15 EXACT Moments Failed WWE Attitude Era Gimmicks Actually Got Over

2. Stone Cold Steve Austin (March 23, 1997)

When did it happen? When did the failed Ringmaster truly start to become bigger than even Hulk Hogan?

It didn’t happen at King Of The Ring 1996. Stone Cold Steve Austin’s speech was incendiary, and there was a murmur of excitement in the crowd when Austin swore, which simply didn’t happen, but he worked a dark match against Yokozuna at SummerSlam after a diminished return match against Marc Mero at In Your House: International Incident. Austin drew a significant reaction, when he started calling out Bret Hart with an obsessive menace, but fans didn’t jeer him as much as they chanted “We want Bret!” 

Austin was sensational throughout the build, but in a different time, the fans hadn’t yet realised that they were allowed to cheer him. Also, they still adored Bret, who they’d missed in the summer. 

Their intoxicating brawl at Survivor Series 1996 generated intense crowd heat, but the broader WWF audience often lagged behind the Madison Square Garden hardcores. More fans started to back him as a love-to-hate winner when he kicked a horde of ass but still cheated at the 1997 Royal Rumble, but he still hadn’t reached the glass shatters/audience erupts phase. This happened after WrestleMania 13. He didn’t become a megastar that night, but he did become a new, irresistible breed of hero. 

His teeth stained red with blood, his constant, defiant movement with which he both sold and let his public know that he’d never stop fighting, his absolute refusal to quit in the face of searing agony that only he could ever bear: this moment is etched in WWE folklore because it - like Austin himself - felt as real as it gets.