10 Times WWE Put Its Talent In Impossible Positions

6. The Rock Looks Like An Awful Babyface At WrestleMania X-Seven

Edge Randy Orton Backlash
WWE.com

Turning famed Texan 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin heel in Austin, Texas was a stupid idea that was always going to get less than the desired reaction for the Bionic Redneck. The thing is, it was actually Austin himself who pushed for this turn to take place.

Whereas turning Austin in his home state was always going to be an uphill battle in terms of getting those Houston fans to boo their hero, the person handed an even tougher task in all of this was the Rock.

Going into this match, the People's Champion was every inch a top tier babyface. Despite that, it was going to be tough for Rocky to win over the Texas crowd. Austin was their guy, the Rock was not - that's as simple as it gets.

Still, the Great One worked the match as a babyface, just as did Austin. Well, in that aggressive, non-typical good guy style that the Texas Redneck had long since mastered by then.

With the crowd already leaning towards their hometown hero, Austin turning heel by aligning himself with Vince McMahon only further poured cold water on Rocky's babyface act. Stone Cold made a deal with the wrestling world's devil, yet the fans still cheered him - and those cheers only got louder and louder with every passing chair shot Austin hit the Rock with.

For the Rock, what should've been a moment that garnered him major sympathy was instead a moment that had his heel attacker being cheered on for his heinous actions.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.