Original subtitles

- It's Stone Cold Steve Austin versus The Rock

for the world title.

There can be only one.

- His popularity was so strong,

and honestly, it was so infectious

because it motivated me and drove me.

It's what I wanted.

If you smell...

- Rock came up so fast,

and was just the complete opposite of Steve.

[glass shatters]

- There was competition.

There's only one number one spot...

and I'm gonna take it.

[crowd cheering]

- We were rivals because he was trying to get the top.

I was the top.

And I was determined to stay on top.

- This rivalry has just escalated into a war!

- When two legends collide,

their rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.

[dramatic music]

This is where we break down the legendary stories

behind the greatest rivalries of all time.

I'm Freddie Prinze Jr., and this is "WWE Rivals."

- The greatest book ever written

is the one titled "The Rock versus Stone Cold."

[crowd cheering]

- The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin,

two of the most popular WWE superstars

in sports entertainment history.

- In my mind, the two biggest draws of all time.

In all due respect to Bruno to Hulk and Flair

and all the guys that came on and drew a lot of money,

these two guys were the hottest two guys.

We did more ratings.

And that was the first time that wrestlers became

mega stars in all of society.

[crowd cheering]

- The Rock laid the smack down on all their candy asses.

[cheers and applause]

- They were able to transcend into the pop culture.

You literally were making fun of wrestling yesterday,

but then you come into school with a 3:16 shirt.

- With my cousin, Dwayne, The Rock,

when he-- - It's so casual.

"Oh, my cousin, Dwayne, The Rock, yeah."

- "Oh, that's my cousin." - I guess.

[laughter]

He speaks about Stone Cold

and he speaks about the way that they performed

in front of the audience.

I mean, he has this bond and this connection

with him that--it does.

It chokes him up every single time

he starts to talk about it.

- This Austin/Rock confrontation,

one of the great rivalries of all time.

It's Ali and Frazier.

It's the Lakers and the Celtics.

- It had so much longevity. There was so much electricity.

It's amazing to me because on TV,

I never saw two people hate each other more.

- It took me a while to find out who I was in the business.

It turns out that who I was in the business

was me at a highly competitive level.

All I did was up the intensity.

[glass shatters]

[hard rock music playing]

[crowd cheering]

From the Stone Cold character standpoint,

nothing was handed to him.

He had to work his ass off for every single thing.

Give me a hell yeah!

all: Hell yeah!

- Oh, you're damn right because Stone Cold,

we're gonna crash the party any time I want to.

[crowd cheering]

- The Stone Cold character defined the era,

it defined the times of a more rebellious

attitude all over the world.

- You can kiss my ass.

[crowd cheering]

- You had a guy like Stone Cold Steve Austin

on the ascension, on the rise.

Here I was over here.

[indistinct chatter]

[scattered cheering]

My first couple of years in the business,

I didn't know if I was gonna make it.

No one knows.

- I don't remember the first time

I met Dwayne, like, where it was.

I remember seeing him, though.

- Rocky Maivia!

- Now, there's gonna be the man right there.

That's Blue Chipper right there.

- 6'5", 6'4", whatever it is,

probably already 275 back then,

but you could see the gimmick was wrong.

- Now, I know I've got a lot to learn here

in World Wrestling Entertainment,

but with your support and the great people

of World Wrestling Entertainment behind me,

I believe Rocky Maivia can accomplish anything.

- He was so stereotypical in his delivery of his promos,

the content of his promos.

- I'm gonna give the best that I can give.

Thank you.

And I'll make you and all my fans proud.

- Steve was kinda already breaking the mold

of what you'd expect to see on WWE television

as far as language and mannerisms.

- Austin 3:16 says, "I just whipped your ass."

[crowd cheering and whistling]

- The people were clamoring for Austin.

So Rocky almost became like the,

"Well, no, this is the guy we don't want."

- You've kind of gone through a little change here

in our sport of professional wrestling,

you know, with the fans and how they perceive certain guys,

and whether or not they smile,

or whether they use the word "ass"

like it's going out of style.

- Hey, there ain't nothing on my mind

but whipping anybody's ass that gets in my way.

Steve Austin does what he wants when he wants.

- Steve's impact and the reason

why he was so successful is because he was authentic.

You can rest assured and bet your bottom dollar

that Rocky Maivia will always give 110%.

That's why I am the Intercontinental Champion.

Here I was, this guy who was happy

and happy to be there even when I lost,

fans can see through that.

You're not authentic, then you're done.

That's when they became visceral

and basically, you're full of [bleep].

all: Rocky sucks! Rocky sucks!

Rocky sucks! Rocky sucks!

- The crowd started yelling to him, "Die, Rocky, die."

all: Rocky sucks! Rocky sucks! Rocky sucks!

- When you try to be a babyface, a good guy,

and someone's telling you, "Hey, [bleep] you."

[chuckles] Not good, right?

[tense dramatic music]

- Rock had injured his knee

and had been out for a little while

and the question came up,

"God, you know, bring him back, what do you do with him?"

We had a faction at the time, the Nation of Domination.

♪ ♪

Hmm.

♪ ♪

- There's The Rock! Great to see The Rock back.

- What's he doing in the ring?

- Checking on a referee, make sure he's okay.

And-- - Look at this!

[crowd cheering]

- What? Wait a minute.

- I remember getting a phone call from Jim Ross,

and he said, "How do you feel about

"joining the Nation of Domination,

"and we're gonna turn you into a bad guy?

You're going to become a heel. How do you feel about that?"

I said, "I love it."

- What? - Whoa!

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

- The Nation of Domination was a group

that was really anti-establishment

at the time as well,

but more anti-the-audience in many ways.

Audience is crapping on Rocky Maivia.

What if Rocky came back

and crapped on the audience in return?

[swelling dramatic music]

- I got three words:

"Die, Rocky, die."

That's the gratitude I get from your pieces of crap?

- I believed in the guy.

Looks, size, rap, charisma, ability.

I knew he had all those things.

- I was just able to be authentic.

You're not a character.

It's exactly who you are,

just with the volume turned way up.

[indistinct chatter]

- Rocky took it and ran with it.

[dramatic percussive music]

And people viewed him as this cocky, arrogant person.

As a human being, he wasn't,

but he would walk into a room and own it.

It's interesting when you look at the two characters,

because they were both rebellious,

they were both anti.

And when the two come together,

it's like, "All right, this is beautiful music."

[crowd cheering]

[glass shatters]

[hard rock music playing]

♪ ♪

- In the fourth quarter of 1997...

[crowd cheering]

That was really, really an exciting time.

- Ladies and gentlemen, Stone Cold Steve Austin!

- And we're looking for bad guys

who Stone Cold can work with.

The Nation comes out...

[suspenseful music]

And all of us are standing at the top of the stage.

And Steve basically says...

- All you got to do is bring your ass to the ring,

or any one of them people up there.

I'll stomp a mud hole in you and walk you dry.

- Everyone's arguing who's gonna go.

And then finally, it's decided...

- Go out and kick his ass.

- The Rock is gonna run down there.

- Rocky Maivia accepts the challenge!

- Look at this!

- There's a stunner! [crowd cheering]

- Steve and I had never had a wrestling match before,

so all this was to just see,

"Is there anything?"

And when you watch the audience reaction...

[crowd cheering]

- Stone Cold stunned Rocky Maivia out of his boots!

- There's something there.

- Stone Cold through the crowd!

- It was a palpable buzz in that arena.

- And there goes the Rattlesnake,

much to the dismay of the Nation of Domination.

- A moment like that between Rock and Austin

is really confirming

who you need to put your time and effort into,

and it tells you what's working and what's not.

- These guys want each other bad.

- Seeing Rock and Austin collide for the first time,

this is going to be special.

- If anybody wants to see

Rocky Maivia get his ass whipped,

give me a hell yeah.

all: Hell yeah!

- That's about what I thought.

[cheers and applause]

- The last thing The Rock needs is some jabroni

asking him questions when he's got all the answers.

- You have to appreciate the growth, right?

The story, who Rock was before.

You didn't quite know as a fan that he had the level of talent

that he portrayed later in his career.

- Come on in here, Hulk Hogan.

- Dwayne was doing promos from, I mean, when he was young.

I'm sitting there with Auntie Ata, his mom,

and we're cracking up at these videos of him.

He's cutting promos in the kitchen.

- Lightning bolts coming down on the Hulkster!

Now I'm the new champ.

And when you take a lesson from the Hulkster,

Hulkamania's gonna run wild!

Whoo!

- He was practicing from when he was young.

- Before he even knew.

- Before he even knew that he was gonna become The Rock.

- Steve Austin, your bottom line will read,

"Has been, compliments of The Rock."

- With Rocky Maivia, we were working in the ring with him.

We knew how talented he was.

And now all of a sudden, you have this competitor

come along to Steve.

We see the snowball rolling at that point,

going, "Oh my God, this is unbelievable."

[crowd cheering]

- Rocky, I'm calling all the shots,

and I'm gonna tell you something right now.

When you're walking through the airport

and your beeper goes off,

you look down and it says 3:16,

you know your ass belongs to Stone Cold.

- In the beginning stages of Rock/Austin,

I remember them going after the Intercontinental Championship.

And you're going, "Something's gonna happen here."

[dramatic rock music]

Like, this is gonna be a huge, huge rivalry.

- My God, the Rattlesnake is right behind The Rock.

- Rock, Rock, Rock!

- Rocky's beeper just went off.

And it must say 3:16!

Stone Cold has opened up a can of whoop ass on Rocky Maivia!

- Pretty much immediately, you know, we had chemistry.

We clicked.

- And Maivia has got some brass knucks

on that right hand.

This'll be it if he connects!

[crowd cheering]

Austin with a stunner on Maivia!

- Stone Cold Steve Austin was Intercontinental Champion.

It was just one of those things where creatively,

he was getting ready to go on his run

for the WWE World Title.

[crowd cheering]

- So what I'm gonna do, Rock,

is I'm gonna forfeit the damn title to you tonight...

- What?

- Because I got bigger fish to fry.

So go ahead and take the damn thing

because I don't want it no more.

- He just gave me the Intercontinental Championship.

- Has been Intercon--whoa! Austin! Stone Cold stunner!

- And then he wound up stunning me.

- DTA, Rock! Don't trust anybody.

- Even in that, I just remember that night.

We all just remember that night,

that there was something special.

- Stone Cold Steve Austin

with the Intercontinental Championship belt.

Rock, when I gave this belt to you,

I did just that.

You didn't have to earn a damn thing.

So I'll see you a little bit later.

[crowd cheering]

[loud splash]

- When I see a title get thrown off a bridge,

that's a that's a big deal.

I had never seen anything like that.

- And I heard that title was never found.

- That's what I heard too. - Oh, damn.

- That's, like, the urban legend,

that the title was never found.

- Wow.

- We did the Intercontinental Title stuff.

And it's only inevitable

that as he continues down the road he's going down,

I continue what I'm doing, it's gonna come back around,

and it's gonna come at a bigger, higher level.

[dramatic music]

- Michaels going for another kick.

Austin, he got it!

Austin is the champion!

Stone Cold! Stone Cold!

- You got a guy as tough Stone Cold,

my hunger, my thirst to be the best, to get to the top.

- A new WWE Champion! The Austin era has begun.

- Company finally picked me.

I'm gonna do something with this.

Nobody, especially Vince McMahon

tells Stone Cold Steve Austin what to do,

and that's the bottom line.

- Please welcome the Rattlesnake,

Stone Cold Steve Austin.

- He's getting pulled in a thousand different directions.

- Stone Cold Steve Austin is the man.

- So I stunned McMahon's sorry ass,

and that's the bottom line.

- Stone Cold's popularity got to a point

where you had to experience it.

- Nice to meet you, man. - Nice to meet you too.

- I'm a fan of yours. - Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

- And we were chatty.

But at the same time, there was still never animosity,

but there was competition.

And at that time, he had a stack of 8x10s...

- Thank you, sir. - You're welcome.

- He's signing away.

So I remember he had jokingly signed a picture to me.

"Hey, Rock.

"You might make it one day, kid.

"Keep working hard.

Stone Cold Steve Austin, number one."

[soft dramatic music]

And I thought, "Oh, he's [bleep] around with me."

But then I look and I realized

that that's how he signed his autograph.

"Stone Cold Steve Austin, number one."

- Thanks, Steve. - You're welcome.

I was number one.

I believed I was number one.

And I signed that number one on that picture

so that the person receiving that autograph

knew I was number one as well.

- I said, "One day, I gotta write number one."

He said, "You gotta earn that one."

I said, "I'm going to earn it."

He said, "Well, you're not gonna take it from me."

[laughs]

♪ ♪

- You can say a lot of things about Rock but he was a study,

and he was always trying new and different things.

- Why are you looking at The Rock like that?

You're drooling.

[chuckles] - Thanks, man.

- Thanks, I appreciate it.

- I've never seen anybody grow so much week to week.

- Know your role before The Rock lays a smackdown

on your candy ass, jabroni.

- Then he becomes so good at being a bad guy

that he's a good guy.

- Whatever happened to "Rocky sucks"?

You know, I think the evolution

and the development of this young athlete

certainly has impressed a lot of fans.

- There ain't nothing that could ever compare

to being the people's champ.

- The business is very competitive.

As hot as I was getting,

and he was kind of coming up right behind me,

I was very keenly aware of where he was

and what he was doing.

♪ ♪

He was trying to get the top. I was the top.

And I was determined to stay on top.

I'll tell you this: you will always be, in my eyes,

some punk kid spitting out nursery rhymes.

[crowd cheering]

- A tell in the business

is whenever a top guy is watching someone

who's on the rise.

And Steve looking at The Rock and just going,

"Yeah, you know, (bleep),

"when he comes out and raises an eyebrow,

has a couple cute phrases, that don't mean he's over."

That comment right then said to me,

"Rock's catching on. Rock's over."

Because the top guy now is noticing him.

You know, he sees somebody nipping at his heels.

- It has been ten years

since the WWE has had to crown a WWE Champion

via a tournament.

The winner of this match is the new man,

either Mankind or the people's champion, The Rock.

And The Rock's rise to superstardom

here in the WWE is nothing short of extraordinary.

- In the world of the WWE, life moves at lightspeed.

- Oh, sharpshooter! That's a Sharpshooter!

- Sharpshooter! [bell ringing]

- McMahon said ring the bell!

Wait a minute. - What?

- Yor ass off,

you have the opportunity to become the guy.

I'm gonna quote the great Jim Brown.

"That [bleep] was sweet." [laughs]

- The winner and new

World Wrestling Entertainment champion,

The Rock!

- Not only do you become World Champion,

but now you align yourself

with the company's top heel, Vince McMahon...

- What? - What the hell?

- And take the moniker of the People's Champion,

you turn it corporate.

[crowd cheering] - There's your champion!

There's your corporate champion!

- I'ma share with you guys

my crazy grandmother from Puerto Rico, María Ramirez.

She introduced me to professional wrestling.

And when The Rock turned corporate,

my grandmother hated the man to the point where

when my wife made a movie with him,

she stopped speaking to my wife.

And when I asked her why, she said,

"Because he had a choice, and he chose corporate."

[laughter]

That's the effect that this man was able to have on people.

That was the energy that came into this rivalry.

- Stone Cold is back. [crowd cheering]

- What?

- That's just a match made in heaven

because if The Rock is gonna side with Vince

and Vince is the corporation,

and I'm anti-corporation, well, then that's a must-see.

[crowd cheering] - Here comes Austin!

- Oh, no! Get away, Mr. McMahon!

- The McMahons are running away.

- You now have solidified Rock as someone you wanna hate

because he is aligned himself with the man.

- World Wrestling Entertainment champion,

the corporate champion, The Rock!

[crowd booing]

- You are all unintelligent

pieces of trailer park trash.

[crowd booing]

You're all no different from the biggest

piece of trailer park trash in Stone Cold Steve Austin.

[crowd booing]

- There's the old saying of opposites attract.

They're about as far apart

as I think as anyone could possibly be.

[glass shatters]

Steve's drinking beer,

Rock is eating fat-free blueberry muffins.

[dramatic music]

- These guys are so different,

but yet they are exactly one in the same

just in terms of, "I wanna be the best,

and nothing's gonna stop me."

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

Well, that doesn't surprise The Rock

that you're watching back there, Stone Cold,

because there's something about The Rock

that draws you to The Rock.

If you smell what The Rock is cooking.

[crowd cheering]

[glass shatters]

- Uh-oh! - What?

- Hey! It can't be!

- He's towing the Titan-tron with a beer truck!

- Austin's in the beer truck! - Look out!

[hard rock music playing]

♪ ♪

- You better get your ass serious

because Stone Cold Steve Austin

is going to check right in to the "SmackDown" hotel,

roll right in to room 3:16

and burn that son of a bitch to the ground!

both: Whoa! [crowd cheering]

- Austin pulling into an arena in a giant beer truck,

it was just mind-blowing.

- Wait a minute! - [shrieks]

- Stone Cold with a beer bath! - Beer! [shrieks]

- Beer bath for the corporation!

[crowd cheering]

- He's drowning Mr. McMahon in beer!

[dramatic music]

- It was just another groundbreaking piece

to an already groundbreaking story

of that time, that rivalry.

[glass breaks] [hard rock music playing]

- Stone Cold is ready for "WrestleMania!"

- Rock was popular, Steve was popular.

The matchup is epic.

You wanted it to be on the grandest stage.

The only place to do it was "WrestleMania."

[crowd cheering] [fireworks popping]

- You know, the very first "WrestleMania"

that we headlined was in Philadelphia.

It was my very first "WrestleMania"

headlining "WrestleMania."

I was 26 years old,

and just wanted to do a great job.

- Oh, my gosh!

- Austin throwing The Rock right over the--

into the first row ringside!

- I'll never forget that match.

[announcers exclaiming]

- Oh, man, what contact!

- From a performance standpoint,

he was a motivating factor...

- This is a war!

- 'Cause he's very competitive.

- No! - Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

- When you know you perform at the highest level

and you deliver, just a great feeling.

- The stunner! The stunner!

all: One, two, three!

- Austin wins, Austin wins, Austin wins!

- It was just amazing to watch.

And while most rivalries

will culminate at "WrestleMania,"

it really was just getting started.

- Hey, redneck piece of trash!

Exactly. It's the great one.

Does this look familiar to you, Austin?

Does it?

It's your piece of trash title.

It's the bridge, there's the water,

and it's a long way down.

You want the piece of trash?

You come get the piece of trash.

- They were raising the bar every single week.

You never knew what was gonna happen next.

- Here we go. Here we go now!

- He found him! - This fight is on!

- You piece of [bleep]! Go to hell.

Austin, you want your belt? I'll tell you what.

Here it is, and you take it to hell with you.

- The water cooler talk every week was, "Oh my God,

did you see what happened on Monday night?"

The two people driving that discussion

were Rock and Austin.

[engine chugging]

- Austin is destroying The Rock's new Lincoln Continental!

- That competitiveness drives greatness,

and they were trying as hard as possible to outdo the other.

- I'll give the son of a bitch

all the credit in the world,

but (bleep), if I say this son of a bitch

is coming with me, it's coming to me.

And that's all I got to say about that.

- Watching those two perform, you feel it,

and you feel that energy and you feel that passion.

That's what they did.

They made that magic every freaking night,

you know what I'm saying? - It's crazy.

It's like they were

breaking their own record every single week.

- Yeah.

- That rivalry spawned energy to the rest of us.

That's what made the product so great.

They pushed each other.

- Give me the camera, give me the camera.

[overlapping chatter]

Stone Cold Steve Austin.

- Man, there's a period there where everything we did

was a home run and a grand slam.

- Hey, Rock! - Oh, the Rattlesnake is up!

A stunner!

[crowd cheering]

♪ ♪

- It's the best job in the world.

Every now and then, you're just glad to go home

and just kind of kick back a little bit.

But, you know, with the schedule we got,

you know, the way World Wrestling Entertainment works,

Soon as you say, "Hey, Vince, I need some time off,"

what you're doing is creating a window of opportunity

for someone else to step into.

I'm right in the middle of a hell of a run,

so I'm gonna finish this son of a bitch.

[soft tense music]

♪ ♪

Going into back end of '99,

you know, I started to have some side effects

from getting dropped on my head in '97

by Owen in the Summer Slam.

[crowd cheering]

Everybody I thought I broke my neck.

I didn't break my neck. I bruised my spinal cord.

[indistinct chatter]

- Get the ambulance people. Where are the ambulance people?

- Ambulance.

- Couple of years later, I went and got another MRI.

And that's what we discovered

I had a bone spur growing into my spinal cord.

- Steve having surgery in '99 was a scary time.

Is Steve gonna come back?

And if Steve does come back,

at what level is Stone Cold gonna come back?

♪ ♪

- Stone Cold was gone for a year.

Where's my hero?

And there's The Rock saying, "He's right here."

- Okay, you're losing one of your biggest attractions

of all time in Stone Cold Steve Austin.

However, you had another attraction in The Rock.

Okay, now, it's time to put on the big boy shoes,

and you're gonna be the man.

♪ ♪

- Since you've been on the shelf,

The Rock's popularity has really risen.

- Mm-hmm.

I'd like to get in the damn ring with him

and just knock the hell out of him

because that's the kind of relationship

me and The Rock have.

- Stone Cold was gone.

Dwayne Johnson is now that top star.

- The Rock says this, Michael Cole jabroni,

how do you feel about the match?

- I think it's gonna be--

- It doesn't matter how you feel!

- He competed against every other performer

and said, "You can't do this better than I can."

- They are chanting The Rock's name.

all: Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!

- The Rock called himself the People's Champion, right?

Because everybody wanted to be The Rock,

but I feel like Austin was also the People's Champion.

[glass shatters] [hard rock music playing]

- Uh-oh! - Oh, my God!

- My God, will you listen to this ovation?

The Rattlesnake is back!

And business has damn sure picked up!

♪ ♪

- Having Stone Cold back was a relief.

- Stone Cold Steve Austin, welcome back to "Raw."

- The audience was just so happy,

but the audience had also grown to fall in love with The Rock.

- The Rock came around, Triple H came around,

The Undertaker was always there,

so I mean when a guy goes down, it's like, you know,

chum in the water 'cause that's just the way it is.

And I respect it,

but I wasn't keen to watch who was gonna try to fill my spot.

I won the "Royal Rumble,"

which gave me this shot at the champ at "WrestleMania."

It turns out that the champ is The Rock.

- What a "WrestleMania" main event this is gonna be.

- And it was the two biggest and best colliding again.

- Without a doubt, this is the most eagerly anticipated

main event in "WrestleMania" history.

- The backstage interview that myself and The Rock did

with Jim Ross as a mediator...

Do I want to beat you on a personal level?

Oh, hell yeah, I do.

But on a professional level,

which bleeds over in my personal existence,

I need to beat you, Rock.

I need it more than anything that you can ever imagine.

I needed that championship.

I thought The Rock was coming up there.

I needed to stay here.

So that was a shoot line for me, and he never knew that.

- I got one reason and one reason only

to go inside that ring,

and that is to beat Stone Cold Steve Austin.

It's just that simple.

There was tension, but it was great tension.

It was important to me that I was the one leading the pack.

- And here's to you, Rock.

[dramatic music]

- I didn't wanna be second

when I knew first was available,

and Steve Austin sure as hell didn't want to be second.

- Oh!

- And here's to your ass getting whooped

at "WrestleMania."

♪ ♪

- Oh, wait a minute!

Austin and The Rock exchanging blows!

The main event at "WrestleMania"

going on right here!

- Talking "WrestleMania," and it's time for them to go.

- Steve was such a mega star, and Rock was such a mega star.

- And then you put those two guys together,

and that's insane.

- You knew when those two touched,

it was just a perfect matchup.

[overlapping chatter]

- We're three days away from Austin versus The Rock!

- It was the match.

It was on so many levels work,

but super personal for him, super personal for me.

[crowd cheering]

- With over 60,000 fans,

we welcome you to Houston, Texas.

[epic music]

- The atmosphere in the arena at "WrestleMania XVII"

was through the roof.

Everything was built to the highest peak that

it could be because I was super-hot as a babyface,

Rock was super-hot as a baby face.

♪ ♪

[crowd cheering] It was just insanity.

I blow the roof off the place.

♪ ♪

- A very partisan Texas crowd.

- And he was white hot, don't get me wrong,

but I thought I got a little bit more of the flashbulbs.

He blows the roof off the place

to just a little bit lesser degree.

- Here we go! It's on!

- They didn't waste any time,

and nor did we think they would.

- The second "WrestleMania" is very special

because we broke pay-per-view records.

- You can tell just how badly he wants the title.

- We were fighting.

We were animals, we were pit bulls, we were lions,

we were all those things, all those aggressive animals.

[cheering and booing]

- And now, The Rock fighting back.

The heart of a champion.

- The people hanging on every single move,

waiting to see who was gonna win this match

'cause it was damn near 50/50 throughout the whole thing...

- Oh, and Austin just nailed The Rock with a ring bell!

- I cannot believe just how physical this has gotten.

♪ ♪

- Stunner! The Rock scores with a stunner on Austin!

But why is Vince McMahon--

what the hell is he doing out here?

- He's coming out to ringside.

- Austin, now, the clear-cut advantage.

Reversed.

Stunner! I don't believe it.

But why is Vince McMahon--

- He's coming out to ringside.

- And now detaining the referee.

- McMahon has no love lost for either The Rock or Austin.

Oh, Austin got the stunner!

My God, the stunner!

Austin got the leg hook

all: One, two...(Crowd cheering) Oh! The Rock!

- At that time, from a character standpoint,

I'd actually felt like I was maybe starting to flatline

just a little bit because I've been running so hot.

[crowd cheering]

- What's McMahon gonna do with a chair?

- I wanted to turn heel.

- What the hell is this?

- Stone Cold Steve Austin has sold his soul

for the WWE title!

- What the hell is this? all: One, two, three!

- It's a new champion! [bell rings]

- The winner of this bout

and new World Wrestling Entertainment champion,

Stone Cold Steve Austin!

- It was surreal for a lot of people.

[soft dramatic music]

It was a difficult image for people to absorb.

The turn only made the audience desire

having their hero back.

- Yes, I wanted his spot.

But if I ever got that top spot,

it was because I earned it.

It was also because he helped me get there.

One of the things that I can appreciate about Steve

and about our relationship, it's just that--

it's like with any relationship,

trust happened over time.

[energetic music]

He started trusting me more,

which then made our matches that much better.

- There's the perfect synergy and the clash of styles,

and the same type of respect

whether it was a house show

a pay-per-view or "Raw," whatever.

We were out there to, you know, bring the house down.

- We got The Rock against Stone Cold Steve Austin,

and we're gonna go out there and do our thing.

It's gonna be a great match.

- Rock and Stone Cold were able to go out,

feed off the audience, and feed off one another.

- The match is over!

- The match would end,

we would stay in the ring easily every night

for an additional 30 to 45 minutes...

[crowd cheering]

- 'Cause we would have these performances

and these monologues.

And that's when the fun would begin.

[crowd cheering]

- We became really good friends.

[crowd cheering]

We were just firing on all cylinders.

[soft dramatic music]

- You can be great friends

with somebody in this business,

but you can be really great friends

with somebody in this business when you draw money together.

[laughter] That bond gets real tight.

- Rarely do you have two stars

that are mega stars at the same time.

Every building we put Steve's name on, he sold out.

Against another guy who's exactly the same.

- There was a tie for a while

as to who number one was, Stone Cold and The Rock.

You can argue that they were interchangeable

in that number one spot.

[crowd cheering]

- In the world of wrestling where there is no offseason

and guys tape up their injuries,

they play through pain every single night.

All the "Monday Night Raws," all the "Smackdowns."

Steve played through a multitude of physical issues.

- I had a surgery to correct a few things.

There are still some things that are going on.

I could pass tests that I needed to pass,

but I could see what my body was turning into

by the stress and the beatings that I was placing on it.

And finally, I decided, "Man,

"when is your body gonna give you enough signals

that you need to get your ass out of here?"

It's a real heavy gamble

that I don't really want to take any more.

[soft dramatic music]

- The one thing that The Rock has not done, one thing,

is whoop that bald candy ass at "WrestleMania."

[crowd cheering]

- "WrestleMania" happened to be around the corner,

and, you know, it was me and The Rock.

I'm like, "Hey, man, it's [bleep] time."

- Everybody knows we got a big match,

the biggest match of my career,

'cause what I'm finally looking to do

is to beat Stone Cold Steve.

Now, I know he's right over here signing autographs,

but I'm not gonna pay attention to Stone Cold right now.

He's not paying attention to me.

I remember finding out that it was his last match,

and I was honored and privileged.

- It's almost a shame I gotta whip your ass on Sunday.

How many days have we got? [crowd shouting]

No, but I mean, that's what we're there for.

I mean, by the same token, you could whip my ass,

or as you would say, whip my candy ass.

[soft dramatic music]

- Programs, get your program.

[crowd cheering]

♪ ♪

- It was very emotional in this final match

of this extraordinary journey

between myself and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

[dramatic music] [fireworks popping]

- Welcome to "WrestleMania XIX."

- We had a few conversations prior to that match

at "WrestleMania XIX."

I wanted to give him the greatest performance

I possibly could...

- Introducing first, from Miami, Florida, The Rock.

[crowd cheering]

- And do right by the company, and do right by Steve.

[glass shatters] [hard rock music playing]

- Glass breaks and I walk down there.

It's a pretty long walk.

- From Victoria, Texas,

weighing 252 pounds,

Stone Cold Steve Austin!

- It's like, "Okay, man,

let's go turn it on, rip it up."

- Who is the greatest of all time?

One of these two men. Only time will tell.

- 54,097 here, and over 150 countries around the world,

you're seeing one hell of a match at "WrestleMania."

- Stone Cold Steve Austin went out there with a bad neck

in his last match.

And the Steve that was on top of that point

had to work with tons and tons of injuries.

That's remarkable.

[stairs crash loudly]

- Anytime you step in the ring with The Rock,

he's gonna give you everything he's got.

[crowd cheering]

"WrestleMania XIX," it's one of the greatest of all time.

It was very special.

- The rock bottom on Austin!

- Hell, I'd beaten Rock, I don't know how many times

and the two previous "WrestleManias."

- It's over!

No, it's not! Austin kicked out.

- He was everything that you would want,

to be the guy that you would pass the torch to.

[dramatic music]

- Another rock bottom,

Austin fighting desperately out of it.

And look-- oh, right back in.

A rock bottom! Rock bottom! Rock bottom two!

- That's gotta be it.

♪ ♪

all: One, two--

[crowd cheering]

- My God, I don't believe it!

♪ ♪

- The third time's the charm.

- Big one!

- Oh, God, a third rock bottom!

A third Rock Bottom!

The hook of the leg, and The Rock has done it.

- History has been made!

- Here is your winner, The Rock.

- The Rock beat Austin at "WrestleMania."

♪ ♪

- You know, I wanna be the best at what I do,

and it's because of guys like Austin,

specifically, Steve Austin doing what he does for me

that I'm able to accomplish that.

♪ ♪

After the one, two, three, pushed the referee away.

"You can't hear this."

And I said, you know, I admire him, I respect him,

I'm proud to call him my friend.

- You are looking at two of the greatest

that this business will have ever offered you.

- Hey, man...

I love The Rock, and The Rock loves me.

[soft piano music]

It was a really, really cool moment.

Two big-ass, tough-ass guys

telling each other that they loved the other one

in front of millions of people.

♪ ♪

- When you see those two gentlemen in the ring,

one of the best rivalries in the history of this business--

I mean, they did three "WrestleManias"?

- You know the old saying

that lightning never strikes, you know, twice .

One of the moments when I was a kid that I'll never forget

is when the Beatles ran out in Shea Stadium.

Rock and Stone Cold did it three times.

- That smile on your face that just snuck up,

that little smile is like the way you're looking back at it.

- Yeah, I think people kinda knew at the time,

you know what, this is something special.

♪ ♪

- To be able to see, like,

my two People's Champions go head-to-head,

it's like that fantasy booking scenario

that we always dream about,

the two guys who were at the top of the industry.

And the fact that we got it

for such a long time is awesome.

- It's really wonderful to come back

and see so many smiling faces tonight.

For example, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

[crowd cheering]

- We'll definitely think about that.

One more match.

- There will always be a bit of a rivalry

between Rock and Austin.

♪ ♪

I also think that there's a great deal of love and respect

for one another for what each did for the others' career.

- Then what? Then he's gonna stun you.

[laughter] Great.

- I listen back and I hear some of these stories,

I'm like, "What a piece of [bleep] I was."

I mean, I was in a different zone back then, man.

- No, it actually worked out better.

And you were like, "Listen,

"you're gonna be a hell of a talent,

you take it..." - Yeah.

- "And take this with you." [laughter]

- All right. I know you're gonna do your thing.

- All right, brother.

- Good seeing you. I'm proud of you.

- Good seeing you. Thank you.

- They had something special, and they knew it.

Your antagonist is only as good as your protagonist...

[swelling epic music]

And they pushed each other to the limit.

- Is it safe to say that

these two guys just don't like each other?

- Absolutely.

- I learned two top guys could go out there

and have as much fun as we did...

- $500 shirt!

- And hate each other

as much as we appeared to hate each other.

- What competition, what a rivalry!

- He brought out something in me,

and I brought out something in him

that made us as good as we could be.

- And that's the bottom line...

- 'Cause the great one said so!

- We were fighting for the exact same thing.

and that was the number one top spot

in the company at a time

and the company was changing the way the game was played.

- Look at the new damn champ.

Jabroni.

And we take a lot of pride

in it being the greatest rivalry

the sports entertainment world has ever seen.

♪ ♪