page_title: Stone Cold Steve Austin
section_title: Feud with Vince McMahon (1997–1999)
hierarchical_section_title: Stone Cold Steve Austin / Professional wrestling career / World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE / Feud with Vince McMahon (1997–1999)
caption_attribution_description: English: Steve Austin readies himself to defend his WWF Championship against the Rock. Taken 4/2/1999 in Sheffield, England.
context_page_description: Steve Austin, better known by the ring name Stone Cold Steve Austin, is an American actor, producer, television and podcast host, and retired professional wrestler.
  Austin enjoyed a successful career as "Stunning" Steve Austin in World Championship Wrestling from 1991 to 1995, using the character of a handsome man who relied on his good looks and flowing blonde hair. After a brief stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling in late 1995, he signed with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name of The Ringmaster. The following year, having grown a goatee and shaved his head due to going bald, he was repackaged as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin; after this character change, he gained significant mainstream popularity as a brash, vulgar, beer-drinking antihero who routinely defied the establishment and his boss, WWE chairman Vince McMahon. Austin thus became the "poster boy" of the Attitude Era, a boom period in the company's business and popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He also introduced the long-standing "What?" chant in professional wrestling.
  Austin held 19 championships throughout his wrestling career.
context_section_description: After Bret Hart's controversial departure for WCW, Austin and Shawn Michaels were the top stars in the company. Austin won the 1998 Royal Rumble, lastly eliminating The Rock. The next night on Raw Is War, Austin interrupted Vince McMahon in his presentation of Mike Tyson, who was making a special appearance, over the objection of McMahon referring to Tyson as "the baddest man on the planet". Austin flipped off Tyson, which led to Tyson shoving Austin much to McMahon's embarrassment, who began to publicly disapprove of the prospect of Austin as his champion. Tyson was later announced as "the special enforcer" for the main event at WrestleMania XIV, although he appeared to be aligning himself with WWF World Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels' stable D-Generation X. This led to Austin's WWF World Heavyweight Championship match against Michaels at WrestleMania XIV, which he won with help from Tyson, who turned on DX by making the deciding three-count against Michaels and later hit him with his knock-out punch. This was Michaels' last match until 2002 as he had suffered two legitimate herniated discs and another completely crushed at the hands of The Undertaker in a casket match at the Royal Rumble. With Michaels' absence and winning the WWF World Heavyweight title, the Austin Era was ushered in.
  On the Raw Is War after Austin won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, Vince McMahon presented him with a new title belt and warned Austin that he did not approve of his rebellious nature and that things could be done "the easy way or the hard way". Austin gave his answer in the form of another Stone Cold Stunner. This led to a segment a week later where Austin had pledged a few days prior in a meeting to "play ball" with McMahon, appearing in a suit and tie, with a beaming McMahon taking a picture of himself and his new corporate champion. The entire thing was a ruse by Austin who in the course of the segment proceeded to tear off the suit, tell McMahon it was the last time he would see Austin dressed like this, punch his boss in the "corporate grapefruits" and take another picture of the two of them while McMahon was doubled over in pain. In April 1998, it appeared Austin and McMahon were going to battle out their differences in an actual match, but the match was declared a no-contest when Dude Love made an appearance. This led to a match between Dude Love and Austin at Unforgiven: In Your House, where Austin hit McMahon with a steel chair, then the following month they had a rematch at Over the Edge: In Your House for the WWF Championship. Austin managed to retain the title despite McMahon acting as the referee and his "Corporate Stooges" (Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson) as timekeeper and ring announcer, respectively. McMahon continued to do everything he could to ruin Austin and he finally scored a big victory for his side at King of the Ring. Austin lost the WWF Championship to Kane in a First Blood match after The Undertaker accidentally hit him with a steel chair while the ref was incapacitated, despite Austin having knocked Kane unconscious and thwarted an earlier intervention by Mankind.
  Austin further angered McMahon by winning back the championship the next night on Raw Is War. Austin also emerged victorious against The Undertaker at SummerSlam. In response, McMahon set up a Triple Threat match at Breakdown: In Your House, where The Undertaker and Kane pinned Austin at the same time. McMahon decided to vacate the WWF Championship and award it based on a match between The Undertaker and Kane, in which Austin was the guest referee on Judgment Day: In Your House. Austin refused to count for either man and attacked both towards the end of the match. McMahon later fired him, although Austin got revenge by kidnapping McMahon and dragging him to the middle of the ring at "gunpoint", which ended up being a toy gun with a scroll that read "Bang! 3:16". During that segment, McMahon also learned that Stone Cold was later re-signed by his son, Shane McMahon. In the semifinals of the Survivor Series tournament to award the vacant
caption: Austin as WWF Champion
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