10 Controversial WWE Moments From 20 Years Ago
8. Austin Stuns McMahon
It'll never be the most aesthetically pleasing Stone Cold Stunner thanks to Vince McMahon's dead fish bounce over Steve Austin's legs, but 'The Rattlesnake's first ever attack on WWE's head honcho only gets better with age.
The entire segment was a gloriously tense payoff to a crucial turning point in Austin's ascension to the top of the industry, having only been able to appear in interviews such as these since his August shelving following an errant Owen Hart tombstone at SummerSlam.
Having already took down Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Sgt Slaughter in previous weeks, Stone Cold had become a watchword for anti-authority disarray on Monday nights, and his assault to the boss of the company in front of a rabid Madison Square Garden crowd was a pulsating climax to his fired up rage against the machine.
The build-up is almost as good, with Austin defying NYPD officers and a restraining order to attack Hart in preparation for their Survivor Series Intercontinental Title rematch. 'Saved' by Vince from the long arm of the law, the story called for largely ambivalent babyface McMahon to be the last bastion of common sense.
None of it held enough water with the unravelling superstar, and the subsequent stunner forever changed the duo's gripping dynamic.