WWE: Top 25 Stone Cold Steve Austin Moments

5. "The Rattlesnake Is Here!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2fqcbwWdM4 Usually the best Stone Cold moments occurred at random, whether it be a surprise return or showing up in a vehicle of any shape to smash things up. As a wrestler he was so unpredictable with his cunning and attacks that it grew on the fans as they counted down the time when Austin would next appear to raise hell. Again and again throughout the Attitude Era he did so, always adding that extra level of crazy and inciting a fan riot. So what happens when you take Stone Cold Steve Austin and give him a "pop" moment, where he makes a comeback at random to make the audience go crazy? You get the best kind of reaction from said audience. Stone Cold's random intervention between The Rock and Mankind on January 4th of 1999 was hailed as a game changer largely because Mankind won the WWF Championship from The Rock, thanks to Austin's interference with the match. Initially The Rock was set to defend the WWF Championship against Mankind in the main event of Monday Night Raw, much to the excitement of the crowd as they wanted to see the Corporation and Vince McMahon crumble. It would've been a major upset if Mankind somehow won the championship and disrupted the Corporation's plans...and indeed things turned ugly when Stone Cold Steve Austin's entrance music kicked up and he carved his path toward the ring. With DX fighting some of the Corporation cronies on the outside, and Vince and Shane McMahon running like scolded dogs away from Austin, the Texas Rattlesnake hailed his way into the ring and hit The Great One right between the eyes with a steel chair, knocking him out and giving Mankind the victory. The WWF then had a new champion in someone that was never considered championship material. Hope was created, thanks to Stone Cold's intervention. To this day it's largely undecided who or what the crowd cheered for: did they cheer when Steve Austin marched on down to the ring to save the day? Did they cheer for Mankind and his win over The Rock, marking it as a sign of dreams coming true? Or did they cheer for the destruction of the Corporation at the hands of both Austin and Mankind, Vince McMahon yet again getting screwed over by insurmountable and unpredictable odds? Regardless of the true answer the Rattlesnake struck, and that was enough.