By James Caldwell, PWTorch.com assistant editor

We're debuting a new feature on PWTorch.com counting down to WrestleMania 25 in Houston on April 5. Every day, we'll post a new story looking at a historically-significant moment, event, person, statistic, or "did you know?" from the previous 24 editions.

If you're going to start a countdown list to WrestleMania, you have to start with one of the more famous wrestling matches in modern history between WWF champion The Rock and Steve Austin inside the Houston Astrodome.

WrestleMania 17, held April 1, 2001, grossed $3.5 million in ticket revenue for the event that was essentially the blow-off to the Monday Night Wars. The PPV was held mere days after WWE announced the purchase of WCW and brought several WCW stars to WrestleMania for their unofficial indoctrination to the company.

The Austin vs. Rock match ended with one of the more questionable storyline decisions in WWE history when Austin agreed to turn heel and align with Vince McMahon.

"That's the reason you turn heel - to switch gears," Steve Austin wrote in his 2003 book, Stone Cold Truth. "I thought it would be entertaining for the fans to have an opportunity to hate me for a while. I thought it was going to be good for business."

This led to Austin and Triple H being aligned together as two of the top heels in WWE until Hunter tore his quad in May, forcing a change in direction. But, Austin knew it wasn't going to work out as he planned before Hunter went down. Business was hot initially when fans were shocked, but Austin says he didn't buy into his own turn as he anticipated he would.

"I never did 'feel it' as a heel," Austin wrote. "The fans didn't want to hate me. It just didn't work."

Eight years later, Steve Austin returns to Houston as the hometown babyface when he's inducted into the 2009 Hall of Fame class. He'll be the headliner again when WrestleMania is held just across the parking lot at Reliant Stadium, but this time, he probably won't be mixing it up with Vince McMahon.

VIDEO selection: Promo video for Austin vs. Rock leading up to WrestleMania 17.



Torch readers: if you have a suggestion for a particular "moment" that might be beneath the surface or forgotten, but still significant, send an email to pwtorch@gmail.com.

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