‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin Reveals How The Rock Felt About the WrestleMania X-Seven Main Event

Depending on who you ask, WrestleMania X-Seven is either the turning point or the final night of WWE’s Attitude Era. The 2001 pay-per-view ended in shocking fashion when “Stone Cold” Steve Austin aligned himself with sworn enemy Vince McMahon in order to beat Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for the WWF Championship.

Austin appeared on The Dan Patrick Show this week as part of his promotional tour for the Straight Up Steve Austin USA Network show and was asked about that memorable night, particularly how Johnson felt about it.

“Rock was cool with it,” Austin said. “Rock was about to ride off into the sunset and go film I think it might’ve been his first movie, and now he’s the biggest movie star in the world.”

“The Texas Rattlesnake” said the heel turn was his idea, as he felt his character had grown stale.

He followed up by saying the two don’t contact each other often, though they remain good friends to this day.

“He’s the guy because of our background, you know, I don’t email him, we don’t text each other, I don’t even have his phone number,” he said. “But as soon as we get in a room together, it’s that instant camaraderie friendship, but I’d love to spend some time with him, because I brought out the best in him and he always brought out the best in me.”

The Texas Rattlesnake popped up on WWE television twice over the summer. The first time came at the Raw Reunion in mid-July, where he closed out the show with a beer bath involving nearly 40 other Superstars. He then appeared on Monday Night Raw this week (via Skype) to promote his show and give his two cents on Seth Rollins beating Brock Lesnar to win back the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam.

“Here’s the thing, he asked himself, ‘Is it worth this, week after week, getting my ass handed to me?’ And he answered the question. He said ‘This is all that I am, this is all that I’ve got. This is all I am, this is all I got.’ That’s exactly what I believed my whole damn career,” Austin said. ‘So I’ve always wondered exactly what Seth Rollins really is, who Seth Rollins is when he says ‘Seth Freakin Rollins.’ Now I know who and what he is.

“The man is committed to being the best in the world,” he added. “And when you believe like that, you can do anything. That’s what impressed me.”