Ranking All 50 WWE World Heavyweight Champions - From Worst To Best

by Michael Hamflett

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Stone Cold Steve Austin WWF Champion
WWE

There was more money in wrestling by the time Stone Cold Steve Austin started breaking Hulk Hogan's box office records in 1998, but the fact that he managed to topple some of the highs of Hulkamania during the relatively tiny time he spent atop the industry only advertises the money-spinning magic of 'The Rattlesnake'.

Steve Austin was the answer to Vince McMahon's prayers after years of dropping to his knees and looking up, helping pull the company back from the brink and back into the same black that made up his simplistic, era-defining tights and boots aesthetic. At his in-ring peak in 2001, his matches far outstripped Hogan's too, even after his drawing power at long last began to diminish.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.