Talk about it here.

Raucous ovation for Stone Cold. Austin wants to make it clear to HBK that he doesn't come out and rub a belt in his face. Austin pushes the PPV which has been an afterthought so far. They are still promoting Shawn in the 8 man tag. Austin wants HBK to bring his long haired ass to the ring. DX is shown backstage sitting down and Shawn is in a more jokey mood from the comfort of his locker room. Austin tells him if he wants his belt, to come and get it. Shawn digs in his bag and pulls out a foam belt. Wouldn't you know it, Austin has hijacked another belt in the WWF. Austin says he will be there all night and he will give the belt back to Shawn but he will have to ask him real nice. Good stuff again building up the Mania main event.

For months, DX has outsmarted all of the babyfaces repeatedly and laughed at everyone. It made segments like this pretty satisfying because even if it was something minor, Shawn was getting some measure of comeuppance. Shawn interrupts Austin via Titantron and laughs about rubbing the belt in his face last week and reminds Austin that he's the one that calls the shots around there. He says if Austin can give him one good reason, he'll come out and slap the taste out of Austin's mouth. Austin has the belt and has replaced the real thing with a fake one in Shawn's bag. Shawn is not happy and I enjoyed this.

I thought this was kind of silly and petty on Austin's part at the time and even a bit out-of-character, but looking back on it now I think it works. Austin didn't care so much about stealing the belt but more about making sure Michaels had a justification for coming to the ring so he could get some licks in on him after last week. Not only is Austin a match for DX, but DX is a much bigger threat to Austin than the NOD ever were--what we have are two diverse and commanding personalities pushing each other to something pretty compelling.

Austin still on fire and untouchable on the mic this year thus far. Great segment as well.