WWE Champion; Intercontinental Champion; World Tag Team Champion; King of the Ring (1996); Royal Rumble winner (1997, 1998, 2001); WCW U.S. Champion; WCW Tag Team Champion.
Stone Cold Steve Austin broke into the world of sports-entertainment in 1990 in Texas, where he was trained by “Gentleman” Chris Adams. It was against Adams that Stone Cold had his first heated rivalry. It only fanned the flames when Steve took on Lady Blossom, Adams’ ex-wife, as his manager.
Stone Cold’s USWA tenure lasted about a year before he moved on to WCW. There, he won the WCW Television Championship immediately under the moniker of “Stunning” Steve Austin. It would be the first of two TV championship reigns while in WCW.
Stunning Steve became a member of a faction known as the Dangerous Alliance in late 1991, aligning himself with the now-notorious Paul Heyman. The formidable group consisted of Steve, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbysko.
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat would wrest the Television Championship from Stone Cold at Clash of the Champions, and the Alliance split up not long after. But this series of events had a silver lining, as Stone Cold found chemistry and substantial success teaming with Brian Pillman as “The Hollywood Blondes.” The two would strut to the ring, taking turns playing the role of film director and movie star under the lights and before the attentive crowd.
Their “breakthrough hit” (and Steve’s revenge) came on March 2, 1993, when the Hollywood Blondes won the WCW Tag Team Championship from Steamboat & Shane Douglas. This marked the start of the Blondes’ “Brush with Greatness” tour, where they fought lesser-known and “never-will-be” wrestlers each week. This, Steve said, was their “brush with greatness.”
In August 1993, Pillman was injured and the disintegration of the Hollywood Blondes began. In Pillman’s place, Steve teamed with William (Lord Steven) Regal for a tag title defense at Clash of the Champions against Arn Anderson & Paul Roma. It was the Horsemen’s night; they captured the WCW Tag Team Championship. Out of building frustration, Steve turned on Pillman, then defeated his former partner at Clash of the Champions in November.
By December, Steve had his sights set on Dustin Rhodes’ WCW United States Championship. Steve took that belt in decisive fashion at Starrcade that month, beating Rhodes with two straight falls in a best-of-three title bout.
Steve held the United States Championship through the first half of 1994, at which time he renewed his unsettled rivalry with Ricky Steamboat. The Dragon struck first and took the U.S. Championship at Clash of the Champions in August. But Steve was awarded the championship via forfeit when Steamboat couldn’t answer the bell for their scheduled pay-per-view rematch at September’s Fall Brawl.
Soon after, Steve departed for a tour through Japan. While there, he suffered a knee injury and was written off by WCW. Head of WCW Eric Bischoff fired Steve over the phone. Injured and unemployed, Steve went home to rehabilitate his knee and drink plenty of beer.
While recuperating, he received an unexpected phone call from ECW owner Paul Heyman, his former WCW manager. Heyman offered Steve a forum to air his grievances about WCW. He gave Steve a microphone and told him run wild with it. What followed were a series of scathing commentary segments, including “Monday Nyquil” mocking WCW’s Monday Nitro television broadcast. When “Superstar” Steve Austin let his passion and personality out, he struck a chord and caught on with the fans like never before.
In January 1996, Steve received an opportunity to join WWE as Ted DiBiase’s “Million Dollar Champion.” Using the moniker of “The Ringmaster,” Steve battled Matt Hardy and Marty Jannetty before experiencing his first WrestleMania (XII) in a win over Savio Vega. But at the In Your House event titled “Beware of Dog,” Steve lost a special Strap Match to Vega. As a result, DiBiase was forced to leave WWE.
Without DiBiase holding the reins, Steve had the opportunity to strike out on his own. He promptly declared that he lost to Vega on purpose to get rid of the overbearing DiBiase. Now, he was his own man in WWE, and would be known as “Stone Cold Steve Austin.”
A defiant Stone Cold won the 1996 King of the Ring tournament in June, defeating Jake “The Snake” Roberts in the finals. It was then that Stone Cold gave his famous “3:16” speech putting every WWE Superstar on notice. And this loner backed up all the talk — pummeling anyone who crossed his path.
He began badmouthing Bret Hart, who was on hiatus from WWE, but before he could get his hands on Hart, a familiar face arrived on the scene: Brian Pillman. This go-around wasn’t so smooth. In fact, the conflict spilled outside the wrestling ring and into their personal lives. On Nov. 4, 1996, Stone Cold Steve Austin broke into Pillman’s Kentucky home. The raid compelled Pillman to defend himself with potentially lethal force.
Stone Cold survived. Two weeks later at Survivor Series, Bret Hart answered the longstanding challenge. Their rivalry continued through Royal Rumble. There, in a classic moment, entrant No. 5 Stone Cold was eliminated by Hart while the referees were diverted. Seizing the opportunity, The Rattlesnake slithered back into the ring undetected. He then proceeded to eliminate Undertaker and Vader — last tossing Hart. So, Stone Cold Steve Austin was declared the Rumble’s controversial winner.
When Hart later claimed the vacated WWE Championship, it infuriated Stone Cold. The next night on RAW, Stone Cold interfered during Bret’s match with Psycho Sid, costing Hart the championship. This led to a Submission Match at WrestleMania 13. Stone Cold refused to tap to the Sharpshooter, but he eventually passed out from excessive blood loss, ending the bout. The image of Stone Cold caught in the Sharpshooter will forever be remembered as one of the greatest moments in WrestleMania history.
From there, things only escalated until The Rattlesnake was warring with the entire Hart family. In May 1997 on RAW, Steve was forced by WWE to team with Shawn Michaels. Together, they did win the World Tag Team Championship from Owen Hart & British Bulldog, but they still despised each other. When they fought at King of the Ring, the whole Hart Foundation jumped both of them.
This led to an epic 10-man tag-team match at Canadian Stampede in 1997, which was the culmination of a host of rivalries. The match pitted The Hart Foundation (Bret, Owen, British Bulldog, Pillman & Jim Neidhart) against Stone Cold, Ken Shamrock, Goldust & Legion of Doom. When the Harts won on their home turf, Stone Cold was booed out of the building. It didn’t faze him, and at SummerSlam, he challenged Owen for the Intercontinental Championship.
During the match, Owen broke Stone Cold’s neck with a piledriver. Stone Cold not only miraculously finished the match, but he won the championship. There was no realistic way for him to defend the Intercontinental Championship in his condition, however, so he had no choice but to forfeit the championship and begin rehabilitation.
Incredibly, The Rattlesnake came back just one month later to cost Owen & British Bulldog their World Tag Team Championship. This renewed the hatred, but Mr. McMahon wasn’t convinced he could safely allow the rivalry to resume. To cover WWE, Mr. McMahon demanded that Stone Cold sign a liability waiver before he could compete. Stone Cold complied, and at Survivor Series in 1997, he defeated Owen to recapture the Intercontinental Championship. But there was a hungry competitor waiting for an opportunity to challenge for that championship — Rocky Maivia, who is better known today as The Rock.
Stone Cold Steve Austin fought back the challenger at the D-Generation X pay-per-view, but Mr. McMahon demanded that he defend the championship again against Maivia the following night on RAW. Stone Cold refused on principle. Instead of simply disobeying Mr. McMahon, Stone Cold sent him a message by tossing the Intercontinental Championship belt into a New Hampshire river. Furious, McMahon stripped Stone Cold of the championship and awarded it to Maivia as a “forfeit victory.” The animosity created between Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon based on these events officially marked the start of one of the best-known rivalries in the history of sports-entertainment. Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon would trade moments of triumph and outrage for the better part of the next two years — constantly trying to make life miserable for the other.
Despite all of McMahon’s efforts, The Rattlesnake won the 1998 Royal Rumble Match — last eliminating The Rock. In a high-profile follow-up for the WWE Championship, Stone Cold then beat HBK at WrestleMania XIV with “Iron” Mike Tyson as special guest referee. After the match, Mr. McMahon explained that he was fed up with Stone Cold’s rank behavior — that either he’d become a well-mannered “Company Champion” … or else. Stone Cold responded with a stunner on the boss.
On April 13, 1998, it appeared the WWE fans would finally get to see Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon battle out their differences in the ring on RAW. But the match was declared a No-Contest when Dude Love made a shocking appearance, coming between the boss and Stone Cold.
McMahon continued to do everything he could to ruin The Rattlesnake, and he finally scored a big victory for his side at the 1998 King of the Ring tournament. There, Stone Cold lost the WWE Championship to the “Big Red Monster” Kane in a First Blood Match.
McMahon couldn’t savor the victory for long. Stone Cold further infuriated his nemesis by winning back the championship the next night on RAW. Stone Cold delivered another blow to McMahon by taking away the World Tag Team Championship a month later alongside the Undertaker. It was a combustible combination, leading to a match between them at SummerSlam. Stone Cold emerged victorious — something Mr. McMahon couldn’t tolerate. So, the boss set up a Triple Threat Match at Breakdown in September. It proved to be more like a Handicap Match in the end, as half-brothers Undertaker and Kane pinned Stone Cold simultaneously.
