10 Times WWE Put Its Talent In Impossible Positions

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

WrestleMania X-Seven The Rock Steve Austin
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 and Presenter, 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 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 and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.