The Rock Vs. Steve Austin | Wrestling Timelines
November 16, 1998 - Another Ploy
The WWF presents another hollow stunt match: this time pitting new WWF Champion the Rock against Steve Austin. For the first time since a brief coming-together in ‘97, Rock and Austin are direct rivals. They are now absolutely enormous stars.
The match happens because Shane, despite planning “all along” to screw Austin, signed a contract guaranteeing him a title rematch.
(“All along” becomes very familiar as a phrase. It is used to barely justify the dense, knotty plotting).
This makes zero sense, but for now, nobody cares. The incoherent story beats are thrown at the audience at such a blistering rate that there’s no time to ask questions. The new, massive, young adult male audience, frankly, is not bothered: who cares about logic, poindexter, when there’s swerves, breasts, and ass-kickings as far as the eye can see?
The point of Russo’s writing is not to make the fans ask “why?”, but rather make them say “whoa”.
The match isn’t PPV calibre, but it’s a blast. Austin's fury is perfect given the context, and Rock gets better every time he’s in there. He doesn’t apply a chin lock and waste time: constantly moving, he puts on the Million Dollar Dream hold, showing for the first time that he has studied his rival. Austin has the match won, but is screwed by Ken Shamrock. The Undertaker causes the disqualification by blasting Austin with a shovel. Another less than stellar revisit of that programme is imminent.
Raw draws a gargantuan 5.5 in the ratings. Austin’s first night as champion drew a 3.8, and was defeated by Nitro. There are lots of factors, beyond their respective star power, informing the rating - but the race to be the number one guy is on, nonetheless.