12 WWE Raw 25 Impulse Reactions

12. WHAT?!

Stone Cold Steve Austin was smartly deployed to deliver a Stunner to Vince and Shane McMahon as Raw 25 kicked off, but bizarrely left without saying even his most monosyllabic catchphrase for a rabid Brooklyn faithful.

Almost as if 'The Rattlesnake's appearance was cut for time, the segment missed wide open goals in not letting the Attitude Era hell-raiser even briefly reflect on some of the most important moments in the history of the show. He did at least physically recreate them, delivering crowd-pleasing shots to the McMahon males.

In-character or otherwise, Stone Cold mirrored the crowd's frustration in a revealing WWE.com interview with the faceless backstage interviewer Mike Rome. Labouring on the fact he 'drew money' alongside all his other glittering accolades, Austin appeared to briefly turn extremely serious in his dissent for the staffer with seemingly nowhere else to exorcise his annoyance. He pulled it back from the brink and managed to keep his language ad-friendly, but the implication that he too felt his appearance (and time) was wasted by the whole ordeal was broadly apparent.

20 years ago, Austin used this similar voice to exclaim backstage displeasure at losing the Intercontinental Title so close to a 1998 Royal Rumble victory. Times have changed...