The best gimmicks in wrestling are the ones that are very close to the wrestler’s real-life personality. Stone Cold Steve Austin is one great example of it. The Rattlesnake cares for the rules off-screen, just as much he does while he is on the screen.
This was evident once again during his appearance at WrestleMania 38. Austin defeated Kevin Owens in a no holds barred match on the show. Pat McAfee, who was in the arena before the PPV saw the Attitude Era star practicing his entrance before his big return at the Show of Shows.
On the latest episode of his podcast, McAfee told an interesting story of how Steve Austin reacted to being told not to use his middle finger during the PPV:
“He was working on coming out. And you know, we’re in a different era now of the WWE than we were then. So I got to watch this dude’s entrance within an empty stadium or whatever. He goes right to that top rope, f**king both fingers straight up in the air. He’s doing his whole thing.
And then I see three producers running over [to him] ‘Can’t do that. Can’t do that’. So he does it again. ‘Can’t do that.’ He was like, ‘Alright.’ So he just put his fist up or whatever. So then as I was watching him [at the show], I was wondering, ‘There’s no way he keeps that middle finger down, the middle finger from Steve Austin is coming at some point.’ And then last night, he had a couple.”
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This article has been edited for clarity