Steve Austin had a white-hot run as the face of the Attitude Era. He was the man who lived out the dream of flipping off and beating up his boss on a nightly basis, drinking gallons of beer and winning championships in the process. He sold out arenas like no other, and brought professional wrestling back to popular culture - with the help of some friends and well placed adversaries, of course. WWE struck gold with the Rattlesnake. But that fateful night at Summerslam 1997 and a piledriver from the late Owen Hart meant Austin's days at the top were numbered. Granted, he hit his peak in the wake of that incident happening - but had it not been for injury problems and some issues with creative, Austin would have stayed around far longer. He insists he regrets this to this day - but Austin walked out of Raw in 2002 after being booked to go down to the up-and-coming Brock Lesnar - without any previous build. Stone Cold 'took his ball and went home', but came back briefly and rode off into the sunset in the correct way after a match with The Rock at WrestleMania the following year. Austin bowed out as an active member of the roster on the biggest stage of them all, and had it not been for the problems he'd encountered, he may have stuck around for another couple of years.
Football writer (predominantly) with work previously published by Mail Online, Manchester Evening News, Daily Mirror, USA Today and Chelsea FC. Regular contributor for Huffington Post, who holds tempestuous relationships with WWE and FIFA 15.
