5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE WrestleMania XII
3. Stone Deaf
The silence soundtracking Stone Cold Steve Austin's violence spoke volumes about how meaningless the future 'Rattlesnake' was in WWE at the time, despite matches against Savio Vega often over-delivering, and Austin himself speaking on how the energetic feud got him into the sort of physical condition the company needed from their eventual top star.
Vega - perhaps like a New Generation Randy Orton - was obviously just a wrestler's wrestler. None of the effort expended in the ring travelled out into the stands or through the screen. Austin cheated relentlessly to win but nobody in the audience gave a tiny toss about any of it.
Pay-per-view customers weren't really even asked to. The contest saw cuts to the OJ Simpson's infamous 1994 car chase footage masquerading as a continuation of the Goldust/Roddy Piper Backlot Brawl (more on that later). Vega and Austin were warm bodies for the live crowd, even if the product was ice cold.