As Steve grew a little older, he loved to watch Paul Boech's Houston Wrestling on TV. Members of his family tried to pursuade Steve to turn it off, but Steve continued to watch the sport he loved.
Steve played baseball when he was younger. He played football and was on the track team in high school. When he graduated from Edna High School, he recieved a football scholarship. Steve was also crowned prom king (actually it had a different southern twist to the title, Mr. Cowboy) at his prom. Soon after high school, Steve married his high school sweet-heart (whom he had been dating for quite some time), but the marriage only lasted about a year. Steve attended North Texas State University to play football, but dropped ou when his scholarship ran out. He began working on a loading dock, hauling around boxes.
At that time, Steve would visit the Sportatorium in Dallas to watch Von Erichs wrestle. That was when Steve decided that he too could become a wrestler. Steve quit his job at the loading dock and attended the new wrestling school to train under Chris Adams. Steve quickly rose to be the top student in his class. Five months after joining the school, in 1990, Steve got a job working with WCCW. During his year at WCCW, Steve and Chris Adams got into a bitter fued which ended in a wrestling match. It was at this match where Steve toppled his teacher and claimed victory.
However, Steve was still waiting for his big break. While in WCCW, Steve would barely earn enough money to pay for gas to drive himself to and from the events. While waiting to hear from WCW, Steve was forced to live off of tuna fish, potatoes, and (of course!) a six pack of beer for several days.
Steve finally got the call from WCW in 1991, and entered as "Stunning" Steve Austin. In 1992, Steve defeated Barry Windhame for the WCW TV title. He captured the WCW US title on two different occasions in 1993: once from Dustin Runnels and the other from Ricky Steamboat. It was in WCW where he met his second wife, the valet that escorted him to the ring.
Probably his most distinct rolls in WCW was when he and the late Brian Pillman formed the "Hollywood Blondes." Together, they captured the WCW Tag Team Championship from Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglass.
After five years with WCW, Steve was release from the organization, and Bischoff did it in a chicken shit kind of way too. After the "Hollywood Blondes" had broken up (because they had become too popular and the old fogies didn't like it), Steve tore a tricep muscle and was recovering from it while on tour in Japan. While in Japan, Eric Bitchoff (did i spell that right?) made a phone call to Steve.
Eric Bischoff had decided that Steve wasn't profitable and that he was injured too often. Because Bischoff didn't see Steve as profitable is probably the reason why Steve was never given the chance to show off his charismatic mike skills. Anyway, Bischoff called Steve over the phone while recovering from his injury, to announce to Steve that he was fired. Steve was and still is furious about the way he was fired. In the long run, he is glad it happened because he realized he wasn't going to be given the opportunity to make it to the top in WCW.
Steve then held a short stint in ECW as "Superstar" Steve Austin. That didn't last very long, and in 1995, Steve was recruited into the WWF. At about the same time, Steve had seen an HBO special about serial killers. This had inspired Steve to create a personality of someone who didn't give a rats ass about anything. One person in particular on the special, called the "Ice Man," had influenced Steve's idea. Steve was not trying to promote serial killers, but the people at the WWF couldn't het it in their heads. They kept trying to dub Steve as the "Ice Man" Steve Austin.
When Steve began wrestling in WWF, he was first known as the "Ringmaster" and was managed by former wreslter, the "Million Dollar Champion." Any wreslter who was new in the business would have been thrilled to be managed by a former champion, but not Steve. Steve felt he was being held back and was not given the opportunity to speak his mind under the "Million Dollar Champion." However, Steve was still trying to figure out a gimmick. It was his wife who actually came up with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Steve was fretting over a new ring name for himself because he knew the "Ringmaster" gimmick wasn't going anywhere. His wife was trying hard to stop Steve from worrying about it, telling him not to think about it and to drink his coffee before it got "stone cold." That was how "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was born.
At the same time, Steve's manager had a new move he had seen to show Steve. This move was a two step process. First it required a kick to the opponent's mid-section. The second move required Steve to turn around with his back facing his opponent. Then Steve would have to grab his opponent's head and rest it on his shoulder. Then Steve would drop down to the mat. Steve tried it and performed the move with ease. His manager explained that the move would temporarily "stun" the opponent. Steve dubbed this move the "Stone Cold Stunner" and it is now his famous finishing move. Eventually, steve fired his manager and was able to finally do what he wanted and he started using the "Stone Cold" persona. However, he still wasn't given much of an opportunity to display his mike skills.
It wasn't until King of the Ring in 1996 when Steve was truly allowed to speak his mind. After suffering over 12 stitches from Marc Mero and defeating Jake "the Snake" Roberts for the King of the Ring title, Austin 3:16 was born in a post-match interview. If you don't know what Austin 3:16 means it goes like this:
about your John 3:16! Austin 3:16
says 'I just whipped your ass!'"
In Wrestlemania 13, in May 1997, Steve and Shawn Micheals won the Tag Team Championship. However, Shawn had to leave due to injuries and Dude Love stepped in to replace Shawn. In August of 1997, tragedy struck Steve. In a championship match, the late Owen Hart improperly performed a piledriver on Steve, causing him to become temporarily paralyzed. However, Steve managed to surprise everyone by rolling up Owen and defeating him for the gold. But because Steve had to leave to recover from his injury, he was forced to give up his title. This did not stop Steve, however, from showing up to events to harrass Vince McMahon!
In the 1997 Survivor Series, Steve made a huge comeback where he won the Intercontinental championship over the Rock. Vince McMahon decided to overturn the referee's decision and awarded the Rock with the title. Enraged, Steve threw the belt off a bridge before he decided to go for the biggest prize in the WWF.
At the 1998 Royal Rumble, Steve came out on top and won the opportunity to wrestle Shawn Micheals at Wrestlemania 14. Steve proved to be victorious over the Heart Break Kid and became the WWF Heavy Weight Champion for the first time.
It was then that Steve's and Vince's hatred for each other heated up. Vince did not (and still doesn't) see Steve as the ideal champion. He began to search for someone that was able to steal the gold away from Steve. First, Dude Love was put up against Steve. He came close, but to no evail. Then came Kane, who manages to take the gold from Steve for one day.
At that time, Steve and the Undertaker were Tag Team Champions. The two never really got along but they manages to cooperate while they were champions. Vince then decided to put Mankind and Kane up against the champions, hoping they would defeat them and breaking off the only bond between Steve and the Undertaker. The plan worked and once again Steve and the Undertaker became bitter rivals.
At Summer Slam 1998, Vince put Steve up against the Undertaker to defend the championship. After a tough battle, Steve came out the champion, but Vince became even more determined to rid himself of Steve.
In September 1998 at Breakdown In Your House, Steve was forced to defend his title against the Undertaker and Kane. Unfortunately, Steve couldn't beat the odds as both Kane and the Undertaker pinned him. At Judgement Day in October 1998, Steve was chosen to be the special guest referee in a match between Kane and the Undertaker to determine who would become the new champion. Steve promised he would not name a new champ and Vince promised he would fire Steve if he did so. And that's exactly what happened.
A week later, Steve was rehired by Shane McMahon and promised a shot at the championship. At Survivor Series in 1998, Steve was screw over by Shane during a match and lost. The Rock was named the champion.
Steve knew he would be able to get a title shot if he won the Royal Rumble in January 1999. However, Vince would not let Steve to compete at the event if he did not defeat the Undertaker in a buried alive match at Rock Bottom in December 1998. Fortunately, Steve pulled through.
Vince also decided to participate in the Royal Rumble. When everyone else was eliminated and only Vince and Steve remained, the Rock came out and Steve was once again screwed over by a McMahon. However, Vince resigned his spot as number one contender for the title. In doing so, Vince did not realize he was allowing Steve to reclaim the title.
At Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, Steve challenged Vince to a cage match and said that if Vince won, Steve would give up his right to face the Rock at Wrestlemania 15. Of course, Steve won the cage match and he also won the championship title from the Rock.
However, Steve was again screwed out of the title again as the Undertaker became the new champ. But little did Vince expect,that his wife Linda and his daughter Stephanie would hand over thier shares of the WWF to Steve. Linda also handed over the CEO title of the WWF to Steve. Now in more conrol of the WWF that Vince and Shane, Steve has once again proven that you can't get rid of him!
However, at King of the Ring 1999, Steve was screwed out of his half of the WWF. But before he lost it, he rewrote his contract allowing him a title shot the day after King of the Ring on Raw and also made it so he can go after Vince whenever he wants. Later that night, Steve faced off against the Undertaker and won back the title for the 4th time!
A few months later, the rattlesnake suffered another injury at Summer Slam. Triple H had attacked Steve with a shovel and injured his knee. Steve recovered quickly and vowed to win back the title once again.
In November, Austin was to face off against the Rock and HHH for the WWF title, but prior to the match, he was struck down in the parking lot by the Rock's car. Steve was rushed to the hospital. It was determined that Steve would have to take time off from wrestling. The combination of Stone Cold's previous neck injury and this attack had caused further damage to his spinal column in his neck.
Steve Austin had what's known as a bone spur. This is when a part of a bone is splintered but not completely broken. In Austin's case, this sliver was on the inside of his vertabrae and was pushing into his spinal cord. Steve successfully went through surgery in January 2000.
While he was recouperating, he had gotten his second divorce. Shortly after he remarried coworker Debra. Over the summer in 2000, Steve made his way back to the WWF. He fully recovered from his injury, but his temper was bigger than ever! He sought out the one who ran him down almost a year ago.
Stone Cold began his "investigation" by eliminating each wrestler one by one with a stunner. Finally the truth was revealed: Triple H and Rakishi plotted against him. Triple H had Rikishi steal the Rock's car and run him down. However Stone Cold did have his revenge!
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