Steve Austin Reveals He 'Hated' WWE WrestleMania Match With Shawn Michaels

When Steve Austin planted Shawn Michaels with a Stone Cold Stunner to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XIV, it cemented a sea-change in the wrestling industry, with Austin installed as ‘the man’, and becoming one of the biggest pro-wrestling stars of all time.

However, Austin has revealed that he ‘hated’ his match with ‘The Heartbreak Kid’, saying the following during a special UpUpDownDown WWE 2K23 launch stream:

“It was special because it was my first title, my world title, so that was a big deal for me as it was for everybody. The match, on a 1-5, a 2. Shawn and I consider… from bell-to-bell, I consider Shawn to have [no flaws]. Now Bret, as far as realism, you can’t top him. Flair is my travelling world champion, he’s the man. But from bell-to-bell, talent-wise, nobody can lace Shawn Michaels’ boots. So to go out there and have a lacklustre match with him at the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania… It was cool being out there with Mike [Tyson]. Me and Shawn could have had a way better match, but he was in a bad place, he was injured. I was just red hot,” revealed Austin.

Legend says that the Undertaker had to verbally threaten Michaels into doing the job before he went out to the ring, and after it was all said and done Austin personally told Vince McMahon that he thought the match was bad:

“I hated that match and I loved Shawn and I have the utmost respect for him, but I don’t consider that to be a good match at all. I remember walking to the back and I told Vince, ‘Hey man, that match was the [s****].’ He just patted me [on the back] and [went] ‘We’ll get it tomorrow on Raw.’ Yeah, it wasn’t about the match, it was about transferring that title. I think Shawn was in a real tough place personally and [he was] in a lot of pain. It was a funky match. I didn’t know if he was even gonna walk to the ring. I didn’t know if he wanted to walk to the ring,” said Austin.

The match was Michaels’ last for several years, with mounting back injuries forcing HBK into retirement.

H/T: Fightful