It’s been revealed that ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin couldn’t understand the real-life heat between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.
One of the most prolific names in the history of professional wrestling, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin has been part of many famous rivalries throughout his legendary career. Although The Rock is arguably his greatest rival, other famed Austin foes are Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.
The relationship between ‘The Hitman’ and ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ has been rocky, to say the least. The duo despised each other in reality, which, needless to say, led to the infamous Montreal Screwjob at the 1997 Survivor Series pay-per-view that saw Bret Hart screwed out of the WWF Championship before he departed for World Championship Wrestling.
Despite all of this, Steve Austin can’t figure out why the pair of Hall of Famers couldn’t get along behind the scenes, as told by Jim Ross on the latest Grilling JR podcast (h/t Sportskeeda):
“He was frustrated. He was astonished that they couldn’t sit down and work this out. It wasn’t that complicated…I think Steve was of the mindset that, ‘I can’t understand these guys. They don’t realize how much money’s on the table here. Why can’t they just sit down and work this thing out?’”
Against both Bret and Shawn, Steve Austin has contested a handful of his most famous encounters, with his epic WrestleMania 13 outing vs. the former remaining one of the most critically-acclaimed contests in wrestling history. Additionally, his first reign as WWF Champion began when he dethroned Shawn Michaels at the following year’s WrestleMania as the 1998 Royal Rumble winner.
Steve Austin was recently confirmed to be in attendance at WrestleMania 38 at the start of April for a confrontation with Kevin Owens, though this will not take the form of an actual in-ring return for ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’, as had been previously reported. Instead, Austin will be a guest on the KO Show.