'Stone Cold' Steve Austin

[Childs]

I don't know, something like Foley-Austin from 5/31/98 involved lots of kicks, punches and weapons, but I wouldn't call it a brawl. It was a long, carefully structured match with lots of kicks, punches and weapons. And that was probably Austin's signature match from '98. To me, a brawl is two guys standing toe to toe and slugging it out--Hansen-Funk, Memphis concession stand, Tenryu-Hashimoto from the '98 G-1. Despite his persona, I don't remember Austin doing a lot of that. He was a guy with a brilliant understanding of pro wrestling dynamics. I just don't buy that he was much of a brawler.

[Shining Wiz]

I define a brawler as a kick and punch guy. Things you mentioned are more intense brawls, but Austin's matches are brawls to me all the same

[JerryvonKramer]

Since we compared Austin to Bruno recently, you could look at Bruno as someone who was a punch and kick guy who wasn't necessarily working brawls. And now you mention it, post injury Austin does have something of that working style about him.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

One of my favourite things about Austin is his bumping, and it's not something I see mentioned very often. You have your guys who are great "clean bumpers", meaning they're very good at taking traditional bumps, or pinball style bumps, but Austin's bumps looked so haphazard and out of control, which really added a different flavor to his matches.

[MoS]

I think Austin was very clumsy, but, strangely, that added to his matches instead of taking away from them. It added a sense of gritty realism and urgency to his matches, and it ties to the larger point of being very easy to be sucked into his matches. There would be times when he would deliver a steel chair shot, and would himself fall over doing it. Stuff like that, to me, would sort of build the madcap speed and the whirlwind nature of his matches. He was not one of the most fluid guys on the roster, and he used that to his advantage.

[stomperspc]

One of my favourite things about Austin is his bumping, and it's not something I see mentioned very often. You have your guys who are great "clean bumpers", meaning they're very good at taking traditional bumps, or pinball style bumps, but Austin's bumps looked so haphazard and out of control, which really added a different flavor to his matches.

 

Completely agree. I was going to mention his physical bumping style in reference to Childs noting that Austin didn't do much physically to get the crowd involved in his matches. His outside the ring bumps often looked good and drew a big "ohhhh" from the live audience. In 1998 you have Foley taking ridiculously dangerous bumps and blows to the head on almost a weekly basis, sometimes to little to no reaction. Meanwhile, Austin would eat a backdrop on the ramp and the fans would gasp as soon as he landed. "Out of control" is a good way to describe it. He would go flying in such a way that it felt like he had no control over how he was going to land.

 

I think the fact that he was a strong bumper made up for his possible lack of offense. If you have a guy who is just punching and kicking against someone else who is largely punching and kicking, with neither wrestling taking any impactful bumps, the match is probably not going to work. Austin could work matches that were largely punching and kicking in part because he bumped well and at the right times so that the punching/kicking meant more.

[Childs]

 

One of my favourite things about Austin is his bumping, and it's not something I see mentioned very often. You have your guys who are great "clean bumpers", meaning they're very good at taking traditional bumps, or pinball style bumps, but Austin's bumps looked so haphazard and out of control, which really added a different flavor to his matches.

 

Completely agree. I was going to mention his physical bumping style in reference to Childs noting that Austin didn't do much physically to get the crowd involved in his matches.

 

 

I was more talking about the crowd loving his offense, no matter how limited it was, because of his timing and force of personality. I agree he was an excellent/underrated bumper.

[stomperspc]

 

 

One of my favourite things about Austin is his bumping, and it's not something I see mentioned very often. You have your guys who are great "clean bumpers", meaning they're very good at taking traditional bumps, or pinball style bumps, but Austin's bumps looked so haphazard and out of control, which really added a different flavor to his matches.

 

Completely agree. I was going to mention his physical bumping style in reference to Childs noting that Austin didn't do much physically to get the crowd involved in his matches.

 

 

I was more talking about the crowd loving his offense, no matter how limited it was, because of his timing and force of personality. I agree he was an excellent/underrated bumper.

 

 

Yea, I know. I just meant to say it made me think about how he is a good, physical bumper.

[Jetlag]

I'm having problems with Austin. He seems like somebody who should cruise into my Top 100, but then just doesn't. Like his WCW work a LOT, like the Bret Hart matches, like him in 2000-2001 and the Angle match is a favourite of mine. But then I started putting my Top 100 together and the competition is starting to get really steep for him. I'm starting to feel he is, in essence, just not that good. I've been kind of avoiding his commercially most succesful phase, but if somebody could point me in the direction of a few matches from that period I would really appreciate it.

[Tim Cooke]

Some strong Austin matches that aren't from the usual pack of good Austin stuff:

 

3/12/94 vs. Steamboat (WCWSN)

- they are both on the same page and this isn't a carry job by Steamboat. Way better than their Clash match later in the year

 

11/16/98 vs. Rock (Raw)

- before the terrible finish (Russo), an excellent TV match the night after Rock turned heel

 

3/28/99 vs. Rock (WrestleMania)

4/25/99 vs. Rock (Backlash)

- pretty underrated matches

[GOTNW]

I intended to post something similar myself, Austin's 2001 run was awesome and I liked him in WCW but I think 1998-1999 is too big of a hurdle, that's the style and era he's synonymous with and I hate it. Only way I'd consider including someone based mostly on one great year would be if they were great at shoot style and I won't rank someone like Ken Shamrock.

[bradhindsight]

Austin's performance in the Unforgiven 2001 match is really overlooked because Angle wins the belt there. I thought Austin completely blew Angle out of the water in that match from a work standpoint.

[Jingus]

I think 98-99 still has plenty of fun performances, even though it's probably Austin's worst in-ring period of his non-rookie career. He had the aforementioned Backlash match with Rock, which I've always thought was an overlooked gem (the point-of-view bit with Rock holding the camera was one of the most brilliantly creative spots I've ever seen). I've always thought the Summerslam 98 bout with Taker was tremendously underrated, I thought it was a ton of fun, one of the rare Austin/Undertaker matches that actually clicked (the title match the night after KOTR 99 was another one). Pretty much everyone agrees the Over The Edge match with Mankind was great, possibly five stars. The main events of Manias 14 and 15 were a bit pedestrian and disappointing, but they still worked tremendously well considering the physical limitations of the performers involved. And of course, let's not forget all of Austin's glorious in-ring massacres of Vince during that time period.

[GOTNW]

 

Pretty much everyone agrees the Over The Edge match with Mankind was great, possibly five stars.

Wot.

[The Man in Blak]

There's more interesting stuff outside of the typical Hart matches than you might think.

 

The Over the Edge match with Mankind is more of a triumph in booking, but it's certainly historically significant; if you're looking for an alternate selection, the 11/18/96 Raw match with Mankind (right after Survivor Series) is a pretty good TV match up until the finish. The Savio Vega strap match at Beware of Dog IYH is another one to check out, even if it is a little overhyped.

 

I don't like the Michaels KOTR '97 match as much as others (primarily because of Michaels), but it's decent. The opening match with Mero at KOTR '96 was surprisingly good. Austin also has a smattering of matches with Dustin Rhodes throughout 1991-1993 that are solid.

 

If you haven't seen the South Africa match with Bret Hart, you should check that out as well - it actually precedes their "first" meeting at Survivor Series '96 and shows Austin playing a more traditional heel very effectively.

 

Also, Austin has some notable tag work too - the Hollywood Blondes run, the Austin/Rude vs. Sting/Steamboat match at Clash VIII, and the tag vs. Benoit/Jericho where HHH tore his quad. It's not top shelf tag work, but it's considerably more effective than, say, Bret's tag resume and I say that as somebody who's fairly high on Bret.

 

I don't think he has any resume to support any sort of status as an all-time brawler -- if anything, I'd say what made his early WWF stuff so interesting is how methodical and old-school it was in contrast to the rest of the roster at the time. I do think he's safely on my list, though, even if he's probably going to end up in the 75-100 range as I continue to churn through homework for other candidates.

[Jingus]

Wot.

I've never heard anything but the most glowing of praise for that match. If you disagree, then by all means, microscope it and list your dissents.

 

Yes, a lot of its success is due to the booking and smoke-and-mirrors stuff; but it's superb booking, smoke, and mirrors. Good results are good results, regardless of how they were achieved.

[GOTNW]

I've seen plenty of people criticise it (I know I didn't like it at all) and haven't seen anyone talk about it as a *perfect* match.

[DR Ackermann]

In general its a match people really like. Its pretty well regarded. There are always going to be outliers.

[goc]

I've never really seen it pimped as a 5* match but yea, it's usually talked about as a great match.

[Grimmas]

On the PWO-PTBN Roundtable of the 100 greatest matches on the Network, I think the concensus was that it was the perfect attitude era match, but we all had it around 4 stars or so. Nobody was at 5.

[Jingus]

Meltzer gave it four and a half. I've seen countless random IWC posters awarding it the full five. I don't even agree it was the full five, but that opinion is certainly not rare.

[Jimmy Redman]

I may actually be the high voter for Austin. Is anyone putting him #1 or anything like that? Because he's a lock for my Top 10.

 

I feel a little strange saying that on the surface, because I'm saying that without growing up an Attitude Era fan or living through his megastar run. He retired as a wrestler months before I began watching wrestling, so my opinion of him is informed only by hindsight.

 

I just love this man. To me he embodies everything about being a pro wrestler, everything about being a megastar. Whenever he is on screen he is so completely "on", more than I've ever seen any other wrestler be "on". There's something incredibly real about him, something visceral, something that reaches out and connects with you. Whatever you want to call it - IT, charisma, Intangibles, je ne sais quoi - he has it in spades and spades, moreso than almost anyone else in the history of the biz. That bleeds into everything he does, every match he has, and it's impossible to look away. That level of magnetism goes a long way with me.

 

He's a guy of whom I'd love to watch a complete, every-match-and-promo-ever compilation of. I can count the number of guys I'd say that about on one hand, but he's one of them. Even if every match isn't going to be brilliant as a match, Austin is always compelling to watch regardless.

 

He effortlessly portrays toughness, and yet for such a tough guy character he is really good at selling - selling pain, selling damage, selling exhaustion. As such a badass character, that ability to sell and garner sympathy is key to keeping him sympathetic enough to work as a babyface. And then in turn, when he turned heel in 2001 he was such a paranoid, dastardly, cowardly shithead, and he pulled that off as well, because he still had that innate toughness underneath, he just chose to be an utter piece of shit and take the easy road. I think he was a phenomenal wrestler in 2001, and I'd honestly put that run up with any other calendar year of quality work.

 

He has classic matches with Bret, with Rock, with Foley, with Angle, with Benoit. And you can add the stuff that he makes super fun like the matches with Vince, or the random matches in 2001 with guys like Tajiri.

 

There's a lot I want to revisit from him too, like the Owen and Undertaker matches. I wonder what else is out there during his 97-99 run apart from the obvious, but I feel like Attitude Era isn't really the place for hidden gems and good TV matches.

[Tim Cooke]

He's sitting at 17 on my working list but I figured I had him pretty high

[funkdoc]

97 has a good number of hidden gems...wasn't until late in the year that russo started getting pull IIRC

[Dylan Waco]

Austin has faded for me with time. It's odd because I tend to think most of his matches I really liked at the time they happened still hold up well. And I certainly think well of him. But over the course of the years he seems less exceptional and impressive to me.

 

In a sense that is weird because he was so over, and no one today is near that level. You would think that he would stand out more. But when I look at his good runs and years, it's from the perspective of having watched whole runs of guys on FanCam, complete runs of what is available on taped television for others in certain promotions, and a multitude of WWE performers over the last fifteen years or so who have had brilliant week-to-week runs in terms of output. In that context Austin's peak years as a good t.v. worker feel less impressive - or at least they don't stand out as much.

 

It's also worth noting that 2001 was probably the closest thing I ever took in my life to a "break" from wrestling. I wasn't watching weekly at the time, though I still watched all the ppvs, and caught t.v. when I could. Still that is often cited as Austin's peak year, and I have no close connection to it because I didn't watch it in real time.

 

I'm not sure he'll even make my ballot. It's possible, but he doesn't have the depth of great matches that Cena has, the skill and range of Bret Hart, the maximized effort of Foley, or the personal emotional connection of Savage. He's kind of a great wrestler without a calling card or something grabs me and says "he has to be included."