Wrestling / "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

The Texas Rattlesnake.
The Bionic Redneck.
Austin 3:16.

"You sit there and you thump your bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16 — Austin 3:16 says 'I JUST WHIPPED YOUR ASS!'"

— Austin at King of the Ring 1996

*glass shatters*

BAH GAWD! STONE COLD! STONE COLD!

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson, December 18, 1964; later Steven James Williams) is a professional wrestler who wrestled for Jerry Lawler's USWA, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (among others) before signing with the WWF in 1995, under whom he'd wrestle almost exclusively for the rest of his career.

Originally a heel, Steve had a respectable four-year run in Atlanta as one half of the tag team The Hollywood Blondes. Eric Bischoff took over the company in the mid-nineties, and "Stunning" Steve Austin was a victim of his red marker. While wrestling in Japan, he received the standard Bischoff pink slip ("not marketable") and drifted to ECW, where his former manager Paul Heyman held open a spot for him. Since Austin was recuperating from injury, Heyman characteristically used "The Extreme Superstar" to run down WCW every chance he got ("Where the Big Boys Play With Each Other™!"). Meanwhile, the recently-fired WCW announcer Jim Ross convinced his new boss, Vince McMahon, to give Austin a try. Which wouldn't be the last time Eric screwed himself.

When the nWo came onto the scene, the American Professional Wrestling landscape changed overnight, redefining the type of personality that could headline a show. WWE chose to react by elevating "The Ringmaster" Steve Austin, who solidified his identity with that famous King of the Ring '96 speech. The "Stone Cold" personality, which Austin had been refining since his ECW days, was a hard-drinking, bald-headed Man's Man in addition to being just a Big Man.

As the poster boy for WWF's Attitude Era, SCSA drew more money in two consecutive years than the previous three combined, and more than all of the Hogan years. This translated to some of the highest ratings that wrestling would ever see on cable television. Vince McMahon decided to put the heat generated from Montreal to good use by becoming the Big Bad of the Attitude Era, a juiced-up corporate bigwig. Later, The Rock also became Austin's biggest rival; the heir apparent to Hulk Hogan who constantly feuded with "Stone Cold" (which boosted his popularity). He would also feud with Triple H, as he allied himself with Vince, becoming The Dragon. Austin, The Rock, Vince and Triple H were the big feuds of the Attitude Era.

Austin was seriously injured following a botched piledriver from Owen Hart at SummerSlam 1997. While he was able to return to work within a matter of months, the lingering neck injuries would plague the rest of his career, as he was no longer able to work the same technical style he had previously, becoming a full-time brawler. He took late 1999 and the majority of 2000 to recover from neck surgery, during which time The Rock became the WWF's top Face.

Austin returned in late 2000, defeating The Rock at WrestleMania X7 in an ill-advised Face–Heel Turn (WCW died the week before, ECW died shortly after, and the Austin/McMahon feud ended the night of - crazy how much the industry changed in a short amount of time). Austin would spend most of 2001 as the WWF champion, before a series of booking decisions in early 2002 led to him walking out of the company. He was able to return in early 2003, but his accumulated neck injuries caught up with him, and he quietly bowed out of wrestling after his match with Rock at WrestleMania XIX (though he would remain as an onscreen authority figure for another year). WWE almost immediately went back to Rock as its main attraction, with Rock leaving shortly afterwards, and the product gradually returned to its PG roots.

He was voted the third greatest superstar of all time by the WWE roster for WWE's 50 Greatest Superstars of All Time DVD set (behind Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker). He has since hosted a wildly successful podcast, The Steve Austin Show, been a guest on RAW over three dozen times, acted as a referee at pay-per-view matches, and hosted WWE's talk show The Broken Skull Sessions (named after his ranch and beer label). He made his induction in the WWE Hall of Fame 2009. His most shocking appearance was in the main event of the first night of WrestleMania 38, where at the age of 57, he came out of retirement for one more actual proper honest-to-God match against Kevin Owens.

Not to be confused with that other Steve Austin (hence his nickname "Bionic Redneck").

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Steve Austin appears in the following works:

Comic Books:

• Stone Cold Steve Austin

Film:

• (2005) The Longest Yard (as Guard Dunham)
• (2007) The Condemned (as Jack Conrad)
• (2010) Damage (as John Brickner)
• (2010) The Expendables (as Paine)
• (2013) Grown Ups 2 (as Tommy Cavanaugh)
• (2015) Smosh: The Movie (as Steve Austin)
• (2015) Chain Of Command (as Ray Peters)

Television:

• (1998) V.I.P. (as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin) in "Scents and Sensibility"
• (1999-2000) Nash Bridges (recurring as Detective Jake Cage)
• (2001-2011) The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Himself as Guest)
• (2010) Chuck (as Hugo Panzer) in "Chuck Versus the Cubic Z" and "Chuck Versus First Class"
• (2011) WWE Tough Enough (as Coach)
• (2012-2013) Redneck Island (as Host)
• (2013) Larry King Now (Himself as Guest)
• (2014-2015) Steve Austins Broken Skull Challenge (as Host)
• (2019) Straight Up Steve Austin (as Host)

Western Animation:

• (1998) Celebrity Deathmatch (as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin)
• (2000) Dilbert (as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin)

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"If you want to read Stone Cold's tropes, gimme a hell yeah!"

• Ace Custom: His "Smoking Skull" championship belt that he carried around in 1998 and 1999. It was worked into his feud with The Rock at Backlash 1999, where Austin's motivation for giving The Rock a rematch after regaining the title was to get his personal property back.
• Adam Westing: Austin appeared in the animated adaptation of Dilbert as the judge during a child custody hearing over Dilbert's baby.
  Steve Austin: Austin 3:16 says "order in the court!"
• Alternate DVD Commentary: In WCW, Diamond Dallas Page (a rookie at the time) would record all his matches so he could watch them and improve his in-ring work. Often Austin and Mick Foley would watch with him and do snarky commentary on the tapes just to bug Page. Foley noted that Page now jokes he "could make a fortune" with those tapes.
  • Austin also recorded alternate commentary (alongside Jim Ross) for several of his most famous matches as part of an official Blu-ray release from WWE and later recorded solo commentaries for his matches with Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 and The Rock at WrestleMania X-Seven both of which he released as a part of his podcast.
• Animal Motifs: The Texas Rattlesnake. Rattlesnakes are venomous and cold-blooded creatures who are known to strike unexpectedly without any provocation, which is fitting for Austin's Wild Card attitude. It also doubles as his Red Baron.
• Anti-Hero: One of the first extremely popular ones in wrestling. He was a Sociopathic Hero when he first turned as he still kept all his heelish aspects and acted like a complete jerk to the fans, although he lightened into an Unscrupulous Hero during his nicer periods.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Vince McMahon. "Austin vs. McMahon" was the feud that shaped the entire Attitude Era, running through the WWF's storylines for years. Even now in kayfabe, the two still have some animosity.
  • In and out of the ring, Austin shared a special relationship with The Rock, with Rock being by far his archrival and co-protagonist of the Attitude Era. It was only The Rock, with his incredible charisma and skills on the mic, that could match Stone Cold in Ham-to-Ham Combat and Popularity Power. This feud only intensified as Rock matched Stone Cold in popularity at the later end of the Attitude Era, with The Rock feuding with Stone Cold as some of the most memorable moments in wrestling history.
  • Bret Hart was also a large rival to Austin. They had a barnburner of a match at WrestleMania 13 where a Face/Heel Double-Turn shaped the course of both men's careers. A special note for Bret in that, in all the matches Austin had with him, he never beat Bret. The closest he got was eliminating Bret from the 1997 Royal Rumble (after himself getting thrown over the top rope but saved by none of the referees seeing it) and officially winning the Royal Rumble that year.
  • Both Triple H and The Undertaker have tried to kill Austin at certain points.
  • At the start of his career, it was his trainer, "Gentleman" Chris Adams^note Austin's valet Lady Blossom was Adams' former wife.. In WCW, Ricky Steamboat.
• The Artifact:
  • The Stunner is clearly in reference to his "Stunning" Steve Austin persona, in spite of the fact that he didn't start using it until he became Stone Cold.
  • The Stone Cold moniker itself. The character was originally based on a Real Life Professional Killer by the name of Richard Kuklinski, who had the moniker of "The Iceman". Early into Austin's time as Stone Cold, he spoke with a Creepy Monotone, a far cry from the Hot-Blooded redneck Large Ham that he became famous for portraying.
• Ascended Fanboy: Any of his interviews with wrestlers from eras before his will show just how much he loves wrestling. You can clearly see the utter glee he has in watching Ric Flair in the famous '92 Royal Rumble bout with the man himself, down to anticipating Ric's famous Flair Flops within the match. It's no wonder the man became the highest selling draw in the business with the sheer love he has for it.
• As Himself: He did his own voice as a Recurring Character on Celebrity Deathmatch. (He claimed in an interview that the only thing he didn't like about his animated alter-ego was that he had four fingers on each hand.)
• Atrocious Alias: Austin has noted that before the "Stone Cold" monicker was conceived, several ring names were considered for him. They considered calling him Chilly McFreeze at one point. Just imagine the glass shattering, the music hitting, and JR yelling out, "McFreeze! McFreeze! McFreeze!" Baron Von Ruthless was another one that was considered. No shit, the guy Frozone made fun of for being long-winded. And yes, Austin has noted how atrocious they were, although he jokes that if they rejected the Stone Cold moniker, he'd have tried to be the best Baron Von Ruthless that he could be.
• Audience Surrogate: In his feud with Vince McMahon, for anyone who's ever had a Bad Boss.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: He was crowned the 1996 King of the Ring winner, which kicked off Austin's rise to the top.
• Ax-Crazy: Was often unstable and unpredictable against his enemies, and would sometimes Stun people for no real reason.
• Badass Boast: One month after winning the 1996 King of the Ring, while being interviewed about his victory, he gave this gem of a line:
  Austin: On the eighth day, God created Stone Cold and I'm rewriting the book! I will continue to whip every one's ass until someone's got the guts, the talent, or a machine gun to stop me!
• Badass Driver: With all the random vehicles he has driven into the arena to terrorize his enemies, he qualifies. It's practically a running gag.
• Bait the Dog: After stunning both Vince and Austin Theory during Theory's WrestleMania 38 match with the face Pat McAfee, he offers to share some beer with McAfee inside the ring. Taking the chance to drink beer with his childhood hero, it seems as if Austin will for once not stun a face...only to pull the Stunner on Pat as he finishes his beers.
  • Any time you think Austin isn't going to give you a stunner in the ring, you're wrong.
• Bald of Evil: When he was a heel, of course.
• Bald Head of Toughness: A completely bald beer drinking and ass-whopping tough guy who has won three Royal Rumbles (the most out of any wrestler), once chose to pass out from blood loss rather than lose to Bret Hart, has weaponized large vehicles in certain feuds and was such a threat that his Arch-Enemy Vince McMahon had to assemble two different stables in an attempt to take Austin down.
• "Bang!" Flag Gun: Did this to Mr. McMahon in order to get rehired in the WWF. The flag had "BANG 3:16!" written on it.
  Austin: McMahon 3:16 says I just pissed my pants!
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: He used the Sharpshooter against Bret Hart and the Rock Bottom against The Rock, albeit his variant of the latter had him remain standing. There's also his match with Chris Benoit where they essentially swapped wrestling styles. Subverted during his ECW run, where he used Hulk Hogan's moveset to no avail, though obviously not against Hogan himself.
• Because I Said So: "And that's the bottom line...'cause Stone Cold said so!"
• Beergasm: Half down his shirt for the fans, half in his mouth for himself.
• Belated Happy Ending: Austin's final two years as a wrestler weren't exactly great due to a combination of creative writing that caused him to leave the company in the middle of 2002, his injuries finally catching up to him, and losing his final match at WrestleMania XIX. Furthermore, he had a near-fatal heart condition the night before that and was initially advised not to proceed with the match. Fast forward nineteen years later at WrestleMania 38, Austin came out of retirement to have one more match against Kevin Owens and defeat the younger wrestler at the main event of Night 1. Said match was very well-received among fans which overrides Austin's Bittersweet Ending in 2003 and gave the Texas Rattlesnake one last hurrah.
• Begin with a Finisher: He had this fame especially in battles with many enemies (like a ring full of wrestlers hitting each other) as well in chats with other wrestlers in the ring and specifically with Mr. McMahon, in which his first move is none other than his Stone Cold Stunner.
• Berserk Button: Never under any circumstances waste beer in front of him. Especially if you challenge Austin to a drinking contest. He doesn't care if it's Canadian beer, if you are willing to challenge him, you will drink it. JBL learned that the hard way.
  • It's also a not-so-bright idea to be messing with JR while Austin's around. Just ask Triple H who punched JR during one of Austin's match.
• Big Damn Heroes: While a lot of wrestlers will do run-ins to save fellow wrestlers, Stone Cold was probably the master at it. There's nothing quite like watching a collection of heels giving a beatdown to an outmatched face, only to hear that famous glass break and watch Stone Cold run in and lay waste to everybody he can find. Of note are his run-in on the Rock/Mankind match that gave the latter the title (in the words of the competition, that put some butts in the seats), his run-in to save Stephanie from The Undertaker and the Ministry of Darkness at the Raw after Backlash '99 (probably the first time Stone Cold acted like a genuine hero as opposed to just a '90s Anti-Hero), his run-in to help The Rock finally take the WWF Championship from HHH a year later at Backlash '00, and his run-in with a pool cue to take out EVERY MEMBER of the Alliance and save the WWF roster in the early part of the Invasion before he turned later at the next PPV.
• Big Eater:
  • His later promos often consist of him discussing how much food he's eaten.
    Austin: I'mma go down to Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat-Whataburger (*what*) and I'mma order a Whataburger with cheese (*what*) a Whataburger without cheese (*what*) a Whataburger with double cheese (*what*) some French fries (*what*) some MORE French fries (*what*) and *** it with a Fresh-catch fish sandwich (*what*) Another Whataburger with double cheese (*what*)
  • At the time, he was working in kayfabe on building his gut that time for the Royal Rumble... because a low center of gravity makes it harder for him to get thrown over the top rope. Legendary woman wrestler The Fabulous Moolah noted once Austin had what wrestlers from her generation referred to as "a natural body"; being someone who worked out in the gym and worked hard in the ring, but spent most of their time on the road eating at diners.
  • But that wasn't the last time he mentioned eating a lot of food. Later that year...
    Austin: So while I was trying to make that decision, I drove down to the Sonic Drive-In (*what*) Ordered a jalapeño burger (*what*) A chicken-fried steak sandwich (*what*) A chili cheese dog with extra onions (*what*) French fries (*what*) Tater Tots (*what*) Washed it down with one beer (*what*) Two beers (*what*) Three beers (*what*) a shot of whiskey (*what*) a margarita (*what*) and a Bloody Mary. (*what*)
• Big "WHAT?!": His last catchphrase, so ingrained in the WWE audience that a decade after his retirement, crowds STILL do it on a weekly basis.
  • He was also fond of the Flat "What" and various other varieties of "what". Basically, if there was a way to say "what", Austin managed to do it at some point in his career.
• Big "YES!": "Oh... Hell... Yeah!"
• Bittersweet Ending: Austin was rushed to the hospital the night before WrestleMania XIX with an irregular heartbeat that almost killed him. According to some reports, doctors advised him not to do the match at all, but feeling he owed it to the fans, and to The Rock, since it was due to be Austin's final match as a full-time wrestler for WWE. So Austin performed anyway. Austin lost the match, and was sent into retirement shortly thereafter. Later subverted when Austin was given a Distant Finale arc at WrestleMania XXXVIII with a match against Kevin Owens that he won.
• Blood Knight: He was in the WWF for two reasons - to raise hell, and for the World Title, because it meant he had earned the spot at the top, and anyone who wanted to take it were welcome to try. And he'd fight anyone for it, friend, foe or anyone who strayed too close.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: During his famous match at WrestleMania X-7, at one point he put Rock in the Million Dollar Dream, a submission move more associated with his Ringmaster days than as Stone Cold. This was a bit of Foreshadowing that not only was Austin really desperate to get the title back but that he was about to turn heel again to do it.
• Bookends: His first match and his last match were both in Dallas. In the former, he was under the tutelage of "Gentleman" Chris Adams before officially wrestling at WCWA while in the latter was at the end of Night 1 of WrestleMania 38, in which Austin defeated Kevin Owens in a No Holds Barred match.
• Captain Ersatz: You can find "him" in the Game Boy Advanced Fire Pro Wrestling.
• Car Fu: Used various large vehicles as weapons during his WWE run. He was also on the receiving end of this by Rikishi, on orders from Triple H.
• Cassandra Truth: As Austin and Bret Hart revealed during their 2020 "Broken Skull Sessions" interview, Austin ^note who is one of the most iconic examples of talent that WCW failed to appreciate, wasted, and let go to the WWF had warned Bret in advance not to go to WCW, because they were idiots who had no idea what they were doing and would ruin him. Because Bret was being promised an unbelievable amount of money, he went anyway where, sure enough, they had no idea what to do with him and he ultimately suffered a career-ending injury from a mule kick by Goldberg. Bret would later regret not listening to Austin.
• Catchphrase
  • "Do unto others before they do unto you!"
  • The Hollywood Blondes ended promos by saying, "Your brush with greatness is over."
  • "Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!"
  • "If ya wanna see Stone Cold (do something awesome), gimme a hell yeah!" "Hell yeah!" invoked
  • "And that's the bottom line, cause Stone Cold said so!"
  • "DTA^note you son of a bitch! Don't Trust Anybody!
  • "WHAT?!"
  • Stone Cold already gone through the list yet? "EH EH!"
  • Whenever the crowd chants "asshole" at a heel he's facing, he'll say "I don't know how good your hearing is, but you got about [insert number of fans in attendance] calling you an asshole!"
  • During his time as a heel in 2001, Austin would go around the front row after the show would go off air and ask people what they did for a living, only to turn around and use the catchphrase, “If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a [whatever that person’s job was]!”
  • His days as general manager for Raw would include the line “I’m trying very hard to maintain my composure” after he was informed he wasn’t allowed to physically assault the talent without provocation anymore.
  • And more recently, in his Twitter-posted magic trick videos: "How does he do it, ladies and gentlemen, how does he do it?"
• Catchphrase Insult: He usually calls anyone "jackass", "piece of trash", or "piece of crap".
• Cheap Heat: Inverted. Stone Cold Steve Austin was so popular that referring to him in any way could get a cheap pop long after he had left an active role with the company.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Comes with the territory of Austin willing to apply a Stunner to just about anybody. Even fellow faces. Suffice to say, there's a reason why one of his nicknames is "The Rattlesnake".
• Clothing Damage: When The Undertaker and Paul Bearer tried to embalm an unconscious Austin alive, they only got as far as cutting up his shirt before Kane intervened.
• Cloudcuckoolander
  • Ever seen his Twitter page? His wars with sharks and Toyota Priuses, and his misadventures in Chickensaurus farming are classics.
  • Austin's heel act in 2001 was the embodiment of this trope. It was also a big reason why he had a hard time getting over as the top heel, he was too damn funny to be booed.
  • Chris Jericho noted that during the summer of 2003, he and Austin would entertain the crowd for an extended period of time long after the show went off the air and explained they had great comedic chemistry together because both of them were at their hearts “goofy” entertainers.
  • The Steve Austin Show takes this to new heights. Episode seven has him get into an argument with and wrestle a fly. It's as insane as it sounds.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Austin turned this into an art form. Even as "Stunning" Steve Austin, his finisher, the Stun Gun, essentially involved dropping his opponent's throat onto the top rope. In the WWF, he took it up to eleven, using chairs, vehicles and, at one point, shooting Scott Hall with a net gun.
  • This extended to his post-neck injury wrestling style. Why do a super complicated obscure duplex variant when just jumping on your opponent and punching them repeatedly in the face works just as well?
• Commuting on a Bus: For years after his days as a full-time performer ended, Austin maintained an on-and-off again relationship with the WWE. He's returned as a special guest on Raw and pay per views on numerous occasions to drink beer and deliver Stunners, and hosted The Broken Skull Sessions on the WWE network from 2019-2022.
• Cool Car: Austin got to drive a lot of awesome vehicles during the Attitude era, including (but not limited to) a tanker truck full of beer, a Zamboni, a collection of monster trucks, and a cement mixer (see below). You could also win his signature Jeep in a 1996 Royal Rumble sweepstakes.
  Chris Jericho: I loved how the Austin character just morphed into a guy who would just drive any type of vehicle onto the show and trash things.
• Cool Old Guy: Has slid into this role as time gets farther away from the Attitude Era.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Piledrivers were phased out, with a few exceptions, after Austin's injury during the match with Owen Hart. Austin himself played this trope straight in his feud with Kurt Angle by using it on Angle as a counterpart to Angle's anklelock.
• Deal with the Devil: Frequently after his Face–Heel Turn and alliance with Vince McMahon in 2001, it was said that he sold his soul for the WWF Title.
• Dem Bones: His ring and entrance attire usually have skulls on them, and his merchandise often depict glowing eyed skeletons. In 1998 and 1999, he carried around a custom "Smoking Skull" championship belt.
  • After his retirement he moved into an estate he christened the Broken Skull Ranch which became his brand going forward.
    • He's hosted a CMT show called The Broken Skull Challenge.
    • He hosts a one-on-one interview show on WWE called The Broken Skull Sessions.
    • He's involved with the brewing of a beer called "Steve Austin's Broken Skull IPA".
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Following his match with The Rock at WrestleMania XIX, Austin appeared on WWE programming in a non-wrestling capacity (mainly as an authority figure) until 2004, when he left the company due to contract disputes and a budding acting career. Austin had also retired due to injuries at that time: he's only wrestled one match since.
  • In 2002, Austin was scheduled to face rising star Brock Lesnar on Raw in a match during the King of the Ring tournament; Austin would have jobbed to Lesnar (who, in fact, eventually went on to win the tournament). However, Austin — who had been shafted out of a match with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8, facing Scott Hall instead — thus making it his first WM appearance since WMXIII where he wasn't in the main event- felt that losing to Lesnar on Raw would do neither man any favors.^note According to Austin, he didn't mind putting over Lesnar, but thought that losing in an early KOTR round on Raw with no build-up would make Austin look weak while throwing away money. He felt that building up to Lesnar facing Austin in the KOTR finals on PPV would've not just made money, but also would've given Lesnar an incredible rub with a big-stage win over Stone Cold, instead of a random win on Raw with no bigger star in the tournament for Lesnar to face afterwards. The fact that around the same time Lesnar defeated Hulk Hogan himself after making him pass out and bleed from a bearhug... on a random episode of SmackDown seems to reinforce Austin's point. It also just didn’t make any sense why Austin would even be in the tournament when he’s already the most famous winner of the tournament. After disagreements with the creative staff over the issue, Austin took his ball and went home, no-showing Raw and not appearing on WWE programming until 2003.
• Dented Iron: He was never physically the same after the botched piledriver from Owen Hart in 1997 with surgery required even a number of years after the fact, missing most of 2000 as a result. Less talked about, but more visible, are his knees, wearing a knee brace on his left knee from early 1997 onwards and wearing braces on both knees upon his return in 2000.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Stone Cold once finished a promo with this:
  Austin: I'll tell you why, because Stone Cold said so! And that's the bottom line, why?! BECAUSE OL' STONE COLD SAID SO! And that's the damnedest bottom line I ever bottom-lined!
• Determinator: Austin’s defining trait as a face was an absolute refusal to give up no matter how battered he was. This extends to his real life persona where it took a medical emergency for him to realize his body was telling him to stop wrestling. Even then, he still wrestled the Rock the next night (and lost) because he felt he owed it to the Rock to put him over after Rock put him over the previous two encounters.
• Dirty Coward: Austin’s 2001 heel turn would turn him into this, desperate to do anything and everything to avoid risking losing the WWE Championship, culiminating at SummerSlam 2001, when during his match against Kurt Angle, he intentionally disqualified himself by attacking three WWE referees. The apex of this was when Angle kidnapped him and threatened to throw him off a bridge if Austin didn’t give him a title shot, resulting in Austin devolving into a crying, begging wreck.
• Disproportionate Retribution: During one episode of Monday Night Raw, Austin shared a beer in the ring with fellow babyface Stacy Keibler. When she took a sip but refused to finish it, Austin responded by giving her a Stunner.
• Domestic Abuse: Austin did this to his former wife Debra Marshall and an ex-girlfriend of his in Real Life, the former of whom claimed that Austin forced her to write a letter saying that everything was okay. Not cool, Austin.
• Don't Do Anything I Wouldn't Do: Austin said this to Goldberg when handing him a ticket to No Way Out 2004, in which Goldberg's rival, Brock Lesnar, was defending the WWE Championship. The only problem with that?
  Vince McMahon: There isn't a damn thing you wouldn't do!
• The Dragon: To his Arch-Enemy Vince McMahon following his Face–Heel Turn at WrestleMania X-Seven. Probably one of the most shocking examples.
• Dramatic Spine Injury: Austin received a botched Tombstone piledriver from Owen Hart at SummerSlam '97 that compacted his neck and bruised his spinal cord. He recovered, but he had to radically change his style of wrestling as a result, and would eventually retire in 2003 due to complications from the neck injury. Incidentally, WWE would all but ban the piledriver in 2000 as a result of Austin's injury.
• The Dreaded: Stone Cold is an absolute Wild Card and will stun just about anybody, allegiances be damned. This understandably gave him a fearsome reputation during the Attitude Era. Even following his retirement from the ring, heels and faces alike freeze in fear whenever they hear his iconic glass shattering as it means that Stone Cold is coming to stun any poor sap inside the ring. When Kevin Owens challenged Stone Cold to a match at Wrestlemania 38, even The Undertaker told him that messing with Stone Cold is a bad idea.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Plays this role on the new season of WWE Tough Enough but not to the degree of costar Bill DeMott.
• Drives Like Crazy: Monster trucks over The Rock's Lincoln. Cement trucks into Vince's Corvette. A zamboni over lighting equipment and used as a ramp to attack McMahon. A beer truck that was too big for the TitanTron and nearly caused it to be pulled down.
• Drop the Cow: Since Austin's active career with WWE ended, any appearance he makes is just buildup until he inevitably Stone Cold Stunner(s) everyone in the ring, whether it makes any sense or not. The crowd always goes crazy for this. Arrive. Stunner. Leave.
  • On RAW Homecoming, the entire McMahon family was stunned by Austin. Can anything go right for these poor people in the Attitude Era? (The answer is no.)
• Drunk Driving: He'd often jump on his all-terrain vehicle and ride around the arena after doing his beer bash. Once Jonathan Coachman assembled the team of Goldust and Big Van Vader to fight Stone Cold, but Stone Cold no-showed; Vince McMahon revealed Austin had been in a motor vehicle accident.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Austin's reason why he turned on the WWF and defected to The Alliance during the Invasion storyline; he claimed that he was feeling underappreciated by Mr. McMahon, and that McMahon was grooming Kurt Angle to succeed him as WWF Champion.
• Early-Installment Weirdness
  • In voice, demeanor, not to mention the long blond hair, "Stunning" Steve Austin (1989–1995) is like a whole other person. In fact, if you look at pictures of him from that era and try covering up the hair, he still doesn't look anything like he did as Stone Cold.
  • Even during his first year in WWE he was "The Ringmaster". (WWE put up a clip of his debut match on its YouTube channel: Take a look here.) He was managed by "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase) (to compensate for a perceived lack of interview skills), still had hair (albeit in a buzz cut by that point), and wrestled a very hold/submission-based style.
  • Prior to his broken neck at SummerSlam 1997, he was a feared technical wrestler, who had a unique style that mixed submission holds and brawling (witness his WrestleMania XIII classic with Bret Hart). In his Broken Skull Sessions interview with Bret he attributed the forced style change post-injury from a technician to an outright brawler to be what made his style fully gel with the Stone Cold character. His early Stone Cold promos involved Austin speaking in a Creepy Monotone instead of the loud, brash voice many are accustomed to.
• Easily-Distracted Referee: Averted. Stone Cold takes his duties as a special guest referee very seriously and keeps a watchful eye on the wrestlers during a match, thus making sure the heel can't rely on using weapons or having their allies interfere.
• Enemy Mine
  • Stone Cold and The Rock were never friends even as mutual faces, though a common Raw main event was to team the two together against their respective opponents at the upcoming PPV. Usually, the other team was part of the same stable (and thus more unified), so a recurring theme was whether Austin and Rock could get along enough to beat them.
  • One huge example of Enemy Mine happened when Austin helped his Arch-Enemy Vince McMahon win the WWE Championship from HHH.
  • His tag team title run with Shawn Michaels was this. They both teamed up due to a mutual feud with The Hart Foundation, but tensions were so strained that they had a PPV matchup against each other while still holding the tag team belts.
• Establishing Character Moment: Austin's coronation as the 1996 King of the Ring, where he bad-mouthed Jake "the Snake" Roberts trying to recover from his alcoholism, became the basis of the Stone Cold character.
  • His infamous submission match against Bret Hart showed, even if he’s brash and uncouth (or maybe even because of it, he’s the toughest SOB in the WWE to the point that he’d rather pass out from blood loss than tap out.
• The Everyman: Despite the outlandishness of pro wrestling, this was probably the key to Austin's success. He didn't have a weird gimmick, he had a normal-sounding name, he dressed plainly (black trunks, t-shirt/vest, jeans) and had no tattoos, he didn't look like some musclebound, roided-up bodybuilder, he spoke plainly, his moves weren't crazy high-flying or technical ones, and, possibly most important of all, the person he loved beating up the most was his own boss, a.k.a. every average person's secret fantasy.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Austin, the foul-mouthed, beer-drinking S.O.B. who will gladly attack anyone he sees; his motto is "Don't trust anyone" after all. And yet, not even Austin himself can open up a can of whoopass in front of old nuns, something Booker T took advantage of when escaping from him.
  • While Austin isn't the type of person to care about what others are doing, even he felt that R-Truth, a black man, wearing a Confederate soldier uniform is wrong and immediately walked away after seeing it.
• Face–Heel Turn: His infamous turn at WrestleMania X-7 where he aligned with Vince to brutalize his way towards the world title again.
• The Farmer and the Viper: Many times, Stone Cold would act friendly to somebody else only to kick them in the gut and then stun them for the hell of it. Sometimes, he even lampshaded it by saying "DTA! Don't trust anybody!" right after.
  • This was also the impetus behind his infamous 2001 heel turn. He pointed out he was *always* untrustworthy and amoral so why anyone was upset that he was just doing what was advantageous to him didn’t mean a thing to him.
• Finishing Move
  • The Stone Cold Stunner. The move was popularized through Austin to the point where it's exclusively called a "Stunner" whenever anyone performs it. It is a lot simpler than saying "three-quarter facelock jawbreaker".
  • As the Ringmaster, he used the Million Dollar Dream (Cobra Clutch). After ditching Ted DiBiase, he wouldn't use the move again until WrestleMania X-Seven against The Rock, as an unsuccessful desperate attempt to win the title.
  • Pre-WWE, he used the Stun Gun (drop-your-opponent-throat-first-on-the-top-rope, aka Eddie Gilbert's Hot Shot).
• Flanderization: Towards the end of his career Austin had a tendency to apply the Stunner to pretty much everyone he interacted with, including other babyfaces, often with no provocation whatsoever.
  • During the RAW 25th Anniversary show, Austin's much-anticipated appearance was reduced to him coming out, guzzling beer, and Stunnering Vince once and Shane twice. This, from one of the greatest promos of the Attitude Era.
• Flipping the Bird: The Stone Cold Salute, which he does to both foes who piss him off and the audience (who return in kind). He actually gets over by flipping off the very people who support him.
• Foreshadowing: His Face–Heel Turn (and simultaneous alliance with archnemesis Vince McMahon) in 2001 was subtly foreshadowed in the interview leading up to the match. In the interview, Austin tells The Rock that he needs to beat The Rock more than anything in the world.
  • It was also foreshadowed at the end of his Three Stages of Hell match to end his feud with Triple H. Austin lost the match 2–1, winning the first round which was a normal rules match but losing the street fight round and cage match to Triple H. While Triple H’s win in the cage was mostly a fluke (both men hit each other with objects simultaneously and Triple H simply landed on top of Austin and got a three count despite being as unconscious as Austin was), Austin was visibly despondent after the match that he had seemingly lost his edge as the most vicious SOB in the company, paving the way for him to get his status as top dog back via winning the world title by any means necessary to include selling his soul to Vince to do it.
  • Even Mr. McMahon mentioned it in his pre-match promo against Shane McMahon at WM17:
  "You want shocking? Tonight, you'll get... shocking. I guarantee it." — Mr. McMahon
• Funetik Aksent: Played for Laughs, as Austin would refer to the McMahons' hometown of Greenwich, CT (which is pronounced "Greh-niche") as if it were pronounced "Green-witch".
• Game-Breaking Injury: While everyone will rightfully speak the world of the late great Owen Hart, he is also noted for shortening the career of Stone Cold with that infamous piledriver, which was so devastating that WWF virtually banned the popular move for everyone effective immediately. Stone Cold was able to sustain his career by changing from a typical chain wrestler to his signature kick-and-punch Main Event Style (that eventually spread company-wide to save wear-and-tear) before the neck injury put him out for good in 2003.
• Garbage Wrestler
  • Due to his neck problems, most of Austin's wrestling repertoire in WWF consisted of just beating the shit out of the other guy.
  • As per the Attitude Era, a lot of his big name matches were stipulated as some form of a No-Disqualification match to justify him forgoing a lot of mat wrestling in lieu of beating up his opponents with chairs and the like.
  • In one of his ECW promos, he called the promotion's style "violent crap."
  • Very much averted in his pre-injury he days, where he won rave reviews from smart fans for his technical skills.
• Good is Not Nice: Heel, face, or neutral, if you get on his nerves, he will Stun you. And that's if he's feeling particularly nice.
• Groin Attack:
  • Austin in his ring attire would sometimes stomp his opponent's family jewels between the legs when he's down. For some reason, this doesn't seem to get him disqualified.
  • During the segment in which he pretended to be a "corporate stooge" for Mr. McMahon, Austin smacked him in the grapefruits, took the camera from him, and proceeded to take a picture of him while McMahon keeled over in pain. And this when Mr. McMahon brought in two police officers to ensure that Austin wouldn't try something funny and yet the officers stood there and did nothing.
• Glass Jaw Referee: Downplayed. While Stone Cold can be unusually taken down easily as a special guest referee, he usually gets up easily as well.
• Guile Hero: Besides ass-whoopings, butt-kickings and liberal application of the Stunner, Stone Cold was actually an extremely devious and conniving adversary. Most of his feud with Vince and other opponents consisted of the heels putting all kinds of restraints or obstacles in his path, or going to extreme lengths to avoid him, only for Austin outmaneuver everyone by using disguises or resorting to psychological warfare.
• HA HA HA—No: A clip of Austin laughing and then suddenly falling into a stone-faced, serious expression has grown popular even outside of the fanbase. Unsurprisingly, this extended to his season as the head trainer of Tough Enough. Doesn't matter if you're a grizzled ring vet or a complete noob trying too hard, he'll tetll you if he thinks you're being a dick.
• Hates Everyone Equally: Attacked both heels and faces, regardless of alignment. If anything, that made the fans love him more.
• Heel–Face Turn: At WrestleMania 13 he fought a brutal submission match with Bret Hart, but refused to submit and endured the pain until he passed out. This heralded Austin properly being recognized as a face by the WWF while Bret Hart made a Face–Heel Turn by attacking Austin after the bell. A year later, Austin would be the biggest star wrasslin' has ever seen.
  • However, while Austin was feuding with the reunited Hart Foundation, he and the other Americans still got the heel treatment in Canada and Europe.
  • His face turn at the end of the Invasion was basically just go back to his initial characterization and pretend like the last eight months never happened, something the audience gladly obliged him on.
• Hell Is That Noise: His theme by Disturbed in 2001 counts with its murderer-esque guitar riffs.
• The Hero: Shares this role with The Rock in the Attitude, InVasion, and the first part of Ruthless Aggression Eras.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath:
  • Austin's character since his retirement has been built on this. If he offers you a beer, and you accept, you're probably going to get stunned. If you don't, he might take it personally. Take the beer and toast with him, then run the hell out of the ring IMMEDIATELY after. He usually won't chase after you.
  • It's gotten to the point where, when Austin gave commentators Booker T and Josh Matthews stunners while celebrating with them after Michael Cole's defeat at WrestleMania 27, Josh and Booker actually got mad at Michael Cole for getting them so excited over his defeat that they'd be dumb enough to get in the ring with Austin in a beer bash, knowing the end result.
• Hoax Hogan: His entire "Superstar" Steve Austin revolved around taking the absolute piss out of Hulk Hogan. He was introduced parodying Hogan's interview style and began using Hogan's moveset to no avail in a title match.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • HHH had him run over by a truck at Survivor Series 99. HHH got hoist as well: By taking out Austin, this left the third spot in the main event against The Rock open, and it was filled by... THE BIG SHOW, who proceeded to beat HHH for the WWE World Heavyweight Title that night.
  • Literally hoist when Haitch arranged a sneak attack at the next Survivor Series... he intended to run Austin down again. Cue fork lift where the car he was in was lifted up and dropped from about thirty feet.
  • Even he found the "What" mind game annoying when it was used against him by CM Punk.
  • In his first match with Bret Hart, he locked Bret in the Million Dollar Dream, only for Bret to counter it into a pin to win the match.
• Hollywood Apocrypha: "Austin 3:16 says 'I just whooped your ass!'" He had been working on a variation on "Ezekiel 25:17" but he didn't quite have it until King of the Ring.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Austin has admitted that he's a bad singer, and he employed this "skill" during his skits with Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon.
  • Really noticeable during his duets with the Rock given the Rock is at least somewhat decent at singing whereas Austin sounds like gravel in a wood chipper.
• Hot-Blooded: "Arrive, Raise Hell, Leave!"
• How Much More Can He Take?: Austin at the end of his "Submission Match" at WrestleMania 13 was bleeding heavily and screaming in pain, but he still refused to tap out to Bret Hart. He would later lose consciousness due to blood loss, losing him the match.
• Hypocrite: Openly questioned Stephanie and Shane McMahon for making Alliance members fight each other the very next show after they lost four championships…only to then put them all in a battle royal to determine the #1 contender to Chris Jericho's WCW Championship. Subverted in that Austin's actions ultimately had a point; if we're gonna make our own guys fight each other, do it for an actual strategic reason (like determining the best world title contender at the time), not to indulge in petty punishment or revenge.
• Iconic Item: He's the wrestler probably most associated with the Attitude Era Championship belt, having been the first to hold it, replacing the Winged Eagle belt the night after his first title win and the last to hold it before it was unified with the Big Gold Belt. Ironically, Austin found it uncomfortable to carry on his shoulder, hence why he had his custom Smoking Skull Championship belt made.
• I Have Many Names: His birth name was Steven James Anderson. His mother remarried when he was pretty young so he took his stepfather's surname "Williams". Then he changed it to his ring name "Austin" in 2007.
• Important Haircut: His hairline was deteriorating rapidly in the nineties, but he still tried to be a long-haired blond (e.g. the vanilla of pro wrestling) who preened about his looks all the time. Not so as Stone Cold.
• Improbable Weapon User:
  • During his brawl with Booker T in the supermarket, he uses everything from flour to eggs to milk to frozen pizzas to kick Booker's ass.
  • Famously assaulted Vince with a bedpan.
• Ink-Suit Actor
  • As Himself, a regular character during several seasons of Celebrity Deathmatch, as the main color commentator. Also the Gadgeteer Genius and science and weapons advisor. Often seen performing Percussive Maintenance on his Time Machine.
  • Austin also had a recurring role on Nash Bridges, basically playing Stone Cold with a badge.
• Ironic Echo: Austin was very upset that Owen Hart never called him to find out his condition after Hart broke his neck with a botched Tombstone Piledriver. This only becomes Ironic because Austin never bothered to check up on Masahiro Chono after breaking his neck in an almost identical fashion, during an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match, in September 1992. Only avoids crossing over into hypocrisy because Austin, at the time, had no idea that Chono was actually injured.
• Ironic Nickname: The "Stone Cold" moniker contrasts Austin's character as he is a Hot-Blooded, volatile wrestler and his promos mostly consist of imagery of flames in the background. Though it's actually an Artifact Title, as the gimmick was originally based on serial killer "The Iceman" Richard Kuklinski, complete with Austin being an emotionless predator who spoke in a Creepy Monotone.
• It Will Never Catch On:
  • While Foley only saw him doing warmups in the ring while Austin was training, he didn't think too much about him. In his book, Foley then notes that he'd go on to be one of the top wrestlers of all time.
  • What Eric Bischoff said after Austin was fired from WCW over the phone. Thing is, he was catching on prior to the signing of Hogan. Lampshaded at Unforgiven when he was the next big thing, and in WWE 13.
  • After WCW introduced Goldberg in 1997, MANY people labeled him an Austin ripoff because of the similar appearance and outfit (bald head and black trunks and boots), and saw it as hypocritical, since, according to Austin, Bischoff had told him that a guy who wears such a basic outfit wouldn't get over.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While Austin was injured, Bischoff wanted him to come in and cut promos. He had Tony Schiavone call Austin, only to reach Austin's at-the-time wife while Austin audibly yelled, "Tell that sumbitch I ain't home," in the background. Austin said when interviewing Eric Bischoff years later on his podcast that he probably would have fired him, too. Austin has also admitted that while he was a great worker in WCW, he was weak at cutting promos. His time in ECW under Paul Heyman made him better on the mic and gave rise to the Stone Cold character. He may have never found that skill and character if he hadn't been fired from WCW. Furthermore, WCW Standards and Practices would have never allowed the Stone Cold character to go in the direction it did. Austin has ultimately concluded that getting fired from WCW was the best thing that happened to his career.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • As a face. While his motto was "don't trust anyone" and was known for Stunning heels and faces alike, he also didn't shy from helping people out once in a while.
  • Joined D-Generation X in backing up Mankind during his big title match. Granted, this was probably just to piss Vince although his decision while CEO to transfer some of Vince’s salary over Mick’s to help with his medical bills implies Austin has a bit of soft spot and respect for Foley.
  • Returned at Backlash 2000 to take out Triple H's posse to even The Rock's odds against him. Again, this was almost certainly to piss Vince off.
  • He even helped his arch-enemy Vince McMahon by rescuing his daughter Stephanie from the Corporate Ministry.
• Kick the Dog: Austin's 2001 heel turn was full of this, from brutally attacking his friend Jim Ross, and The Hardy Boyz and Lita (the latter two with Triple H), and then attempting to cripple Kurt Angle when it became apparent that he cannot beat Angle in a one-on-one match.
• Knight of Cerebus: Ironically not when they gave him the silly Stone Cold serial killer gimmick, but when he won the King of the Ring and gave his now famous fiery promo to Jake Roberts.
• Large Ham: Several of Austin's promos fell into this category.
• Lovable Rogue: Austin was a "tweener", but was mainly treated as a face in feuds...
• Master of Disguise: Austin stalked Vince McMahon several times this way before proceeding to beat the crap out of him after revealing his identity to him. During the Attitude era, he disguised himself as a show staffer, a fireman, and most notably a doctor. During the Ruthless Aggression era, Austin even disguised himself as Santa Claus while Vince was delivering a promo at the inaugural Tribute to the Troops event.
• '90s Anti-Hero: Pretty much the Trope Codifier for Professional Wrestling, the Stone Cold character got its start when Austin was in ECW before he came to WWE and ran with a lot of the themes ECW was gaining its fanbase with.
• Odd Couple: With Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon during the start of the Invasion storyline. It's often considered some of the funniest promos in WWF history.
• One-Man Army:
  • Stone Cold Steve Austin's "trust no one" maxim meant he often had to rely on himself while feuding with entire stables. The whole fusion of the Corporation and Ministry of Darkness was apparently just to mess with Stone Cold.
  • He managed to almost single handedly turn the tide in a WWE-Alliance street-style fight by just showing up and beating the hell out of any Alliance member he saw with a broken pool cue.
• One-Steve Limit:
  • Austin first began competing under his real name, Steve Williams. However when Mid-South merged with Austin's employer, World Class Championship Wrestling, Dutch Mantell forced Austin to change his name to avoid confusion with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams who was, at that time, more famous.
  • When the (then) WWF signed "Lord" Steven Regal away from WCW, they forced him to change his name to William Regal since the company already had Steve Austin and Steve Blackman on the roster.
• Overly Long Gag: WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? It managed to last long after Austin left the ring.
• Passing the Torch: By putting Austin over, Jake Roberts symbolized the old style of wrestling making way for the new.
• Patriotic Fervor: In Raw on 2003, aired on Memorial Day, two punks interrupted Lillian Garcia's singing of the National Anthem; suffice to say, Austin didn't like that.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Stone Cold Steve Austin tormented Vince McMahon in many ways during their feud, such as attacking him in the hospital and holding him hostage with a gun (it was a toy, though). As one of the most prominent wrestling villains of the late 1990s, Vince received no sympathy from the fans.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Often caused loads of property damage during his feuds.
• Pet the Dog:
  • If Austin tosses someone a beer. Expect them to get stunned, always. Whether they be fellow wrestlers, authority figures, or even commentators. DTA! But if Austin hands a defenseless referee like Earl Hebner a beer, they're safe. After all, sharing a beer with the working man is one of Austin's defining characteristics.
  • During his infamous "stunner barrage" night on HEAT where gave everybody he could get his hands on a Stunner, the only person he doesn't stun is a bloodied and barely conscious Ken Shamrock fresh from an attack by Jeff Jarrett. The most he gives him is a Death Glare.
  • Despite hating Vince he nonetheless ran into the ring to come to the rescue of a pre-heel Stephanie from the Ministry of Darkness. When Stephanie hugged him in gratitude, he looked utterly perplexed.
  • When Austin became the kayfabe CEO of WWE for a short while, one of his actions was to "take a couple of these zeroes" off of Mr. McMahon's salary, and "put 'em behind Mick Foley's salary" to help with Mick's medical bills.
  • When Bischoff and Three Minute Warning were about to beat the hell out of an 85-year old Freddie Blassie (with the implication that they were going to kill him), Austin came to the old man's aid and got him out of harm's way. When the Dudley Boyz arrived and started battling Three Minute Warning, Stone Cold stayed at Blassie's side and made sure that Three Minute Warning wouldn't do anything to him.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Occasionally, such as referring to Muhammad Hassan and Daivari as "sand people."
• Popularity Power:
  • Even after he was turned heel in 2001, people still cheered for him... ...or when he was pretty clearly in the wrong, he was still cheered. A good example was when he came back in 2000 after his 1999 Survivor Series collision and was "investigating" who did it (i.e. just beating up anyone he felt like). Commissioner Mick Foley was almost unreasonably lenient with Austin's behavior, only asking that Steve not interfere with matches, which Stone Cold continued doing with impunity. Eventually, Foley was backed into a corner and had to suspend Austin. Despite the fact that Foley was only doing his job and Austin was being unreasonably selfish in his behavior, Austin's massive popularity led to Foley getting boos during the semi-feud.
  • If anyone else would do what he did (e.g. attack people at will, heel or face), they would usually change from face to heel. Not Stone Cold, that was just how he was, and the commentators lampshaded it frequently.
  • He was so over with the fans that when Vince shook his hand during the infamous heel turn at the end of his match with The Rock at WrestleMania X-7, many people thought Vince had turned face instead!
• Power Stable:
  • The Dangerous Alliance and The Stud Stable in WCW. The WCW/ECW Alliance in WWE (interesting as Austin had been in WWE, WCW, and ECW). His tag team with HHH (known as the Power Trip) kind of qualifies, as they were just as dominant as a Power Stable even though they were only a tag team, winning multiple titles.
  • In Texas, he was in General Skandor Akbar's Devastation Inc.
• The Protagonist: Of the Attitude Era, later sharing this with The Rock, with Triple H as the Deuteragonist/Tritagonist heel.
• Pro Wrestling Is Real: He's gone on records a few times that he didn't actually understand what kayfabe was until it was explained to him right before his first TV match (specifically against Frogman LeBlanc on the WCCW in 1989 — one has to wonder what Steve would've done to him without that prior knowledge). To quote from his autobiography:
  When I broke in, hell, I didn't know what kayfabe was. Now I know it's a signal for wrestlers to close ranks when a fan is approaching, but back then it was just gibberish to me.
  Chris Adams didn't try to smarten me up or teach me the "real deal" when it came to pro wrestling, he was just teaching me some moves to use in the ring. I didn't know I wasn't really supposed to go out there and beat the hell out of somebody or have somebody beat the hell out of me.
  Chris didn't tell us, "This is a work, a performance, and you have to protect your partner." No, we were just learning to wrestle. [...]
  I knew something was up, but no one would come up to me and say "Hey, here's how we do it."
• Punctuated Pounding: He did this to Tazz by whipping him with his belt on an episode of Raw in 2001 for not helping Shane McMahon when he was getting beat up by The Rock on the previous SmackDown.

  Stone Cold: Ahhhh... you gonna learn! About! Respect! From Stone! Cold! Steve! Austin! And! The! Alliance! You! Son! Of! A!

  Audience: BITCH!

• Real Men Wear Pink: Admits to watching every episode of GLOW back in the day, and can still recite the song lyrics.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • When acting as GM for the "All Star" edition of Raw on June 13, his first appearance is giving an EPIC one to The Miz, not even giving Miz a chance to speak.
  • Hell, giving this to Jake Roberts following the 1996 King of the Ring tournament was his Establishing Character Moment. As part of it, he claimed that quitting drinking was how Roberts lost his edge.^note Alcoholism was a demon Roberts would continue to wrangle with for over 15 more years.
    Stone Cold: All he's gotta do is go buy him a cheap bottle of Thunderbird, and try to dig back some of that courage he had in his prime.
  • As the Judge on Tough Enough, he gave these every week to whoever ended up in his "bottom three", or rather he eliminated one of them and then gave a "The Reason You're Here" speech to the other two that he let stay around. Wind up there three times and automatic dismissal.
• Rebellious Spirit: Stone Cold Steve Austin's feud with Vince McMahon marked the first time someone had stood up to the boss. It was basically a blue collar worker doing what many want to but realistically cannot.
• Recognizable by Sound: When you hear the glass shatter, you know someone's about to have a can of whoop-ass opened on them. As Austin himself once said: "when you hear the glass, it's your ass."
  • This was used in humorous fashion in a segment with Booker T. When Booker T heard the sound of a beer can opening, he got a huge Oh, Crap! expression on his face as he realized Austin was right behind him in a supermarket.
• Red Baron: "Stunning" and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, "The Texas Rattlesnake," "The Toughest S.O.B. in the WWF," "The Bionic Redneck," "The Extreme Superstar".
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: One of the best examples of pro wrestling. Even after turning face, that didn't change his character. He still gives stunners to anyone unprovoked as well as behaving like an all-out chaotic Jerkass.
• Retired Badass: He's retired but he can still kick ass. Kevin Owens learned that the hard way at WrestleMania 38.
• Rule of Cool: After King of the Ring 1996, Austin ran on this and beer for the rest of his career.
• The Rival: The Rock was undoubtedly Austin's biggest nemesis, later becoming his archrival and Worthy Opponent to Austin, in kayfabe and outside it. The Rock served as this due to the both being the co-protagonist of the Attitude Era, being immensely popular and incredibly competitive about it. Austin has noted that when he said he needed to beat the Rock at Wrestlemania X-7 for the title "more than anything in the world," he meant it. Honorable mention also goes to Triple H, who was The Dragon to Vince and the biggest wrestling heel in the company. Naturally, they would butt heads.
• Schmuck Bait: The October 28, 1999 episode of SmackDown! saw Austin use this against DX with tremendous success. First, he caught Road Dogg in a bear trap. Second, he caught Billy Gunn with "the ol' snare on the ground." Then he called up X-Pac on his cell phone and mentioned Casey Kasem and his catchphrase, "Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars," and then dropped some ceiling tiles on him. The show ended with the recovered DX in the ring. HHH called out Austin, who answered and proceeded to run them down, saying that "Badass" Billy Gunn should be called "Dumbass Billy Gunn," and called X-Pac "so damn stupid, so damn stupid." Austin started heading down to the ring to face DX when a net fell on them.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here
  • Seeing R-Truth dressed up in a Confederate military uniform and spewing nonsensical ramblings generated this response from Stone Cold.
  • He did this behind the scenes in 2002 (see Demoted to Extra above).
• Series Mascot: His vulgar, trash-talking, beer-drinking, rebel Anti-Hero persona was the poster boy of the Attitude Era.
• Shout-Out: He named himself after the main character of The Six Million Dollar Man.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: The WWF's Attitude Era featured by far the most foul language of any time period in the company's history, and it's no coincidence that Austin was the face of the company for the majority, if not the entirety, of it. While others in the company would, for example, occasionally use euphemisms like "son of a gun" or "SOB," Austin never hesitated to call someone (and even himself) a "sumbitch"/"son of a bitch."
• Sociopathic Hero: When he first turned face. And post-retirement, when he tends to give stunners to everyone in the vicinity, women and other non-combatants included. Even if the recipient was a face, it was never considered a heel turn, just Austin being Austin.
• Spell My Name with a "The": The Ringmaster.
• Spiritual Successor: To Big Daddy Cool Diesel. Diesel was beginning a similar sociopathic loner gimmick before abruptly leaving for WCW, shortly before Austin's star-making King of the Ring win.
• Stage Names: Austin was born Steve Anderson and grew up Steve Williams. Dutch Mantel gave him the name Steve Austin so he wouldn't be confused with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams.
• Still Got It: His No Holds Barred match against Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38. He hadn't wrestled in almost 20 years. Still had it.
• Stunned Silence:
  • The only time he's had this reaction in his entire career was the aforementioned R-Truth dressed as a Confederate soldier skit. Keep in mind this is a career that's had him Kayfabe arrested, ran over and had an undead cult leader hang him from a gothic cross, try to kill him at least once, as well as trying to both bury him alive and embalm him while still alive. This shows just how bad he considered the R-Truth skit when that was the first and only time he's ever been struck completely dumb by anything WWE has ever done. While certainly someone who never aspired to political correctness, Austin clearly recognized the perversity of a black man dressed as a Confederate Soldier.
  • Given Austin gave a rather infamous online Take That! to a fan who tried to justify flying the Confederate flag which Austin finds to be a symbol of hatred, so it might just be that Confederate imagery is something of a Berserk Button for Austin.
• Tag Team: The Hollywood Blondes, with "Flyin'" Brian Pillman in 1993 WCW, who were ultimately Screwed By The Network. WCW that year initiated their "Disney tapings," where they taped months of their syndicated weekend show WCW Worldwide at a studio in Orlando, FL.^note Sound familiar? These tapings set in stone title changes and storyline developments months before they were scheduled to happen, breaking Kayfabe and essentially booking themselves into a corner. The tapings dictated that the Blondes would lose the WCW World Tag Team Titles to the Four Horsemen team of Arn Anderson and Paul Roma, who would lose them soon after to The Nasty Boys. Unfortunately, Pillman was injured prior to WCW Clash of the Champions XXIV, August 8th, 1993, so WCW simply inserted Lord Steven Regal into Pillman's place in the match. Anderson and Roma won, of course.
• Take That!
  • Austin did several promos ripping into WCW and Eric Bischoff in his time in ECW.
  • Hello everybody, and welcome to Monday Nyquil!
  • During his feud over the US title with Ricky Steamboat in WCW, he would wear Wrestling trunks with "Dragon Slayer" printed on the back.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: During his handful of Tag Team Title reigns, especially with The Rock, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker, he'd defend his title because he was Stone Cold, and that's what he did, but he wasn't a team player, and made no secret of how much he barely tolerated his partners.
• Temporarily a Villain: Steve Austin was always an Anti-Hero Villain Protagonist, since he was a face who did heel stuff, but in the InVasion angle he temporarily joined the invading WCW side, which was by definition the "bad" side of the angle. As soon as the angle was over, he was back to his old self again.
• 10-Minute Retirement: Done quite a bit during his feud with Vince McMahon. Subverted with his real-life retirement which lasted 19 years years before he came back for a one-off match.
• That Man Is Dead: During his time in ECW, he stated "Stunning? Tossed it out the window. Wasn't meant to be." And he meant it. At this point, he'd cut his hair shorter and was phasing out his old Stungun finisher.
• Theme Naming: As a member of the Hollywood Blondes, he used a standing figure-four leglock called "Hollywood and Vine", and a modified figure-four called "That's a Wrap".
• Third-Person Person: Although The Rock is more known for this, Stone Cold fell into this quite often as well. In particular, he had a tendency to refer to himself as "Ol' Stone Cold."
• Took a Level in Badass: OH! HELL! YEAH! Perhaps the ultimate example in Professional Wrestling. In his WWF career, Steve Austin started out as just a random henchman of Ted DiBiase, but thanks to the now-legendary promo at the 1996 King of the Ring event, he gradually transformed into the stone-cold badass that fans eventually grew to love, cementing his place as a true legend of the ring and helping to put pro wrestling on the map in the late 90s.
• Trash Talk: While it's common in wrestling, he is perhaps one of the most prolific trash-talkers in wrestling along with The Rock.
• Troll: If he's not kicking your ass, then he's trying to get your goat. Just look at his tenure as the co-General Manager of Monday Night Raw back in 2003 if you want proof. To say that he made Eric Bischoff's life hell would be an understatement.
• True Companions: Austin and The Rock in real life. Despite being hospitalised the night before Wrestlemania XIX, Austin still made it to the ring despite not being medically cleared as he felt that he owed it to The Rock to put him over following their previous two Mania bouts.
• Ultimate Job Security: The reason Vince didn't just fire him for his antics was because of the boatloads of money Austin's presence was drawing in.
• The Unchosen One: Believe it or not, Austin wasn't supposed to be the winner of the 1996 King of the Ring. Hunter Helmsey was scheduled to win but because of the infamous "Curtain Call" incident at Madison Square Garden, Austin was chosen instead. Who at the time would have thought that this stroke of luck would make Austin a megastar and help WWF to win the Monday Night Wars?
• Underwear of Power: Earlier in his career, he wore long black pants with colorful designs on them, which falls under the Early-Installment Weirdness described above.
• Verbal Tic:
  • During his tenure as The Ringmaster, he would say "man" after every third word in his promos.
  • He often finishes his sentences with the famous catchphrase, "and that's the bottom line."
• Villain Decay: Happened in record time during his stint as Vince McMahon's Dragon. Austin went from a vicious, sadistic man who would constantly Kick the Dog to constantly sucking up to Vince by giving him gifts and hugging him to the point where even Vince wanted Austin to go back to being his old self. During his heel run in the Alliance, Austin would be somewhere in between these personas, and of course his inadvertent creation of the "What?" chant didn't help things.
• Villain Protagonist: While there's no question that he was an Anti-Hero from 1998 onward, it could be argued that he was basically a Villain Protagonist in 1997. Although the crowd was firmly on his side against the Hart Foundation, he acted like the same vicious heel he had always been - beating up on babyfaces, even the ones who helped him. When Mankind helped him in a handicap match, for example, he hugged him and then gave him a Stunner and told him he'd never work with a freak like him. When he was forced to relinquish the Intercontinental and Tag Team Titles thanks to his neck injury, he made a hitlist of the three main authority figures (lead announcer Jim Ross, Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter, and Vince McMahon) and made sure to beat them all up while mocking them for it the whole time. Mind you, they were all babyfaces and were looking out for his safety. Just 18 months earlier, that same type of storyline was used to get Vader over as a monster heel.
• Villain Song: His 2000 theme song, "Glass Shatters" by Disturbed became this after his Face–Heel Turn, with the lyrics telling his opponents that they're "next in the line for the kill" and how he's breaking their limits.
• Villain Team-Up: In 2001, with HHH (as the Two-Man Power Trip).
• Vocal Evolution: His voice during his "Stunning" days is higher-pitched and less gruff compared to how he sounded from the late 90s onwards.
• Wardrobe Malfunction: ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mikey Whipwreck pulled down the back of Austin's tights during their match at ECW November to Remember 95.
• Welcome Back, Traitor: Even with all the other Alliance wrestlers being assimilated into the company after the Invasion storyline was over, Austin especially stands out for being the leader of the Alliance who almost brought the company to its knees and nearly took it down. After that, he basically turns face again and all the on-screen wrestlers treat him as if he's one of the boys again.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: In a July 2001 episode of SmackDown, Mr. McMahon asked Austin that he needs "The Old Stone Cold" to lead the WWF against The Alliance at the Invasion PPV, even begging him to give him a Stunner. Unfortunately, Mr. McMahon got his wish when Austin defected to The Alliance.
• Would Hit a Girl: It seems an unwritten rule in the WWE that everyone is fair game for the Stone Cold Stunner, whether they're male, female, face, heel (no matter which one he is at the time), or even regardless of whether or not they're an actual trained wrestler. He's done it to with Stephanie McMahon, Chyna, Linda McMahon, Lita, (twice, one of them with HHH) and Stacy Keibler (who committed the cardinal sin of refusing to drink the beer Austin gave her.) Sadly, he has been known to hit Debra too in reality.
• Wrestling Psychology: An often forgotten aspect about Austin was just how good he was when it came to in-ring psychology, even after his neck injuries. As a babyface he would often wrestle quite ruthlessly yet was always determined to win, not being the kind to give up even when in great pain (as Bret Hart would find in their famous WrestleMania match). However when he turned heel in 2001, one of the first signs of how much Austin had changed was how easily he tapped out when locked in a submission, showing how much he had changed after turning.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: After several months of Vince McMahon constantly trying to keep him away from the title, Austin finally won it back at WrestleMania 15. Vince later revealed himself as the Higher Power behind The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness after having his henchmen screw Austin out of the title again.

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...and that's the bottom line, ’cause Stone Cold said so! *glass shatters*