Stone Cold Steve Austin—without quotes—is a wrestling legend. He was one of the two main driving forces in pushing WWE during the early part of the Attitude Era.
The Original Super Nova of American Wrestling
The man’s career is storied and saw him go from a bright prospect to a rapidly rising technician in WCW, to a tough, rule-breaking brawler in WWE.
As proof of how rapidly his star rose, all of that happened in under ten years. He was WWE World Champion a little under nine years into his career.
You might say “Aww, that’s nothing special” but he became the top champion in one of the two most-watched promotions in the world after nine years in the business.
WWE had to invest, experiment, grind, and fail to get national and international exposure. Stone Cold Steve Austin had to do the same.
I mean, do you think “The Ringmaster” was going to be World Champion? Maybe “Stunning” Steve—who should’ve been—but not “The Ringmaster.”
One thing about Austin that people tend to overlook is that he had magic powers. This guy could change the rules of a match midway—just like HBK.
Steve Austin Could Make A Match No DQ Easily
The Attitude Era was a hectic time in WWE as far rule-breaking and shenanigans were concerned. Even the owner of the company was involved in both.
A match with Steve Austin involved just wasn’t going to go cleanly. The match could have no stipulations and be just a regular ass match and he would break rules.
The thing is that he could break the rules, and oftentimes nothing would happen. One common thing was using the camera cables to choke an opponent outside.
Now, I have two theories about this because this is something that continues in present day WWE. The first is that long as it didn’t occur in the ring it’s good.
Well, “good” isn’t accurate for cheating but Austin would beat an opponent silly outside of the ring to the point that you notice the ref isn’t counting.
Not only that, but he’s also not even doing a five count outside of the ring for mild cheating. He would run roughshod until he’s eventually countered.
Tying into this is my second theory: referee discretion. Everything is left up to the referee whether to let things slide or call the match.
Stone Cold had stunned and stomped enough referees to evoke fear and maybe they didn’t want that smoke with him. However, they let a little too much slide.
What do you guys think? Did Stone Cold Steve Austin warp the rules because he’s Stone Cold? Or did he set a precedent where referees could let things slide in bouts?
Let us know in the comments!
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