10 Times WWE Repeated History
6. No More, No Less, It's The Magic Number
Stone Cold Steve Austin's epic-feeling 2001 "Desire" video found 'The Rattlesnake' in contemplative mood about how much of a career he could still have on what was very clearly borrowed time.
He made it apparent that when he couldn't quickly get back up, he'd stop falling down, and that he never wanted to be the guy slipping into opening match obscurity after years going on last. This couldn't be any more obvious watching his WrestleMania XIX exit, even if the company and the man himself weren't explicit about it in 2003.
That the match was against The Rock ensured the bittersweet moment would have lashings of the latter. It had surely been the happiest of accidents that the pair had gone to war at WrestleMania once every two years for six of the business' best ever, but 'The Great One' was precisely the right man for Austin to look at the lights for on his way out. He owed him more than one, and it paid nice tribute to The Rock's own incredible rise from the man Austin wouldn't (and couldn't) lose to when they'd first feuded in 1997.