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00:00If you want to see Stone Cold versus The Undertaker, give me a hell yeah.
00:06You've got The Undertaker who's been there for a while.
00:13And now you have Stone Cold, his trajectory is heading straight up.
00:20When the opportunity presented itself, man, he seized it.
00:24This is the guy, then I'm gonna do the best that I can to make him look like
00:29the star that he's gonna be.
00:30You see, Austin, now you already have one foot in the grave.
00:36Competing against The Undertaker, you cannot fail, you cannot alter, and
00:40you must perform, because he's a war horse.
00:46My gosh, I've just knocked Steve out.
00:49I let The Undertaker down that night.
00:52Two superstars trying to one up one another.
00:54It's exactly what Stone Cold Steve Austin and Undertaker did.
00:57Rivalry between these two is unparalleled.
01:00The Undertaker, Stone Cold rivalry, it was the best of the best.
01:05A night that we will never forget.
01:08I am coming to end your career.
01:13I don't know how much more personal it can get.
01:17When two legends collide, the rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.
01:21This is where we break down the legendary stories behind the greatest
01:26rivalries of all time.
01:27I'm Gabriel Iglesias, and this is WWE Rivals.
01:34Undertaker, you can expect no mercy from Stone Cold Steve Austin.
01:45Undertaker versus the greatest superstar of all time,
01:50Stone Cold Steve Austin.
01:51But I might just be biased.
01:52The shirt gave it away.
01:53Oh, this thing?
01:58Both Steve Austin and Undertaker, they were really, I mean, so
02:01iconic in their own right as individuals.
02:03But the moments that they were able to create,
02:05they're like bookmarks on the industry.
02:07They had a long history.
02:08Steve and Taker both started in Texas together,
02:12at least got one of their breaks in a sports auditorium.
02:15I had maybe a year head start on my career.
02:20I was a little bit of a heavyweight in Steve.
02:23They were getting ready to make me the Texas Heavyweight Champion, and
02:26they gave me Steve.
02:27The six-foot-eight Punisher of Devastation Incorporated against
02:30the new find of the USWA Wrestling School, Steve Williams.
02:35Big, blonde-headed, good-looking guy.
02:38So you figured if he stuck with it, he was gonna have a nice career.
02:43When you meet Mark Calloway, dude's about 6'10", 300 pounds.
02:47He just had this air about him.
02:49He wanted to be somebody.
02:51I didn't know that WWE would have the ultimate character for him.
02:56From Death Valley, I give you The Undertaker.
03:02Those slow, methodical movements.
03:05The way he carried himself, the composure.
03:08Everything was by design.
03:12He just got nailed with a tombstone.
03:14He had this aura that, as a kid, I was just intrigued.
03:18Look at his eyes, look at his eyes.
03:21The man is possessed.
03:23I'll never forget when he stuffed the Ultimate Warrior in a coffin.
03:26They're burying him.
03:29Undertaker did that.
03:31The Undertaker was just completely unique.
03:34Someone that was so big, but you believed in him.
03:38Unbelievable, The Undertaker, ladies and gentlemen.
03:44I was intrigued by the character, but by no means did I want to meet him in person
03:47or in a dark alley or anywhere else.
03:49The Undertaker, sending chills up and down the spine.
03:54Truly a work of art.
03:56There's nobody that could have pulled off that character like Mark Calloway at all.
04:0324-7, I was The Undertaker.
04:06During appearances, walking through the airport, I lived the gimmick.
04:11You have to have your audience invested in that character.
04:14Undertaker was our guy, he was our Iron Man.
04:20He worked hard, he worked with a crushed orbital bone, cracked ribs.
04:25The Undertaker with some sort of adhesion on his face.
04:29Because we needed him.
04:31He would be the guy that had to carry the company in times when we didn't have
04:35anything.
04:37We were struggling.
04:38We had lost all of our big talent.
04:41I told you Hulkamania was gonna run wild in the WCW, brother.
04:46WCW had opened up their checkbook.
04:48Everybody's taking the money and running.
04:51What in the hell is he doing here?
04:54We're trying to keep afloat with the talent that we had left.
04:59And then Steve come along.
05:03Little did we know, he would become the biggest star probably ever.
05:08I give you the Ringmaster.
05:11I was one of the few who loved the Ringmaster.
05:14You did.
05:14I loved the Ringmaster the second he showed up.
05:16I was like, that sounds cool, Ringmaster.
05:19The Ringmaster has all the tools to go right to the top.
05:23There was something about him that drew me right away.
05:30He was so different than everybody else.
05:31At the time too, everybody had a gimmick.
05:33Everybody had some sort of character that's kinda outlandish.
05:36And he was just boots, trunks, very simple,
05:39which I thought, well, that's different.
05:41That was always appealing to me.
05:43But yeah, the Ringmaster thing went away pretty quick.
05:47His peers dubbed him the Ringmaster.
05:49I would suggest you from the look on his face and his attitude,
05:52knowing him a bit better now, he's stone cold, if anything.
05:55Steve wasn't content when he was the Ringmaster.
05:57He knew that there was more for him to give.
06:01Steve Austin wasn't really a star, but King of the Ring happens.
06:07Talk about your subs, talk about John 316.
06:11Austin 316 says I just whipped your ass.
06:19Next day was Austin's moment.
06:21This was his moment to elevate himself and get himself where he needed to be.
06:26But he needed the right opponent.
06:28He needed the right rivalry.
06:32He needed The Undertaker.
06:33We are live, ladies and gentlemen, from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
06:36Monday Night Raw.
06:39Stone cold Steve Austin.
06:42Won it all just last night.
06:45First time I wrestled The Undertaker, it was very powerful.
06:48I'm always thinking about what I wanna do in my matches.
06:50And so, you know, I'm about to work with Mark.
06:53And I've already hit the ring.
06:56I hit Mark's music.
06:58Lights go down, everybody throws their lighters in the air,
07:01they smoke up the entrance.
07:03He starts coming in.
07:05The greatest phenom in the history of the World Wrestling Federation,
07:10The Undertaker.
07:14And he's doing that slow motion walk that only he can do.
07:17And it was so awe-inspiring and just dramatic.
07:21Like that, I forgot everybody else was there.
07:24It's powerful.
07:26Even a man who has ice water in his veins,
07:29like Stone Cold Steve Austin,
07:31must be feeling a little antsy.
07:36The Undertaker was the barometer for everything back then.
07:39Right.
07:39You know, so you wanna push a guy like Stone Cold,
07:41and you wanna get him to that level,
07:43Undertaker still is the gatekeeper.
07:45Because they know that he's gonna do his job.
07:47And he's gonna do his job.
07:49And he's gonna do his job.
07:50And he's gonna do his job.
07:51And he's gonna do his job.
07:52They know that he's gonna do his job.
07:55The question is, can you do yours?
07:57And so this is a real important thing for Stone Cold.
08:01You can tell that he's getting this push.
08:05You can slow that down if you want.
08:08Or you can say,
08:11okay, this guy's got a rocket strapped to his ass.
08:14How can I help him even excel faster?
08:20That's the way that I looked at it.
08:22If this is the guy, then I'm gonna do the best that I can
08:26to make him look like the star that he's gonna be.
08:29The Undertaker with Stone Cold's team Austin.
08:33Really taking it to the limit in an unbelievable battle.
08:37You can go in there with The Undertaker,
08:39and you can fight him, and you can give him hell.
08:43And at the end of the day, whether you win
08:44or whether you lose,
08:46you have the respect of that audience,
08:48you're gonna be a success.
08:49I think Austin knew how good he was.
08:52Once he got in the ring with someone like The Undertaker,
08:54I think everyone else found that out too.
08:56Now, going down to Marlena, on their way.
08:59No, I just see that right in the eyes.
09:02The Undertaker is resolving with his qualification victorious.
09:07To have Undertaker not definitively win a match,
09:11that says, one, the company believes in this talent.
09:15And two, it says to the crowd, like, wow,
09:18Undertaker didn't hit the tombstone and beat this guy.
09:21I want to see more.
09:25It was huge in helping Steve get to the next level.
09:28Make people notice that this guy's gonna be a star.
09:31I didn't get beat.
09:32I would've beat him had Not Goldust come,
09:34but that's just the way it goes, isn't it?
09:36I'll beat him on down the line anyway.
09:39From that point forward, you knew this could be the guy.
09:42But you don't know for sure if he is the guy.
09:44See guys all the time, you don't know
09:46if once they get that level, is that gonna transcend
09:49and go more, or are they gonna get engulfed
09:51by that main event?
09:53His trajectory is heading straight up,
09:55and it's important for me to give him that rub.
10:01When the opportunity presented itself,
10:03man, he seized it like nobody.
10:09For some reason, people started caring about me.
10:13The office said, hey, let's come up
10:14with a t-shirt for you.
10:16So I said, OK, let's do the Austin 316,
10:18and let's put a skull on the back
10:20and carve in Stone Cold.
10:23Well, hold off on the skull.
10:25That might be Undertaker's property.
10:27I walked over to Mark and said, hey, man.
10:29I said, the office finally wants to do a t-shirt of me.
10:32I wanted to put a skull on the back,
10:34but they kind of feel like that's in your territory.
10:36And if you clear it, I can use the shirt.
10:38But if you shoot it down, I understand.
10:41He goes, yeah, man, go for it.
10:44He didn't have to do that, and he did.
10:48Here he comes, Stone Cold, Steve Austin.
10:53It took him a while to get to the point
10:56of being seen by the masses as a main event superstar.
11:03Facing Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13
11:06and the way in which Steve lost that match.
11:11Austin will not surrender.
11:13He will not submit.
11:16Didn't get pinned, didn't give up,
11:18passed out due to the loss of blood.
11:21You always want to prove yourself against the best.
11:26I've never seen anyone so gutsy that he wouldn't submit.
11:29It was very important and necessary for the journey
11:32that Stone Cold was about to go on and for The Undertaker
11:36to get his hands on the WWE Championship.
11:39He's the guy now, and he was crowned that now.
11:42The dark days of the WWF have begun.
11:46Undertaker at WrestleMania 13 becoming the WWE Champion.
11:51Here is the star that is going to lead us
11:55into the next generation.
11:59You're looking at the next WWF Champion,
12:02and that's the bottom line.
12:04The Stone Cold says so.
12:09The audience wanted Steve to take those next steps.
12:13And if that meant going through someone as popular
12:16as The Undertaker, that's what the audience wanted.
12:20Oh!
12:23What will happen when Austin meets The Undertaker?
12:30I am the World Wrestling Federation Champion.
12:37And as far as Stone Cold Steve Austin goes,
12:42it'll be a cold day in hell before you become champion.
12:49Steve Austin is in the ring with The Undertaker.
12:52That's his championship belt.
12:54They're polar opposite, right?
12:55You've got this one outspoken, beer-drinking son of a gun.
12:59And then you've got a man of very few words,
13:02and I loved watching both of them.
13:04You didn't need to have a major angle.
13:07You just had the two toughest badasses fighting
13:12for the grandest prize of them all.
13:15Following WrestleMania 13, Taker and Steve
13:19faced off in their first pay-per-view match,
13:21cold day in hell.
13:23Tonight, the WWF title be decided when The Undertaker
13:27takes on the toughest SOB, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
13:32It's such a test to go with The Undertaker.
13:35So I was almost concerned as a fan
13:36that this would kind of send Stone Cold the other way.
13:39What's going to happen out of it?
13:41Austin has said many times, he's not afraid of the dark,
13:45but you better respect the dark side.
13:48This is a big moment.
13:50Is Steve Austin the guy we need to know?
13:53And a main event pay-per-view against The Undertaker
13:56for the championship is the way to find that out.
14:01This is going to be, I think, one of the more intense
14:05WWF championship matches that maybe any of us have ever seen.
14:12Competing against The Undertaker in the ring
14:14was very, very tough.
14:16Stone Cold Steve Austin attacking The Undertaker,
14:19and this match is officially underway.
14:22You're going to get his best.
14:23He always wants to have the best match on the card.
14:26You're going to work your ass off.
14:27Both of them want to win the WWF title.
14:31The Phenom is being challenged as we
14:34have never seen him challenged.
14:36He did whatever it took at any given occasion to win a match.
14:40That dynamic really made it interesting.
14:42What a grueling match-up.
14:44Very intense, very physical.
14:47Either one of them would do whatever it takes to come out
14:49of the match with their hands in the air.
14:52The match is underway.
14:53Whatever it takes to come out of the match
14:56with their hands in the air.
14:57Oh, no!
14:58Two stones!
15:00No!
15:01It's countered!
15:02It's countered!
15:03No!
15:06Oh, no!
15:07Two stones!
15:14Sometimes it's not about winning or losing.
15:16It's about how you made the audience feel.
15:19And that's exactly what Stone Cold Steve Austin
15:22was able to do with The Undertaker.
15:25He didn't win that match.
15:26He didn't have to win that match.
15:28He had to win the crowd.
15:30That's exactly what he did, because the crowd
15:32wanted him to win.
15:34Austin!
15:36Oh, no!
15:39You look at The Undertaker right now and ask him,
15:42who should be the World Wrestling Federation champion?
15:44He'll say Stone Cold Steve Austin,
15:45because it's the truth.
15:47But the championship should be mine.
15:48It's not.
15:49Will I grab at it?
15:50No.
15:51I'll just drink another beer today.
15:54I think it meant an awful lot for Steve Austin
15:57to have that opportunity and for him
16:01to feel the confidence that we as a company had in him.
16:07The audience was really starting to get
16:09into what Stone Cold Steve Austin was delivering.
16:13This arena has erupted with a mere sight
16:17of the Texas Rattlesnake.
16:20Attitude era?
16:22Attitude.
16:22That was Austin.
16:30Here's the guy.
16:31I don't give a damn.
16:33Double fingers in the air.
16:35If you don't like it, turn the damn channel.
16:36I got no problem with that.
16:38He knew what his character was, and you didn't
16:41get much outside of that.
16:43He was always Stone Cold.
16:46Steve Austin was the everyman.
16:48Blue collar, drinks beer, badass.
16:53And I think that resonated with a lot of the fans.
16:57You look out in the audience, 75% of the merch
17:00was Austin 316.
17:02Probably could have donated the money from the wrestling
17:06and just lived very comfortably on the sale of his merch.
17:10Stone Cold's time has come.
17:12In the dark or in the light, you're
17:13looking at the next WWF champion,
17:15whether anybody likes it or not.
17:21The Austin era has begun.
17:241998, Steve wins the WWE title at WrestleMania 14.
17:27You know, at that point, Steve has become the hottest guy
17:30probably in the history of the business.
17:32He put his name on any building in the world.
17:34It can be an armory in Melbourne, Australia,
17:36and we sold that building out.
17:38He was that hot.
17:42I never see anything like it.
17:43I haven't seen anything like it since.
17:46Steve's climb helped everybody.
17:50Everybody wanted a piece of that.
17:52That was the competitive nature that made us so good.
17:57No one was bigger than Stone Cold Steve
17:59Austin in the 90s.
18:01He was everywhere.
18:03Please welcome Stone Cold Steve Austin.
18:06News, MTV, any type of pop culture event that was
18:11happening, Stone Cold Steve Austin was there.
18:16Steve was super dialed in on his position
18:19and maintaining his spot.
18:22And the rest of us, we were always
18:23trying to move up that ladder to either be in that spot
18:28or be in that spot working against Steve.
18:31That was the golden ticket.
18:36They were firing all cylinders.
18:38How do we keep that momentum going?
18:40Well, the next biggest thing they could do
18:42is Austin and Taker.
18:45Man counts morning, Madhouse.
18:46We are here with, certainly, the wrestler
18:49for the next millennium, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
18:51Yeah!
18:53It's going to happen.
18:54It is destiny.
18:55You versus The Undertaker.
18:56What's your prediction?
18:58Well, any time you go into anything,
19:00you got to believe in yourself.
19:01So I believe I'm going to beat his ass.
19:02But, you know, I'm sure he would like to think otherwise.
19:05Anyways, you know, that's a pay-per-view match.
19:09It was incredible from how business
19:12was to where he took it.
19:17That's what made the product so great.
19:19Yeah, Stone Cold's the top guy.
19:21But I think I can be the top guy.
19:24There's The Undertaker on his way to the ring.
19:27The attitude here grew out of Stone Cold Steve Austin.
19:30Now it was all about being as cutting edge as possible.
19:33A lot of the characters grew out of trying to fit
19:37in with that shifted paradigm.
19:40Undertaker's a great example of that.
19:42Around this time, Undertaker's persona
19:45on screen started evolving.
19:47Like, he started cutting promos.
19:48He was putting promos on Austin.
19:51Shortly after my arrival here in the World Wrestling Federation,
19:55I became the Slayer of the Dragons.
19:59As I've been taking care of family business,
20:03Stone Cold Steve Austin right to the top.
20:08I demand my shot at the World Wrestling Federation title.
20:19Stone Cold and Undertaker work well together
20:21because stars are stars.
20:23If you are a fan of a college football team,
20:26you're going to see a lot of that.
20:27If you're a fan of a college football team,
20:29you're going to want to watch that college football team
20:31play against another elite team.
20:33Everybody can have their fans.
20:35Austin, I came at you like a man,
20:40just like I'm going to do at SummerSlam.
20:43But you see, Austin,
20:45now you already have one foot in the grave.
20:49Because you see now, boy,
20:52you've done the wrong thing.
20:57You f***ed me off.
21:02They were two guys you always wanted to see,
21:06and you're going to see them against each other?
21:08I'm clearing the night out to watch that.
21:11The Undertaker says that I pissed him off.
21:15Stone Cold Steve Austin was bored pissed off.
21:20I'm going to beat his ass in this ring
21:22to let you know exactly what SummerSlam is going to be like.
21:28What the hell is this about?
21:30The highway to hell. We'll see Austin burn.
21:37It's not rocket science when you put the two biggest stars
21:40in a company against each other.
21:42We had gotten past the idea
21:44that it had to be good guys and bad guys.
21:47We were dealing in shades of gray in the Attitude Era.
21:51We didn't care who the fans cheered for or booed for
21:56as long as they were making noise.
21:59And when you put those two together,
22:01the fans always made that noise.
22:06It was a bit of an obvious choice.
22:09I don't think it was a traditional choice
22:11because both guys were extremely popular.
22:14But at the same time,
22:17it was the best of the best.
22:20They had this magnetic, electric energy
22:22that the audience wanted to see.
22:24They drew money. People wanted to watch them.
22:27Man, I remember the build-up to SummerSlam in 1998,
22:30Madison Square Garden,
22:31and they were looking for a name to that pay-per-view.
22:34And I said, hey, man, what about Highway to Hell?
22:36Let's roll camera, everybody.
22:39And action!
22:42I'll never forget doing those videos
22:43where I yank a guy out of a taxi cab.
22:47There's people out there partying and dancing.
22:50We're going down these dark alleys,
22:52just tearing up everything.
22:54It's Taker looking at the camera.
22:56It's me walking through a lake of fire
22:59and just hyping up that Highway to Hell.
23:05I mean, I remember it was one of the first times
23:08that they had put the wraps on the buses in New York City.
23:14It's me with the Empire State Building in my hand.
23:17It was a really cool build to that match.
23:22I was in New York when this happened.
23:25The electricity in New York.
23:29Special time.
23:34Austin!
23:39The Garden, New York.
23:41You think about all the big events
23:43and the big fights and all the things
23:45that have happened in the Garden.
23:47And now, here you are, main eventing,
23:51one of our biggest pay-per-views,
23:53biggest star in the business.
23:54You want everything clicking.
23:57And so, obviously, there's a lot of pressure.
24:01Any time you get a chance to work Madison Square Garden,
24:03one of the most special buildings that you can work
24:06and go out there and be the main event
24:07is one of those things that you strive for.
24:12It's a hot summer night in New York City.
24:16Madison Square Garden has been sold out for months.
24:22Here we go, Austin Tate.
24:23Your highway to hell right here, baby.
24:26Right here, baby.
24:29It was the top two WWE superstars.
24:31It was the biggest match they could do.
24:34I didn't have cable.
24:35I had to find a way to watch that match live,
24:37so I bothered my friend's parents
24:38to let me watch it at their house, you know,
24:40just because I had to see it.
24:41It was such a big deal.
24:44The following contest is for
24:46the World Wrestling Federation Championship.
24:52He is a prideful man.
24:54He is the conscience of the WWF.
24:57He is ready for war.
25:03No WWF champion has ever entered Madison Square Garden
25:07with that kind of ovation.
25:09I literally felt this building shake.
25:13Every single soul is on their feet with anticipation.
25:17They love Stone Cold Steve Austin,
25:20but a lot of them love The Undertaker, too.
25:23There's nothing better than this matchup right now.
25:25You've got the hottest guy in the business
25:27against one of the greats of all time in this business.
25:31It's the only two that are big enough
25:33to hold this main event.
25:34It's the perfect matchup.
25:38Austin's starting off very aggressively here.
25:40I don't think Austin wants to get into a slugfest
25:42with a man that outweighs him about 70 pounds.
25:46Whoa, look at this.
25:46Oh, what shots.
25:47I like to work on the fly.
25:49I like to work on the feel of our audience.
25:51Trying to put one in the other hand.
25:53Look at this.
25:54The Rattlesnake strikes back.
25:55I knew where we were going,
25:56and I just kind of like to blow with it.
25:59Oh, and a reversal at the last minute.
26:02And a knockdown.
26:03In the course of the match,
26:05I shoot Steve off into the ropes,
26:08and I'll go for a backdrop.
26:10As I'm bent over, Steve gives me a boot.
26:13And I snap up so fast,
26:15the back of my head hits him right in the chin.
26:18Oh, I think they headbutted each other.
26:19Yeah, I do too.
26:20I think Austin got cracked right in the head
26:21by The Undertaker.
26:23Oh, my gosh.
26:24I've just knocked Steve out.
26:29SummerSlam 1998, highway to hell.
26:32I don't remember too much about the match.
26:34So at the end of the match,
26:35I get knocked out for the first time in my life.
26:41Austin got dinged, I think.
26:42Their heads collided.
26:44I remember watching it and seeing it happen.
26:46He was probably in the ring with the best person to be in
26:48in that case, considering Undertaker
26:50could probably bring anything back.
26:52We didn't have a lot of these protocols in place yet, either.
26:54Yeah, that was a different world.
26:55Now this happens, we just stop the match.
26:58Doesn't matter if it's live on TV.
26:59It's a testament to what level they're at.
27:02We had to ad-lib there for a second
27:03until Steve got his bearings back around.
27:06Undertaker left his feet.
27:07Austin able to move out of the way.
27:11I remember building in a spot.
27:14I said, if anything happens, if this
27:17isn't going like we want it to, I'm
27:21going to put you on the table.
27:23And I'm going to climb up to the top rope.
27:25And I'm going to drop a leg on you from the top rope
27:28to the announce table.
27:30I never practiced it.
27:31I never went up to the top rope.
27:33Look at this.
27:34Oh, no.
27:35Oh, no.
27:36And now here we are, SummerSlam, Madison Square Garden.
27:41I've got Steve on the table.
27:43And now, finally, I'm up on the top rope.
27:45And I'm like, holy hell, that's a long way.
27:50He's seven feet.
27:51He's 325.
27:53The champion, Austin, is helpless here.
27:57Austin is helpless here.
28:00I remember thinking, because I got knocked out,
28:02I figured, OK, maybe he won't go through that.
28:04And we'll just kind of put something in his place.
28:08And sure enough, I'm laying there.
28:10And as I'm looking up, I'm thinking to myself, yep,
28:13he's coming.
28:14He's going to drop that leg.
28:22I land.
28:24Steve's fine.
28:26I crack my tailbone.
28:30Good God.
28:31My God, they're broken in half.
28:35But Steve was good.
28:37What's the old saying?
28:38At all costs, protect your quarterback.
28:43My deal was to lay there and be his target.
28:47His deal was to drop that leg off that top turnbuckle.
28:50We both did our parts.
28:52It was a crash landing.
28:53And we continued the match.
28:56There is no intimidation.
28:58There is no fear in either man.
29:01Undertaker said he was going to take what's rightfully his.
29:04He feels he should be the WWF champion.
29:07Patented Undertaker.
29:09One minute, they're cheering for him.
29:11No, no!
29:13The next minute, now they're cheering for me.
29:15Undertaker inviting Austin in.
29:17The WWF title hangs in the balance here.
29:21Choke slam.
29:24Undertaker back on top.
29:26This didn't work earlier.
29:28Oh, no!
29:30Did you see that?
29:31Austin with a low blow.
29:33Stutter!
29:36He got the stutter.
29:37One, two, three!
29:41Yes!
29:42Yes!
29:42The rattlesnake!
29:44The rattlesnake!
29:45Austin wins!
29:46Austin wins!
29:54Yes!
29:58The Undertaker's up.
29:59He's got the WWF title.
30:00What's going to happen here?
30:03What?
30:06Undertaker didn't do that.
30:07He didn't do things where he was humanized.
30:12He didn't need to raise his hand.
30:13He didn't need to shake his hand.
30:15That was like, you're the guy.
30:18We'd had this war.
30:20He got the upper hand.
30:21And, you know, I acknowledged it.
30:24It's a match that I always wish would have been better.
30:27I let the Undertaker down that night
30:29because I didn't pull my end of that match.
30:33Getting knocked out and not being
30:34able to deliver the goods with one of the all-time
30:36greats in the history of the business
30:38still haunts me to this day.
30:41A guy like him goes out there and gets concussed.
30:44And then you can't think clearly out there.
30:46And he's a thinking man's wrestler out there.
30:48You can't help but wonder what could have
30:50been if Steve hadn't gone hurt.
30:51Right.
30:52You know, considering what they were able to pull off.
30:53But I still remember that being a really good match.
30:57My hat's off to you.
30:59You won a major battle tonight.
31:02But Austin, by no means did you win the war.
31:06You will look into the eyes of the Reaper.
31:08And the results will be much different.
31:16There is only one Stone Cold Steve Austin.
31:20Stone Cold had been dominating as a top star.
31:22But Undertaker was really giving him a run for his money.
31:24And even at a SummerSlam, they were still
31:26relatively both fan favorites.
31:28Once The Undertaker took a sharp turn,
31:30it just kicked the rivalry to a new level.
31:32You got to stack the deck against your baby face,
31:35you know?
31:36And that's tough to do when that baby face
31:38is Stone Cold Steve Austin.
31:40I can't believe it.
31:41Kane and The Undertaker, arm in arm.
31:46Undertaker and Kane were always adversaries.
31:49They've heated rivalry between two brothers
31:52with a fiery past.
31:54But then all of a sudden, they kind
31:55of start working together.
31:57You put Kane and Undertaker together as a team,
31:59who can survive that?
32:01The WWE audience had always wanted us to get together.
32:04That's what the audience really wanted to see.
32:06Let me break it down for you, Austin.
32:10You're going to defend the WWF Championship
32:13against both The Undertaker and Kane
32:17in a triple threat match.
32:20That's not fair.
32:22Put both those two guys essentially against one guy,
32:25it just sets the perfect scenario
32:27that you need as baby face that finally he's
32:29fighting that uphill battle.
32:30Yeah.
32:31Two on one, and the two have to be frickin' monsters.
32:34Kane and Undertaker.
32:35Yeah.
32:36The two are seven-foot-tall monsters.
32:38Fighting hell.
32:39He's literally fighting hell.
32:41That's what you do when you have such a strong hero.
32:46You give him dragons to slay.
32:48In my view, no WWF champion has ever
32:51had the deck stacked against him as Stone Cold Steve Austin has.
32:55A rattlesnake struck first!
32:57A rattlesnake struck first!
32:59These two guys that are both 6'10", 300,
33:03two guys like that with that mystique about each one of them,
33:07that's something that's just straight out of a comic book.
33:11Here's these two larger-than-life guys
33:13because they are larger than life.
33:15It was awesome.
33:17Can you imagine the exhaustion that Austin
33:19must be experiencing?
33:20Steve is on this incredible run, so it was always
33:23hard to figure out, ooh, what might happen here?
33:30Here we go!
33:32Double toe slam!
33:34Undertaker and Kane, that's gotta be!
33:37They got him!
33:38Austin has lost the title!
33:41Austin has lost the title, but who is the champion?
33:45Is it The Undertaker or is it Kane?
33:49Coming off of the double pin controversy,
33:51we're now at Monday Night Raw, and Vince McMahon is in the ring.
33:56Undertaker, both you and Kane deserve
34:00to be the WWF champion.
34:03And who comes to the ring?
34:06There's Austin!
34:07There's Austin!
34:08There's Austin!
34:09There's Austin!
34:10Austin and the Zamboni!
34:12There's some things that you can predict,
34:14and that's definitely not one of them.
34:16My God, he's gonna run right to the time trial!
34:19Get out!
34:20Your run is over!
34:22The craziest part is when he drives up the Zamboni
34:25right up to the ring, and he hits the ring.
34:27You see the ring shift, which, knowing what we know,
34:30could have just sent everything crashing.
34:34Oh, yeah!
34:35Austin got McMahon!
34:38Austin got McMahon!
34:40Did he?
34:41Business was so strong and so good,
34:45there was no stunt that was completely out of the question.
34:49And the people just absolutely ate it up.
34:54Oh, this crowd on their feet!
34:56Everybody standing for the one and only Rattlesnake!
35:02It was the attitude there.
35:04Everything went.
35:06It allowed me to expand my character.
35:11The Undertaker hit Austin right in the head with a shovel!
35:16The Undertaker hit Austin in the head with a shovel!
35:19And Austin is out!
35:21You really saw a different side of The Undertaker.
35:26You got to see just how evil and how sadistic he actually could be.
35:32I think he had to kick it up to the next year,
35:35because that's what we were all doing.
35:37The Undertaker was never afraid to try something different.
35:40We were pushing the envelope many edges.
35:43Stone Cold Steve Austin, he was hit in the head with a shovel
35:46by The Undertaker last Monday night and sustained a concussion.
35:49Who remembers Undertaker kidnapping Stone Cold?
35:53Anybody? Just me?
35:59This was the attitude era, and all the crazy stuff was going on,
36:02and this was still really over the top.
36:05Hey, wait! My God, that's The Undertaker!
36:08The Undertaker's smothering Austin!
36:10Paul Bearer and The Undertaker are in Austin's home!
36:12It's Hulk Bearer, for God's sakes!
36:14What is going on here?
36:17We did some crazy, crazy stuff back then, and this was part of it.
36:20When The Undertaker all of a sudden turns to a side that is past demonic.
36:25This is where you get off.
36:28This is your last ride.
36:35There's Stone Cold Steve Austin, and by God, you know
36:38that he's got some payback on his mind, does the Rattlesnake.
36:42Outside of the arena, how many crimes do you think were committed in this rivalry?
36:48You got all this crazy stuff going on.
36:50Completely blows any common sense away, but it was entertaining.
36:53And people loved every bit of it.
36:55They suspended belief because they wanted to,
36:57because the characters were that good.
36:59Undertaker, you talk about sacrificing me,
37:03about wanting my soul at rock bottom
37:08in a Buried Alive match.
37:10The stakes are stacked up higher than they've ever been
37:13for Stone Cold Steve Austin.
37:17Someone, either The Undertaker or Stone Cold Steve Austin
37:21will be buried alive tonight.
37:25If you're an Undertaker, you want to bury people.
37:29If you have an opportunity to bury someone alive, why not?
37:33So a Buried Alive match is a match in which
37:36the only way to win
37:38is to take your opponent
37:40from the ring
37:42to a cemetery plot
37:45that happens to be constructed in the arena.
37:49All you have to do is get your opponent into that hole.
37:53Then you put the dirt on your opponent,
37:55hence, Burying Them Alive.
37:59This match, not for careers, but for lives.
38:03It's hard for your audience to figure out
38:06what's going to happen here, right?
38:08This is a Buried Alive match, which is the Undertaker's match,
38:11but now it's Stone Cold and he's the baddest dude here.
38:14It really added a lot of intrigue.
38:17Here we go!
38:19It was another one of those physical matches.
38:23This rivalry between these two is unparalleled, unmatched,
38:26but never, ever a match like this between these two men.
38:30Undertakers takes a lot of pride in being able to
38:33go to the nth degree.
38:35So you gotta grind away at this guy.
38:37You gotta chase him down, and when you get on him,
38:39you better stay on him.
38:41There's Austin again. Oh, look out!
38:43Now it may be! There it is!
38:45Toe slam!
38:47Those are tough matches. You had to work your ass off
38:50to try to get that crowd where you wanted them.
38:53Now Austin climbs that mound of dirt,
38:55some ten feet high.
38:57Oh, no, no! Undertaker's in the grave!
38:59It is a very physical endeavor.
39:01Can you imagine fighting in your own grave?
39:05It was like something out of a monster movie.
39:07A really good monster movie.
39:10And Stone Cold is in the grave.
39:12That should be it.
39:14Stone Cold desperately, desperately trying to make his way out.
39:18Austin!
39:20Stop! Stop!
39:22And Stone Cold with a wheelbarrow full of dirt.
39:24What?
39:26The Undertaker is out cold in the grave.
39:28One thing we learned in the first Brawler Live match
39:30is that six guys with a shovel
39:32cannot fill a grave before the pay-per-view ends.
39:34So we figured we gotta do something else.
39:38And there's a back-up being backed into the arena.
39:40It's Stone Cold!
39:42Oh, my God!
39:44The Undertaker is in the grave.
39:47The Undertaker is being buried alive!
39:50For being my match,
39:52I didn't win a lot of those.
39:54Those matches didn't turn out well for me.
40:01Stone Cold has buried the Undertaker alive!
40:08It's kind of a way to put that exclamation point
40:10on the end of a rivalry.
40:12This rivalry, which has been built for months,
40:14it had to come to this.
40:16It had to end somewhere.
40:18In the Attitude Era,
40:20where a lot of it was throwing stuff at the wall,
40:22seeing what would stick,
40:24the reason I think Austin and Undertaker can hold up
40:26is because of those dynamic personalities
40:28and how great they both were in the ring.
40:30When you take Stone Cold and Undertaker,
40:32two top guys that everybody wanted to see
40:34go head-to-head,
40:36no matter what their personas were at the time,
40:38that was a show you were not going to miss.
40:42They always find a way to get back to each other.
40:45It's non-stop creating memories and moments
40:47for fans forever.
40:53As a fan, all I remember now
40:55isn't the matches, it's the moments.
40:57That's all that matters in our industry,
40:59is those moments.
41:01Wait a minute! It's The Undertaker!
41:03Undertaker caught Austin in mid-air!
41:05Jokeslam!
41:09They're breathing down our necks!
41:12It's a 2A team.
41:14We're much friendlier now.
41:16We were friendly,
41:18but now we're in completely different places.
41:20It just seems like everything
41:22passed by so fast.
41:24I said that earlier today.
41:26You get to look back
41:28at the times and you talk about things
41:30and now we can sit back
41:32and we can laugh at ourselves.
41:34Next thing I know,
41:36I'm laying on the announce table
41:38and you're coming off with the big leg
41:40I guess he's still going to do the spot.
41:46I just thought,
41:48yeah, I can make that.
41:50And I never went off.
41:52I just said, I can make that.
41:54And I got up there and I was like, oh, ****.
41:56I didn't want you to go up there.
41:58You can't change your mind.
42:00I think they always hit it off.
42:02They're two Texas boys who love hunting,
42:04love fishing, love the outdoors
42:06and they just clicked on that level.
42:09It's good to reminisce
42:11and being two good old boys from Texas
42:13it just makes it that much better.
42:17They both brought out the best in each other.
42:19Decades later,
42:21we're still talking about their relevance
42:23and the way that they were able to elevate
42:25each other, elevate themselves
42:27and elevate the entire industry.
42:31When you talk about
42:33the greatest professional wrestlers
42:35of all time, throughout world championships
42:37it doesn't even matter.
42:39He is up there
42:41with the best of the best.
42:43I look at him
42:45as one of my peers
42:47and I consider him to be one of the GOATs.
42:51I watched Steve take
42:53a horrible gimmick and turn it into
42:55the biggest name
42:57in the world of professional wrestling.
43:01He's still incredibly relevant.
43:04It was always fun to work with Steve.
43:06I'm very grateful for it.