Stone Cold Steve Austin, real name Steve Williams, grew up in Edna,
Texas. He dropped out of
college with under 15 credits left until graduation and went to work on
loading docks.
He eventually got the notion to start training as a
professional wrestler, a
sport which he had watched since
childhood. He started training locally, and soon began competing in a small promotion.
He got his first big break when he was hired by
World Championship Wrestling. He was initially successful, becoming one half of one of the best
tag teams in recent memory, the
Hollywood Blondes, alongside
Brian Pillman. "Stunning" Steve Austin was held back due to politics, however, and was eventually fired over the telephone by
Eric Bischoff during rehabilitation of an injury.
This led to a short run in
Extreme Championship Wrestling, where "Superstar" Steve Austin gave a series of ultra-bitter
shoot interviews against his former employers. He was soon after picked up by the
World Wrestling Federation.
Not many people remember Austin's first
gimmick in the
WWF, when he was known as
The Ringmaster,
Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Champion. For good reason: the gimmick sucked. He soon after began a slow
metamorphasis into the
beer swilling,
foul mouthed, bird-flipping,
bad motherfucker that graces your
television screen each week:
Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Austin suffered a near-crippling neck injury at the hands of
Owen Hart at
SummerSlam '97, forcing him to take a few months off to heal. It should be noted that even though he was unable to move his arms or legs for close to a minute, he still managed to drag himself over to Hart and limply cover him to win the match--
because he was supposed to win. In professional wrestling,
the show must go on.
Gaining the
World Wrestling Federation Championship for the first time at
Wrestlemania XIV (March 1998) he has unquestionably been the number one face (good guy) in the WWF ever since, selling more memorabilia and clothing than
Hulk Hogan ever did in his prime. His feud with
Vince McMahon, the owner of the
WWF, was one of the most successful and money-making draws in pro wrestling history.
A
neck injury forced him to take an eleven month seat on the sidelines (November 1999-October 2000), after which he returned to reclaim his spot at the top of the
professional wrestling world, although he now arguably shares that honor with
The Rock, who in Austin's absence established himself as just as popular as Austin had been.
In a highly controvertial move, Austin turned heel at
Wrestlemania X-Seven,
during his match with
The Rock with the WWF Championship on the line.
He allied himself with
Vince McMahon--until now his greatest nemesis--to
ensure himself of winning the title. It was a highly gutsy move,
as turning your number one star into a bad guy isn't always the greatest
thing for ratings and merchandise sales. Fans soon showed their willingness
to boo him just as much as they'd been cheering him before--although the
reaction to him in some areas was still mixed, instead of the wholeheartedly
negative reaction the WWF wants.
He soon teamed with fellow heel HHH, beating the snot out of anyone
who got in their way. After HHH went out with a leg injury a few
months after Wrestlemania, Austin's been wrestling as a single again, most
recently defending his WWF Championship against popular babyfaces Chris
Benoit and Chris Jericho at the 2001 King of the Ring.