Some decisions make awesome "wrestling" sense. However, in the sense that wrestling is televised "sports entertainment," the decision for Steve Austin and Vince McMahon to shake hands at the end of Wrestlemania 17 meant that two of TV's most iconic scripted combatants of the late 1990s were no longer going to be fighting each other, and in many ways, that also symbolized that it was time to stop watching pro wrestling on television, too. Steve Austin's reasons for wanting to turn heel make all of the traditional pro wrestling sense. Not wanting to burn himself out, thinking that there was no more money to be made as a babyface, needing fresh opponents, etc. All of these reasons are logical when approaching the situation from a traditional wrestling mindset. The idea that Vince McMahon would be okay with the finish of Wrestlemania that turned one of his biggest cash cows heel and would also potentially turn off many longtime viewers is shocking. Vince was never really a "wrestling guy," and had he not been in this situation, just consider how many things would've been different as a result.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
