The rivalry between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock made history as a rare attraction worthy of three WrestleMania matches. Austin and Rock defined the Attitude Era with their runs as the top two faces of the company. Fans loved witnessing their work when they playd faces and heels alike, and each and every one of their matches wound up feeling like a major attraction.

WWE felt comfortable booking their matches at WrestleMania 15, WrestleMania 17, and WrestleMania 19 — all with successful results. There was clearly something special there for them to mix it up on the big stages more than once, let alone three times.

UPDATE: 2024/03/14 11:30 EST BY Michael Chin

A funny thing happened on the road to WrestleMania 39. Not only did fans hear the annual rumors that The Rock might return to WWE, but after Steve Austin had wrestled Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38, there was also some intrigue about a potential fourth WrestleMania collision between The Great One and Stone Cold. The match didn't come to fruition as neither man wound up participating in WrestleMania in 2023. The conversation may well resurface as fans start fantasy booking WrestleMania 40. The reasons are clear. Few stars in wrestling history were as compelling as Austin or Rock. Moreover, the chemistry between them led to the greatest three-match series in the history of The Showcase of the Immortals.

Steve Austin & The Rock Emerged As WWE's Two Biggest Stars

Austin & Rock Had Similar Journeys In WWE

• The Rock & Steve Austin were both Intercontinental Champions in WWE
• The Rock rose in WWE in the Nation Of Domination
• Austin overcame names like Bret Hart to achieve stardom in WWE

Before debuting in WWE in 1995, “Stunning” Steve Austin was a solid WCW midcarder who was unable to reach the main event scene and proved to be an incredible promo during a brief run in ECW. His early days in WWE weren’t all that promising, as he was dubbed “The Ringmaster” with Ted DiBiase as his mouthpiece. A landmark win in the 1996 King of the Ring tournament and subsequent feud with Bret “The Hitman” Hart established Austin as a must-see star, though. After that, The Texas Rattlesnake began to feud with his boss, the evil Vince McMahon, and was solidified as a top babyface.

The Rock, too, had less-than-stellar early days in WWE. A third-generation star, vanilla babyface “Rocky Maivia” was pushed as a blue-chip prospect when he debuted in 1996, but failed to gain traction with the fans, eventually drawing their ire. However, Rocky would turn heel and join the Nation of Domination faction, reinventing himself as The Rock, an overconfident heel. The Brahma Bull referred to himself in the third person and cut amazing promos littered with catchphrases. In 1998, The Rock proved so popular among fans that it necessitated a face turn.

The Mid-Card Feud Between Steve Austin And The Rock

The Pair Had An Earlier Feud

Amidst the high profile of their series of matches at WrestleMania, a number of fans have forgotten all about The Rock and Steve Austin feuding in 1997 over the Intercontinental Championship. The Rock and his Nation of Domination running buddies set the program in motion when they attacked Stone Cold and stole his championship belt.

Austin won the PPV match between the two, staged at In Your House: D-Generation X. The most memorable moment of this version of the feud came one night later, though. Mr. McMahon ordered Austin to defend the title against Rock again on Raw. Austin gave up the title instead, throwing it into the Piscataqua River.

WWE Needed A Heel Wrestler To Represent Vince McMahon at WrestleMania

The Rock Was WWE's Corporate Champion

• The Rock was helped to the WWE Championship by The Corporation
• The Rock became WWE's handpicked face of the company
• Steve Austin needed a top heel foe, and The Rock was perfect

The first WrestleMania match between The Rock and Steve Austin saw WWE needing to find a way to make the most of the Austin vs Vince McMahon feud. McMahon had wrestlers like The Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock representing him in The Corporation faction at the time.

There was not an ideal option for Austin's opponent at WrestleMania 15 after he got past Mick Foley, The Undertaker, and Kane throughout 1998. Rock was picked due to his momentum at the time along with a heel turn in late 1998 to set it up. Vince McMahon took a huge risk when he booked The Rock to turn heel and join The Corporation when he won the WWE Championship. WWE ran a major one-night tournament at Survivor Series 1998 with Rock facing Mick Foley in the finals. Foley was representing Vince heading into the match with Rock gaining huge momentum as a face after leaving The Nation of Domination. WWE turned Rock heel to win the title with a screwjob finish. It was all done to get to WrestleMania 15 with Rock as Steve Austin’s rival.

WrestleMania 15 Match Started Stone Cold Steve Austin's New Run As Champ

Steve Austin Continued His Rise In WWE

WWE usually tries to have a few crowning moments for the face of the company. Steve Austin had his first moment at WrestleMania 14 when he beat Shawn Michaels to finally become WWE Champion. However, there had to be more moments of triumph for Austin. Austin beating The Rock at WrestleMania 15 reestablished him in the role as the top WWE Superstar. The company moved forward with Austin having more matches against Vince and Shane McMahon along with new opponents.

The Rock was the most charismatic performer on WWE television even when playing a heel. Fans started to chant along with his popular catchphrases and clearly enjoyed when he would appear on WWE television. The feud with Steve Austin for the WWE Championship extended a couple of months beyond WrestleMania 15 and ended in the spring of 1999. Rock turned face right after, with WWE embracing what everyone wanted once they got the success they wanted out of the WrestleMania match.

WWE Needed A Huge Attraction For WrestleMania 17

WWE Purchased WCW, And WWE Needed To Capitalize

• WWE was exiting the Attitude Era
• WWE purchased WCW and eliminated the competition
• WrestleMania 17 needed to be a massive event

The timing of WrestleMania 17 marked a climax of the incredible momentum WWE had gathered during the Attitude Era. WWE had improved some of the issues from the Vince Russo era, and the star power of their top names only grew in the process.

Top names like Triple H, Kurt Angle, and The Undertaker could have easily main-evented WrestleMania, but the biggest attraction was still Steve Austin vs The Rock. WWE had both wrestlers in the face role and wanted to spotlight the biggest draws on the era-defining show.

Stone Cold Steve Austin & The Rock Wrapped Up Their Angles Before WrestleMania

WWE Changed Up The Main Event Scene In WWE

• Steve Austin won the 2001 Royal Rumble
• The Rock defeated Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship
• WWE's main event scene was turned upside down ahead of WrestleMania

Many WWE fans didn’t expect The Rock and Steve Austin to face off in the main event of WrestleMania 17. Kurt Angle was the WWE Champion from Survivor Series 2000 to the final PPV before WrestleMania where he dropped the title to The Rock.

Steve Austin was involved in an even deeper feud with Triple H that revealed that Triple H set up the hit-and-run attack that wrote him off television. Their bad blood ran for months and also concluded at No Way Out 2001 to end it right before the match with Rock.

WWE Involved Stone Cold Steve Austin's Wife Debra In The WrestleMania 17 Angle

It Was Personal Between The Rock & Austin

• Rock & Austin's WrestleMania 17 feud was not as good as many remember
• Austin's partner was inserted into the fued
• This increased personal animosity between The Rock & Austin

A forgotten subplot of the 2001 feud between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock was the involvement of Austin's real-life spouse at the time, Debra. Mr. McMahon assigned her to have to be Rock's manager in the build to their big match.

Naturally, Debra standing by Rock's side, and all the more so situations when she fell into peril because she was with The People's Champion drove The Texas Rattlesnake wild. While the consensus among fans is that the feud probably didn't need her involvement, her presence nonetheless did offer something a little different to the mix.

The Rock Vs. Steve Austin At WrestleMania 17 Is One Of WWE's Best Main Events

A Classic Match At WrestleMania

The popularity of WWE may have peaked at WrestleMania 17 since the fan base dropped off shortly after. WWE also had an unexpected iconic moment the week of the show when Vince McMahon purchased WCW to end the Monday Night Wars six days before the event.

Steve Austin and The Rock gave us two wrestlers who could be considered the biggest stars of all time in the main event. Even the music hype video to the song “My Way” by Limp Bizkit created something special that showed the magic of wrestling.

Everything Changed For The Rock, Steve Austin, & WWE After WrestleMania 17

WrestleMania 17 Ended The Attitude Era

• Steve Austin turned heel in the main event, becoming a villain during the next year
• The Rock turned babyface after WrestleMania
• WWE exited the Attitude Era

WWE made huge changes after WrestleMania 17 that were polarizing. Steve Austin turning heel with Vince McMahon’s help was a shocking move that completely ended the run of Austin as the fan-favorite icon. The heel run of Austin produced strong matches and memorable segments, but WWE lost money without the top character. Rock left WWE for a few months afterwards to film The Mummy Returns which started the transition to Hollywood.

A little over a year passed between the final moments of WrestleMania 17 and the official beginning of the Ruthless Aggression Era, but it’s hard not to look at the main event as the end of the Attitude Era. The Rock/Steve Austin rivalry and the feud between Vince McMahon and Austin were both defining conflicts of the period, and so Rock stepping away from the ring and Austin becoming McMahon's ally meant that both of those storylines were pretty much over. The year that followed, with the Invasion storyline and Austin’s heel run, would basically function as a transition period to usher in a new era.

The Rock And Stone Cold Steve Austin Were On Opposite Sides Of The Invasion Angle

Rock & Austin Continued To Feud In WWE

• Steve Austin joined The Alliance
• The Rock remained loyal to WWE
• They captained their respective teams during The Invasion

After Stone Cold Steve Austin turned heel, WWE would double down on him playing the bad guy when he became the leader of The Alliance--a group representing WCW and ECW against the WWE roster. Though Austin's most memorable feuds of this run came against the likes of Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam, The Rock would ultimately factor in again as a key rival.

The blow off to the Invasion angle saw Team Alliance vs. Team WWE main event Survivor Series, with Rock and Austin captaining their respective sides. The People's Champion emerged the sole survivor, last pinning Stone Cold.

WrestleMania 19 Completed The Trilogy Between The Rock & Steve Austin

They Wrestled One Last Time

WrestleMania 19 was the final match between The Rock and Steve Austin on the Grandest Stage of Them All. Both wrestlers were in strange positions needing something important. New stars like Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle had climbed to main event status while Rock and Austin were the top attractions. WWE decided to run it back one more time with the storyline of the Hollywood heel version of Rock wanting to finally beat Austin at WrestleMania. Austin was only a month back following his infamous walkout and needed someone not already in an angle.

The match of The Rock finally getting his WrestleMania 19 win over Steve Austin didn’t just end their rivalry. Both iconic wrestlers never had the same role in WWE after the final match. Austin’s neck injuries grew worse, and he had to retire. Rock also headed into a new chapter of his life as his Hollywood career blossomed. The aftermath of Rock's victory at 'Mania would see him putting over the debuting Goldberg to give back to WWE.

The Aftermatch Of The Rock Vs. Steve Austin At WrestleMania 19

It Was An Emotional Night For Both Men

• Steve Austin entered into retirement after his match with The Rock
• The Rock entered a part-time WWE schedule
• The pair had shared an emotional moment

Steve Austin retiring after the major WrestleMania 19 match to The Rock led to an emotional moment between the two. Rock broke character for a few seconds by putting his head to Austin’s ear and had a short exchange expressing personal messages to each other. WWE’s A&E Rivals episode about Austin vs Rock saw Rock finally revealing what he said. Rock went out of his way to say he appreciated Austin for all he did for the wrestling business and that he loved him.

The story of that final exchange after their WrestleMania 19 match is still meaningful to Steve Austin today. Austin spoke bluntly about the moment when saying the following about their final exchange while getting emotional:

"I told him I loved him verbatim - I said I love you too. Two big ass, tough ass guys telling each other that they loved the other one in front of millions of people."

Rock was clearly the perfect opponent for Austin to end that chapter of their careers together. The final moment interacting gave them closure and a chance to reflect on leading the company to such heights together.

Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs. The Rock Is The Greatest Of The WrestleMania Trilogies

No WrestleMania Trilogy Compares

• Roman Reigns & Brock Lesnar wrestled at WrestleMania 31, 34, and 38
• Triple H and The Undertaker wrestled at WrestleMania 17, 27, and 28
• Steve Austin & The Rock wrestled at WrestleMania 15, 17, and 19

No two wrestlers have garnered more than three one-on-one WrestleMania matches. Indeed, the only three 'Mania trilogies to date were Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock, Triple H vs. The Undertaker, and Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar. While the star power of Triple H vs. The Undertaker can compare to Austin vs. Rock, this pairing never wound up main eventing a WrestleMania and the matches garnered mixed reviews from fans. The Game and The Dead Man only really seemed to hit their stride when they entered Hell in a Cell for their finale--a match that Shawn Michaels added a lot to as guest referee.

Lesnar vs. Reigns had star power and a main event spot for every single iteration at WrestleMania. Moreover, the first iteration was quite good as Reigns exceeded expectations with his best singles performance up to that point, besides which Seth Rollins cashing in Money in the Bank made for a wonderfully chaotic scene. The WrestleMania 34 and 38 rematches generally disappointed fans, though. So it is that Rock vs. Austin stands tall--each outing good, if not great, leaving plenty of room for debate about which iteration was best. From Rock and Austin still establishing themselves as main event attractions at WrestleMania 15, to a showdown between all-timers at WrestleMania 17, to an emotional swan song at WrestleMania 19, every match these icons staged on The Grandest Stage of Them All was a treasure.