The legendary ‘My Way’ video package for the mega-showdown between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson at WrestleMania X-Seven has been dubbed the “GOAT of promos.”
With a record-breaking 67,925 wrestling fans descending on the then-Reliant Astrodome (now NRG Astrodome) in Houston, Texas, the stage was set for two of the biggest WWE legends to headline ‘The Grandest Stage of Them All’ in 2001.
WrestleMania 17 is widely regarded as the ‘GOAT’ WrestleMania event from WWE, which boasted a stacked card from start to finish. Even outside the main event of The Rock vs Stone Cold for the then-WWF Championship in a No Disqualification match, the WrestleMania 17 card etched itself in the history books alone for the iconic TLC match for the Tag Team Championship, featuring legendary tag team trio Edge and Christian, The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz.
Ahead of WrestleMania 17, The Rock vs Stone Cold rivalry reached peak levels of excitement thanks to the much-beloved ‘My Way’ promo that WWE produced for their match. Featuring Limp Bizkit’s fan-favourite track, from the American rap rock band’s 2000 album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, the promo set a benchmark that has never been eclipsed. WWE was renowned for its edgy promo packages during the fan-favourite Attitude Era, and ‘My Way’ alone helped amplify one of the company’s best storylines for two of the biggest wrestling superstars of all time.
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Even now the ‘My Way’ promo holds a special place in the hearts of wrestling fans, and it’s unsurprising that it can still quickly make the rounds on social media platforms like TikTok. The comments on the ‘My Way’ promo speak volumes for the nostalgic memories for fans, from those who watched WrestleMania 17 at the time from home, those who caught it after the initial hype and those who were fortunate enough to watch the historic WrestleMania event live.
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One fan said: “Wish they still had matches and promos [as] they did.”
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Someone else added: “Promos hit [differently] back in the day.”
“This is the GOAT of promos -- it will never be beaten,” a third TikTok user wrote.
While one wrestling fan posted: “This build-up to the match was insane!”
A fifth TikToker commented: “Greatest promo to the greatest WrestleMania match of all time [and] on what is probably the best WrestleMania card.”
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Somebody else said: “Seen it a million times. Goosebumps every time… sometimes a tear.”
SPORTbible Team’s Verdict On The Stone Cold Vs The Rock ‘My Way’ Promo
Joe Kenneford
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The first time I watched WrestleMania 17 it was on the WrestleMania: The Complete Anthology DVD set (it had WrestleManias 12 through to 17 on it, by the way), but ‘My Way’ had been taken out and replaced with a terrible, generic rock song.
Watching it back now on the WWE Network in its original form gives the promo so much more life and energy. They don’t make promos like this anymore.
I miss the days when the then-WWF used the theme song for the show to tell the story of a match during a promo. There really is nothing better than watching two of the all-time greats beating the hell out of each other while Limp Bizkit played in the background.
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No-one does promo videos like WWE; the Ron Perlman-voiced UFC attempts in recent years are very good but still nothing compares.
And when the company combined the two most iconic superstars of the greatest era in modern wrestling with an absolute banger of a song, they had struck utter gold.
‘My Way,’ by Limp Bizkit, was somehow ordained to be a song for a wrestling promo, with the speed and intensity of the track slowing down and then speeding up as the action unfolded.
Put it on top of a video package for any wrestling match, as someone did on TikTok for WrestleMania 39’s main event between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, and you’d no doubt be instantly pumped up for that match.
Having it alongside The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin -- and the incredible build to their WrestleMania 17 match -- just made everything even better. That the match then brought an unbelievable conclusion to arguably the greatest ‘Mania ever just adds to the legendary status of the promo.
Even now, some 22 years on, hearing ‘My Way’ brings the memories of this epic feud back, and watching the promo still gives me goosebumps.
The pantheon of the Attitude Era can’t be told without Rock and Austin and their whole story simply has to include the ‘My Way’ promo.
A defining match for today’s generation. Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock were polar opposites that encapsulated what professional wrestling is.
In Austin, a brawler with zero respect for authority, someone who young and old fans vicariously lived through. Youngsters saw Austin throw the middle finger up in a way they’d like to do to their teachers who said, ‘Do that top button up.’ Adults would see Austin stun Vince McMahon and drink a beer or two, something they’d dream of doing every Friday.
In The Rock, you had an entertainment megastar everyone knew would end up breaking barriers in the industry. It was truly their way or the highway.
It was also the end of an era, as Austin brokered a deal with the devil and sided with McMahon to bring the Attitude Era to an anticlimactic ending. Sometimes it’s more about the journey than the destination. What a journey it was.
WrestleMania 17 is widely considered to be the greatest of all time and, in the main event, we had two behemoths of the industry go at it in Houston, Texas, as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock slugged it out for the then-WWF Championship.
The rivalry was fierce and well and truly captured in the ‘My Way’ promo. It was so tense and it made you realise exactly what the stakes were for this blockbuster encounter.
There has never been a better video package put together by WWE and I don’t think it will ever be topped.
The Limp Bizkit anthem remains perfectly applicable to other feuds but the original is unmatched and the way in which the match played out, with Austin shockingly aligning himself with Mr McMahon, will be talked about for years to come.
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A masterpiece in video-packaging, the ‘My Way’ promo for The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin rightfully cemented its place in the longstanding wrestling history books as the GOAT promo. WrestleMania 17 marked the second of three encounters between The Rock and Stone Cold at ‘The Show of Shows,’ but this one was arguably the most significant.
Stone Cold and The Rock met in a No Disqualification match for their first WrestleMania encounter at WrestleMania XV in 1999 -- a main event where ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’ captured the then-WWF Championship. WrestleMania 17, however, saw both WWE legends putting on a rematch worthy of two iconic figures that shaped and defined the beloved Attitude Era.
The main event had everything a fan wanted, including a controversial ending that saw Stone Cold turn heel after putting his fierce rivalry with Vince McMahon aside and mercilessly beating The Rock with a steel chair sixteen times. Just think about that for a moment: the Stone Cold and Mr McMahon rivalry played an instrumental role in defining the Attitude Era and keeping WWE in the Monday Night Wars with then-competitors WCW. And then Stone Cold did the unthinkable for wrestling fans, aligning himself with his former archnemesis.
It’s unsurprising that even now the ‘My Way’ package is the most complete WWE promo, adding the cherry on the cake for WrestleMania 17. The only thing that could eclipse two megastars like The Rock and Stone Cold competing would be two icons headlining a pay-per-view -- and WWE did exactly that the year after with WrestleMania X8 featuring The Rock vs Hollywood Hulk Hogan. What a time to be alive as a wrestling fan.
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Topics: Dwayne Johnson, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, WWE, WrestleMania, Wrestling, Spotlight
Adnan Riaz