ston cold steve austin
Stone Cold Steve Austin is the best wrestler ever! Steve Austin (born Steven Williams on December 18, 1964,)[2] better known by his ring name Stone Cold Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor and former professional wrestler, making sporadic appearances for World Wrestling Entertainment. Austin wrestled for several well-known wrestling promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and most famously, World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which became World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. In the late 1990s, Austin gained significant mainstream popularity in the WWF as Stone Cold, a disrespectful, beer-drinking anti-hero who routinely defied his boss, Mr. McMahon.[6] This defiance was often shown by Austin flipping McMahon off and incapacitating him with the Stone Cold Stunner, Austin's finisher.[7]
He retired as a regular in-ring performer in 2003 due to neck, ankle and knee injuries sustained throughout his career.[citation needed] He still makes occasional in-ring appearances, often to only perform his finishing move, the Stone Cold Stunner, normally followed by an extended beer drinking session punctuated by his slamming two beer cans together in a distinctive style then pouring the beer over his face. Austin had his first starring film role as Jack Conrad in the 2007 thriller The Condemned.
Austin is a six-time WWF/E Champion, the 1996 King of the Ring, and winner of the 1997, 1998 and 2001 Royal Rumbles, and is the only man in WWE history to win the Royal Rumble three times. He will also be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 4, 2009.
Austin debuted in World Championship Wrestling in 1991 as "Stunning" Steve Austin, initially managed by Vivacious Veronica.[19] Almost immediately after Austin's debut, Lady Blossom became his valet.[5][19] Austin defeated Bobby Eaton for the WCW World Television Championship on June 3, 1991, just weeks after his debut. In late 1991, Austin joined Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance.[5][20] Austin lost the WCW Television Championship to Barry Windham in a two out of three falls match on April 27, 1992. He regained the title from Windham on May 23, 1992. He enjoyed a second lengthy reign before losing to Ricky Steamboat on September 2, 1992. The Dangerous Alliance disbanded shortly thereafter.[21] At Halloween Havoc, he replaced Terry Gordy, teaming with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams to wrestle Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham for the unified WCW and NWA World Tag Team titles.[21] The pair wrestled to a thirty minute time limit draw.[21]
In January 1993, Austin formed a tag team with Brian Pillman known as the Hollywood Blonds.[5] The Blonds won the WCW World Tag Team Championship on March 3, 1993, defeating Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas. The Hollywood Blonds held the titles for five months.[5] At Clash of the Champions XXIII the Blonds faced Ric Flair and Arn Anderson in a two out of three falls tag team title match. Flair and Anderson defeated the Blonds, but were not awarded the titles as one fall had been determined by a disqualification.[22]
At Clash of the Champions XXIV, Austin and Pillman were scheduled to defend the titles against Arn Anderson and his new partner, Paul Roma. An injured Pillman, however, was replaced by Steven Regal. Austin and Regal lost to Anderson and Roma.[23] With Pillman still injured, Austin then joined Colonel Robert Parker's Stud Stable. After Pillman returned, Austin betrayed and defeated him in a singles bout at Clash of the Champions XXV.[24]
At Starrcade 1993, in a two out of three falls match, Austin defeated Dustin Rhodes in two straight falls to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship.[5][25] He lost the title to Ricky Steamboat on August 24, 1994. Austin was scheduled to face Steamboat in a rematch for the title at Fall Brawl, but Steamboat was unable to wrestle due to a back injury, and Austin was awarded the title by forfeit. His second reign ended just minutes later when he lost to Steamboat's replacement, Jim Duggan in a match that lasted thirty-five seconds.[26][27] Austin then challenged Duggan for the United States Championship at Halloween Havoc 1994 and Clash of the Champions XXIX. On both occasions, Austin lost to Duggan by disqualification..[28][29] After returning from his knee injury in early 1995, he took part in a tournament for the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight title, where he defeated Duggan in the first round, but lost to Randy Savage in the quarterfinals."Austin 3:16" ultimately became one of the most popular catch phrases in wrestling history.[5]
Austin spoke about Bret Hart constantly and taunted him relentlessly on TV (one quote had Austin saying "If you put the letter 'S' in front of 'Hitman,' you have my exact opinion of Bret Hart"). Hart finally accepted Austin's challenge and returned to the WWF in October 1996. At Survivor Series 1996, Hart pinned Austin in a match which helped create the foundations for the eventual intense year-long feud between the two.[36] The match came hot on the heels of a highly controversial incident broadcast live on Raw, which saw Austin "break into" Brian Pillman's house, with Pillman holding a gun.
During the 1997 Royal Rumble match, Austin was originally eliminated by Bret Hart, but the officials did not see it, and he sneaked back into the ring and eliminated Hart by throwing him over the ropes.[37] This led to the first-ever pay-per-view main event of Austin's WWF career at In Your House 13: Final Four, which due to real-life events largely revolving around Shawn Michaels, the match was for the suddenly vacant WWF Championship. Austin was eliminated from the four-way match early after injuring his knee, but was involved in the finish which saw Hart win his fourth WWF Championship,[38] which he lost the next night on Raw to Sycho Sid due to Austin's interference, leading to the continuation of their feud.
At WrestleMania 13, in March 1997, Hart defeated Austin in a 'Submission' match involving Ken Shamrock as a special referee that has since come to be regarded as one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history. During the match Austin was cut so that he bled. In one of the most iconic moments in wrestling history, Hart refused to release his patented Sharpshooter since Austin had refused to give up. The match ended in Austin passing out due to blood loss. Despite his wounds he refused any assistance back to the locker room, thus turning Hart heel and Austin babyface in a rare double-turn.[39] Austin eventually got his revenge on Hart when he injured Hart's leg in a no disqualification match on Raw, which featured Austin refusing to let go of his own Sharpshooter and beating Hart while on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. After his feud with Bret Hart, he had a WWF Championship shot against The Undertaker at In Your House 15: A Cold Day In Hell. Austin had the Undertaker down with the stunner, but due to a distraction from Brian Pillman, Undertaker nailed Austin with a Tombstone Piledriver and got the victory.[39] At King of The Ring in 1997, Austin fought Shawn Michaels in a match that involved a real bad problem coming from the stands. A man referred to as a "special olympian" jumped over the guardrail and tried to run into the ring. Security caught the man before he could enter the ring, and tried to subdue him. The match was stopped for a lengthy period of time, during which Austin and Michaels were both involved in the removal of this man. During the broadcast, Austin can be heard yelling "get him outta here!" while Michaels tries to assist in helping him out. On his way out, the man stopped and started to point at the referee, wagging his finger at him. As the man was being removed from ringside, he first fell on his face, then got up and tried to punch a cameraman. The match resumed after the issue had been dealt with, and ended in both competitors being disqualified by referee Earl Hebner
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