There isn’t a WWE Superstar who burned brighter than ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. While a career-ending injury will always keep Austin out of the ring, there is one element of professional wrestling that Stone Cold will never forget.
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During an episode of The Steve Austin Show discussed his premature departure from the business in 2002, revealing the one thing he’ll always miss.
“One of the biggest things I missed about the business โ I’m over it now โ you miss the paycheck. Fโk the paychecks. What you miss the most is the adrenaline from that crowd. Whether it’s a boo or a cheer, it’s the desired reaction you’re trying to achieve at the time at the highest level. That’s what you miss. Man, when I turned babyface, and I preferred working heel, but when I got over as a baby, so that’s the way we went,” he said.
While Austin may have preferred being a bad guy in WWE, fans refused to let that be the case. After Stone Cold introduced Austin 3:16, he instantly began one of the most lucrative runs in WWE history. While he did turn heel a few times during that run, Austin remained a universal fan favorite.
Austin recalled one night in particular where his fan reaction shook him to his core. Playing hero, Austin intervened in a match that saw Mick Foley capture his first WWE Championship.Austin stormed down the ramp to mop up a ring full of bad guys, including The Rock. He then drug Foley’s body on top of The Great One and the ref counted 1-2-3, making for one of the most memorable moments in WWE history.
“When I blew the roof off of a place when they had a scenario set up for me like Mick Foley winning the [WWE] title from [The] Rock when [Eric] Bischoff announced the results on WCW [Monday] Nitro. That pop I got that night for helping Mick out, well, they had built that moment up. Mick, and Rock, and everybody out there had built that moment up so that the stage had been set for me to get that pop. And it was all about Mick because Mick won the championship that night, but I’ll never forget it.”
[H/T Wrestling Inc.]