10 Best Stone Cold Steve Austin WWE Moments

Stone Cold Steve Austin, the greatest bald-headed, goatee sporting wrestler of all time (eat your heart out Bill Goldberg). The Rattlesnake changed the landscape of WWE forever. Taking the reigns as the face of the Attitude Era, Austin’s run in the promotion lead to the highest TV ratings in professional wrestling (his match with the Undertaker on the 28/6/99 RAW drew the 9.5 record held to this day).

In the midst of the legendary Monday Night Wars, Vince McMahon searched desperately for a star that could rival the likes of the nWo and Sting in the popularity department. In the no nonsense, hard hitting rebel that was Stone Cold Steve Austin, he finally found his biggest star since Hulk Hogan.

During Austin’s leading star run, WWE went from struggling against the onslaught of WCW to completely surpassing them on all fronts. By the time WCW was purchased in 2001, Austin had proven to be the start of a whole new generation of main event talent including The Rock, Triple H, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho.

Renowned for his wild promos, angles and brawling style matches, Austin’s WWE career is a smorgasbord of great moments. Here are 10 of the Coors Light enthusiast’s finest.

Ric Flair’s wild performance at the 1992 Royal Rumble is often lauded as the greatest single performance in Rumble history. Stone Cold Steve Austin’s turn at the 1997 edition gives the Nature Boy a major run for his money. While the likes of Chris Benoit and Rey Mysterio lasted longer and just about every other victor won more legitimately, Austin’s win further solidified his budding superstar power.

Hitting the ring as entrant no. 5, Austin scored a then record of 10 eliminations during his 45:07 performance. Fans treated Austin as the megastar he was well on his way to being, cheering his ring dominance as the early match favourite. Austin frequently placed his eyes on an imaginary watch between eliminations, taunting the ease with which he was trailblazing through the contest.

Towards the tail end of the match, a fight broke out on the outside between Mankind and Terry Funk. Austin’s nemesis at the time, Bret Hart, threw Austin over the top rope while every referee was distracted dealing with chaos outside the ring. Austin heelishly (his full face turn would occur several months later) snuck back in, eliminating The Undertaker, Vader and the Hitman himself to secure a controversial victory.

A classic WWF moment, Austin’s first Rumble win was another feather in the cap of his steady push to the main event.