Steve Austin Recalls Loudest Pop Of Career And How Mick Foley Was Involved
When it comes to the loudest crowd reaction during his career, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin has recalled a moment when he wasn’t even wrestling in a match.
As one of the most popular wrestlers in the history of WWE, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin got some of the loudest ovations in the history of pro wrestling. Whether it was stunning Vince McMahon or headlining WrestleMania with The Rock, Stone Cold has received a lot of love from the crowd.
In terms of the loudest pop of them all, Steve Austin recalls a moment that involved his good friend Mick Foley and The Rock.
The January 4th, 1999 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw was actually taped six days earlier on December 29, 1998, in Worcester, Massachusetts. The match saw The Rock defend the WWE World Title against “Mankind” Mick Foley in the main event. There was chaos all around the ring featuring The Corporation and D-Generation X.
That’s when the glass broke, Steve Austin’s music hit and while the referee was looking outside the ring, Austin hit The Rock with a steel chair shot to the head. The fans were absolutely losing their minds at what they saw. Austin put Mankind on top of Rock, Austin left the ring and the referee counted the pinfall to give Mankind his first WWE World Title win. The crowd was screaming so loudly during all of it.
During an interview with Jimmy Traina of the SI Media podcast, Steve Austin was asked what he thought the biggest pop of his career was and Austin said it was his assist to help Mick Foley.
“Coming out to help Mick Foley win that championship belt where they had all DX guys sitting around, there was mayhem. They [the Corporation] were really screwing Mick over and I came out there with that chair. And you got to understand that the whole show was built to make that moment happen.”
“I’ve got some great pops in Toronto. SkyDome – that was electric, but they built that moment. And that story was for those talents out there, it’s for them as well, but built for that pop for Stone Cold. Well, I mean I don’t think your building it for the pop, you’re building it for the timing.”
“People are gonna pop like they do but people were so ready to pull the trigger because they knew something had to happen. I was the right thing to happen at the right time, set up by the work that those guys had put in.”
Steve Austin was asked to further explain what it was like to receive a pop like that.
“It’s kind of a thing you think in the back of your mind because anytime, I mean, ’cause you are focused on what you gotta do. I can only tell you how I do it, but if someone else tells you they did it differently, I probably wouldn’t believe them.”
“You live and die by the way those people respond every single time you go out there. If it don’t affect you in some way, you are disconnected, discombobulated or don’t know what you are doing. Some people go out there and might not get the reaction so you might not see ’em sweat so to speak, but you are living and dying by that.
“To give you an example [of] what it’s like – I don’t know what it’s like. It is the biggest thrill that you could ever experience in your life from a satisfaction standpoint of people being happy to see you, or by the same token of – if you are getting booed at a magnitude of that level.”
“That’s the desired response that you are trying to accomplish and so you accomplish it due to the fact that people are ready, willing and able to participate. It’s like getting struck by a lightning bolt in a good way.”
That episode of Raw was also the night when WCW’s Tony Schiavone took a shot at Mick Foley’s title win by remarking “that’ll put butts in the seats” in an insulting way. A lot of fans turned off Nitro and turned on Raw to see the title change because of what Tony said, so it’s something WWE didn’t mind at all.