This is a feud that carried over from the 1990s since they had a rivalry over the IC Title in late 1997 and then they went at it again in 1999 at both WrestleMania 15 and Backlash, which was the better match of the two. At that point Rock went babyface while Austin missed most of 2000. There was an epic video package leading up to the WrestleMania 17 match that focused on Austin saying he "needed" to win. That's what he did as he turned heel thanks to the help of his rival Vince McMahon. It's one of the best WrestleMania main event matches ever that headlined the best WWE PPV ever. It doesn't get much better than that. Their feud picked up again in 2003 with Rock in a heel role, which was very entertaining. He wanted to prove he could beat Austin, so they had one more match at WrestleMania 19. It wasn't as good as the WM17 battle, but it was still above average and ended up as Austin's last match. What made the rivalry so great was a natural chemistry. They could play off each other so well on the microphone, during their matches and the crowd loved every second of it. The fact that they had three WrestleMania matches in five years against each other shows how much WWE believed in them. Vince McMahon knew he had something special here. He was right.