10 Stages Of The WWE Championship’s Devolution: From Prize To Prop
5. The New Guy(s)
The events of the Montreal Screwjob - which saw Michaels win their personal war and Hart leave the promotion under a cloud, which set forth a deluge over his life and career - paved the way for the emerging Stone Cold Steve Austin to elevate the WWF back into the pop cultural stratosphere.
Around his waist, or rather dragged by his hands to the ring, the title was expertly presented as both the pinnacle of wider wrestling achievement - Austin's immense popularity hoisted the WWF above WCW, the greatest competition it had ever faced - and its rightful place as the lifeblood of the company. Presented as a company divided, in reality, management, talent and audience were in perfect harmony. The outed and turned company owner Vince "Mr." McMahon did so much to underscore the belt's importance by losing his mind at the prospect of this awesome renegade holding it. The contrivances he engineered to wrest it from him created both awesome, OTT storylines and the notion that it was everything. Austin, meanwhile, like Hart before him, evolved the in-ring mode by adopting a crazed ringside brawling style to protect his broken neck and bump clock.
Firing on all creative and commercial cylinders, the company through 1998-2001 created a collaborative environment in which so many men - Mankind, The Rock, Triple H, Kurt Angle - thrived in parallel with the title, now no longer a symbol of ascension but a fiercely-contested hot potato held only by the elite "sports entertainers" on the planet.
Regrettably, it was not immune to short-term damage.