8. Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania XIV)
After Bret Hart left the WWF in November of 1997, it seemed clear that Steve Austin's meteoric rise would continue and that he was the best choice to become WWF Champion at WrestleMania XIV. At the same time, Shawn Michaels was the top heel in the company having beaten Bret Hart in, erm, dubious circumstances at Survivor Series and was leading the villainous DX faction. In a very hot angle on the post-Royal Rumble 1998 Raw, Austin interrupted Mike Tyson, the two got in a shoving match and we found out Tyson would be the referee for Stone Cold and HBK's match at WrestleMania. Then, on another episode of RAW, Michaels challenged Mike Tyson to a fight but it was all a swerve as Tyson had done the unthinkable; he had joined De-Generation X. The story for this match was so great because Michaels was amazingly good at being an absolute d**k, while the audience was heavily invested in Austin. The addition of Mike Tyson to the mix just added lots of intrigue and mainstream press. Having Tyson and Austin get in a shoving match and then Tyson joining DX was genius because it made it one of the biggest WWF matches of all-time. In the end, even though Shawn was injured, they had a great match and Austin won his first WWF Title to the delight of the fans in Boston and he went on to become the biggest WWF star of all time.
Kenny is a successful podcast host with Inside The Ropes, promotes exciting Q&A events in the UK with the likes of Sting and DDP, has interviewed the big guns like Foley, Jericho, Bruno and Austin and enjoys cheese a great deal.
