Steve Austin looks back on one of his crowning achievements in WWE.
At WrestleMania 14 the Rattlesnake defeated Shawn Michaels in the main event to begin his first reign as WWE world champion, which helped kickstart the most popular era in company history. However, during his appearance on UpUpDownDown he revealed that he actually disliked how the match went, stating that the Heartbreak Kid was in a tough place in his life mentally at the time. Highlights can be found below.
Says the match was special because it was his first world title win, but he rates it a 2 out of 5:
It was special because it was my first title, my world title, so that was a big deal for me as it was for everybody. The match, on a 1-5, a 2. Shawn and I consider… from bell to bell, I consider Shawn to have [no flaws]. Now Bret, as far as realism, you can’t top him. Flair is my traveling world champion, he’s the man. But from bell to bell, talent wise, nobody can lace Shawn Michaels boots. So to go out there and have a lackluster match with him at the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania… It was cool being out there with Mike [Tyson]. Me and Shawn could have had a way better match, but he was in a bad place, he was injured. I was just red hot.
Says he loves Shawn but forever hates that match, and even told Vince McMahon immediately after it ended:
I hated that match and I loved Shawn and I have the utmost respect for him, but I don’t consider that to be a good match at all. I remember walking to the back and I told Vince, ‘Hey man, that match was the [shits].’ He just patted me [on the back] and [went] ‘We’ll get it tomorrow on Raw.’ Yeah, it wasn’t about the match, it was about transferring that title. I think Shawn was in a real tough place personally and [he was] in a lot of pain. It was a funky match. I didn’t know if he was even gonna walk to the ring. I didn’t know if he wanted to walk to the ring.
Elsewhere on the show, Austin spoke about Vince McMahon’s hilariously botching a stunner at WrestleMania 38. You can read about that here.
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(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)
