Former IC Champ on WWE nixing his storyline with Stone Cold Steve Austin
Stone Cold Steve Austin faced almost every top star in WWE at the height of his popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In a recent interview, Ahmed Johnson opened up about the time his storyline with The Texas Rattlesnake suddenly ended.
On the October 27, 1997, episode of RAW, Austin hit Johnson with a Stone Cold Stunner to prevent him from defeating then-Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart. The two men were supposed to go one-on-one on the following week's RAW. However, the bout never happened after Kane unexpectedly attacked Johnson.
The former Intercontinental Champion spoke on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast about the match being nixed:
"Yeah, remember that time when he gave me the Stunner?" Johnson said. "I thought from there we were supposed to fight, but for some reason that got put on the backburner. I have no idea. I fought him in Kuwait, so he knows I'm not as hard as people say I was. I don't know what happened to the match that we were supposed to do." [54:56 – 55:28]
As Johnson referenced, he previously defeated Austin in 1996 en route to winning the Kuwait Cup. They also fought each other at several untelevised live events.
Ahmed Johnson reflects on his promo with Steve Austin
Before the cancelation of their match, Ahmed Johnson and Steve Austin engaged in a heated war of words in the middle of the ring. WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon and a team of officials had to step in to separate the two men.
Johnson said that he was not given a script for the segment. He was told to say whatever he liked as long as he remained in character:
"They never gave me a script," Johnson continued. "They never told me what to say. Vince was like, 'You just say what you wanna say. I like your intensity.' They never once gave me a script. They'd tell me what we're trying to get to, but they never gave me anything to say. It was kinda like, 'You're on your own.'" [56:03 – 56:22]
In the same interview, Johnson explained why two-time WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels did not want to face him.
Would you like to have seen Ahmed Johnson vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.