Ken Shamrock was a member of the WWE active roster and was familiar with Steve Austin when he was at his peak, from 1997 to 1999. During his time with WWE, Shamrock won the Intercontinental Title, Tag Team Titles, and the 1998 King of the Ring. Shamrock and Austin did wrestle each other, but never in a major pay-per-view singles match.
Shamrock discussed his encounter with Austin during a RAW episode in October 1998 in an interview with Wrestling Shoot Interviews:
“I thought he [Steve Austin] felt real comfortable with me. I felt like he was already in a position at that point where his role was, he was the guy, period. And me going in there [RAW main event match against Austin in 1998], obviously he had a tremendous amount of respect for me. And I think in his own mind it was like, it was an honor for him to wrestle me in this stage because of who I was. It was a feather in his cap per se.”
“So, when we went in there and did that, we had a tremendous amount of respect for each other. And I had a tremendous amount of respect for him on what he was able to do in pro wrestling. So for me to be in there with him, I was like, ‘okay, this is awesome. This is great.’ But I think in reverse it was the same with him being in there with me being the original World’s Most Dangerous Man and legitimate World’s Most Dangerous Man being able to work with me.”
You can listen to a clip from the interview below:
(H/T to Sportskeeda for transcription)
