10 WWE Name Changes That IMMEDIATELY Backfired
3. Steve Austin Is The WWF’s Ringmaster
Anyone who watched Steve Austin's work in WCW throughout the early-1990s could tell you that he had charisma coming out of his ears. His shoved together (for the dreaded 'creative has nothing else for you' reason) tag-team with Brian Pillman had yielded excellent results, and Austin seemed likely to become a true star for the company pre-Hulk Hogan and mates arrival.
A cathartic run in ECW followed his WCW exit, then Austin finally found his way to the market leader. In late-1995, Vince McMahon brought him into the WWF, but not as 'Superstar' or 'Stunning' Steve Austin. No, he was the nuts and bolts Ringmaster. All of the star quality Steve had exuded vanished as soon as he began showing up as a boots n' tights wrestler alongside Ted DiBiase.
On that, Austin didn't want Ted as his manager. He had nothing against DiBiase personally, but felt he didn't need anybody else cutting his promos for him. Further, McMahon might as well have called him, ‘Generic Wrestler I Won’t Push’ by calling him The Ringmaster. That was a death knell for anybody considering Vince's love of OTT "sports entertainment" over pro wrestling.
Praise the lord that Austin was so creative and came up with his own ’Stone Cold’ repackaging at a later date, because he was going nowhere as Ringmaster. This would be like WWE hiring a promising AEW midcarder then calling them, '#1 Wrestler'. It's go nowhere, wouldn't feel inspiring to the audience, and it'd be tough for that person to get hyped themselves.
Stripping away everything that brought Austin to the dance was certainly a choice.