“I Was About to Die”: Payback for Dwayne Johnson Proved to be Life-threatening for Stone Cold Steve Austin

A fierce rivalry contributed to making the WWE’s Attitude Era iconic. The rivalry between Dwayne Johnson and Stone Cold Steve Austin was one of the most acrimonious and well-known. During their animosity in 1999, The Rattlesnake was booked to use a monster truck to demolish The Rock’s brand new $40,000 Lincoln Continental.

The fans have watched WWE booking several superstars to destroy the other superstar’s vehicles. And this was one such instance. However, as per Austin, this encounter could have turned into a tragedy, possibly resulting in his demise.

On his Steve Austin Show in 2017, Austin revealed that he had no idea he was booked for this until he got to the venue. And when he found out, the Texan legend clarified he didn’t know how to drive the Monster Truck since he hadn’t driven before.

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Consequently, The Rattlesnake snake received the instructions, and Austin was certain that he could drive it easily. However, as soon as Austin walked through the back door, everything suddenly changed.

How it became a life-threatening situation for Stone Cold Steve Austin

Austin mentioned he entered the arena’s back door just before he was about to crush Johnson’s car. Additionally, he found the monster truck’s 1,800 horsepower engine producing a lot of noise and was spewing exhaust fumes.

He stated, “It was about three minutes’ commercial break, so the whole time the people back home are watching commercials, I’m in a room, inside a truck, breathing methanol-alcohol fumes I could barely breathe.”

Austin added, “I was just begging for the show to come back on air so I could charge out in the audience and get a breath of fresh air. I’m breathing all those exhaust fumes, m****f**ker. I was going to crash that gate doing 98 [mph] and go and take my own cue and haul a** into the arena. If they hadn’t of cued me when they did—I was about to die. [H/T: News.com.au]“

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There wasn’t any fresh air as the space he was in and the truck was packed. And its alcohol/methanol power train was emitting exhaust fumes. As his act was set just after the advertisement, he had to stay there till the end of the advertisement.

Naturally, he had trouble breathing due to the fumes, which gave him the feeling that he was about to pass out. Nevertheless, The Rattlesnake could carry on extremely well in the end, which significantly heightened the tension in their dispute.