8 Most Powerful Backstage Politicians In Wrestling History

7. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Ol' Stone Cold knew how good he was, and used this as leverage to hold onto his spot.

Steve Austin was the closest thing to Hulk Hogan in terms of drawing power, but wasn’t quite the same as a politician. He knew the value of a great, different, hard-working match. He also recognised how important it was to work alongside a great rival. The thing is, if Austin did not consider a certain rival great, they were f*cked.

Austin flatly refused to work a main event programme opposite Marc Mero in 1998. Sable - whom Austin dismissively referred to as a “chick” in an interview with Michael Landsberg - had struck Mero with a powerbomb. Austin didn’t want to take a heat segment from a guy who got beat up by a woman. It was shrewd, if a little harsh, since Mero did a lot for Austin in their stellar King of the Ring 1996 semi-final - but that’s the game.

Austin did the same thing to Jeff Jarrett, who buried Austin’s penchant for sacrilege in a worked-shoot promo. The dispute was informed by Jerry Jarrett’s treatment of an emerging Austin in Memphis. “Keep staring at that cheque, it ain’t gonna get any bigger,” is what Jerry is alleged to have remarked to Austin. Austin tasted in his mouth the potatoes he could only afford to eat when Vince Russo pitched that series. Russo never saw Austin as furious as he did that day.

Austin wasn’t convinced of Triple H’s star power in 1999, even if it wouldn’t take the Game too much longer to make it, agreeing only to drop the WWF title to transitional champion Mankind in a Triple Threat match at SummerSlam.

Austin wasn’t as antagonistic and insecure as his contemporaries in the field of pro wrestling politics, but he was paranoid about his spot - enough, according to Bruce Prichard, to loudly question why the Rock was out there singing nursery rhymes he called promos.