“We Didnt Even Realize It Was His Last Match” – Wrestling Analyst Reveals Why Stone Cold’s Retirement Was Perfect

Sam Roberts recently explained why WWE’s plan for ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin retiring at WrestleMania 19 was perfect.

According to him, the fact that he went away quietly makes it a perfect way to end his in-ring career. This way, the audience kept looking forward to his next match until they realized it’s not happening soon.

“He didn’t have a big ceremony. He didn’t even announce it was his last match. We didn’t even realise it was his last match until years later we were like ‘oh, he hasn’t wrestled since WrestleMania 19’.”

He believes that ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin has always been about business. Therefore, when the plan was for him to lose to The Rock at WrestleMania 19, the Texas Rattlesnake graciously accepted.

“For a lot of characters, that’s not how you want to see him go out. For a lot of characters you want the big ceremony… I think for ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, ultimately, the character, the man, everything about him is about putting wrestling first. Putting sports entertainment first; putting WWE first.”

This match marked a moment which is widely spoken about to this day. After the match, The Rock bent over to whisper something to Austin which the audience couldn’t hear. Recently, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin revealed those words.

‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin changed the image of WWE

‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin led WWE during its most successful times, The Attitude Era.

One highlight of his career was his rivalry with Vince McMahon. This feud between the employee and Chairman captured every ounce of the audience’s attention.

An iconic moment of the rivalry is when Stone Cold played the role of a special referee at WrestleMania 23 at The Battle of the Billionaires. In this battle, the principal rivals were Vince McMahon and Donald Trump.

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Vince McMahon chose Umaga and Trump selected Bobby Lashley as his representative. With some help from Austin, Lashley picked up the win. The stipulation of the match was that whoever lost would have their head shaved.

Bobby Lashley, Donald Trump, and Stone Cold shaved off McMahon’s head, disgracing him in front of the entire WWE audience.

Even to this day, McMahon has not avenged his historic humiliation. However, it seems as though WWE wanted to keep it this way because since then, several Superstars have followed Austin’s footsteps and rebelled against The Authority.

In simpler terms, Stone Cold laid the foundation for future Superstars who wanted to speak out against Vince McMahon.