8 Times Stone Cold Steve Austin Lost Clean

A 7-year career. 71 PPV matches. Only 8 clean defeats.

By Liam Johnson /

WWE

As with Hulk Hogan, as with The Rock and as with John Cena, when Vince McMahon points his finger at a man and says "that's the guy", they generally become invincible.

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When the new man in the hotseat does lose, it's as a result of any type of creative (or not so creative) chicanery. Stone Cold Steve Austin debuted in the WWE in late 1995 as The Ringmaster, a gimmick as uninspired and dull as its name. He was paired with Ted DiBiase shortly before he left for WCW and if you've never seen one of The Ringmaster's matches, you've missed nothing.

The first time that Steve Austin performed on PPV as Stone Cold was at WrestleMania XII. He won that night and hence begun a trend. One year later he would have arguably the greatest match in WrestleMania history. Two years later, "the Austin era" began in earnest.

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From WrestleMania XII in 1996 through to his retirement at WrestleMania XIX in 2003, Austin lost exactly eight matches clean on pay-per-view. To clarify, he was pinned or made to submit by his opponent with no relevant interference or shenanigans. His loss (technically two losses) against Savio Vega at In Your House: Beware Of Dog, for example, don't chart as they were Strap Matches and involved touching turnbuckles to win.

Even then, within these eight, one was a multi-man tag match, another essentially a handicap match and the third controversial due to a possible rope break, proving Austin hardly ever lost definitively on PPV. And yet he didn't get booed. Funny, that.

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