10 Best Stone Cold Steve Austin WWE Moments
5. The Austin Era Has Begun
WrestleMania XIV, the first Mania of the Attitude Era, ended on a bright note for WWE. Rising superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin ousted detestable heel (both on screen and off at this point) Shawn Michaels from the title scene and ring in general after a stunner and suspiciously fast count from Mike Tyson.
Standing tall with the belt raised over his head, Austin drank in the adoration of the fans as Jim Ross famously bellowed “The Austin Era has begun!” He was officially the new lead star of the promotion.
When asked about the match years later, Austin said “I walked out of that thing as WWE Champion, but I told Vince that match was the drizzling s***s.” Austin was still recovering from a devastating neck injury the year prior and Michaels had wrecked his back earlier that year at the Royal Rumble. Neither man was healthy in the slightest and both have expressed consistently negative opinions on the contest.
While the match isn’t quite up to par with the best of either man’s work (see their King of the Ring 1997 bout for a better quality clash between the 2), it remains a watershed moment in WWE’s history. The final step in Austin’s massively successful push to the main event scene, the match had a brilliant build-up and drew a huge buy rate at the time.