Wednesday, May 30, 2007

WWE – Stone Cold Steve Austin


His greatest rivalries.



Image Courtesy: search.com



Stone Cold Steve Austin is one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time. It was he who ushered in the attitude era of wrestling and allowed the WWE to beat WCW in the famous Monday night wars. If you take a look at almost all the greatest feuds or matches of the time, you will find Stone Cold featured regularly in the almost all of them. It is ironic to think that once Steve Austin was fired from WCW by Eric Bischoff because Bischoff felt that Austin was too unmarketable. Bischoff would later say that he wouldn’t have fired Austin if he had known what Austin would later become. Austin still remains one of the most popular WWE superstars of all time.



Over the years Austin has had some great rivalries in the WWE/WWF over the years. We are showcasing just a few of them here. Readers might have their own take on these rivalries. Please feel free to contribute your own picks on the same in your comments. But again these are our picks…you know why? Coz Stone Cold said so!!!


With Vince McMahon

Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org


This rivalry gained massive crowd support because it pitted the Rattlesnake against the evil corporate character of Mr. McMahon. The crowd took Austin’s battles against Mr. McMahon as one of the common man against the rich. At the time WWE needed it as they were involved in a bitter battle against the WCW who were leading the Monday Night Wars. Austin became a face with his aggressive attitude and doing things that a hero wouldn’t do. He epitomized the rebellion against the establishment angle.


The rivalry really started after Bret Hart’s departure. Austin became the new top superstar of the WWF. After he had won the 1998 Royal Rumble he interrupted Vince McMahon when he introduced Mike Tyson as the baddest man on the planet. Austin’s conduct on that day made Vince scorn the idea of seeing Stone Cold as the next WWE champion. When Austin went on tot win the title at Wrestlemania 14 against Shawn Michaels with the help of Mike Tyson, Mr. McMahon’s worst nightmares came true. He even tried to make the rattlesnake tow the corporate line. But all that he got in return for his efforts were a Stone Cold Salute (which is the showing of the finger), a stunner and a punch to the boss’s “Corporate Grapefruits”. Vince was incensed and went all out to screw Stone Cold in whatever way possible starting off a long and bitter rivalry.


With The Rock





Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org


This rivalry took off at a stage when Stone Cold, with his heel tactics as a face, was defining the role of a tweener in wrestling. Nobody did it as larger than life or as successfully as Stone Cold managed to do. The Rock on the other hand had just turned into a heel by becoming the exact opposite of what his earlier babyface character, Rocky Miavia, was. He started spitting venom at the crowd and made popular several catchphrases like “If you smell what The Rock is cookin'” or “Finally… the Rock has come back to ”. It was sort of inevitable that the Rattlesnake and the Rock would soon collide with such large personalities.


They first collided with each other during Austin’s title reign as the Intercontinental champion. The feud culminated with Austin defeating The Rock within six minutes at In Your House: D-Generation X in 1998. When Vince McMahon asked for a rematch the following night at Raw, Austin simply forfeited the title before handing a stunner to both the Rock and McMahon. The Rock went on to win the WWF championship and was thereafter proclaimed as the corporate champion by Vince McMahon. Austin and the Rock would feud again after the latter became the WWF champion at Survivor Series in 1998. The two would meet each other at Wrestlemania 15. Austin beat The Rock and won the title paving the way for a rivalry between the two for well over a year.


With Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart


Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org


This was the rivalry that really made Steve Austin what he is today. He had just come out with Austin 3:16 phrase and was beginning to assure in the attitude era at the WWE. But he knew that to truly cement his place he had to go after a big name. So he went after Bret Hart who was taking a sabbatical at the time. He would continuously taunt The Hitman with comments like “If you put the letter 'S' in front of 'Hitman', you have my exact opinion of Bret Hart”! Bret had no other option but to accept the Rattlesnake’s challenge and return to the ring and take him on.


The two collided at the 1996 Survivor Series. Bret Hart won the match by applying his famous Sharpshooter on Stone Cold. But to everyone’s surprise the crowd turned on Bret Hart and started cheering for Steve Austin, thus cementing his place among the fans. They continued to feud with each other until they met again at Wrestlemania 13 in a submission match. It was a match where both superstars gave it their all and went at each other. At the end of the match Bret Hart got the sharpshooter in place. But Austin refused to quit. He eventually passed out from the massive blood loss that he was suffering. This match ultimately turned Austin into a face and Bret into a heel. Although they had a bitter professional rivalry they had a good relationship personally. So much so that it was Austin who inducted Bret Hart into the WWE hall of fame



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7 comments:

MaliZOMG said...

Hm, you seem to be quite the wrestling fan. Good job!

Anywhoo, thanks for the visit. Now I feel warm & fuzzy on the inside.

xx

M


http://withoutmygps.blogspot.com

Noturna said...

tks for your comments in my blog.

Pryscila said...

hello!!!!!!
thank for visiting my blog!!!
it always visits me!
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EI2g said...

Your wrestling posts are making me nostalgic for all the stuff i saw as a teenager. I don't have access to the channels with it on anymore however your blog has reminded me of the crazy shenanigans they put on!

Nice work.

Em said...

I feel that wrestling has lost its entertaiment value. Now everything seems scripted. I miss the days of Hulk Hogan and gang in the 1980s and early 1990s. :-(

poody said...

I love Stone Cold Steve Austin! I loved his fights with Booker T. I remember one where they are in a grocery store fighting up and down all the aisles reaping destruction wherever they go! SCSA takes Booker T to the check out and runs him over the scanner and hollers out jack ass on 1.

Ghostrider said...

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