10 Wrestlers Who Changed WWE’s In-Ring Style
6. Steve Austin
Steve Austin, despite being the industry's most successful ever star, also enjoys the curious distinction of being its most underrated wrestler.
Prior to the career-threatening broken neck he suffered at SummerSlam 1997, Austin was a sublime all-rounder - as technically sound as he was believably tough. To prolong his career, he had to modify that eclectic style and intensify the brawling aspect of it. In reducing bumps taken and ramping up punches thrown, Austin drafted the blueprints for the crazed Attitude Era brawling style. It was a b*lls-to-the-wall style the new, hyper-masculine audience lapped up.
A more progressive and immersive update of the Sammartino model, Austin often took the fight to the outside and into the crowd, literally expanding the scope of the wrestling art in the process. Austin's style was more believable than Hogan's because he more often assumed the role of aggressor. His expert use of body language, his swivel-neck and middle finger taunts, also influenced a procession of copycat sociopaths.
Austin, alongside career-rival The Rock, also popularised a more dubious WWE trope - the finisher kick-out. Though its returns have diminished since that glorious night, through flagrant over-use, the drama of their WrestleMania X-Seven main event was enhanced by it.