10 Weirdest Moments In Stone Cold Steve Austin's WWE Career

In the early months of 1996, Steve Austin shed his short-lived Ringmaster gimmick, and the rest was history, most of which you know.

Forging a career with a character capable of such earnest brutality meant that Stone Cold's five year journey as wrestling's top babyface was fairly linear. It wasn't broke, it didn't need fixing, and so the fans were happy.

Cue 2001, more specifically WrestleMania XVII. After Austin shook hands with Vince McMahon over The Rock's bleeding cadaver, Jim Ross captivated the unfolding madness perfectly by saying "things will never be the same again."

So don't be surprised that not all, but the majority of Steve's weirdest moments are found in that horribly turbulent heel run of 2001, and his subsequent struggle to rejig his old badass persona in the years to follow. For better or worse, history celebrates a portion of these moments, as they're entertaining if nothing else.

Let's keep in mind at this point that sticking a tube up your boss's bum is also weird, but that one's already pretty well covered, so we'll skip over it.

Austin's feuds with The Rock are legendary, and were worthy of the main events of three separate WrestleManias. It's no surprise then that these two legends have enough chemistry to set off fireworks every time they step in a ring together.

In amongst these classics is a humorous and altogether silly segment which occurred when The Rock Returned after a post-WrestleMania hiatus. It was the same Mania where Austin teamed with Vince to screw Rocky out of a victory, and so some heavy payback was due.

It was also a point when Austin was exercising all kinds of weird behaviour, and had been doing so for quite some time. Rather than the intense stand off fans were used to in the first quarter 2001, Stone Cold incessantly barked his "What?" catchphrase in The Rock's face, before engaging in a vocal, and decidedly out of tune, duet. Rocky plays along to a certain point before laying the Rock Bottom to his foe.

From Steve's perspective, it was all in a bid to apologise for previous misgivings and bury the hatchet. Not exactly the Stone Cold we know and love.