"STONECOLD" STEVE AUSTIN
Where did the "Austin 3:16" come from ?
In 1996, after winning the King of the Ring tournament over Jake Roberts, who was a born again Christian, Austin mocked Roberts by saying "Talk about your psalms, talk about your John 3:16...well, Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass." The catch phrase was picked up and endorsed to the fullest and has a lot to do with Austin's rise in popularity.
What was his "Ringmaster" gimmick all about ?
When Austin first entered the WWF, he was dubbed as Ted DiBiase's "million dollar champion" and given the million-dollar belt. His character name was the Ringmaster. However, as most of us know, the gimmick failed miserably and in a prime example of a good wrestler overcoming a bad gimmick, Austin was re-packaged and introduced as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. And the rest as they say, is history.
Why don't Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff get along ?
Bischoff never gave Austin his chance in the spotlight even after promising verbally to do so. Furthermore, soon after releasing Austin, Bischoff was quoted as saying "he will never make it big in this industry". Steve retaliated by signing with the WWF and making him and the company #1.
Is Austin the most popular professional wrestler in history ?
Possibly. He is moving more merchandise off the shelves than Hogan did in his prime but that could possibly be attributed to wrestling's increased popularity. Before his injuries, Austin merchandise outsold Goldberg merchandise by a 2:1 ratio.
What happened at SummerSlam 97 involving Owen Hart?
In a match between the two, Owen executed a piledriver incorrectly, and in the process bent Austin's neck in an awkward position, which caused partial paralysis during the match. Struggling to his feet and still able to win the match (as the scripts dictated), the move caused permanent damage to Austin and eventually he had to have surgery on it. This is part of the reason Austin has missed the last year. As a result, this caused some ill feelings between Owen Hart and Steve Austin, which is a good reason why the two rarely wrestle each other anymore.
After "SummerSlam '99", Didn't Shawn Michaels complain about Steve Austin not doing the right thing in his match with Triple H ? I was wondering what Austin supposedly did that angered Michaels.
The match was originally supposed to be a singles match between Austin and Triple H, with Austin dropping the WWF Title to Triple H. Instead, Austin suggested Mick Foley be added to the match, making it a three-way which Triple H was still supposed to win. The Friday before SummerSlam, the finish was changed to having Mankind pin Austin, with Triple H attacking Austin with a chair to set up Austin's long lay-off. The next night on Raw, Triple H pinned Mankind to win the WWF Title for the first time.
Michaels main complaint seemed to be that by not putting over Triple H himself, Austin denied Triple H momentum that would have given him a boost heading into his first title reign. It should be noted that some people believed that the WWF decided to have Mankind win at SummerSlam so that special referee Jesse Ventura could raise a babyfaces hand instead of a heel.