Stone Cold Steve Austin
Steve Williams (born December 18, 1964) aka Stone Cold Steve Austin, is a professional wrestler from Victoria, Texas. His birth name was Steven James Anderson; he received the name Williams when he was adopted by his stepfather. (His biological father had left the family when he was a small child.) He went on to play football at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), and began his wrestling career in the late 1980s in Texas. He took the ring name Steve Austin because there was already a prominent wrestler with the ring name (and real name) Steve Williams.
He eventually signed on with World Championship Wrestling, making a major name for himself as a member (with Brian Pillman) of the Hollywood Blonds, a heel (villain) tag team that became one of the most famous teams of the early 1990s. However, WCW management, especially Eric Bischoff, did not think highly of his potential. First, the Hollywood Blonds were broken up at the height of their career as a team; later, Austin was arguably held back from a place in WCW's upper level of singles wrestlers. Eventually, Bischoff fired Austin over the phone while Austin was recovering from an injury. Austin felt offended that Bischoff did not notify him in person, since WCW's Atlanta headquarters were a short drive from where he was staying.
In late 1995, Austin joined the then-WWF, but was given a gimmick that made it difficult for him to catch on with fans. After a few months, he briefly went to Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he began to develop the Stone Cold gimmick that would make him famous. A few weeks later, he returned to the WWF as Stone Cold Steve Austin.
His rise to superstardom began in 1996, when he was booked to win the WWF's King of the Ring "tournament". In the final match, he defeated Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who was then incorporating a Christian message in his gimmick. After the match, he cut a promo (made a promotional interview) which he finished by saying, "Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!" Austin 3:16 instantly became one of the most popular catchphrases in wrestling history.
Interestingly, he was not originally intended to win the tournament; the WWF originally booked Hunter Hearst Helmsley (now Triple H) to win. However, the WWF changed its plans a few weeks before the pay-per-view because of the MSG Incident (for more details, see Clique).
The following year, he began an in-ring feud with WWF owner Vince McMahon that helped lead to the WWF's final victory over WCW in their war for the pro wrestling marketplace and catapulted Austin to mainstream recognition arguably matched only by Hulk Hogan in the mid-1980s. In fact, at the peak of Austin's popularity, the WWF's sales of Hogan-branded merchandise during Hogan's mid-1980s prime were dwarfed by its sales of Austin merchandise. Austin was even cast in recurring roles on two TV series: MTV's animated Celebrity Deathmatch, and CBS' Nash Bridges. However, his body began to wear out in the late 1990s. In 1997 he suffered a near-paralyzing neck injury as a result of a botched piledriver by Owen Hart; the lingering effects of that incident, plus years of wear and tear, forced him to undergo spinal fusion surgery in 1999. Austin would not wrestle for a year after the surgery.
He came back to wrestle successfully in 2000, coining another popular catchphrase, "What?" However, Austin walked out on WWE in 2002. He later admitted that he has never fully recovered from his injuries, especially the neck injury, and that he was frustrated with the booking of his character. Several months later, he returned to the WWE, mainly in a non-wrestling role.
In recent WWE storylines, he was a co-general manager for WWE RAW, alongside his old WCW nemesis Eric Bischoff. (Outside the ring, the two have largely settled their differences.) In earlier angles, Austin also had a stint as CEO of WWE. On November 16, 2003, Austin was "fired" as co-GM of RAW as the result of a stipulation in a match at WWE's Survivor Series pay-per-view. He sat out for several weeks to "sell" the angle, but returned to WWE television before the end of 2003, when he was part of a WWE Christmas special taped in front of U.S. troops in Iraq. On December 29, 2003, he returned to regular WWE television as the "RAW Sheriff".
On April 17, 2004, the WWE put out a press release on their website claiming that Steve Austin and the WWE were unable to settle contract disputes and parted ways. It is unclear where Austin's career will go from here.
External Link
WWE Press Release on Steve Austin's departure from the WWE
1. The title was later recognized as the WCW World Tag Team Title.
2. The title was awarded to Austin when injured Steamboat was unable to defend it.
3. Austin vacates the title due to a neck injury.
4. The title was declared vacant when WWF Commissioner Sergeant Slaughter suspends Steve Austin.
5. Austin forfeits the title and gives it to Rocky Maivia.
6. In a three way match against The Undertaker and Kane, both pinnend him simultaneously, so the title was declared vacant.
7. In a triangle match against Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hunter Hearst Helmsley.