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The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Two icons of the pro wrestling business who are inextricably linked to each other.<\/p>\n
The Rock sat down with Mark Kerr, the UFC legend that Rock is playing in his new film, “The Smashing Machine”<\/a> on Sports Illustrated’s YouTube channel<\/a>. During the interview, a picture of Steve Austin popped up on a screen placed in between the men, which led to Rock describing his love for Austin.<\/p>\n “This\u00a0guy helped me so much, Mark. He was on top of the world. And he saw\u00a0just a little bit of potential in me,\u00a0but also smart enough to know, he’s like,\u00a0“Man, we got some chemistry, man.\u00a0Me and you.”\u00a0And I was not in a position to say,\u00a0“Hey, let’s me and you work together.\u00a0Let’s go headline WrestleMania.” He had\u00a0to say it.\u00a0And he went to Vince McMahon\u00a0in 1999,\u00a0in January of ’99, I think, and he said,\u00a0“I want to main event WrestleMania with\u00a0The Rock.” And the rest is history.”<\/p>\n Rock shared a story about being Austin’s final opponent at WrestleMania 19, up until Austin returned to take on Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38<\/a>.<\/p>\n “And he didn’t have to\u00a0because he was the biggest star in\u00a0wrestling, but he did. He put me over.\u00a0And when I was pinning him, I rock\u00a0bottomed him three times, by the way,\u00a0you know, he’s like Kurt Angle, he had a\u00a0broken neck in wrestling. And after the one, two, three, I\u00a0leaned down in his ear. I said, I love\u00a0you, man. He was like, “I love you, too.” We had\u00a0that moment. What a moment, man.”<\/p>\n “The Smashing Machine” is currently playing in theaters, and for the first time in his career, Rock is expected to be in consideration for an Academy Award for his performance in the film.<\/p>\n If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the Sports Illustrated YouTube Channel and provide a h\/t to Wrestling Inc. for transcription.<\/em><\/p>\n Read more: Wrestlers Who Underwent Drastic Transformations After Dropping Steroids<\/a><\/p>\n Don’t miss any of the major wrestling headlines. Sign up to our free newsletter<\/a> for the biggest stories, sent straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n