Steve Austin was the hottest star of the hottest period the wrestling business has ever seen. That's a simple fact. Austin was the focal point of the Attitude Era when it really started to get going. His feud with Vince McMahon brought in record television ratings and made all involved a whole bucket-load of money. Austin was the first real anti-authority star that the WWF had ever seen, which lent itself to making the Stone Cold character one that many in the audience could connect to. After all, who didn't want to lay a beating on their boss at some point in time? The popularity of Austin drove the WWF in their ratings war with rivals WCW, and his no-nonsense, bird-flipping, obscenity-spewing, beer-drinking ways gave Vince's organisation an edginess that made for must-see TV and turned him into a wrestling icon. At the centre of it all, Steve Austin himself was absolutely perfect in everything he did, be it his promo delivery, his explosiveness or simply being able to go in the ring. Austin was the face of the most popular time in wrestling history, and it's likely that the wrestling business will never get close to being that hot ever again. Much like we will likely never see another Steve Austin again.