WrestleMania Rewind: WrestleMania XV - Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock

The wait for the granddaddy of them all, WrestleMania is over. This anticipation for the extravaganza is sky high among fans of the WWE and we take a look back at the best WrestleMania matches with this latest series.This time we are going to take a look at the clash between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock for the WWF Championship. Considered as one of the greatest rivalries of all time, Austin and Rock faced each other three times at WrestleMania, this one being the first.So here is a look how things turned out:

#1 The Buildup

It all started when Steve Austin won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XIV. Vince McMahon was not happy at Steve Austin being the representative of the company. So he did everything in his power to dethrone Austin as the champion. He eventually did in a de facto handicap match against The Undertaker and Kane as both pinned Austin at the same time and the WWF Championship was made vacant.

The WWF Championship was vacant until The Rock won it in the ‘Deadly Games’ tournament at Survivor Series. The tournament was manipulated in favour of The Rock, while Austin lost in a match when Shane McMahon, the special guest referee, refused to count the pinfall.

After that, at Royal Rumble while Austin was the first entrant for the match, Commissioner Shawn Michaels placed Vince McMahon as the second entrant. Not only did Mr. McMahon survive, he actually won the Royal Rumble by eliminating Austin with the help of The Rock. McMahon then relinquished his place at WrestleMania so Michaels revealed if the winner is unwilling to fight then the place goes to runners-up which was Austin.

A steel cage match was set up at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre with the stipulation that Austin will be putting his main event match at WrestleMania.