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The following McNeill's Take was originally published two years ago, on Feb. 7, 2001, on PWTorch.com...

They call me a rattlesnake.

I ain't no rattlesnake. Hell, if I was a rattlesnake, maybe I would've held Vince up for more money before WrestleMania XV. Or maybe I would have threatened to go back to WCW, even though we all know that I wouldn't stop to piss on that jackass with the dyed hair there if he was on fire. But "Stone Cold" Steve Austin doesn't work that way. The WWF took care of me, and I'm gonna take care of the WWF.

This is it for me. I got a year or two of this stuff left, and you know old Stone Cold's out there and I'm busting my ass every night like it might be the last time.

When I came back, they told me they didn't have a damn clue what to do with me. But then hell, you saw the way those people reacted in Philly when I came through the curtain at Unforgiven.

I knew then they'd come up with somethin' for me to do. This is the WWF, and we're out there to entertain the people and give them what they want to see.

Well, everybody around the horn wants a chance to see Stone Cold stomp a mudhole in somebody, hit a Stunner or two, and drink a little cold beer.

So it pisses me off when all these people talk about the politics and the backstage hoo-hah here in the WWF. All these internet people wanna tell me "Triple H is booking this" or "Triple H is running that" or "Triple H is doing the cha-cha with the boss's daughter" and a bunch of crap like that.

Some other jackass said that Hunter is the "smartest man alive." I don't know about all that, but it doesn't matter worth a damn. Triple H said that if Stone Cold was going to stay a face, he wanted to be the big heel, and that's just fine with me.

Don't get me wrong, Hunter's a good guy. He's a hell of a worker, and we've been going out there and having fun and making each other look good. But he knows and I know that when push comes to shove, his ass is gonna be the one looking up at the lights. And that's all I got to say about that.

Then you get the other silly bastards who say, "Hey, Stone Cold, you oughta step aside and turn heel and put Rocky over at WrestleMania, because he's more over than you."

But you see, the fact of the matter is, it's not Rocky's turn. It's my turn. I know all the little kids are chantin' "Rocky, Rocky," and they love it when he talks about shovin' stuff up people's asses.

But the thing is that the Rock doesn't have to worry that one night he's gonna a take a perfectly good back bump in the middle of the ring and feel something snap. The Rock ain't gotta worry about looking up at the ceiling one night while a bunch of folks try to figure out how to load him onto a stretcher 'cause his neck won't move.

The Rock can go off and make movies and cut records and host Saturday Night Live and I'll be lucky to get a few more episodes of Nash Bridges under my belt. Because the fact of the matter is that Rocky's gonna be around the WWF long after I'm back at the ranch. And that's okay, because when the time comes I'll lay down for him when the time comes just like he laid down for me.

Hell, son, I don't need to be doing this at all. My neck's messed up, and maybe my back's messed up, and I don't wear matching knee braces because I like the way the sumbitches look on me. I coulda sat on my ass, maybe do a little hunting, a little fishing, hang out with my kids. But I'm a wrestler. I spent a year of my life wearing a damn neck brace and sittin' at home rearranging my CD collection and that ain't no damn fun.

When Vince McMahon gave Stone Cold the ball three years ago and told me to go run with it, I did every damn thing they asked me to do, and the bottom line is it was guys like me and Mick Foley and 'Taker and Kane brought the WWF back to number one.

So why can't I stay the babyface for a little while, and give all the Stone Cold fans a little thrill? I busted my ass to get back in shape. Business is good. And I get the job done. They didn't call me the biggest money-making wrestler of all time because J.R. ran out of nicknames for me.

Mick Foley got a big sendoff. 'Taker's gonna get a big sendoff when his time comes. It's Stone Cold's opportunity now. You think they sold out the Houston Astrodome for WrestleMania so people could watch Stone Cold do the job for somebody? Uh-uh!

And that's the bottom line.

'Cause Stone Cold said so.

Torch Team Contributor Pat McNeill of Lorton, Va. has covered WCW Thunder for PWTorch.com since April 2000. He has also submitted Guest Editorials in the past.

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