The ring-name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is infamous, even people who don't follow wrestling at all have heard of it. There wasn't a place you could travel in the Western Hemisphere during the late-90's which didn't have one person walking around in an 'Austin 3:16' t-shirt, which really shows the success that particular character had. Before all that, there was 'Stunning' Steve Austin in WCW, where the man himself was portrayed as an upstart ring general, and somebody who was technically sound inside the ring, whilst being brash outside of it. It was a pretty typical heel gimmick, but a lot better than what the WWF initially had in mind for him. Introduced as Ted DiBiase's new Million Dollar Champion, Austin was called The Ringmaster, and his in-ring skills were played up by Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler on commentary. It was an auspicious start to life in the federation for Austin, and it immediately became clear that he wasn't digging the character. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0hrPgKz7XQ It was pretty nondescript, and not the best way for the guy to kick things off in the biggest promotion around. Thankfully, after winning the King Of The Ring in 1996, Austin was allowed to show more of his personality, and the rest - as they say - is history. Turns out that even the biggest success stories in wrestling had some amount of crap to get through first!
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
