The legendary career of Steve Austin made him the biggest star in WWE history. Austin was the face of the company when WWE passed WCW and never looked back to win the Monday Night Wars. The journey was quite long before Austin received his big break. WCW utilized him poorly with no plans for a progression into the main event picture.
ECW gave Austin the platform to become a hot commodity in the industry with hilarious promos and skits while recovering from an injury. The rest was history when Austin signed with WWE to change the entire landscape of the industry. We will look at some of the backstage stories from Austin’s career to provide fascination or entertainment. Find out more about The Texas Rattlesnake with Austin stories you won’t believe.
10 Taking Bets With The Rock's Selling Of The Stone Cold Stunner
Wrestling fans still love watching back old clips of The Rock selling the Stone Cold Stunner. No one was more entertaining at bumping all over the ring than Rock after taking Austin’s finishing move. Rock confirmed a hilarious story about the inspiration for his bumps.
The two often worked together and started to make bets to add to their house show fun. Austin and Rock would bet post-show beer regarding Rock being able to top his prior sells of the move. Rock likely won a lot of free drinks given his selling of the stunner.
9 Wanted Out Of WCW After Getting Buried By Jim Duggan
One of the reasons for Steve Austin’s past issues with Hulk Hogan came when he lost the United States Championship to Jim Duggan in WCW. Hulk Hogan joining the company saw his friends coming in and getting the bigger pushes.
Duggan was among the names suggested by Hogan since they worked together in WWE. Austin was the casualty squashed by Duggan in embarrassing fashion. The post-match anger of Austin was obvious that he wanted to start fresh after such a burial.
8 Turning Down Match With Marc Mero
Steve Austin was not shy about using his star power to turn down an idea if he felt strongly against it. Marc Mero signed the first guaranteed WWE contract with huge expectations for him. WWE turned Mero heel when his wife and valet Sable became more popular than him.
Mero getting powerbombed by Sable ruined a plan with Austin in 1998. WWE wanted them to feud over the WWE Championship, but Austin refused. The feeling was that he would lose his momentum if he sold for Mero after Mero was defeated by a woman.
7 Giving Valuable Advice To The Rock
The Rock revealed a few cool stories about his time working with Steve Austin in WWE since both men defined the Attitude Era more than anyone else. WrestleMania XV saw Rock dealing with the pressure of his first WM main event and having heat backstage due to others feeling he wasn’t ready for the role.
Rock claimed Austin gave him advice before the match to build his confidence up. Austin knew Rock was good enough and the two would draw huge money together if he continued improving. The legends performed well enough to have two future matches at WrestleMania as well.
6 Broke Rules About Bleeding
Bret Hart used his veteran status as the top star for WWE in 1997 to break some rules with Steve Austin. The two future icons had a legendary WrestleMania 13 submission match that featured them fighting all over the venue.
Austin’s bloody face in the sharpshooter submission before passing out is the one image that is most associated with his career. Hart knew the blood would be the final nail to make fans completely start cheering Austin over him. Vince McMahon didn’t punish either man for breaking the no blading rule since it worked to perfection.
5 Austin 3:16 Promo Was Not Planned
Another important moment of Steve Austin’s career happened on the fly at King of the Ring 1996. Austin defeated Jake Roberts in the finals of the tournament to win it all. The post-match promo is what everyone remembers most since it featured the “Austin 3:16” phrase being used for the first time.
Roberts referenced “John 3:16” in a previous promo referencing his born-again lifestyle trying to clean up his life at the time. Austin remembered it and felt it would be a cool one-liner to make it his own. WWE fans started bringing Austin 3:16 signs to shows and it made millions of dollars in merchandise.
4 Telling Off Jeff Jarrett Backstage
Vince Russo revealed what started the backstage issues between Steve Austin and Jeff Jarrett that caused them to never face off. Austin reportedly turned down a pitched feud with Jarrett for the WWE Championship back in 1999.
The story of Russo claims the issues started years prior when Jarrett returned to WWE and cut a worked shoot promo. Jarrett took aim at various WWE wrestlers and criticized Austin for his “blasphemous” promos with the Austin 3:16 line. Russo revealed Austin confronted Jarrett backstage to curse him and later made sure they wouldn’t work together.
3 Giving Kevin Owens Advice About The Stunner
Kevin Owens using the Stunner as his finishing move sees him as the first wrestler to do it since Steve Austin retired. As expected, Owens asked for Austin’s approval before changing his finisher from the pop-up powerbomb to the legendary move.
Austin has revealed he gave Owens tips to improve the stunner since no one else has been able to do it as well as The Texas Rattlesnake. Owens and Austin have a great relationship that started when Austin interviewed KO for his podcast. The two now speak enough for Austin to give tips which any wrestler would love to have.
2 Canceling SummerSlam Match With Chyna
Steve Austin reportedly canceled the Summerslam 1999 main event planned with Chyna and Triple H. WWE even had Chyna win a #1 contender’s match to earn the title shot. Plans randomly changed on screen with Mick Foley replacing Chyna in the triple threat match and winning the title.
Chyna was seemingly being prepared to make history as the first female wrestler to win the WWE Championship. Austin didn’t want to have a match with a woman and canceled the plans even though he was a good friend of Chyna at the time.
1 Refused To Talk To Owen Hart After Injury
Owen Hart’s botched piledriver to Steve Austin at SummerSlam 1997 almost ended the latter’s career. Austin suffered a brutal injury right when he was scheduled to become the top star of WWE. The two never communicated after the moment which caused friction between them.
Jim Ross revealed Austin was indeed upset at Owen and never made peace before his untimely passing. According to JR on his podcast, Owen was too embarrassed and ashamed about the mistake to issue an apology. Austin was upset at someone almost ruining his career at the worst time and not apologizing for it.