Pros: Arguably the biggest star of the late '90s wrestling boom, Vince McMahon's first bona fide domestic draw since Hulk Hogan, changed the way heels and faces would be viewed in the time since he broke on the scene
Cons: Time on top shortened by injuries
There were very few things certain in the WWF in the late '90s. One of them, was almost infallible. When the glass broke, you knew it was going to be entertaining.
While WCW was busy stealing the WWF's thunder with the nWo and all the craziness surrounding it, McMahon had to scramble to find something to match it and retake his spot on top of the national wrestling mountain, a spot he had held since he took his company national in the mid-80s. When he did, he got there on the back of Hulk Hogan, the magnetic, all-American, superhero-like man who seemed larger than life. He was the perfect vehicle to take the company to the top with the target crowd - families, the kids who wanted someone to believe in and the parents who wanted their kids to have a good role model.
But then, the steroid scandals hit, and there was a paradigm shift in what kids wanted to occupy their times. The WWF was hit hard domestically, although anchored by Bret Hart and the smaller but more athletic workers of the day, they were still a hit with the overseas crowds. But then, WCW debuted the nWo, and young males started watching Turner's company. While WCW and Eric Bischoff relied on WWF castoffs to make his name, McMahon went in the same direction he did with the first push. He was going to go with a singular person to be his workhorse.
His first choice was Triple H. Thankfully for us, he was punished for breaking kayfabe in the middle of the ring with all his departing buddies. Luckily for Austin, he got that push and never looked back. It started at King of the Ring 1996:
"Austin 3:16 says I just whupped your ass!"
Instead of targeting families, McMahon decided he was going to go after the young male demographic too. He was going to make his new star into a cocky, authority-defying, cursing, beer-swilling rebel, which was the exact kind of thing that young males gravitate towards for the most part. Hell, the rebellious nWo was getting as many cheers as they were boos in their role as WCW's ultimate heel faction. Luckily for him, McMahon's approach was more successful in the long run than WCW's. Of course, overbooking, egos, politics, shitty announcing and lack of internal consistency helped hasten WCW's ratings demise, but still, the force of Austin was a huge one in the late 90s.
However, it's not like Austin just came out of nowhere. He showed signs of greatness when he himself was in WCW. Teamed with Brian Pillman as the Hollywood Blondes, Austin was garnering national attention as one of the rising stars of the business. He was all over the Apter mags' "Up-and-Coming" features. It seemed everyone saw something in the future Texas Rattlesnake... except Bischoff, who thought Austin to be bland and a bad fit for the direction of his company.
So as you see, a lot of things had to have gone right for both McMahon and Austin, two men inexorably linked in time as the saving grace of the WWF in the late 90s. Was it destiny? Was the events breaking just as they had a force that not even Hulk Hogan could stop? Or did McMahon's Irish heritage just net him a good amount of good luck? Who knows, but the end result was Austin.
Of course, there are detractions from his case. People, myself included, have said that Austin's character was very heavily influenced by Sandman, a guy who was over HUGE in ECW. Austin spent time there, and it was well-known that while the relationship between the WWF and ECW was adversarial on the surface, deep down, both McMahon and Paul Heyman knew that working together on certain things would benefit each company more than being islands unto themselves. However, where I think Austin totally transcended Sandman was in terms of promo ability, personality and workrate. For one, Austin was perhaps the best promo in the business until the WWF let Dwayne Johnson be himself on the stick rather than play some dorky, 3rd generation schmoe. It also helped that he really wasn't playing a character when he assumed the edgier aspects of Sandman's gimmick. And of course, Austin had always been one of the top workers in the world, and could naturally wrestle circles around Sandman.
Even after his neck started deteriorating to the point of forced retirement, thanks to an Owen Hart piledriver gone awry, Austin still could give you quality in the ring. While he couldn't exactly wrestle anymore, he could still brawl with the best of them. In fact, it's no stretch to say that Austin was the best brawler the WWF/E has ever had, and that his credibility appearing as a redneck roughneck was key to his entire gimmick.
Of course, having one of the most over finishers of all time helped too.
At the end of the debate, it's pretty hard not to put Austin in the top four, along with Hogan, Ric Flair and The Rock. It's also not all that far-fetched to put him at number one. While Hogan and Flair have longevity and Rocky arguably had more charisma and better workrate, Austin's influence, drawing power and overall personality make it hard to argue most wrestlers over him. It's a shame that he got hurt the way he did, because the WWE could use a guy like him right now on one of their brands. John Cena is a bona fide star, but he can only be on one brand for most of the year. Whatever brand he's not on suffers, because the next best things they have are either so not over as a face (Triple H... who from all reports got the "na na na na hey hey hey good bye" chant from the Backlash crowd last night) or keep getting their credibility submarined because of size (Rey Mysterio).
No matter what camp you were in in the late 90s or what you consider your favorite era now, you can't deny what Steve Austin has meant to the wrestling industry. Only the blindest fools would deny him his place in the pantheon of the squared circle's historical elite. This beer's for you, Steve.
