Stone Cold Steve Austin

Stone Cold Steve Austin
Austin in 2016
Born	Steven James Anderson (1964-12-18) December 18, 1964 (age 60) Austin, Texas, U.S.
Occupations	Media personality actor producer professional wrestler
Years active	1989–2003, 2022 (wrestling) 1999–present (media)
Spouses	Kathryn Burrhus ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 1992)​ Jeanie Clarke ​ ​ (m. 1992; div. 1999)​ Debra Marshall ​ ​ (m. 2000; div. 2003)​ Kristin Feres ​ (m. 2009)​
Children	3
Hollywood, California (as "Stunning" Steve Austin)
Trained by	Chris Adams[1]
Debut	September 30, 1989[1]
Retired	March 30, 2003[1]
Signature
Website	brokenskullranch.com

Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson and later Steven James Williams; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, producer and retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, as an ambassador. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the development and success of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE) during the Attitude Era, an industry boom period in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Austin began his professional wrestling career in 1989, after playing

Austin hosts the podcast The Steve Austin Show (2013–present), and the video podcast Broken Skull Sessions (2019–present) available on the WWE Network and Peacock. He collaborates with El Segundo Brewing on Broken Skull IPA and Broken Skull American Lager. He also hosted the reality competition series Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge (2014–2017) and Straight Up Steve Austin (2019–2021).

Austin was born Steven James Anderson in Austin, Texas,^[3][4] on December 18, 1964.^[5] His parents, Beverly (née Harrison) and James Anderson, divorced when he was around a year old. His mother moved to Edna, Texas, where Austin would spend most of his childhood,^[6] and she married Ken Williams in 1968.^[7] Austin adopted his stepfather's surname and legally changed his name to Steven James Williams, after he was legally adopted, though he would legally change it again to Steve Austin later in life.^[6] He has a younger sister named Jennifer and three brothers named Scott, Kevin, and Jeff.^[8] Kevin is less than a year younger than Austin, leading Austin to theorize in his autobiography that their father may have left because he could not handle another child so soon.^[9] After finishing his education at Edna High School, he got a football scholarship to Wharton County Junior College followed by a full scholarship to the University of North Texas.^[8] He played originally as a linebacker before suffering a knee injury,^[10][11] prompting him to switch to play as a defensive end.^[12][13]

The first wrestling events Austin watched were those produced by Houston Wrestling and run by Paul Boesch,^[14] and Austin would later say, "I fell in love with the business when I was seven or eight years old. All I ever wanted to be was a professional wrestler. Wrestling was the biggest thing in my life."^[15] When he moved to attend university, he was living approximately 30 miles from the Dallas Sportatorium, a building he later described fondly as a "magnificent shithole of a building".^[16] It was here that World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) ran shows on a Friday night.^[17]

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Deciding to become a wrestler, Austin joined "Gentleman" Chris Adams' school in the Dallas Sportatorium,^[18][19] where Adams also wrestled for WCCW.^[20] The first seminar cost Austin $45 (equivalent to $114 in 2024).^[10] Adams' training was purely technical, teaching Austin the moves, but nothing relating to kayfabe. Austin would later describe Adams as a "conman" who "didn't try to smarten [him] up or teach [him] the real deal when it came to wrestling".^[21] His first lesson in that came from Tony Falk, the referee in his 1989 televised WCCW debut against Frogman LeBlanc, who called the spots to lead him to a pinfall and a $40 (equivalent to $101 in 2024) payday.^[22] Early influences on his career were the Von Erich family, Dusty Rhodes, and Ric Flair.^[23]

Initially working under his real name, he was renamed Steve Austin by Memphis

Austin debuted in

In September 1992, Austin formed a

During the NJPW tour, Austin suffered a torn triceps. While rehabilitating, Austin was fired by WCW President Eric Bischoff on September 15, 1995. Bischoff did not see Austin as a marketable wrestler,^[19][44] and additionally thought Austin was hard to work with.^[45]

Austin was contacted by

While in ECW, Austin used the platform to develop his future "Stone Cold" persona as well as a series of vignettes running down WCW in general and Bischoff in particular, most memorably in several promos that mocked his then-status as Nitro host by introducing Monday NyQuil, where he was joined by "Bongo" (a set of drums, meant to represent Steve "Mongo" McMichael) in promoting the show "where the big boys play with each other."^[19][46] Several wrestlers have credited ECW as the place where Austin developed his microphone skills.^[45] Austin has credited Heyman as the man who taught him how to cut a promo.^[49][47]

Whipwreck, who was the

Austin soon thought the Ringmaster gimmick was weak and asked for a change.[45] Having battled thinning hair for a few years, he decided to shave his head in early 1996.^[56] He later said in a 2017 interview, "After watching the Pulp Fiction movie with Bruce Willis, that's the haircut that inspired me. I was traveling on the road to Pittsburgh with Dustin Rhodes and before I went to the show, I said fuck it. I went into the bathroom with a razor blade and shaved all my hair off. Then I grew the goatee and everything came full circle."^[56] By March 11, having thankfully missed out on the “opportunity” to be renamed Fang McFrost, among others, his Ringmaster moniker (now merely a prefix to his ring name) would be discarded in favor of his most famous ring name, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, in a match against Savio Vega. The new name was prompted by his English wife at the time, Jeanie, who told him to drink a cup of tea she had made for him before it became "stone cold".^[13] His new persona was partially inspired by serial killer "The Iceman" Richard Kuklinski.^[57]

Austin wrestled Vega on Raw to a double countout,^[58] before defeating him in his first WrestleMania appearance at WrestleMania XII.^[59] At In Your House: Beware of Dog, Austin lost a Caribbean strap match to Vega, with the added stipulation that DiBiase was forced to leave the WWF as a result, leading Austin to quietly vacate the Million Dollar title.^[59] DiBiase would later say that nobody foresaw the success Austin would have, and had advised him to ignore the advice given to him by producers and continue what he was doing as success required patience.^[60]

Austin's rise to stardom began at the 1996 King of the Ring, where he won the tournament by defeating Jake "The Snake" Roberts.^[19] At the time, Roberts was portraying a born-again Christian, which inspired Austin to ad-lib a famous promo during his coronation, mocking Roberts' religious faith and proclaiming the now-iconic catchphrase "Austin 3:16" as derision of the Bible verse John 3:16. At the conclusion of this same promo, he further ad-libbed the line, "And that’s the bottom line, cuz Stone Cold said so." This, too, went on to become an iconic catchphrase, as Austin would conclude almost all of his future promos with it. Years later, Austin would say of this moment, "It’s like I got two at-bats and hit two grand slams."

Austin's win and rise to stardom proved to be an unexpected stroke of luck. Hunter Hearst Helmsley was originally scheduled to win the tournament, but plans changed as he was punished for taking part in the Curtain Call incident. "Austin 3:16" ultimately became one of the most popular catchphrases in wrestling history,^[19] and one of the best-selling T-shirts in WWE merchandise history.^[61]

After defeating

At SummerSlam, Austin and Owen faced each other with the Intercontinental Championship on the line, with Owen adding a stipulation that Austin would have to kiss his buttocks if he lost.^[72] During the match, Owen botched a Tombstone Piledriver and dropped Austin on his head, resulting in a legitimate bruised spinal cord and temporary paralysis for Austin. As Owen stalled by baiting the audience, Austin managed to crawl over and pin Hart using a roll-up to win the championship. A visibly injured and dazed Austin was helped to his feet by several referees and led to the back.^[75] Due to the severity of his neck injury, Austin was forced to relinquish both championships. On September 22, on the first-ever Raw to be broadcast from Madison Square Garden, McMahon told Austin he wasn't physically cleared to compete, and after several weeks of build-up, Austin delivered his Stone Cold Stunner to McMahon, causing the fans in attendance to go ballistic.^[76][77] Austin was then arrested as part of the storyline, and was sidelined until Survivor Series. However, in the interim, he made several appearances, one being at Badd Blood where he was involved in the finish of a match between Owen and Faarooq for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. Austin hit Faarooq with the Intercontinental Championship belt while the referee's back was turned, causing Hart to win the match and the title.^[72] Austin's motive was to keep Owen as champion, as demonstrated when he interfered in Hart's matches on Raw.^[72] Austin regained the Intercontinental Championship from Hart at Survivor Series.^[78]

With Hart out of the way, Austin set his sights on The Rock, who stole Austin's championship belt after Austin suffered a beating by his Nation of Domination stablemates.^[72] In the weeks to come, The Rock began declaring himself to be "the best damn Intercontinental Champion ever."^[72] The Rock kept possession of the championship belt until D-Generation X: In Your House, when Austin defeated him to retain the championship and regain the belt.^{[citation needed]} As Austin had used his pickup truck to aid his victory, McMahon ordered him to defend the championship against The Rock the next night on Raw.^[72] In an act of defiance, Austin forfeited the championship to The Rock before tossing the belt into the Piscataqua River.^[2]

After Bret Hart's controversial departure for WCW, Austin and Michaels were the top stars in the company. Austin won the 1998 Royal Rumble, lastly eliminating The Rock.^[79] The next night on Raw, Austin interrupted Vince McMahon in his presentation of Mike Tyson, who was making a special appearance, over the objection of McMahon referring to Tyson as "the baddest man on the planet." Austin insulted Tyson by flipping him off, which led to Tyson shoving Austin much to McMahon's embarrassment, who began publicly to disapprove of the prospect of Austin as his champion. Tyson was later announced as "the special enforcer" for the main event at WrestleMania XIV, and aligned himself with Michaels's stable D-Generation X (DX).^[19][80] This led to Austin's WWF Championship match against Michaels at WrestleMania XIV, which he won with help from Tyson, who turned on DX by making the deciding three-count against Michaels and later hit him with his knock-out punch. This was Michaels's last match until 2002 as he had suffered two legitimate herniated discs and another completely crushed at the hands of The Undertaker in a casket match at the Royal Rumble.^[19] With Michaels's absence and Austin winning the WWF Championship, the "Austin Era" was ushered in.^[19]

On Raw the following night, McMahon presented him with a new championship belt and warned Austin that he did not approve of his rebellious nature, desiring a "corporate champion"; Austin responded with a Stone Cold Stunner, leading him being kayfabe arrested once again. The following week, it appeared as if Austin had agreed with McMahon, appearing in a suit and tie, before revealing it was a ruse and again attacking McMahon. On April 13, it appeared Austin and McMahon were going to battle out their differences in an actual match, but the match was declared a no-contest when Dude Love made an appearance. This led to a match between Dude Love and Austin at

Austin further angered McMahon by winning back the championship the next night on Raw.[19] Austin also emerged victorious against The Undertaker at SummerSlam. In response, McMahon set up a Triple Threat match at Breakdown: In Your House, where The Undertaker and Kane pinned Austin at the same time. McMahon decided to vacate the WWF Championship^[19] and award it based on a match between The Undertaker and Kane, in which Austin was the guest referee on Judgment Day: In Your House. Austin refused to count for either man and attacked both towards the end of the match. McMahon would, in storyline, fire him as a result, although Austin got revenge by kidnapping McMahon and dragging him to the middle of the ring at "gunpoint", which ended up being a toy gun with a scroll that read "Bang! 3:16." During that segment, McMahon also learned that Austin was later re-signed by his son, Shane McMahon. In the semifinals of the Survivor Series tournament to crown a new WWF Champion, Austin lost to Mankind after Shane double-crossed Austin. The next night on Raw, Judge Mills Lane ruled that The Rock had to defend his newly won WWF Championship against Austin that night, as stipulated in the new contract Austin had signed two weeks earlier with Shane. The Undertaker interfered and hit Austin with a shovel, earning Austin a disqualification victory, meaning The Rock remained champion. At Rock Bottom: In Your House, Austin defeated The Undertaker in a Buried Alive match after Kane performed a Tombstone Piledriver on The Undertaker which sent him into the grave.^[81] With this victory, Austin qualified for the 1999 Royal Rumble.^[82] Austin's next appearance after this would be the January 4, 1999, edition of Raw, where he would come out to help Mankind defeat The Rock to become the WWF Champion by striking The Rock in the face with a steel chair and draping Mankind's body over him.

Austin's next chance to exact revenge on Mr. McMahon came during the Royal Rumble match. On Raw, McMahon drew Austin's entry number with the intention of screwing him over. Austin drew entry number one, while McMahon drew number two thanks to Commissioner Shawn Michaels. During the Royal Rumble match, Austin followed McMahon out of the ring and into the backstage area, only to be ambushed by members of

Austin held on to the WWF Championship until SummerSlam on August 22 when he lost it to Mankind in a triple threat match also featuring Triple H.^[19] in the two months that followed, Triple H would gain possession of the title. Austin would get his rematch at No Mercy on October 17 against Triple H, but Austin lost after The Rock accidentally struck him with a sledgehammer shot meant for Triple H. The three were advertised for a triple-threat match at Survivor Series on November 14, where Austin was run down by a car.^[19] The segment was to write him off television, with the neck injury suffered two years prior posing a real threat of early retirement,^[85] and was advised to undergo surgery.^[86] Austin would later describe this as "the worst storyline I was ever involved in".^[87]

Austin made a one-off appearance at Backlash on April 30, 2000, attacking Triple H and Vince McMahon to help The Rock reclaim the WWF Championship. After Austin's official return at Unforgiven on September 24, Commissioner Mick Foley led an investigation to find out who ran Austin over, with the culprit revealed to be Rikishi.^[19] At No Mercy on October 22, Austin faced Rikishi in a No Holds Barred match, during which Austin attempted to run Rikishi down in a truck, but was prevented from doing so by officials, and the match was deemed a no contest; Austin was subsequently arrested. During a handicap match against Rikishi and Kurt Angle, Triple H came down with the apparent intention of teaming with Austin, only to hit Austin with a sledgehammer and reveal he had instructed Rikishi to run him over. At Survivor Series on November 19, Triple H aimed to run Austin down again during their match but his plot failed when Austin lifted Triple H's car with a forklift, then let it drop 20 feet. Austin won his third Royal Rumble match on January 21, 2001,^[88] last eliminating Kane. His rivalry against Triple H ended at No Way Out on February 25 in a Three Stages of Hell match, with Triple H defeating Austin two falls to one.^[89]

With The Rock defeating Angle for the WWF Championship at No Way Out, Austin was again set to face him at

Meanwhile,

Austin lost the WWF Championship to Angle at Unforgiven on September 23 by submitting to the ankle lock, ending Austin's reign at 175 days, the longest reign since 1996. He would regain the title on the October 8 episode of Raw, when WWF Commissioner William Regal betrayed Angle and joined the Alliance.^[19] Austin then began feuding with Alliance member Rob Van Dam, who was the only member of the Alliance to be cheered by the fans, despite the villainous tactics of the group. Austin faced Angle and Van Dam at No Mercy on October 21 and retained the title by pinning Van Dam. For Survivor Series on November 18, a "winner takes all" 10-man tag team match was announced; Austin captained a team consisting Angle, Shane McMahon, Van Dam, and Booker T, against Team WWF; captained by The Rock, the team also included Jericho, Kane, The Undertaker and Big Show. At Survivor Series, Angle sided with the WWF, helping The Rock to hit the Rock Bottom and pin Austin to win the match, marking the end of the Invasion storyline.^[95]

The following night on Raw, Vince McMahon decided he was going to strip Austin of the championship and award it to Angle, before Ric Flair returned and announced he was now co-owner of the WWF. Austin returned moments after this announcement and attacked Angle and McMahon for their actions. He was then handed his championship belt by Flair and celebrated with him in the ring, turning him face once again.^[96] At Vengeance on December 9, a tournament was held to unify the WWF Championship and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, held by The Rock; also involving Angle and Jericho. Austin would defeat Angle, before losing the unification match to Jericho following interference by McMahon and Booker T.^[97]

At the Royal Rumble on January 20, 2002, Austin entered at number nineteen and lasted until the final four, but was eliminated by Kurt Angle. On the January 28 episode of Raw, he defeated Angle to earn a shot at Chris Jericho's Undisputed WWF Championship at No Way Out on February 17.^[98] In the build-up to No Way Out, McMahon had signed the New World Order (nWo), who immediately began a feud with Austin. The nWo would make their debut at No Way Out. At No Way Out, Austin refused a beer gift from the nWo, and they cost him his match against Jericho later that night.^[99] Problems were beginning to surface backstage, however, as Austin was unhappy regarding Hulk Hogan's return to the WWF.^[100] He was reported as refusing to lose to Hogan in a proposed match between the two at WrestleMania X8 on March 17, while Hogan reportedly told McMahon the same regarding losing to Austin. In recent years, Austin claimed he didn't want the match as he didn't want to wrestle at a slower pace, and that he "didn't think we could deliver".^[101] Consequently, Austin would face and defeat Scott Hall at WrestleMania.^[101]

Austin no-showed the Raw after WrestleMania and took a week-long break without the company's consent, citing exhaustion. McMahon claimed his actions caused fury among fans who had paid to see him that night.^[102] Austin returned on the April 1 episode of Raw, the first of the new "brand extension" era. The show was centered around which show he would sign with, and he ultimately chose Raw. Austin entered a feud with The Undertaker that resulted in a number-one contender's match for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash on April 21, which Austin lost despite having his foot on the rope when he was pinned. He would later be betrayed by Big Show after being put in a tag team match with him by Ric Flair, and was subsequently betrayed by Flair himself in the following weeks. Austin then defeated Big Show and Flair in a handicap match at Judgment Day on May 19. In a May interview on WWE's internet program, Byte This!, Austin stunned the company and fans by launching a verbal attack on the direction the company was heading in and slated the creative team for not using him the way he felt they previously did.^[103] The WWE rehired Eddie Guerrero for Austin to feud with, while also prepping Austin for a feud with Brock Lesnar. However, Austin balked at the proposition that he lose a King of the Ring qualifying match on Raw to Lesnar, and ultimately walked out of the company.^[104] Austin later explained that he thought hot-shotting a rookie made Austin look weak, and airing the match on free television with no build-up did not give Lesnar a proper stage for such a big win over a star of Austin's magnitude. Further fanning the flames amongst Austin's growing number of detractors was a well-publicized domestic dispute incident between Austin and his wife Debra (see below).

After Austin again

For the remainder of 2002, Austin kept a low profile and did not make any public appearances. It was reported, however, by the end of the year, that Austin and McMahon met and resolved their differences. He then agreed to return to the company in early 2003. In an interview with WWE Raw Magazine,^[106] he announced deep regret over the situation that led to his departure and the manner in which he had left, and deeper regret over inaccurate speculation regarding his alleged grudges held against other WWE wrestlers,^[107] claiming he had no problem with Hall rejoining the company. However, he admitted he still held strong reservations about his singles match with Hall at WrestleMania only lasting seven minutes and felt the build-up to the match did not live up to the expectations of his fans or Hall's, and was angered by speculation suggesting he disagreed with Kevin Nash re-joining the company, insisting he and Nash have always been good friends.^[100] He did, however, maintain his displeasure with the storylines and creative changes the WWE had imposed around the time of his departure.^[108][109] In an interview with Vince McMahon on his podcast in 2014, Austin publicly revealed for the first time that McMahon had fined him $650,000 upon his return, but he was able to lower the amount to $250,000.^[110]

Austin confessed he had a major rift with Triple H's role in the company upon his return in 2002 but insisted as of 2003, they resolved their issues.^[111] Also, he claimed a brief dispute with The Rock was resolved quickly upon his return, and that none of his disputes with the talent roster continued or played the major part in his departure.^[111] In February, Austin returned at No Way Out on February 23 by defeating Eric Bischoff. Austin would wrestle only one match between then and WrestleMania, in another short match against Bischoff on Raw. He entered a feud with The Rock, who returned around the same time as a smug, Hollywood sell-out heel. The Rock was offended that the WWE fans voted for Austin in a WWE Magazine poll to determine the 'Superstar of the Decade'. He expressed his frustration at having never defeated Austin at WrestleMania, and challenged Austin to a match at WrestleMania XIX on March 30. Austin was then defeated by The Rock at WrestleMania XIX, in what would be Austin's final match for 19 years.^[112]

The following month, Linda McMahon brought Austin back to be the co-general manager of the Raw brand, a role he played for the remainder of the year, often getting into physical altercations with talent and personnel. Austin and Bischoff continued to feud over control of the brand. On the July 21 episode of Raw, McMahon informed Austin he could not get physical with anyone unless provoked. At Survivor Series on November 16, Austin's hand-picked team of Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Rob Van Dam and Shawn Michaels faced Bischoff's team of Chris Jericho, Christian, Mark Henry, Randy Orton and Scott Steiner in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match. Austin's team lost after Batista interfered on behalf of Bischoff. After the match Jonathan Coachman came out to gloat and got beat up by Austin. As a result, Austin was "fired" from his position as co-general manager. Mick Foley took over Austin's former role and began petitioning to have Austin re-instated. Austin returned before the end of 2003, appearing at Tribute to the Troops. He posed as Santa Claus before delivering a "Stone Cold Stunner" to both Mr. McMahon and John Cena. Austin returned to Raw on December 29 as its "Sheriff", giving a Stone Cold Stunner to Bischoff and rehiring Michaels, who had just been "fired" by Bischoff.^{[citation needed]} Austin appeared on-and-off as 2004 began, culminating in him being the special guest referee for the Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg match at WrestleMania XX on March 14. Following said match, Austin attacked both Lesnar and Goldberg with Stone Cold Stunners.

On April 3, 2005, Austin made his first appearance on WWE programming in a year at

Austin returned to WWE programming in March 2007, partially to promote his starring role in the release of WWE Films' production

Austin appeared on the Raw 15th Anniversary special, attacking Vince McMahon.

On October 26, 2008, at Cyber Sunday, Austin was the special guest referee during a match between Batista and Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship.^[117] On January 12, 2009, on Raw, Austin was announced to be the first member of the Hall of Fame class of 2009.^[118] He was inducted by his long-term on-screen rival Vince McMahon, who referred to Austin as "the greatest WWE Superstar of all time". During the induction, Austin said he was officially closing the door on his wrestling career and starting a new chapter in his life. He would appear at WrestleMania 25 the next night, driving an ATV to the ring. Austin appeared as the guest host of Raw on March 15, 2010, moderating a contract signing between McMahon and Bret Hart for their match at WrestleMania XXVI on March 28.

In early 2011, Austin was announced as the head trainer and host for the revival of

WWE All-Stars

" episode of Raw, during which he destroyed the Anonymous Raw General Manager's laptop by running over it with his ATV.

Sporadic appearances and one-off return to competition (2012–2022)

In July 2012, Austin was announced as the cover star of the special edition of the video game WWE '13. He then began a brief, verbal feud on Raw with fellow cover star CM Punk in the months leading to release.

Austin appeared at

The New Day tried to convince Austin to dance with them in celebration. While Austin reluctantly danced along at first, he soon hit Xavier Woods with a Stone Cold Stunner.^[123]

During Raw's 25th anniversary episode on January 22, 2018, Austin appeared and performed a Stone Cold Stunner on Shane and Vince McMahon.^[124]

On March 7, 2022,

No Holds Barred match, which Austin accepted, marking his first wrestling match in WWE in over 19 years. He would go on to win after hitting Owens with a Stone Cold Stunner. After the match, Austin gave another Stone Cold Stunner to Owens and one to Byron Saxton before celebrating with his brother, Kevin.^[126] The match received positive reviews from critics, with Kevin Pantoja of 411Mania and John Canton of TJR Wrestling giving the match a rating of 3.5/5 and 3/5 stars, respectively. Both noted the high entertainment value of Austin's return, aside from the rating of the match itself.^[127][128] On Night Two of WrestleMania 38, after Mr. McMahon defeated Pat McAfee in an impromptu match, Austin made another appearance, giving Austin Theory a Stone Cold Stunner. He then began drinking beer with McMahon before hitting him with a one more iconic Stone Cold Stunner, paying homage to how the majority of on-screen interactions between the two have ended for almost 25 years.^[129] Austin then toasted with McAfee but hit him with a Stone Cold Stunner too.^[129][130]

Legacy

Since his retirement in 2003, Austin has been widely regarded and cited as one of the greatest and most influential professional wrestlers of all time. Sports Illustrated ranked him third on their top 101 greatest wrestlers of all-time list.^[131] In 2020, SPORTbible ranked Austin as the greatest wrestler of all time.^[132] He has been described as the most influential wrestler in Raw history,^[133] and the poster boy for the Attitude Era.^{[134][135][136]} Several former world champions have named Austin as part of their "Mount Rushmore" of wrestling, including The Rock,^[137] The Undertaker,^[138] Hulk Hogan,^[139] Ric Flair,^[140] and John Cena,^[141] and a 2012 poll conducted by WWE saw Austin picked second on a fan voted version of the concept.^[142] When Vince McMahon inducted Austin into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009, he referred to Austin as "the greatest WWE superstar of all time".^[143]

Austin was the biggest box office draw in WWE since Hulk Hogan. His contributions in saving WWF and winning the Monday Night Wars against WCW helped future superstars like John Cena, who would go onto establish WWE as a global brand. He headlined WrestleMania X-Seven, the first WrestleMania to achieve a 1 million buy rate. The event was universally acclaimed and is often regarded as the greatest pay-per-view in professional wrestling history. It is also noted as the pinnacle of the Attitude Era, occurring just a week after WWE bought out their competition, WCW.^[144]

During his early years as a wrestler, Austin was a

figure-four leglock) as his finishers.^[152]

Sporting a bald head and goatee, coupled with his ring attire which consisted of plain black trunks and boots,[153]^[154] Austin relied solely on his personality to become popular.^[153][155] As "Stone Cold", Austin was portrayed on-screen as an anti-authority rebel who would consistently cuss and defy the company rules and guidelines of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. One of Austin's taunts during the Attitude Era was to show the middle finger.^[156] To complement his persona, Austin was the recipient of two additional nicknames, commentator and real life friend Jim Ross dubbed him "The Texas Rattlesnake" due to the character's "...mannerisms, the motivation, the mindset, you can't trust this son of a bitch",^[157] while Austin later named himself "The Bionic Redneck" on account of the injuries he had suffered to his arms, neck and knees.^[158] Austin has said he is "eternally indebted" to Ross for helping his character become popular.^[159]

On both his podcasts, Austin credited Bret Hart as the wrestler who got him over the most, had most influence on his early wrestling style, and who he had his best matches with.^[160][161] Austin would later go on to induct Bret Hart into the WWE Hall of Fame.^[162] The match between Austin and Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 has been widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestling matches of all time,^[163] and has been voted by IGN as the greatest match in WrestleMania history, and was number 1 among their list of top 20 WrestleMania matches of all time.^[164] The match would later receive the inaugural "Immortal Moment" Award at the 2025 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.^[165]

A 12-minute match between Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin drew a 9.5 rating on June 28, 1999. It stands as the highest-rated segment in Raw history.^[166]

According to the data collected by US-bookies, Stone Cold Steve Austin is still WWE’s best merchandise seller earning an estimated $3,600,000 from merchandise on WWE Shop site. John Cena takes the #2 spot, earning almost $2,700,000 from WWE Shop.^[167] 'Austin 3:16' T-shirt is amongst the best selling T-shirts in wrestling history^[168]

In August 2001, Austin began using his catchphrase "What?" to interrupt wrestlers who were trying to speak and to allow fan participation chants.^[169] Audiences at WWE shows have since widely used this chant during performer promos,^[170][171] and Austin has stated his regret at inventing the chant.^[172] Austin's entrance theme was composed by Jim Johnston, who said that in composing the song, he looked upon Austin's persona as an "ass-kicker guy who did not enter a room with subtlety. He needed something that reflected that".^[173] Looking to capture the unpredictable nature of the character, Johnston thought of using the sounds of a car crash and smashing glass, and recalled that he instantly felt the theme fit the character and that "it felt like it had already been his theme for years".^[173] Austin says the song was inspired by Rage Against the Machine's song "Bulls on Parade".^[174] The theme song was revamped in 2000, with the rock band Disturbed recording the new version, used for the first time at the Unforgiven PPV event in September.^[175] Austin's entrance theme is regarded as one of the greatest of all time,^{[176][177][178][179]} and one which defined the Attitude Era.^[180]

Other media

Acting and hosting

Austin had guest roles on

The Package.^[181]

In April 2013, Austin started a weekly podcast named The Steve Austin Show which is family-friendly, while his second podcast The Steve Austin Show – Unleashed! is more adult-oriented.[182] As of May 2015, the podcasts averaged 793,000 downloads a week and had nearly 200 million overall downloads.^[183] In February 2018, Austin announced that the "Unleashed" version of the podcast had been dropped and merged with the family-friendly version in order to appeal to more sponsors.^[184] The podcast has also transitioned to a live broadcast for the WWE Network (podcasted after a short exclusivity period) with monthly specials since 2014.^[185] In November 2019, Austin began an interview segment on the WWE Network called the Broken Skull Sessions, taking its name from the ranch owned by Austin.^[186] The premiere episode featured The Undertaker.^[187]

Austin hosted the reality competition show Redneck Island on

CMT, which began in June 2012^[188] and concluded with its fifth season in April 2016.^[189] In July 2014, his reality competition show Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge premiered on CMT.^[190] The show entered into its fifth season in September 2017.^[191]

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Beyond The Mat	Himself	Documentary
2005	The Longest Yard	Guard Dunham
2007	The Condemned	Jack Conrad / Jack Riley
2009	Damage	John Brickner	Direct-to-video
2010	The Expendables	Dan Paine
	The Stranger	Tom "The Stranger" Tomashevsky	Direct-to-video
	Hunt to Kill	U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jim Rhodes	Direct-to-video
	Whoop Ass	Himself	Short film
2011	Recoil	Ryan Varrett	Direct-to-video
	Knockout	Dan Barnes	Direct-to-video
	Tactical Force	SWAT Captain Frank Tate	Direct-to-video
2012	Maximum Conviction	Manning	Direct-to-video
2013	The Package	Tommy Wick	Direct-to-video
	Grown Ups 2	Tommy Cavanaugh
2014	Chain of Command	Ray Peters	Direct-to-video
2015	Smosh: The Movie	Himself

Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	V.I.P.	Himself
1998–2002	Celebrity Deathmatch	Himself	Voice
1999–2000	Nash Bridges	Inspector Jake Cage	Recurring role, 6 episodes
2000	Dilbert	Himself	Voice; Episode "The Delivery"
2003	Hollywood Squares	Himself	5 Episodes
2005	The Bernie Mac Show	Himself
2010	Chuck	Hugo Panzer	2 episodes
2011	Tough Enough	Himself	Host and TV wrestling trainer
2012–2016	Redneck Island	Himself	Host
2014–2017	Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge	Himself	Host
2019–present	Straight Up Steve Austin	Himself	Host
2020	Undertaker: The Last Ride	Himself	Documentary series
2023–present	Stone Cold Takes on America	Himself	Host

Podcast
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2019–present	The Broken Skull Sessions	Himself

Music videos

Music videos
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2019	¿Quién tu eres?	Himself	Music video debut[192]

Video games

WCW Video games
Year	Title	Notes
1994	WCW: The Main Event	Video game debut

WWE Video games
Year	Title	Notes
1998	WWF War Zone	WWF/E Video game debut Cover athlete
1999	WWF Attitude	Cover athlete
	WWF WrestleMania 2000
2000	WWF SmackDown!
	WWF Royal Rumble	Cover athlete
	WWF No Mercy
	WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role
2001	With Authority!
	WWF Betrayal
	WWF Road to WrestleMania	Cover athlete
	WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It
2002	WWF Raw
	WWE WrestleMania X8	Cover athlete
	WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth
2003	WWE Crush Hour
	WWE WrestleMania XIX	Cover athlete
	WWE Raw 2
	WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain
2005	WWE Day of Reckoning 2
	WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006
2006	WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007
2007	WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008
2009	WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010	DLC
2009	WWE Legends of WrestleMania	Cover athlete
2010	WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011
2011	WWE All Stars
	WWE '12
2012	WWE WrestleFest
	WWE '13
2013	WWE 2K14
2014	WWE SuperCard
	WWE 2K15
2015	WWE Immortals
	WWE 2K16[193]	Cover athlete
2016	WWE 2K17
2017	WWE Champions
	WWE Tap Mania
	WWE 2K18
	WWE Mayhem
2018	WWE 2K19
2019	WWE 2K20
2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds	Cover athlete
2022	WWE 2K22
2023	WWE 2K23
2024	WWE 2K24
2025	WWE 2K25

Personal life

Austin played college football at the University of North Texas. Austin married his high school girlfriend Kathryn Burrhus on November 24, 1990. However, he later pursued a relationship with English wrestling manager Jeanie Clarke, with whom he was working. His marriage to Burrhus was annulled on August 7, 1992,^[194] and he married Clarke on December 18. They had two daughters, Stephanie (born 1992) and Cassidy (born 1996), before divorcing on May 10, 1999.^[195][196] Austin also adopted Clarke's daughter Jade from a previous relationship with Chris Adams.^[195][196] In 2010, Austin became a grandfather for the first time when Jade gave birth to a son.^[197] Since then, Jade had two more children with her husband Adam Bryniarski, a British independent wrestler.^[198] Bryniarski died in 2022 at age 41.^[199]

On September 13, 2000, Austin married wrestling manager

domestic abuse.^[203][204] He pleaded no contest on November 25, and was given a year's probation, a $1,000 fine, and ordered to carry out 80 hours of community service.^[205] In 2007, Marshall told Fox News that^[206] WWE knew of the abuse, but worked to keep her from revealing that Austin had hit her as it would cost the company millions of dollars.^[207] Austin responded to the incident in 2003 through WWE Raw Magazine, citing his regret over their relationship breaking down and stating his love for Marshall. He also ridiculed allegations that the incident was alcohol-related.^[208] He filed for divorce from Marshall on July 22, 2002, which was finalized on February 5, 2003.^[209]

In March 2003, during the hours leading up to WrestleMania XIX, Austin was rushed to the hospital for twitchiness and a high heart rate.[210]

In 2003, Austin denied allegations that he was an alcoholic, stating that wrestling fans had mistaken his character's excessive consumption of beer as a real-life trait of his and insisting that he drinks responsibly.

San Antonio, Texas, according to a police report. No arrests were made and no charges were filed in the case.^[211]

In 2007, the Wrestling Observer newsletter reported that Austin had legally changed his name to Steve Austin.[212]

In late 2009, Austin married his fourth wife, Kristin Feres.^[8][213]

In 2014, Austin voiced support for same-sex marriage on his podcast.^[214] Also in 2014, Austin released his first beer, Broken Skull IPA, with El Segundo Brewing Company in California. In March 2022, they released another collaboration, Broken Skull American Lager.^[215][216] The beers are distributed in 35 states with El Segundo brewing over 5,000 barrels of Broken Skull annually.^[217]

Austin has owned two large ranches, the first, the Broken Skull Ranch was near Tilden, Texas.^[218] In 2018 he purchased the Broken Skull Ranch 2.0 in Gardnerville, Nevada.^[219]

Championships and accomplishments

• Cauliflower Alley Club
  • Iron Mike Mazurki Award (2012)^[220]
• Guinness World Records
  • World record: Most wins of the WWE Royal Rumble (3 times)^[221]
• International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
  • Class of 2022^[222]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Feud of the Year (1998, 1999) vs. Vince McMahon^[223]
  • Match of the Year (1997) vs. Bret Hart in a submission match at WrestleMania 13^[223]
  • Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2001)^[223]
  • Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1998)^[223]
  • Rookie of the Year (1990)^[223]
  • Wrestler of the Year (1998, 1999, 2001)^[223]
  • Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1998 and 1999^[224][225]
  • Ranked No. 19 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the
    PWI Years
    in 2003
  • Ranked No. 50 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Brian Pillman in 2003
  • Stanley Weston Award (2019)^[226]
• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
  • Class of 2016^[227]
• Sports Illustrated
  • Ranked No. 1 of the 20 Greatest WWE Wrestlers Of All Time ^[228]
• Texas Wrestling Federation
  • TWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rod Price^[229]
• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW World Television Championship (2 times)^[230]
  • WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (2 times)^[231]
  • WCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Pillman^[232]
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Pillman^[233]
• World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
  • WWF Championship (6 times)^[234]
  • WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)^[235]
  • WWF Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Shawn Michaels (1), Dude Love (1), The Undertaker (1), and Triple H (1)^[236]
  • Million Dollar Championship (1 time)^[237]
  • King of the Ring (1996)^[238]
  • Royal Rumble (1997, 1998, 2001)^[239]
  • Undisputed WWF Championship #1 Contenders Tournament (2002)
  • Fifth Triple Crown Champion^[240][241]
  • Slammy Award (2 times)
    • Freedom of Speech (
      1997)^[242]
    • Best Original
      2015)^[243]
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2009)
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2025) Immortal Moment - vs. Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Best Box Office Draw (1998, 1999)
  • Best Brawler (2001)
  • Best Gimmick (1997, 1998)
  • Best Heel (1996)
  • Best on Interviews (1996–1998, 2001)
  • Best Non-Wrestler (2003)
  • The Hart Foundation
  • Feud of the Year (1998, 1999) vs. Vince McMahon
  • Match of the Year (1997) vs. Bret Hart in a submission match at WrestleMania 13
  • Most Charismatic (1997, 1998)
  • Rookie of the Year (1990)
  • The Hollywood Blonds
  • The Great American Bash
  • Wrestler of the Year (1998)
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2000)^[244]

References