Stone Cold Steve Austin salutes the crowd at WrestleMania 23 in Detroit.

But if WWE boss Vince McMahon had his way, we would have never seen it.

“Vince McMahon called me aside one time because he was worried about the middle fingers,” said Austin, in a lengthy interview with SI.com about his wrestling career, new beer line and the current state of the WWE.

“Vince was totally on-board with the beer idea. He didn’t give a s*** about the beer. I’m 30-something years old — there ain’t no problem with the drinking age, and it’s a guy just clacking a few beers together after doing a job. There were no headaches or hassles with that, but flipping someone off is flipping someone off, no matter what age you are.”

Austin knew he was onto a winner by the reception he was getting from wrestling audiences, so decided to put his foot down.

“When I started turning the character up, I started flipping people off,” said Austin. “That was right about the time ‘Diamond’ Dallas Page started doing the ‘Bang’ sign, and everybody in the crowd would throw up that sign when Dallas would do it. He was kind of running a parallel with me, and then Goldberg came on our heels, and we were all running parallels as far as getting over. Me and Dallas were in the business for so long, but Goldberg was just a rocket on fire.

“So Vince goes, ‘Steve, when you’re flipping everybody off and using that finger, USA is complaining. Is there another sign that you can use that everybody can do?’ And I said, ‘No, there’s not.’

“I told Vince I was not going to change s***,” Austin added. “Vince goes, ‘Well, OK.’ And, of course, the cash register was ringing, we kept flying the middle fingers, and it was what it was.

​“After struggling to get a break in WCW and USWA, and then getting a break and having your legs chopped off from under you by another booker who took control, I was a little bit frustrated, a little bit p***ed by the time I got that green light. I’d be damned if anybody was going to take anything from me. I’m going to run over you and we’re going to the top — or I’m going to the top, and you’re going to come along for the ride.”

‘I’M CHRISTOPHER REEVES, I’M NEVER GOING TO WALK AGAIN’

After finally getting over with the crowd with “Austin 3:16” victory speech at the 1996 King of the Ring, Austin was involved in a career-changing match at 1997 SummerSlam where he was accidentally dropped on his head by Owen Hart.

Austin told SI.com he believed he was paralysed in the immediate aftermath of the incident, which changed the way he wrestled from that point.

“I guess I could say I was lucky I got dropped on my head,” Austin said. “That sounds f***ed up, but it changed my work style. If I hadn’t got dropped on my head, I think I would have kept wrestling the style that I was wrestling. But I remember everything, I never lost consciousness. I was razor sharp, like a big gong went off. I remember laying there for a sixty seconds, and very calmly thinking, ‘I’m Christopher Reeves, I’m never going to walk again.

“I could barely crawl on my forearms, and it took everything I could do to bend my knees and go to that crawl position,” Austin continued. “I told [referee] Earl Hebner, ‘Roll up for the win.’ So he went over and told Owen, and it was the worst cradle in the history of the business, but because it was a ‘Kiss My Ass’ stipulation, I was going to have to kiss his ass if I didn’t win. I was supposed to win it with a Stunner, but there was no way I wasn’t going to win that match by hook or by crook.”

The near tragedy ended up making Austin an even bigger star. “I didn’t get over because I got dropped on my head, I was already getting over,” he said. “But add that to the storylines and the creative that they were throwing at me, I had the elements to get over. Had that accident happened to Joe Blow — no charisma, no work ability, could not identify-he would have been another guy who got dropped on his head. The stars aligned and I was mega-over, and we drew good numbers.”