rumors having a basis in reality. One example that was pointed to was that it took the Undertaker three Tombstones to beat Kane at Wrestlemania, yet it only took one at Vengeance, which suggested Kane let the Undertaker pin him. More evidence of this alliance came two weeks after Fully Loaded, when Austin and Undertaker defended the Tag Team Title against Kane and Mankind in a rematch of their first encounter, and Kane pinned the Undertaker to win the match and regain the title, seemingly too easily. Austin may have mistrusted his partner after that match, but soon Undertaker and Kane discarded any pretense of denial, they came out in the open and admitted that they had reconciled. However, the Undertaker insisted that Kane would not get involved in the WWF Title match at Summerslam.

Undertaker was true to his word, Kane made his way to ringside at Summerslam, but Undertaker told him to go to the back and let he and Austin go at it man on man. Fortunately for Austin, Undertaker's honesty gave him all the edge he needed, and he hit the Stunner and pinned Undertaker to retain. Now the gloves were off, McMahon decided that since neither Kane nor the Undertaker was able to get the title away from Austin, maybe both of them together could, and he signed a triple threat WWF Title match for Breakdown, with Austin defending against both Kane and the Undertaker. Another stipulation was added to further increase the likelihood of Austin losing: Kane and the Undertaker would not be allowed to pin one another, only Austin. This was a tremendous disadvantage for Austin, and one he would not be able to overcome. The brothers gave Austin a double chokeslam and both covered Austin for the three count. Before a winner was announced, McMahon grabbed the WWF Title belt and ran to a waiting limo, from which he taunted Austin with the belt that no longer belonged to him as the limo sped away.

Part III: Down But Not Out

The next night on Raw, Vince McMahon planned to open the show by announcing who the WWF Champion was, but before he was able to make that announcement, Austin stormed the ring and beat up McMahon yet again. McMahon was irate at the attack, and especially angry at the Undertaker and Kane, who had failed to protect him from Austin. He decided that since they had left him to twist in the wind, neither of them would be the WWF Champion. The brothers were not happy at this news, and they beat up McMahon as well, punctuating the attack by slamming the steel ring steps onto McMahon's ankle and breaking it.

The now wheelchair-bound McMahon came back soon after the injury and announced the main event of Judgment Day: the Undertaker and Kane would be forced to fight one another, and the winner would be the new WWF Champion. However, another interesting twist was added when Steve Austin was announced as the guest referee, with the caveat that if Austin didn't call the match down the middle and render a fair decision, he would be fired on the spot. McMahon really should have known better, because the match came to an abrupt end when Austin gave Stunners to both men and counted both men's shoulders down, then declared himself the winner and new WWF Champion. McMahon wasn't pleased at Austin's continued defiance and, true to his word, uttered the now famous words "Stone Cold Steve Austin, screw you, YOU'RE FIRED!"

Vince may have thought that he had gotten rid of Austin, but it was not to be. Shortly after Judgment Day, Austin snuck into the arena and took the still-injured McMahon hostage with a gun. The whole night, he threatened to do McMahon in for firing him. At the end of the show he dragged McMahon into the ring and, as he had threatened to do all night, pulled out the pistol, pointed it at Vince's head, and pulled the trigger…and out of the barrel popped a small banner that read "BANG 3:16." As Vince lay in a pool of his own urine, Austin produced a small packet of papers and stuffed them into Vince's front pocket. We soon came to discover what the papers said, as it turned out to be a contract drawn up by Vince's estranged son Shane. Shane was angry at his father for ignoring him his whole life in favor of the business, and in return for the years of neglect had rehired Austin, signed him to a three year contract, and had entered him into the tournament that had been announced for Survivor Series. This move cost Shane dearly, and he was busted down to the position of lowly referee because of the transgression.

But whatever the relationship between Vince and Shane had become, Austin was the odds on favorite going into Survivor Series, and he got off to a strong start. Austin scored a DQ win over McMahon's hired muscle, the Big Boss Man, in the opening round, then received a bye to the semifinals. His semifinal opponent was a familiar one, as he was faced again with Mick Foley, still appearing as Mankind. The referee was knocked out as Austin hit the Stunner on Mankind and made the cover. Shane McMahon came to the ring to cover for his fallen comrade and counted one…two…and then stopped. He flipped the double bird at Austin and bailed out of the ring. Austin was shocked at this betrayal, and was left easy prey to a chairshot from Gerald Brisco, following which Mankind made the pin and advanced to the finals. Austin chased the McMahons out of the arena, but it would not change the fact that he had been fooled by the pair and eliminated from the tournament.

Mankind may have seemed like the Chosen One to be the new corporate champion, but when the finals came, McMahon doublecrossed him, too. Mankind's opponent, the Rock (formerly known as Rocky Maivia) locked Mankind in the Sharpshooter and, in a repeat of the previous year's main event, McMahon called for the bell and awarded the match and the WWF Title to his new corporate WWF Champion, the Rock. Mankind was confused and protested with Vince, but was left laying by the new champion. Austin stormed the ring and cleared the Rock and the McMahons out, but the Rock was still the WWF Champion. However, they forgot about one thing, that as part of his new contract, Austin was entitled to a free shot at the WWF Title, which he took the night after Survivor Series. Austin seemed on his way to regaining the title, but the match ended in a DQ and Rock walked out with the title.

Having used up his free title shot, Austin now faced a long road back to the top.

Part IV: Regaining Lost Ground

Following Survivor Series, Austin figured the best way to get back in the running for a WWF Title shot would be to enter and win the Royal Rumble once again, making him the challenger at Wrestlemania 15. Vince said he'd let Austin into the Royal Rumble, but under one condition: he first had to beat the Undertaker in a Buried Alive match at Rock Bottom. With a little help from Kane, whom Undertaker was now once again at odds with, Austin got the win and gained his berth in the Royal Rumble.

Even Austin had qualified for the Royal Rumble, Vince had lined up some more goons to take care of Austin. Vince McMahon had formed a stable called the Corporation, which consisted not only of himself, his son Shane, and the Rock, but also his hired assassin the Big Boss Man, Ken Shamrock, and a newcomer by the name of Test. Vince's machinations started well in advance of the Rumble, as he announced that he would enter himself into the Royal Rumble to personally see that Austin didn't win and get that title shot. He took it upon himself to draw numbers on Raw for himself and Austin. Not shockingly, he pulled #1 for Austin and #30 for himself. However, e was overruled by new WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels, who announced that Vince would in fact enter at #2 and would start the Royal Rumble one-on-one with Austin.

When the Rumble match started, Austin beat McMahon from pillar to post as soon as the bell rang, but made the mistake of chasing McMahon out of the ring and to the back, where he was ambushed and beaten by Vince's Corporation, and was taken away from the building in an ambulance as a result. Now that Austin had been taken out of the Rumble, Vince felt that his job was done, and voluntarily sat out of the rest of the match. However, as the match wore on, an ambulance pulled back into the parking lot, and Austin emerged to the delight of the crowd, having apparently hijacked the vehicle to return to the arena and finish the match. Austin came back to the ring and eliminated everyone in the match and was the last man standing…except for one guy. He beckoned Vince McMahon, still a legal participant and sitting at ringside, to get back into the ring. McMahon obliged, and the beating from Austin continued. However, Austin let himself get distracted when the Rock came to ringside and taunted Austin. The distraction proved enough for McMahon to sneak up behind Austin, toss him over the top rope, and win the Royal Rumble to the shock of everyone.

Vince was finally satisfied that he had won the Royal Rumble and denied Austin his shot. Now that Austin was no longer in contention, he voluntarily relinquished the Wrestlemania title shot he had earned by winning the Rumble and looked forward to the Rock's replacement challenger. However, Commissioner Michaels made another appearance to thwart him here, announcing that since he had given up his title shot, it would automatically go to the runner-up, Steve Austin. McMahon was beside himself, but Michaels gave him an alternative: Vince would face Austin one-on-one in a cage match, and if Austin won he would get the Wrestlemania title shot, but if he lost Austin would go back to the end of the line. The cage match went off at St Valentine's Day Massacre, and Austin handed McMahon yet another beating, but before he was able to put McMahon away, the Big Show, last seen in WCW as the Giant, broke through the mat from under the ring and demolished Austin. However, he got a little overzealous and accidentally tossed Austin into the cage so hard that it broke, and Austin fell through the cage to the floor for the win.

Now Austin was locked in as the challenger at Wrestlemania, and would finally get another shot at the Rock. This didn't stop Vince from trying to slant the table in his favor. He announced that early on the Wrestlemania 15 card, Mankind would face the Big Show and the winner would be the referee later that night in the main event. Big Show screwed up again by getting himself disqualified, but did succeed in injuring Mankind to the point that it appeared he wouldn't be able to referee the main event. In his absence, McMahon announced that he would be the referee instead. Thankfully for Austin, Commissioner Michaels intervened yet again, and said the McMahon would not, in fact, be the guest referee, and ordered him to the back. We got a regular referee instead, and Austin and Rock had a classic match, but unfortunately the referees kept getting knocked out before either man was able to pin the other. Vince eventually returned to the ring and he and Rock double teamed Austin, but to the surprise of Vince and Rock, Mankind made his return and cleared Vince out of the ring, then took his rightful place as guest referee. Now with a fair referee that wouldn't be knocked out by the participants, Austin was able to hit the Stunner on the Rock and win the WWF Title for the third time.

Part V: The Greater Power

Austin had defeated the Rock at Wrestlemania, but had not seen the last of him. Rock showed up on Raw carrying the custom smoking skull title belt that Austin had used instead of the official title belt during his first run as champion, and challenged Austin to put the title on the line against him in a rematch in exchange for a chance to regain the smoking skull belt. At Backlash, Austin closed the book on the Rock feud once and for all with yet another victory to claim both belts.

Austin was riding high after putting the Rock away once and for all, but Vince McMahon had fallen on some hard times. His corporate champion, the Rock, had lost the title as well as his rematch. To make things worse, his son Shane had usurped control of the Corporation, leaving Vince out in the cold. On top of everything else, the Undertaker had started stalking Vince, playing some devious and very personal mind games with him. Undertaker made several disturbing remarks that hit closer to home with Vince than anyone ever had, and even went as far as to make a trip to Vince's unguarded home and kidnap Vince's daughter Stephanie. Vince was unable to save his daughter from the clutches of the Undertaker, but in an ironic twist of fate the rescue was instead made by Vince's hated rival Steve Austin. Vince was touched by this unexpected occurrence, and finally began to treat Austin with a little more respect.

In the meantime, the Undertaker and Shane joined forces, taking Shane's Corporation and the Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness and merging them into a single entity known as the Corporate Ministry. Though Shane and Undertaker were ostensibly the leaders of this group, they said that they both answered to a Greater Power who pulled the strings from behind the scenes. Although the Greater Power's identity would remain a mystery for some time, Undertaker followed his orders and put forth a challenge to Austin for the WWF Title at Over The Edge 1999. Shane tried tipping the odds in his man's favor by making himself the guest referee for the match, but Vince decided to even the odds by making himself the second guest referee. In the end, the referees became instrumental in the outcome of the match, as Shane shoved Vince into Austin, knocking Austin backwards and leaving him easy prey to a rollup from the Undertaker and a quick count from Shane, robbing Austin of the title and making the Undertaker the new WWF Champion.

Now in possession of the WWF Title, the Undertaker and Shane decided that it was finally time to reveal who exactly the Greater Power behind the Corporate Ministry was. The night they announced they would reveal his identity, Vince McMahon came out to the ring and announced that whoever the Greater Power was revealed to be, Vince was going to challenge him to a match that very same night. When the time finally came, the robed Greater Power came out to the ring with Shane, the Undertaker, and the entire Corporate Ministry, removed his hood and revealed himself to be…Vince McMahon. That's right, the whole thing was a ruse to the WWF Title away from Austin and, having succeeded, there was no longer any reason to continue the charade. However, Vince and Shane were in for a nasty surprise when Linda and Stephanie came out and told Vince that they didn't appreciate being pawns in Vince's little game. They went on to announce that they had also transferred their 50% interest in the company to Steve Austin, much to the chagrin of Vince.

Austin and the McMahons were now at a stalemate with each side owning 50% control of the company, but the issue of ownership would be decided at King Of The Ring, where Austin would face the McMahons in a ladder match, with a briefcase containing the controlling interest in the WWF hanging above the ring. Austin got to double his pleasure this night by beating up not one, but two McMahons, but when he went to climb the ladder and claim his prize, the cable the briefcase was attached to mysteriously raised, and Austin was unable to claim the victory. The McMahons took the opening and, after sneak attacking Austin and getting him out of the ring, climbed the ladder and regained control of the WWF.

The McMahons thought they had won, because they again controlled both the WWF and the WWF Title, and there was nothing Austin could do about it. But once again, Austin got the last laugh. He came out on Raw the night after King Of The Ring and revealed that, before losing control of the company, he had signed himself up as the challenger for the WWF Title the night after King Of The Ring, and he would face the Undertaker that night. To the horror of the McMahons, Austin defeated the Undertaker and claimed the WWF Title for yet a fourth time.

It was now clear that the WWF was not big enough for both Vince McMahon and Steve Austin, and one of them would have to go. Coincidentally, the Undertaker, enraged at his loss of the WWF Title, said he wanted not only Austin's title, but his blood as well, and challenged Austin to put the WWF Title on the line in a First Blood match at Fully Loaded 1999. McMahon jumped at the chance to get rid of Austin once and for all, and made another stipulation for the match: if Austin lost, he would never again be allowed to challenge for the WWF Title. On the other hand, if Austin won, McMahon would leave the WWF forever. After one last brutal battle that saw interference from both Shane and Vince McMahon (who was on commentary at ringside) Austin busted Undertaker open with a TV camera to the face, then gave Vince one last Stunner for the road.

Conclusion

As you might expect, this wasn't really the end for Vince McMahon, and indeed Vince was back on TV and winning the WWF Title within two months. Austin and McMahon would cross paths again every now and then, but the magic of the original feud was never rekindled. Steve Austin vs Bret Hart may have been the feud that made Austin a main eventer, but it was Austin vs McMahon that carried the WWF from distant second place back to the top of the wrestling business. Austin vs McMahon was also the prototype for many of the "Downtrodden Wrestler vs Evil Administrator" angles that have played out since, but none could recreate the heat of the original feud between the Rattlesnake and Mr McMahon.