10 Wrestling Segments That Accidentally Filmed Things You Weren't Meant To See
1. Steve Austin: Chicken-sh*t Heel?
The Stone Cold Steve Austin character didn't run away from anybody in 1997, even before he turned babyface at WrestleMania 13.
When he turned babyface, he was the embodiment of a sh*t-kicking badass. He terrorised any heel dumb enough to stand in his way. He refused medical attention on the few occasions that the Hart Foundation used the numbers advantage to beat him down. Deeper into a transformative year, he was so principled and headstrong that he risked being fired by dropping Vince McMahon with the Stunner.
You know that absolutely f*cking dismal modern WWE trope where a babyface "steals" a victory (using an accepted wrestling hold) and scarpers up the ramp like they're worried it was all some wonderful dream? Austin didn't do that.
He talked sh*t to his battered opponents on the canvas.
All of which made a production botch on the May 3 RAW IS WAR quite sub-optimal. It was barely perceptible, which is just as well: in a show-long theme, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart chased one another throughout the arena, even though it was fairly obvious when either man was in the ring cutting a promo. Back in the day when the invisible wall was a novelty that facilitated compelling worked-shoot material, Shawn ran around backstage looking for his nemesis and ran into Austin - the realest man in wrestling - who scampered out of shot.