The Rock Vs. Steve Austin | Wrestling Timelines
March 29, 2001 - Beer Bash
In one last meeting, Austin and the Rock share a drink on SmackDown, aggressively pushing the beer cans into one another’s chest. It’s an almost touching and artful take on the beer bath two years ago; this time ‘round, they’re on the same level, drenching each other in the booze.
Each “offer” is met with a wry smile. They’re having fun in there, but not too much fun: the mutual respect, entertainment value and professional animosity is measured to perfection. Is there a quiet acknowledgement that both men are toasting the imminent end of an era?
This footage is of course spliced into…
April 1, 2001 - YEAH!
Fred Durst does a significantly better job of building interest in WrestleMania than Vince and Stephanie McMahon.
The latest phase of the feud, far from the most outwardly entertaining chapter, is chopped and cut into both cherished lifelong memory and the ultimate pre-match video package: three minutes of hype that raises so many goosebumps that you’d go to that very moment if you somehow procured the time machine.
It is liquid 2001. Set to Limp Bizkit’s nu-metal classic ‘My Way’, the video is crafted so exquisitely that it fuses two fads, each with an ugly and ephemeral element, and makes the whole thing feel eternal and life-affirming.
Durst’s cry of “Yeah!” soundtracks the hailstorm of flying fists. It feels like the biggest match ever, and if you go by the then-record buy amount of 1,040,000, it is.
About half an hour later, it’s about to get a lot smaller, this WWF thing.
But first…