8 Unbelievable Wrestling BLUNDERS You Totally Missed
4. Steve Austin's Accidental Royal Rumble Elimination
Steve Austin was destined for greatness immediately.
There should be no historical revisionism here: everybody within and who analysed pro wrestling in the early 1990s knew how special he was as both a mechanic and a personality. The issue was that mainstream US wrestling in that era was never further away from both the wider cultural zeitgeist and the pulse of the fandom. It was astonishing - stunning! - how far away the WWF and WCW were. It was this prehistoric approach against which ECW revolted, and to underscore just how much Austin always had it, his very brief stint there was infinitely better and more memorable than scores of multi-decade WWE runs mounted by other, lesser talents subsequently.
Austin was failed by WCW profoundly. The WWF didn't get him either, but Austin drew upon that to make them get it.
He was originally presented as the Ringmaster, a bland and cold technician, a gimmick that was death anywhere but particularly in Vince McMahon's territory. He was meant to be in the final four of the '96 Rumble - he wasn't a star, but again, this was a month after 1995; Vince was horrendous at his job and could hardly find somebody more over. He was eliminated by a too stiff clothesline from Fatu, and fell on the floor instead of the apron as intended.
Nobody noticed until Austin opened up years later; the remaining field did a respectable cover-up operation,