Title Lost: WWF Championship Lost Title To: Steve Austin Stone Cold! Stone Cold!... The Austin Era has begun! Jim Ross was not using hyperbole when he yelled those words at the conclusion of WrestleMania XIV. Steve Austin had just beaten Shawn Michaels (who five months earlier had helped send Bret Hart packing without the WWF Championship), silencing Degeneration X and ending HBKs in-ring career for nearly five years. In truth, Michaels had suffered a serious back injury two months earlier, which necessitated his retirement and forced him to forgo a rematch. Had that injury not taken place, the two probably would have feuded throughout 1998, with DX desperately trying to get Michaels title back and the Rattlesnake flipping them off at every turn.By the time Michaels returned in 2002, Austin was on his way out, winding down his career. They both were on the card at WrestleMania XIX, but that was the closest they ever came to rekindling their rivalry from five years earlier.