Courtesy of The Rock.com
A fan at a recent RAW IS WAR event held up a sign in which the letters R.A.W. stood for "Rock, Austin, WrestleMania." And so it is.
By winning the World Wrestling Federation Championship at No Way Out, The Rock locked himself into a date at WrestleMania with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who qualified for the 'Mania main event by virtue of winning the Royal Rumble match. Of course, anything can happen in the World Wrestling Federation, so the card is always subject to change. But for some reason, this main event -- The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin -- seems destined to go down on April 1 at the Astrodome in Houston.
"This is the sequel that everybody has wanted to see," The Rock told WWF.com moments after winning the Federation Championship for a record-setting sixth time. "And they'll certainly get that at WrestleMania." When he says sequel, The Rock is referring to his match with Austin two years ago at WrestleMania XV. It was arguably the greatest match of the year, or at least the best match until the Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian met in their first Ladder Match seven months later at No Mercy.
Can The Rock and Austin live up to their classic confrontation two years ago?
"My gut says yes," said Jim Ross, the voice of the Federation, "and I'm sure if you asked them they'd tell you absolutely."
WWF.com asked them, and they told us absolutely.
"Definitely without a doubt," Austin said.
"I'm going on to WrestleMania in my home state of Texas -- and I don't care if it's in Timbuktu -- but I'm going out there to become the World Wrestling Federation Champion."
Said The Rock, "WrestleMania XV was a great match between Rock and Austin. And now both characters have elevated themselves to superstardom status. We're at completely different levels. The Rock and Austin now have gone off the charts. At WrestleMania XV, The Rock was an up-and-coming top heel in the business, Stone Cold was the top babyface. Now you have two figuratively unstoppable forces, in terms of their characters: the Brahma Bull and the Rattlesnake." While the match is in fact in Stone Cold's home state, The Rock does not believe that the Rattlesnake has a "home-court advantage."
"Fans can appreciate a character who solely entertains them," he said. "You get that in The Rock. You get that in Stone Cold as well."
The Rock has a point. Even two years ago when The Rock was still a "bad guy," and constantly referred to fans as "trailer park trash," it was clear that fans respected him and were entertained by him. Remember when everyone wanted to "sing along with The Rock"? In fact, at WrestleMania XV, there were a few "Rocky! Rocky!" chants for the "bad guy," The Rock.
"Just because it's in Stone Cold's home state of Texas doesn't mean there's going to be 65,000 Stone Cold fans there," he said. "Generally, if you're a Rock fan, you're a Stone Cold fan. So it's going to be interesting to see the fight with ambivalence that the fans are going to have. It's going to be great."