Austin 3:16 - Stone Cold Steve Austin

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Steve Austin is Born!

Steve Austin was born in 1990 when a 25 year old Steve Williams decided to pursue a life long interest and enrolled in a wrestling school run by Chris Adams. In 1991 'Stunning' Steve Austin debuted in World Championship Wrestling.

Time in WCW and ECW

Steve Austin spent five years in WCW. He held the TV Title twice, the US Title twice, and the Tag Titles once with the late Brian Pillman.

1991-06-03 Steve defeats Bobby Eaton winning the WCW World TV Championship. On 1992-04-27 Barry Windham defeats Austin for the TV Title in a best of three. Austin's reign fell 9 days short of Arn Anderson's record. 1992-06-23 Steve Austin defeats Barry Windham for his second TV Title reign. On 1992-09-02 Austin loses the title to Ricky Steamboat in a no-DQ match.

1993-03-02 wins Tag Titles with Brian Pillman defeating Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas. The Hollywood Blondes become a top team. Several months later (1993-08-18) Pillman goes on the injured list and Austin loses the Tag Titles, with replacement Steven Regal, to Arn Anderson and Paul Roma. The Blondes breakup.

1993-12-27 Steve defeats Dustin Rhodes (aka Goldust) two out of three to win the US Title. 1994-09-18 Austin regains US Title from Ricky Steamboat, who forfeited due to injury. Jim Duggan defeats Austin immediately after. At this point Austin is no longer given a push and is held back. Eventually Austin goes on the injured list and leaves WCW.

In the summer of 1995 'Superstar' Steve Austin debuts in Extreme Championship Wrestling. Later that year Austin signs with the WWF.

Steve Austin's rise thru the WWF

Steve Austin debuts as Ted Dibiase's Ringmaster. Soon a feud with Savio Vega leads to a match, 1996-04-28, stipulating that if Austin loses Dibiase must leave the WWF. Austin later claims he threw the match to get rid of Dibiase. Austin begins to take on his Stone Cold persona.

1996-06-23 King of The Ring. Stone Cold defeats Jake 'the Snake' Roberts marking the rise of Austin 3:16. Later that year, Austin begins bad mouthing Bret Hart. At the 1996 Buried Alive, Austin defeats Hunter Hearst-Helmsley (Triple H). 1997 Royal Rumble Austin defeats Bret Hart. At WM XIII Stone Cold loses to Bret Hart in a submission match, passing out rather than submitting. Thus elevating his career even higher.

(1997-05-27) Austin and HBK Shawn Michaels win the Tag Titles defeating Owen Hart and Bulldog. HBK takes time off, Austin is stripped of the Tag Titles. On July 14 Stone Cold is prepared to fight Owen and Bulldog by himself to reclaim the Tag Titles when none other than Dude Love, perhaps better known as Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) came to Stone Cold's aid. Together they defeat Owen and Bulldog to recapture the Tag Team Championship belts.

(1997-08-3) Summer Slam. Austin defeats Owen Hart for his first IC Title win. But vacates the IC and Tag titles due to an injury sustained during the match by a badly executed pile-driver. Stone Cold returns to defeat Owen Hart at Survivor Series (1997-11-09) to win the IC Title a second time. On 1997-12-06 Austin defeats Rocky Maivia (The Rock) retaining the IC Title, however the next night on Raw he hands it to Rocky and goes after the WWF Championship. Actually the Rattlesnake took the IC belt and threw it in a river. Stone Cold eliminated Rocky at the 1998 Royal Rumble, earning his title shot at WrestleMania XIV. Steve Austin defeated HBK with Mike Tyson as the enforcer/referee and has fought to hang on to the title as much as possible since then. Stone Cold held the Tag Titles for a third time with, his then number one contender, the Undertaker. They defeated Kane and Mankind at Fully Loaded 1998. Austin's most recent WWF Championship reign ended when Mankind won a Triple Threat match at Summer Slam 1999.

When Stone Cold walks to the ring in his black boots and black trunks everyone watching the show knows anything can happen (and probably will). Most of Stone Cold's success may be attributed to three words: "Don't trust anybody!"

On Byte This 1999-11-04 Austin said that he is indeed dating Debra, the two went on a hunting trip recently. He likes working with Triple H and said he, or the Undertaker, would be his first choice for a partner if he had to have one. On training he commented, "I like my hamburgers and beer." Austin likes to enjoy life, so he doesn't train as seriously as some other stars. He also mentioned that he may be getting new entrance music. One of his favorite past WWF stars was Ricky Steamboat. Also he remarked that Shawn Michaels was kind of a jackass.

Austin's Injury and Return

At Survivor Series (1999-11-14) Steve Austin was hit by a car (scripted) in the parking area and Big Show took his place in the Triple Threat WWF Championship match defeating Triple H and Rock. Austin took the time off to undergo surgery to repair some prior injuries to his neck as well as film two more episodes of Nash Bridges which aired May 5 and May 19.

Austin underwent surgery in January of 2000. His return to the WWF in some capacity was definite but his in ring ability was questionable. The doctors stated a recovery time of around 6 months. On 2000-01-30 Stone Cold was interviewed at his home by Jim Ross, the Rattlesnake plans to be back in the ring in 3 to 4 months. But refuses to get back in at less than 100%. Steve was at the pre-WrestleMania show but did not get involved in any matches. His rehabilitation was going well but doctors still were reluctant to say he could ever compete again.

Austin appeared on WWF TV on SmackDown (2000-04-27). The Rattlesnake blew up the DX Express bus after Rock announced that Austin would indeed make an appearance. Then Stone Cold made his presence known at Backlash as he assisted Rock to regain the WWF Championship. Although it was a premature return since he was not physically ready for action.

On 2000-09-13 Steve Austin married Debra in a small Las Vegas ceremony. A couple weeks prior to Unforgiven 2000 Stone Cold announced he was going to be at the show to open the Stone Cold Court of Law and find the person who ran him down. Stating he had waived any legal proceedings he promised to open the biggest can of 'whoop ass' the WWF had ever seen.

Stone Cold continues his investigation through October, which mostly consisted of handing out stunners to much of the locker room. Commissioner Foley ends up suspending Austin until the investigation is finished. Finally on October 09 Rikishi (which didn't make much sense) admits to running Austin down for The Rock. Commissioner Foley signs a match against Rikishi at No Mercy. Then Triple H reveals himself as Rikishi's accomplice, marking his return as a heel. Stone Cold defeats Triple H in a no-DQ match at Survivor Series. Austin finds himself in a Six-Way WWF Championship Match at Armageddon.

January 2001 Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the Royal Rumble for a WWF Championship match. And then at WrestleMania XVII (aka X-Seven) Austin made one of the most surprising heel turns.

Stone Cold defeated The Rock on 2001-04-01 for the WWF Championship (5th time) then defected to the Alliance (WCW and ECW resurrected to take over Sports Entertainment). Austin's ring time decreasesd during this period. He lost the title to Kurt Angle then regained it for a 6th reign as WWF Champion. Austin (WWF Champion) and The Rock (WCW Champion) were defeated by Chris Jericho in a tournament match to name an Undisputed Champion (2001-12-09).

2002 Austin Walks Out

Austin walked out on the WWF in June 2002. Mostly due to the frustration with his character and past injuries hindering his performance. While he was out of the WWE Austin and Debra went their separate ways.

Around this time the ECW and WCW were reabsorbed, then the WWF became the WWE, and RAW and SmackDown split the roster.

2003 Austin Returns in Limited Capacity

On March 30, 2003 Stone Cold made his way to WrestleMania XIX where he was finally defeated by The Rock.

2003-04-28 While Stone Cold was gone, Eric Bischoff mocked Austin a couple times and eventually drove Jim Ross to quit. Lita quit about a week later when Bischoff insisted she pose for Playboy. Linda MacMahon made one of her infrequent visits to Raw, on April 28th, and announced a co-general manager to keep Eric inline - Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Stone Cold remained as co-GM till November of 2003. Circumstances occurred that forbid Austin from striking a wrestler without being provoked. Austin put his career on the line at Survivor Series but his team lost and Stone Cold left Raw. He made an appearance at a special Christmas event for the troops in Iraq, he posed as Santa Clause and gave vince a stunner for a present. Fan response helped to bring Stone Cold back under his own terms; as Sheriff of Raw near the end of 2003.

Stone Cold Walks Again

Austin's appearances were limited during his Sheriff reign in early 2004. (I went to one of the events where he road an ATV to the ring with Earl Hebner on the back. I'll try to post some pictures eventually.) He refereed the Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg match at WrestleMania XX and shortly after WWE and Stone Cold went their separate ways, apparently over some contract dispute.

There was news of a multiple-movie contract with Stone Cold, backed by the WWE. One of the being The Longest Yard (2005) (Buy DVD)

2005 Steve Austin Returns Part Time

Stone Cold's first TV appearance in about a year was at WrestleMania XXI. He made a couple appearances before making a bigger impact at WWE Homecoming. The three hour special return of WWE to the USA Network (here's hoping they don't get preempted by a dog show again...). Stone Cold showed up at Homecoming and gave a stunner to Vince, Shane, Stephanie, and for the first time ever Linda McMahon. Also during Homecoming, Hogan challenged Austin to a match.

Recent ramblings

2005-10-28 Stone Cold is back to some of his old antics on Raw.

Austin 3:16

When Steve Austin defeated World Wrestling Federation veteran Jake 'The Snake' Roberts at the 1996 King of the Ring, Stone Cold informed the 'Snake' and the world that, "Austin 3:16 says: I just whooped your ass!"

Some people have a problem with this quote, feeling that its sacrilegious. Well I didn't see the Jake Roberts vs Stone Cold match and don't know if Austin created the line or the marketing department but I'm sure no sacrilegious intentions were present. If anything, Roberts character at the time may've been sacrilegious but I don't know what the man's true beliefs were. In any case,

John 3:16 is: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

A very important line in the Bible, which Roberts quoted at the event. This provoked Austin's response of Austin 3:16.

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