How Good Was 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Actually?
Some people don’t think Steve Austin was good between the ropes. What?
Bret Hart, legendary WWE champion, years ago devised a system with which to appraise a professional wrestler - and, in typical, humorous Bret fashion, he revealed this as a thinly-veiled excuse to bury somebody.
He wrote in his autobiography ‘Hitman’ that Dino Bravo - “that lethargic boulder” - was one of the very few wrestlers whose clumsiness and lack of ability put him on the injured list. Hart suffered a bruised heart, cracked ribs, and a fractured sternum when working Dino in October 1989. Hence the burial.
Dino, who “sure wasn’t great”, had “low numbers”, Bret said - but in which categories?
Bret’s three categories are thus: presence/look, promos, and in-ring ability, all rated from 0-10. Bret used examples to expound his findings. Hulk Hogan, a living, tanned, muscular demigod, was awarded a 10 in ‘look’. Even the Iron Sheik would’ve agreed with that.
While the WWE Hall of Famer also rated Hogan’s promos a 10, Bret was “not hot!” on Hogan’s in-ring ability, scoring him a 2. Bret later said Triple H was a 4, so he mustn't have rated Hogan much at all. That, or he overrated Levesque. Many do, in Bret’s defence.
Using a helpful comparison, Bret said that the Dynamite Kid was a 10 in the ring, but - and this is funny as “fook” - he’d have to work to get a 2 on promos. That’s beautifully harsh, not that Dynamite deserves anything less, the idea that Dynamite would have to practise in front of a mirror night after night after night, just to get bad.
Jey Uso’s recent World title push caused much divide in the - eurgh - ‘IWC’. Does it matter that Jey Uso is no Volk Han? He’s charismatic. He’s a star. Other wrestlers who weren’t great in the ring became big stars, too. Just look at Steve Austin!
To quote the man himself: What?
Steve Austin was better than Jey Uso. A damn sight better. But how good was he, actually…?