1. The Ringmaster To Stone Cold Steve Austin
Steve Austin was always touted as a star, right from when he made his start in the USWA. He had the look and the natural flow of a wrestler. Stardom beckoned, it seemed. He then made it up to WCW, where, as Stunning Steve Austin, he won the WCW Television title almost immediately. While being in the top feud of 1992, he was never the solo headliner. And then his WCW career stagnated, battling over tag titles or secondary titles, but never the big one. WCW head Eric Bischoff famously said that a guy in black boots and black trunks wouldnt draw money, and fired Austin from the company. After a brief stopover in ECW, where he exhibited a different side to his character, he arrived in the WWF, as The Ringmaster, managed by Ted DiBiase. The idea of the character was to show off Austins technical finesse, however the character was devoid of any charisma and turned off the fans. Austin split from DiBiase and was getting a secondary level push, similar to his WCW run. He adopted the new nickname, Stone Cold, inspired accidentally by his wife at the time, who told him to drink a cup of tea that shed made him before it gets stone cold. Taking on a new finisher, the Stone Cold Stunner, Austin started showing more of his natural fire and character. The turning point was winning the 1996 King of the Ring, where, in the post match interview, he coined the phrase Austin 3:16. Despite being a heel at the time, a phenomenon was born, and Austin 3:16 shirts became the highest selling item of merchandise in wrestling history. A feud with Bret Hart pushed Austin up to headliner level, and an epic encounter at WrestleMania 13 turned Austin face officially. He never looked back, headlining multiple WrestleManias and becoming one of the most iconic figures in wrestling history. Now you've enjoyed this article make sure to check out my article from last week