"Stone Cold" Steve Austin / YMMV

Awesome Ego: When Stone Cold says he's the world's toughest son of a bitch, fans loudly agree, 'cause Stone Cold said so!
Awesome Music:
- Jim Johnston's "I won't do what you tell me". It starts with the iconic glass shattering, then continues with that sweet mid-tempo and its heavy riff while more glass is being shattered in the background.
- "Glass Shatters" by Disturbed, from the album WWE Forceable Entry. Take "I won't do what you tell me", add brutal lyrics and make the riff even heavier by lowering its pitch, and you get the best theme for Heel!Austin.
- While overshadowed by his later theme the Hollywood Blondes theme from WCW was great. The guitar riffs just scream badassery and was perfect for a cocky heel tag team like the Hollywood Blonds. In fact, it was so good that WCW used it for a number of wrestlers, including Jake "The Snake" Roberts, after Austin was fired.
Broken Base: His heel turn in 2001 had incredibly poor timing, as 1) he was so over with the fans that no one was ready to boo him, and 2) with Rock going to Hollywood it left viewers without a charismatic lead hero to root for. However, the quality of his matches improved over his run in the Attitude Era, as he had great bouts against a range of superstars, as opposed to 1998-1999 where he almost exclusively wrestled against Rock, HHH, Foley, Kane, and Taker. Moreover, his double act with Kurt Angle as the company's two biggest heels is considered to be some of the best comedy to ever come out of the WWE.
Designated Hero: Towards the end of his career Austin had a tendency to apply the stunner to pretty much everyone he interacted with, including other babyfaces, often with no provocation whatsoever. This got particularly bad when Mick Foley and Ric Flair ended up turning heel when they had the audacity to get upset about this. Additionally, his intimidation of defenseless non-wrestlers like Jonathan Coachman and Michael Cole often crossed into outright bullying.
Draco in Leather Pants: After his King of the Ring 1996 victory, efforts were made to push him as a heel. Jim Ross noted that the dirtier Austin got, the more the crowd loved it, which eventually led to his Heel–Face Turn at WrestleMania XIII. His popularity was so great during the Attitude Era that almost nobody bought his Face–Heel Turn after Wrestlemania X-7 and especially his turn to The Alliance later in the year. Austin himself compared it to John Wayne being cast as a Nazi.
Fountain of Memes: "Austin 3:16" has had so many homages/parodies that it may be impossible to keep count of them all by this point.
Franchise Original Sin:
- Austin being in the WWF main events despite not being able to do much after his neck injury was really no big deal because the man was still a great worker and the fans loved almost everything he did, sometimes even when he did not want them too. Unfortunately it taught the WWF that it was acceptable to use smoke and mirrors to try and hide the fact not much was actually happening in a match, even if it was a main event match, and that the illusion of competitive wrestling in of itself wasn't that important since post injury Austin was a lot less technical than he used to be. Jaded WWF/E fans reflexively look away from the ring when crowd noise picks up for a hero's potential comeback, expecting interference of some kind and look at the referee more than the wrestler about to take a finishing move, just waiting for the official to be knocked out.
- Austin’s use of “WHAT?” began a trend in fans to shout it at wrestlers while cutting promos, notoriously haunting Kurt Angle for a good part of his career. While some can adjust and adapt to it, a lot of wrestlers have noted it’s incredibly annoying when they’re trying to sell an angle and, while no one thinks Austin started it maliciously, a lot of wrestlers openly wish he’d never have incorporated it into his promos.
Growing the Beard:
- His early matches sucked by his own admission, but overtime Austin would become well respected for his unique brawler-technical style.
- His time in ECW was where he truly developed his mic skills that would eventually form the basis of his "Stone Cold" persona.
- This was literally the case once he shed The Ringmaster moniker. When he started out in the WWF, he was still clean shaven and had a buzzcut. When he became Stone Cold, he shaved his head and grew his signature goatee and never looked back.
Heartwarming Moments:
- During his time in WWE, Austin would spend a good 30-45 minutes after the show went off the air entertaining the crowd, sometimes joined by other stars such as the Rock or Chris Jericho. It really goes to show how much Austin loves his job and the fans.
- The aftermath of his match with Kevin Owens at WM 38. Austin has shown nothing but respect and gratitude for his younger opponent, not only for making him look like a grade-A badass almost 20 years after his premature retirement, but also for how careful he was not to aggravate any of the existing injuries that forced his retirement in the first place.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- While in WCW, Steve Austin suggested that he started a feud with Hulk Hogan by proclaiming "Steveamania" was bigger than "Hulkamania." It was dismissed as silly. A few years later, Austin went to the WWF and proved Steveamania was bigger than Hulkamania.
  - Adding to this, WWE actually planned to have Austin face Hogan for WrestleMania 18, but Austin himself shot it down, believing his and Hogan's styles differed too greatly that they wouldn't gel in the ring (Austin has since said he regrets not taking the opportunity to work with Hogan).
- During his time in WCW, Austin, as part of the Hollywood Blonds, was invited to Ric Flair's talk show A Flair for the Gold, where Flair told him something along the lines of "Arn Anderson told me that you could be The Man someday." Flair wasn't aware of how right he would be...
- During his "Monday NyQuil " promo in ECW, (in character as Eric Bischoff) he announces the idea of a Bottle-Of-Geritol-On-A-Pole match. Compared to some of the pole matches Vince Russo came up with in WCW's latter days, this doesn't seem so ridiculous.
- The guy who's character is possibly the public face of alcoholism now apparently prefers smoking weed to drinking, because it helps him mellow out.
- A more darker example, but given Vince McMahon's recent controversy caused by his personal misdemeanor makes Austin's beatdowns on him possibly more cathartic in hindsight.
Memetic Badass: Austin already got Chuck Norris-levels of this before, being considered one of the most badass wrestlers ever, but ever since Donald Trump got elected as President of the United States, Austin's delivery of the Stunner to Trump in WrestleMania 23 has resurfaced as a meme, given that this now means that Austin has given the Stunner to a President.
Memetic Mutation:
- STUNNER OUTTA NOWHERE!!
- Austin's "WHAT?!" noted in various other places, has taken on a life of its own. Years after his retirement, long promos are still interrupted by "WHAT?!" at breaks, much like Ric Flair's "WOOOOO" whenever someone does a knife-edge chop in the corner.
- Arrive. Raise Hell. Leave.
  - A more accurate variant: Arrive. Stunner. Leave.
- His shocked reaction to Bret Hart coming out during the 1997 Royal Rumble has become a popular reaction GIF.
- A clip of him laughing uproariously and then immediately turning expressionless is a very popular GIF.
Misaimed Fandom: "WHAT?" was originally created by Austin as a heel when he was acting strangely, saying "what?" during promos in order to repeat what he had just said. He created it in real life when leaving an answerphone message for Christian. Later he used it to intimidate opponents if they even looked like they were about to interrupt him. It got over with the fans so much, they also chanted "WHAT?" when any wrestler tried to cut a promo. It also basically ended Austin's chance to get over as a heel.
- Several wrestlers have actually caught on to the chant, and some have found ways of switching up their speech patterns and rhythms mid-promo to kill the momentum of the chant. Others, most notably Kurt Angle, would intentionally draw out the chants, even insulting the audience for using it.
- Roddy Piper reacted like the crowd was asking him a personal question every time.
  Roddy Piper: "Keep up with me, people"
  "I'm not doing all that again."
  "Can you not hear me out there?"
- Made a resurgence in 2010 with the anonymous GM. Practically every time Michael Cole reads an e-mail (especially one that favors a heel), expect "WHAT?" chants to break out.
- Extra fun when it's done while a wrestler is speaking a foreign language.
- The Miz has countered "What?" chants with "Really?"
- Miz is one who is probably legitimately annoyed when the crowd breaks it out and will often chastise them for it.
Miz: They don't compare to my ability!
Crowd: What?!
Miz;: They don't compare to my talent!
Crowd: What?!
Miz: YOU ALL SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF DUCKS! WHATWHATWHATWHATWHAT! Shut up while I'm talking!
- Also R-Truth as well:
Crowd: What?!
R-Truth: Don't What me!
Crowd: What?!
R-Truth: You should be Whatting yourselves!
- Then the last two join forces against the What?! chants.
  - R-Truth has since changed it up a bit, playing into it in his new 'tweener/face' phase and occasionally encouraging it to get the crowd more involved in his current 'crazy man' gimmick.
Crowd: What?!
R-Truth:Don't what me!
Crowd: What?!
R-Truth: *grins* Okay, what me!
- Damien Sandow countered the chants by thanking the crowd, "for your irrelevant opinion."
- And Mark Henry with "Y'all just a buncha puppets."
- Probably The Undertaker did it best when he very clearly had enough of the "What" chants: "I'll tell you what, why don't you say "what" if you like to sleep with your own sister." Half the crowd fell for it, the other half laughed at them.
- There was also a time when Vince McMahon responded with "If you're an imbecile and you're from Hartford, you'll say..." And of course the crowd bites.
- Alexa Bliss: "If you're a failure, say "what?"." Crowd bites. "My point exactly." She too routinely makes a habit of reacting to the "What?" chants, either treating them like a legitimate conversation or making an example of the fans for doing it.
Most Wonderful Sound:
- Any time you hear that glass shattering noise on a WWE show, expect the crowd to explode. Or, as it was once put: "When you hear the glass, it's your ass!"
- To a lesser extent, the sound of the bedpan smacking off Vince McMahon's head when Stone Cold gave his Bad Boss a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown in the hospital.
Older Than They Think:
- "The Extreme Superstar" Steve Austin had his first beer in ECW.
- Got Mr. McMahon to apologize more than a decade before CM Punk did.
Shocking Moments: Austin's Face–Heel Turn, accomplished when he sided with Vince McMahon to win the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X-Seven. During the event, Vince McMahon even foreshadowed it:
Vince McMahon: You want shocking? Tonight, you'll get... shocking. I guarantee it.
Pop Culture Holiday: WWE and wrestling fans around the world started to celebrate the "Stone Cold Steve Austin Day" on March 16 thanks to the numbers that made this wrestler famous, the 3:16. The celebration became officially recognized by WWE in 2020, when the Monday Night Raw of March 16 became a "Stone Cold Day" with the same Steve Austin celebrating in the stage.
Signature Scene: For him, Raw, and the Attitude Era. Him laying waste to everyone in the ring, then going over to the announce position, grabbing one of the headsets, and bellowing out "OHHHH HELL YEAHHHHH!" It was used in promotional pieces for his merchandise for quite a while.
- His refusal to tap out of Bret Hart's Sharpshooter — while bleeding no less — at WrestleMania 13 is the moment that made Austin a star.
Suspiciously Similar Song: Austin himself has stated that his theme is based on "Bulls on Parade" by Rage Against the Machine.
Too Good to Last: Steve Austin was a living legend even as far back as the Attitude Era, being a major contributing factor to the WWF overtaking the WCW during the Monday Night Wars, and is to this day hailed as one of the most iconic wrestlers of all time. Which might make it all the more surprising to younger fans that his career with the WWF only lasted about six years (total, not consecutive) before numerous neck injuries forced him into early retirement.
Tough Act to Follow: Austin, along with the Rock, marked the absolute apex of popularity for wrestling in America. His departure due to injury and Rock’s move to Hollywood left something of a hole in the WWE that was ever fully filled afterwards. While others such as John Cena and Roman Reigns have been able to achieve stardom, the general consensus is that Austin and the Rock had a magic at a level that can’t be replicated. As the WWE went publicly owned and later bought by Endeavor, the production allowed for less and less improvisation that Austin used to get popular and the likelihood that another star could achieve such heights of popularity under such restrictions becomes smaller and smaller in modern day.
Unexpected Character: On his Broken Skull Sessions podcast for the WWE Network, just about nobody expected that he would be able to land Chris Jericho as a guest. This marked the first time that a wrestler actively signed to All Elite Wrestling has appeared on a WWE product^note. Even WWE were fully aware of how crazy it felt; it was first teased on April Fools' Day, before being announced on April 2, 2021 as if to say "yes, it's real".

YMMV / "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

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