10 Ways Stone Cold Steve Austin Changed WWE FOREVER

Steve Austin didn’t take down WCW single handedly, of course. A great many errors and follies conspired to finally kill off WWE’s competition, the complete list of which have been documented in books and onscreen.

Austin’s role should not be ignored, though: in his capacity as the Attitude Era’s greatest star, he can take as much responsibility as anyone for drawing eyes away from Ted Turner’s promotion and onto McMahon’s. His championship reigns and feuds with The Rock and Vince himself are some of the company’s greatest ever, consistently drawing big in a golden age for the sport.

What’s more, you could theorise that the success could have belonged to the WCW had they just recognised Austin’s talent when he was on their books. Famously he was fired by fax after Eric Bischoff - in one of the business’ greatest blunders - deemed him “not marketable”.

Without his time working with Paul Heyman’s ECW, perhaps Austin would never have gained the fiery mic skills that propelled him to the top, but no doubt the talent was there, had the WCW simply been able to notice. Keep hold of Austin, and who knows how the industry might have panned out.