Stone Cold Steve Austin is the most celebrated WWE wrestler of all time. He was the ultimate all-rounder, being fantastic on the mic and proficient in the ring. But what really set him ahead of his peers was his ability to get fans to part with their money. His merchandise sold like crazy, particularly his range of t-shirts. As for arena attendances and pay per view buys, the Austin name was generating record business for Vince McMahon. Arenas were full and Austin was the draw, everyone else in the WWF was just going along for the ride. But power corrupts. The success Austin experienced ended up turning him into one of the biggest egotists of the Attitude Era. Maybe it was because he came up in a time when Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels ruled the roost, making it look as if backstage politics was the only way to keep ahead in WWE. Whatever the reason, Austin screwed with several careers, ultimately also screwing his own. He has generally got a free pass from wrestling fans, who don't want to acknowledge that their hero was a master manipulator. He was just as ruthless as Hulk Hogan, and was in Vince's ear just as much Michaels. Fans don't want to acknowledge that, but the following examples prove it.
15. Insisting On A Character Change... After A Few Months On The Job
Let's put some perspective on this one. Can you imagine Kevin Owens, in his first few months on Raw, going to Vince McMahon and insisting on a character change? It would be unheard of. Vince would have laughed him out of the door and then proceeded to bury him in the booking for the next year. But that's exactly what Steve Austin did in 1996, and surprisingly, the WWF went along with it and gave him a range of new options. The temerity of it suggests ego, he'd been a mid-card guy in WCW for four years, but that didn't qualify him to be in a position of deciding his own creative. He'd only been with Vince for a matter of months and was already telling him how to book his character. What he'd originally been so upset with was his Ringmaster character, which was a take on the Million Dollar Man gimmick, which happened to be one of the most successful gimmicks of the eighties. Not good enough for Austin, though. The WWF listened to his complaints and gave him new options such as Otto Von Ruthless, Ice Dagger and Fang McFrost. Austin's wife then suggested Stone Cold, and Austin did the rest with a shaved head, goatee, and ruthless attitude.
