A couple weeks ago, we looked at the Montreal Screwjob and how it started to lead towards a ratings success for Vince and the WWF. Today I want to look at the year and a half where Vince made his money by being a primary player in the ring; The time he feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Now at the time of the Screwjob, casual fans were only familiar with Vince as the over excited announcer and occasional commentator at various Pay Per Views. When the Screwjob happened, Vince became known to casual fans as the Legit (Real Life) owner of the WWF. The controversy pushed him to the front of the camera where he was forced to address the glaring elephant in the room of him being the one to screw Bret out of the title. Fans around the world were united in hating this man. He became the top heel of the company and transformed this into a megolomaniac character of Mr. McMahon, the Chairman.

Now, at this time, a new popular character had been brewing for a year in the form of one Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin had previously been feuding with Brett as an anti-hero and his pissed off Redneck persona was really hitting strides with the crowd (don't look into that one too much). His anti-authority actions caught the ire of Mr. McMahon and the crowd ate it up. He would attack Mr. McMahon, disrespect him in front of crowds, drink beer and flip off said crowds. Keep in mind, Stone Cold Steve Austin saved the company pretty much by himself, people like the Rock and Triple H became really popular around 1999 and 2000 and this was taking place from 1997 to late 1998 a little in early 1999 around Wrestlemania season. But if wasn't for Vince playing one hell of a bad guy on screen, many people believe the company wouldn't have started winning in the ratings like they did in April of 1998.

Vince and Austin constantly trying to one up each other like Bugs Bunny and Daffy was a hit with the crowds and fans and really turned around the company and eventually brought them back to the top of the game.