The Rock Vs. Steve Austin | Wrestling Timelines

April 12, 1999 - Throwback

The Rock Bridge
WWE

In a callback and unhinged cliffhanger, the Rock throws Steve Austin’s Smoking Skull custom title into a river on Raw. And, since things have escalated to a ridiculous extent, he throws Austin in the drink while he’s at it in order to build interest in their Backlash rematch.

At this point, the Rock is so effortlessly funny and over that he just…says things, and it’s amazing purely because he’s saying them.

As part of a show-long storyline, Rock brings a fishing rod to a bridge by a river. The idea is to put Austin on the end of it and throw him in. As he’s waiting for Austin to arrive, he indulges in a spot of fishing. If Austin is the bait, Rock contends, “We’ll probably catch a mutated freak fish, since you’re such a candy ass piece of trash”.

This makes zero sense, but several million teenage boys almost certainly call their friends a mutated freak fish at school the next day. Rock’s catchphrase catalogue is stuffed to the radioactive gills. They are echoed back at him by fans in every arena, heel role be damned.

In a cute touch, just as Austin had promised back in ‘97, Austin pages Rock ‘316’ to herald his arrival by the bridge.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!