Former WWE Superstar Believes Steve Austin Was “Honored” To Wrestle Them
A former WWE superstar has discussed what it was like wrestling “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in the Attitude Era and why it was an honor for both of them.
When “Stone Cold” Steve Austin won the WWE Title for the first time at WrestleMania 14 in 1998, his popularity was enormous. Soon after his title win, WWE started to regularly defeat WCW in the Monday Night Ratings while drawing sold out shows everywhere they went and incredible pay-per-view numbers.
Due to injuries to his neck and knees, Austin’s run at the top wasn’t as long as other legends like Hulk Hogan or John Cena, but when Austin was on top, business was booming. Austin was the main reason why.
Ken Shamrock was a part of the WWE active roster from 1997 through 1999 when Austin was on top, so he knows what he was like during that time period. Shamrock’s WWE career saw him win the Intercontinental Title, the Tag Team Titles and he was the 1998 King of the Ring as well. Shamrock didn’t get to have a major pay-per-view singles match with Austin, but they did wrestle in their careers.
During an interview with Wrestling Shoot Interviews, Shamrock spoke about getting to face Austin on Raw in October 1998 and spoke about what it was like.
“I thought he [Steve Austin] felt real comfortable with me. I felt like he was already in a position at that point where his role was, he was the guy, period. And me going in there [RAW main event match against Austin in 1998], obviously he had a tremendous amount of respect for me. And I think in his own mind it was like, it was an honor for him to wrestle me in this stage because of who I was. It was a feather in his cap per se.”
Shamrock would go on to say that there was a lot of respect between Austin and himself.
“So, when we went in there and did that, we had a tremendous amount of respect for each other. And I had a tremendous amount of respect for him on what he was able to do in pro wrestling. So for me to be in there with him, I was like, ‘okay, this is awesome. This is great.’ But I think in reverse it was the same with him being in there with me being the original World’s Most Dangerous Man and legitimate World’s Most Dangerous Man being able to work with me.”