Former WWE Champion wishes he had told Vince McMahon to not turn him heel
Stone Cold Steve Austin's heel turn at WrestleMania 17 is one of the most iconic moments in WWE history.
The Texas Rattlesnake pummeled The Rock with chair shots en route to winning his fifth WWE/WWF title at the iconic PPV. He cemented his turn by shaking Vince McMahon's hand after his triumphant effort.
However, Steve Austin recently admitted that he would have changed one very important detail about his historic match against The Rock.
The WWE Hall of Famer was a guest on the Pardon My Take podcast and he opened up about his WrestleMania 17 heel turn.
Austin admitted that if it were up to him, he would have gone back in time and told Vince McMahon that he wasn't feeling the heel turn.
The WWE Legend explained that back in 2001 in the build-up to WrestleMania 17, he needed something big to give his character a boost and 'big' in the WWE often meant a heel turn.
After thinking about his heel turn countless times over the years, Austin has come to a conclusion that he would have called an audible and continued his babyface turn.
"I've rethought that thing so many times. If I could call the audible now, I would have just told him [Vince], 'hey man, I ain't feeling it' because here's how I was feeling into that. I thought I was starting to flat line just a little bit, and I said OK man, a change is good and Vince always likes to do something big at a WrestleMania.
Well, I didn't really have anything big there so I was like, 'hey, I'll turn heel.' That's what we do. You get hot, then you turn heel, and it's even hotter. Most times, yes, but it has to be warranted and it has to be for a reason, and all of a sudden when I did that night, if I could go back, I would've said hey man, I'm calling an audible. Watch the stunner and stunned his a** and maintained my babyface run." H/t Credit: WrestlingInc
WrestleMania 17 is still considered to be one of the greatest 'Manias of all time, and the heel turn that ended the show had a big role to play in the overall success of the PPV.
While we understand Austin's point of view, the decision to turn him heel, in hindsight, was best for business.