Steve Austin Was Asked To Not Give The Middle Finger, Gave The Middle Finger To The Request

Steve Austin made a living giving the middle finger on WWE television, whether it was before or after delivering a Stone Cold Stunner.

During the Attitude Era, the middle finger wasn't as fan-friendly as some other hand signals and Vince McMahon asked Austin to change things up.

Brad Baylor Announced As WWE ID Prospect

Austin politely declined.

“It just turns out that the timing was right when I did it,” Austin told Sportskeeda. “And they asked me not to do it, but I said, ‘No, I’m gonna do it.’ They wanted me to come up with a whole different hand signal. Vince did, specifically, because Diamond Dallas Page was giving the diamond [hand signal], right? And everybody would go like that [hands raised] with it. He goes, ‘Can you come up with a different signal that everybody else can do?’ I looked him dead in the eyes and said, ‘No.’ And I kept flying the middle fingers and we kept climbing up, we started whipping their [WCW’s] a** in the ratings, and we had a hell of a crew, and one thing led to another."

The middle finger became Austin's trademark and has stuck to this day, with Austin still flipping the bird and delivering stunners.

Austin wrestled at WrestleMania 38, defeating Kevin Owens in the main event of night one. Fans can find Austin's comments following the bout by clicking here.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.

Get exclusive pro wrestling content on Fightful Select, our premium news service! Click here to learn more.