What more can be said about the man they called Stone Cold? Steve Austin was one of the biggest draws the wrestling industry has ever seen, or likely will ever see. Put simply, he defined an era. And his popularity didnt just coincide with a wrestling boom period - it inspired one. The general consensus is that, like everybody else, Austin was largely held down by egos and power play during his tenure in the old WCW. Although the young, blonde haired kid got to square off against a few established stars like Ricky Steamboat, Randy Savage and Ric Flair, he was definitely not considered as a potential star by the company. Despite being prodigiously talented, (both as a technical wrestler and a ring psychologist), Steve Austin was not considered to be marketable by WCW bigwigs. Oh, hindsight. After joining the WWF in 1995, Austin was paired with The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase. His initial gimmick wasnt much more than a bad pun (he was billed as The Ringmaster), but Austin obviously learned a lot from DiBiase, one of the greatest wrestlers of his, or any, era. Following the adoption of a more savage persona and a badass new look, the newly christened Stone Cold Steve Austin evolved into the perfect villain. His initial push climaxed when he won the 1996 King of the Ring tournament by defeating Jake The Snake Roberts and proclaiming that Austin 3:16 says I just kicked your ass! - a moment that is still fondly remembered by todays WWE fans. Austin soon became the WWFs number one heel, feuding with Bret The Hitman Hart and producing some incredible matches along the way. Their intense feud came to a memorable crescendo with a beautiful bout at WrestleMania XIII (which honestly has to be seen to be believed). One year later, at WrestleMania XIV, Austin defeated Shawn Michaels and lifted the WWF Championship for the first time in his career. A star was born. The WWF, its reputation in tatters following a succession of sex and steroid scandals, and haemorrhaging any/all of its stars to Ted Turners WCW, desperately needed an image overhaul. Austin, as a beer swilling, foul-mouthed, super-aggressive antihero, was just the man for the job. The Texas Rattlesnake was a new kind of wrestling star; he was cheered like a super-babyface, yet he acted like a stereotypical heel. He flipped the finger to the fans and they cheered him breathlessly as they flipped him off right back. In a world of stark black and white, Austins character was a welcome shade of deep, perplexing grey. And by God, was that guy ever cool. He drank on the job, beat up his boss and dispatched his foes with arguably the most perfect finishing move ever devised, the Stone Cold Stunner. In his drawing prime, Austin could probably have farted to a bigger ovation than most other wrestlers will ever hear. Stone Colds rise to glory rocked the entire wrestling industry. It is largely due to the Austin money machine that the WWF was able to stay in business and was, in turn, able to eventually put WCW out of business. So, if youre looking for one single architect of todays WWE, you could do worse than look at Steve Austin. Of course, Im simplifying, there were a lot of other factors involved, but the sheer amount of money Austin drew, combined with the impossible levels of merchandise he sold and the unique character he played, are hugely important factors to the WWF turnaround of the late 1990s. In the future of pro wrestling, there will undoubtedly be stars as big as Austin, but there probably wont ever be any that are bigger.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ
