Real Name:
Steve Williams
Nicknames: Stunning Steve, Stone Cold, The Extreme Superstar, Ringmaster
Birthdate:
12/18/64
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 241
Signature Moves:
Reverse Jawbreaker, Armdrag, Swinging DDT, Lou Thesz Press
Biography
Steve Austin began his
sports career playing a defensive end on the North Texas State University
football team. In early '89, Steve Austin enrolled in the Chris Adams wrestling
school. During his time at the school Steve Austin quickly got a reputation in
the South-Eastern United States, and was the first graduate late in '89. He
wrestled under his real name Steve Williams, but quickly adopted a new name
after being confused with the then famous Steve "Dr. Death" Williams. The
decision came after being booked to wrestle for a small show in Texas and an
angry promoter who assumed he would have the "other" Williams appearing at his
show.
Using the name
Steve Austin, Chris Adams and he wrestled in the USWA Texas division as a tag
team. After limited success, Austin struck off on his own as a singles wrestler,
starting a long and bitter feud with Adams. This feud ran through the USWA and
other smaller venues, eventually hitting its peak when Austin hired Chris Adams'
ex-wife as his valet, and Adams hired Austin's real-life wife as his valet.
Austin also enlisted the aid of Percy Pringle, wrestling in various venues for
the USWA in Texas and Tennessee. After several high-profile matches with Jeff
Jarrett, Austin left the USWA for the growing WCW.
Steve Austin
was quickly promoted as a champion with various valets... from Veronica to Chris
Adams' ex-wife. Austin won the TV title from Bobby Eaton early in his WCW
career, and was soon managed by Paul E. Dangerously as part of his "Dangerous
Alliance" stable with Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyzsko, Bobby Eaton, and
Madusa. Austin meanwhile was pushed into lengthy feuds with Dustin Rhodes and
smaller feuds with Scott Stiener, Barry Windham and Ron Simmons.
When Paul
Dangerously left the WCW, Austin joined forces with Brian Pillman to form the
team "The Hollywood Blondes", eventually winning the WCW Tag Team titles as a
part of this combination. As part the Hollywood Blondes Steve Austin grew to
become one of the most popular personalities in the WCW with the fans, but was
unable to gather the clout he needed from the bookers and owners to be promoted
as a World Champion. Despite this, Austin and Pillman performed several "skits",
years before they would become standard fare in United States professional
wrestling. One of these included a parody of Ric Flair and Arn Anderson called
"walk of the old", and would become the foundation of mainstream parody angles
for years to come.
When Brian
Pillman became injured, Austin once again entered the singles world and won the
US title from his long time rival Dustin Rhodes in late '93. Austin held the
title for a short time, defending against Marc Mero and the Great Muta, the
later of which gathered him a strong reputation in Japan. Austin later dropped
the title to Ricky Steamboat, was awarded it back after an injury, and dropped
the title the same night to Hacksaw Jim Duggan. After that point, Austin's WCW
career would be a series of setbacks, after a knee and tricep injury took him
out of active competition. Determining that Austin's usefulness was over inside
the ring and wanting to clear out some high-priced contracts, then president
Eric Bischoff terminated his contract, and Austin left the WCW.
Austin signed a
development contract with the WWF, but was allowed to work in other promotions
until an angle could be developed for him. Austin traveled to the ECW, where he
used his recovering time to further develop his microphone skills, taking the
parody angles he performed in the WCW farther with imitations of Eric Bischoff
and Hulk Hogan. In his time at the ECW, Steve Austin worked with wrestler Mick
Foley to develop a style to work around his injury and enhance his interview
skills. Despite speculation that Steve Austin would win titles in the ECW, his
time there was short, and after only four months Steve Austin debuted in the WWF
in late '95.
Steve Austin
was billed as the "Ringmaster", managed by the former Million Dollar Man, Ted
DiBiase. Austin was awarded the "Million Dollar Title" and entered into a
lengthy feud with Savio Vega, which ended when Austin lost a strap match with a
stipulation that also forced him to give up his manager, who left the WWF. This
loss would be the start of his rise to stardom, as Austin used the loss to bill
himself as a "Stone Cold" wrestler, a man who looked out for himself and fought
everyone. Austin would go on to win the King of the Ring Tournament in '96,
defeating Jake Roberts in the final. After the match, Steve Austin would be
awarded the crown and cape, which he refused, proclaiming "Austin 3:16 just
whipped your ass". This line caught on with the fans, and propelled him into
stardom in the WWF.
Austin would
then become involved in a long feud with Bret Hart, which culminated in a
submission stipulation match at WrestleMania 13, where Austin would pass out
from loss of blood rather than submit to Bret Hart's finishing submission hold,
the Sharpshooter. This match would be billed by PWI and the WON as the best
match of '97, and the springboard for several main event status matches.
As an
overwhelmingly popular fan favorite, Steve Austin would win the tag team titles
with Shawn Michaels, and later with old friend Mick Foley, wrestling under the
guise of Dude Love. Austin would also win the Intercontinental title from Owen
Hart, but in the same match suffered damage to two vertebra and a bruised spine
after a botched piledriver from Owen. Austin would be out of action for several
months, but his popularity would only grow despite being stripped of both titles
he held at the time. He was promoted as the leading wrestler in the
organization, finally winning the World title in a match against Shawn Michaels,
in which both wrestlers fought severe limiting injuries throughout the match.
From this point
Austin would wrestle the most aggressive schedule seen by a World Champion in
the history of the WWF, facing several opponents including the Undertaker, Kane,
Dude Love, and others. Austin's biggest antagonist would not be another wrestler
however, but the owner of the WWF, Vince McMahon, who used his poor reputation
over the incident involving the separation of Bret Hart and the WWF to promote a
new "super heel" character, who was determined to get the title off of Austin.
During this
period professional wrestling has undergone a renaissance of popularity, with
Steve Austin's character being one of the leading factors for the resurgence.
Several similar characters have been created as a result of the popularity of
Austin's "no nonsense" gimmick, and helped cross over into several other markets
that it had previously only scratched the surface of. How long Austin's
popularity will last remains to be seen... but his impact on the sport is
indisputable, despite being billed as "washed up" a few years earlier.
