It’s time for a little throwback, WWE style?
Back in the early 2000s, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin formed one of the biggest rivalries to grace the stage of wrestling entertainment. Known then as “The Texas Rattlesnake” and “The People’s Champion” the two staged some of the most popular stand offs in WWE history, and needless to say, they were no strangers to a good duel.
But in one of their most iconic stage appearances, the two partook in a country music shoot-out, with each of them singing their threats through popular country songs. Not quite what you’d expect for a day in the ring.
They even sing one together at the end, and it’s good television even if you’re like me and not much of a wrestling fan.
To set the stage for you, The Rock was still pissed over Stone Cold double crossing him with the help of McMahon to steal his Wrestlemania title earlier in the year. The scene lasts for about ten minutes and for a good part of the intro the two are just throwing around insults back and forth, but then it gets really interesting.
Stone Cold says:
“It would be easy to fight you…”
But instead he wants to sing a song to ease the tensions. Of course, their song selections are in themselves insults. He sings a few beats of Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn” release. The Rock, of course, takes the whole thing as it was meant to be, a degradation of his strength and ring potential:
“You’re from Texas, you like that country music?”
He asks Stone Cold, before piping back with the chorus of Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler,” insinuating that Stone Cold needed to “know when to fold ‘em and walk away.”
The singing pauses and The Rock suggests something never before seen on the stage of WWE, a duet:
“If you want to hear the Rock and Stone Cold sing a duet together, give me a hell yeah!”
The crowd goes absolutely wild, and Austin says, “anybody who’s anybody knows who Jimmy Buffett is,” before selecting Jimmy’s “Margaritaville,” and they make some choice modifications to the lyrics to bring it back to their own storyline:
Stone Cold sings:
“Some people claim that there’s a Rocky to blame…”
While The Rock responds:
“It was all Stone Cold’s fault!”
It all wraps up with The Rock slamming Stone Cold to the ground in something I’m sure has a specific name, but for me the country music segment is much more entertaining than the WWE storyline; apparently the two make a pretty entertaining pair.
Check out the country music sing off between these two: