12 Times WWE Buried Itself
10. Steve Austin Says Nothing & Says Everything At Raw 25
Smart - Stone Cold Steve Austin delivering Stone Cold Stunners to Vince and Shane McMahon as Raw's 25th anniversary special kicked off live from Brooklyn's beautiful Barclays Center in January 2018.
Stupid - 'The Texas Rattlesnake' not even managing to say his monosyllabic and infuriating catchphrase for the packed and jacked crowd, let alone cut the sort of promo that stood to be the best thing the audience would get all night.
This was 2018 WWE. This was 2002-2022 WWE in many respects, but it was a tone-setter for a stinker of a night, and if you choose not to believe just another critic on the internet, maybe ask one of the biggest stars in industry history himself.
Speaking to Mike Rome for WWE.com (!) in the immediate aftermath, Austin went in kicked the cat but it did with an almighty two-footer on whomever had the temerity to take the microphone out of his hands earlier in the night. Pointedly noting that he 'drew money' alongside all his kayfabe accolades, Austin abandoned the party atmosphere in making a very serious and almost scary point about what he rightfully saw as total negligence from the bookers.
For a change, he held his tongue when it came to the curses, but the he wanted viewers to know that the feeling of frustration was mutual. We'd had our own time wasted in watching, just as 'The Bionic Redneck' had in jumping on the plane from the West Coast.