15 Days That Changed Wrestling Forever (8)

8. The Austin Heel Turn, April 1st 2001

The Attitude Era had been a resounding three year success for Vince McMahon. The WWF was bigger than it ever had been, Austin and Rock had ensured the legacy and future of WWF would be secure forever. However, the stupendously huge level of growth couldn’t go on forever. Ironically the WWF stagnation started to happen just as Vince monopolised the industry. When he should have been at his strongest, he suddenly had a creative wobble.
It all went down at Wrestlemania 17. Fittingly enough, this was the best Wrestlemania ever, ensuring that the Attitude Era ended on a high note. By the end of the night, the company would never be the same again. In a stellar main event, the two biggest stars in wrestling, Austin and Rock, were battling it out for the championship. As the most over babyface ever, Austin was even more popular thanks to the event being in his home state of Texas. And then the unthinkable happened.
Austin turned heel. Vince McMahon came to the ring and handed The Rattlesnake a steel chair to batter Rock. The logic was obviously to try and do what WCW did with Hogan, extend a top star’s lifespan with an unthinkable heel turn. The problem was, Austin was too popular to ever be booed. The crowd instead cheered him.
The turn was a symbolic end to the Attitude Era and the wave of popularity the WWF had enjoyed. Vince and Austin had ended the story, the Stonecold character never recovered. Ratings started to go down and the WCW Invasion storyline only complicated Vince’s creative judgement further. He was losing control. Storylines lost the compelling aspect they used to have. A year later Steve Austin quit, citing “p*** poor creative” as the reason. The hot coals that fuelled the WWF engine had gone out.