Ranking The Biggest Rivalries In Wrestling Every Year 1990-2020

23. 1998 - Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs Mr McMahon

Stone Cold Steve Austin Vince McMahon
WWE

Moving from feuding with wrestlers to authority figures was a necessary evil of Stone Cold Steve Austin's 1997 thanks to the devastating neck injury suffered against Owen Hart that summer, but it proved to be the last step on the 'Rattlesnake's journey to megastardom.

By April 1998, Shawn Michaels and the entire Hart Foundation apart from Owen were all out of the picture, but new Champion Austin didn't need a production line of heels - he had Vince McMahon's queue of waiting allies.

Mick Foley, The Undertaker, Kane, The Rock and others all took on Austin with the shadow of McMahon's loathing of his new top star looming large. WWE won their first ratings war in 83 weeks by giving viewers a small sliver of an eventual Austin/McMahon match, but spent the bulk of the year teasing out the payoff all over again...

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett