If there’s one thing wrestling fans can generally agree on, it’s how great Steve Austin is. An unappreciated midcard heel in WCW, Austin got fired and subsequently reinvented himself as 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, a perpetually angry and violent redneck, propelling himself to success in WWE and becoming the biggest draw of the company’s Attitude Era. With such popularity, however, comes the inevitability of dissenting opinions.
On Reddit, it’s common to post an “unpopular opinion” and massively popular wrestlers like Austin are common targets of these kinds of threads. So let’s take a look at some times redditors expressed unconventional thoughts about the Attitude Era star.
10 Overrated?
On a general call for unpopular opinions, redditor u/tbeats666 dropped in to say that 'Stone Cold' was “overrated,” a word that’s going to expectedly pop up a lot on this list. While the user admitted that there were obvious highlights in Austin’s career, they felt that his WWE character basically amounted to a bunch of catchphrases.
In a moment of self-awareness, u/tbeats666 admitted that The Rock could also fall victim to that criticism, but they simply liked The Rock better than Austin.
9 A Boring Brawler
Back in the days of the Attitude Era, fans LOVED when Austin would show up and wail on every guy in sight. Over in one unpopular opinions thread came u/nilonilo, who thought Steve Austin's brawling style was boring and wondered why Austin gave up on showing off his actual wrestling abilities in the first place.
However, at least one redditor was quick to point out that injuries had forced Steve Austin to change his in-ring style in order to continue his career.
8 Preferring The Hollywood Blonde
For a legion of wrestling fans, 'Stone Cold' is the definitive version of Steve Austin. However on the same thread as the above take, u/dtabitt admitted that their favorite version of Austin was “Stunning” Steve Austin, who tagged with Brian Pillman as The Hollywood Blondes in WCW.
The popularity of Austin in the late ‘90s has supplanted the existence of previous versions to the point where they’re all mere footnotes to 'Stone Cold'. However, it’s worth going back to watch his WCW work because Austin was a great heel who put on some solid matches, albeit in a different style than fans are likely used to.
7 A Greater Legend Than The Undertaker
It should come as no surprise that there’s a subreddit entirely devoted to posting unpopular opinions, and in one post redditor u/SeanWhelan1 proclaimed that they don’t buy into the narrative that The Undertaker is the greatest of all time.
In their opinion, the actual GOAT is Undertaker’s Attitude Era rival, Steve Austin. This being a general subreddit, there’s little discourse there save for inane catchphrases (including a Ric Flair woo) and someone saying “No The Rock and John Cena are.”
6 Love For Old Punches
On the WWE subreddit, one redditor with a surprisingly lewd name expressed a particular love for the way Austin and The Rock traded punches back in the day compared to modern guys who trade punches and elbows. What resulted in this 2018 thread was a nostalgic conversation about stylistic preferences, with complaints about too many flips and a lack of storyline and psychology in WWE.
Choice sentences include “Nah man, I think we’d all take the attitude era back in a heartbeat.” and “I feel sorry for kids today that think the wrestling product is currently good.”
5 Hart vs. Austin At WrestleMania 13 Is Overrated
While the word “overrated” is often thrown around a lot in unpopular opinions threads, sometimes someone actually sheds light on something underrated in the process. For example, redditor u/Exsanguination offered the mild opinion that the legendary Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin submission match at WrestleMania 13 was “a bit overrated,” believing that the two actually put on better matches beforehand.
One such match according to this user and at least one other redditor was their bout at Survivor Series in 1996, which they felt was their best bout together.
4 Austin/Rock III Was The Best One
One of the defining rivalries of The Attitude Era was between its most popular stars, Steve Austin and The Rock. Together, the two have had 10 televised singles matches, including three major bouts at WrestleMania. However, in an unpopular opinions thread, redditor u/Macaveli54 expressed preference for their third outing at WrestleMania XIX.
This third match is not only their last match ever, but also Austin’s final bout ever, as he would quietly retire after taking the loss here. For many fans, their near-30-minute second effort at WrestleMania X-7 is the best one, so preferring their extremely good third outing is a bit unconventional.
3 Jericho Is A Better Interviewer
Many pro wrestlers these days have podcasts, but two of the more popular ones are that of Steve Austin (The Steve Austin Show) and Chris Jericho (Talk Is Jericho), both of whom conduct interviews on their shows. In 2016, u/jizzletrizzle posted the opinion that Jericho was actually a better interviewer than Austin.
Bemoaning Austin’s surface-level interview with Brock Lesnar, this redditor praised Jericho’s interviewing abilities, hoping that he’d have the chance to interview The Undertaker and decided that this opinion would be unpopular because so many redditors love Austin unconditionally.
2 Love For “Glass Shatters”
'Stone Cold' Steve Austin’s iconic, guitar-driven theme is one that debuted during the Attitude Era and a version of it is still used today when he makes appearances in WWE. But in 2000, he had a version of it recorded by Disturbed (with lyrics!) called “Glass Shatters,” which was used until his 2001 heel turn.
Redditor u/Rsj21 made a post to proclaim an assumedly unpopular preference for this music compared to the classic instrumental. The claim wasn’t as controversial as expected, though a nu metal band like Disturbed certainly has its detractors and it’s hard to argue with the classic.
1 Austin 3:16 Is Overrated
Again, “overrated” is used a lot, and u/juicedagod posted a thread to apply the criticism to Steve Austin’s classic “Austin 3:16” promo, saying it was actually the most overrated promo of all time. While admitting the promo has “cultural significance” and sold an infinite number of T-shirts, u/juicethegod feels it’s just not that good. There’s some solid discussion in the thread as to whether it’s good promo on its own, as well as what even constitutes a good promo.
It’s obviously become a classic soundbite, but perhaps the context of Austin defeating a past-his-prime Jake Roberts and later languishing on the SummerSlam pre-show diminishes it for some fans.