Rate The Gimmick: Stone Cold Steve Austin - Bionic Redneck

[Ferbian]

It's time for another week of Rate The Gimmick. The purpose of this thread is for me to come up with a gimmick, you rate it with an opinion. Pretty simple isn't it? The rating system is 1-10, 1 for bad, 10 for great.

This week we'll look into someone I'm sure we all enjoyed. I'd like to apologize if bionic redneck is the wrong definition. But Google sure as hell brings up a lot of Austin pictures with that search tag.

God damn Google makes my life hard, yet again no good picture of a wrestler with a championship. We'll have to settle, and this one does it very well. We all know him like that, Stone Cold Steve Austin gentlemen.

This gimmick debuted in 1996 after abandoning the Ringmaster gimmick, alongside with Ted DiBiase Sr. leaving WWE. It became a hit rather quickly, especially with the catchphrase Austin 3:16, which truly spiked the popularity of Steve Austin.

Austin has feuded with some of the best, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, The Rock, Big Show, Booker T, Chris Jericho, god damn the list goes on. But most noticeable is Vince McMahon, the first time Vince truly stepped into a storyline from my knowledge.

And it was epic, it spiked the ratings and launched a new era in WWE programming, that's how popular Austin was, and a lot of it is thanks to this feud as well.

Austin have been champions numerous times. Sadly it came to an end in 2003, with Austin ending his career after a series of nagging injuries, most noticeably the neck injury suffered by the hands of Owen Hart (R.I.P).

There's so much to say about this gimmick, and I couldn't possibly honor it all. I'll leave you all to rate this gimmick with me. Let's see what you think of this gimmick. Was it good? Was it bad? 10 or 1?

 

[Jacarr]

Ill give it a 8 for a gimmick... the most successful i would have to say, and also, the most simple. Austin went out there and was himself, a regular guy, redneck, beer drinker, hard worker, and if you pissed him off, ya had a fight on your hands. Finger gesturing foul mouthed tough SOB, what else is there to say, everyone in the wrestling world and outside of it could relate to him, thats why i believe it was so loved, and the popularity shot through the roof, maybe thats whats wrong with todays " i dont give a shit" attitude?

 

[ccotreau1]

I would give it a 10 because he didn't have to fake it. It was all him and he didn't have to act different or anything like a lot of these other wrestlers who have come and gone. I would have to give credit to Paul Heymen for allowing Austin to do that promo he did about WCW while he was rehabbing the injury that eventually led to his firing in WCW, because I don't think we would have seen the Stone Cold Steve Austin we have come to love/hate (depending on what the case may be) that we did see in WWE.

 

[Miss Flawless]

I'll give it a 8.5. You wouldn't believe how crazy my family was for wrestling back when Stone Cold was on T.V with that feud with Vince. We'd call up all our cousins, get a whole lot of popcorn, sit in front of the t.v watching him.

Anyway, his gimmick is very good, yet very simple. It was a nice I-don't-give-a-donkeys-crap-about-anything attitude. His gimmick truly changed wrestling. It put the ratings up very high.

EDIT: You know what? I change my mind. Austin's gimmick is so good, that I would give it a ten.

 

[Chicago1989]

I gotta give it a 9. IMO, I believe that the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin gimmick is one of the most entertaining, one of the greatest, and one of the most believable gimmicks ever. The rebellious, rule-breaking, ass-kicking, finger-flipping gimmick can't ever go out of style. It's something we can relate to in society and in our emotions. I definitely believe that it's one of the greatest gimmicks, right next to The Undertaker and Mankind gimmick.

 

[image1986]

it was good ill give it a 9 because it was different than most gimmicks during that time. During the 90's heel and face was pretty self explanatory and with Stone Cold he play the really first real tweaker. Back then rule breakers or anyone who didnt follow the rules were considered heels but I think his gimmack and the changing times of the era mad him a success.

 

[wushady]

I would rate it a ten he's arguably the biggest draw in wrestling history. Like another poster pointed out his gimmick was basically just him being him. He was over so much because he had a believable gimmick that most fans can relate to. His gimmick was slightly altered over the years, but stayed true to his redneck image.

 

[Captain Jive]

10. I dont feel like you could give it any less than that. is persona changed wrestling forever. He was solely responsible for the WWF gaining millions of new viewers in the late 90's. Also, not sure if its true or not but I remember hearing that his merchandise alone made 120 million in a 5 year span, and that is directly linked to the power of his gimmick.

 

[Xemmy]

I have to give Austin a 10. He's the number 2 face of all time for a reason. Austin's fued with McMahon was the main reason why WWF was able to turn the Monday Night Wars around, and bring the WWF back into the mainstream spotlight. He had some of the most memorable moments in history, and the character was someone everyone wanted to be, but just didn't have the guts. The guy that was a rebelous badass, that stood up to his boss. Which has to be one of the most creative, if not the best, gimmicks in all of wrestling history. He made a single word into his catchphrase.

 

[kissfan85]

A perfect ten.
Besides for the wrestling and the stunts...everything else about him just reminds me of the guy next door.
Beer, hunting and swearing...reminds me of so many men his age that I personally know.
I find it refreshing

Now of course I loved his matches and he very much entertains me in the ring...
but with all I said above I can't help but love him that much more

 

[BuckshotBrian13]

10. He's arguably the greatest wrestler of all time as he put the WWE on his back through the monday night war. If it wasn't for Austin, who knows where wrestling would be at today?

 

[theMaskednwker]

10 it was so over that even when he was injured he still got tv time and was still the talk of the show, from the talking watch to singing cumbyea with kurt angle austin was over

 

[The Best At What I Do]

I'd actually have to give it a perfect 10. My feeling on gimmicks is that the best one is really just an amped up version of the person playing it. The Undertaker being my one exception. The Rock was playing himself (just times a hundred) and Randy Orton is playing himself. The greatest gimmicks are not gimmicks.

 

[ashcjtw]

10 solid 10
EVERYONE had an austin 3:16 shirt everyone yelled out "oh hell yeah" austin was the man he made wrestling. everything he touched every match every angle . austin owned it. everyone fond memory people have in wwe austin is always mentioned. i miss the hell out of stone cold. if he was able to wrestle id do anything to see him come back and drop punks like sheamus john cena randy orton with stone cold stunners and knock that lisp from swaggers tounge with some piston like rights and stomp a mudhole in santino's worthless ass.

 

[billm75]

He definitely ranks a 9.5 - 10 from me as well. Like many other posters have already stated, he wasn't really acting a lot. It was a natural persona cranked up to 11 (spinal tap references? yeah I went there.)

People either worshiped him or hated him, there was no in-between. The man was hugely over and continues to be so. All he has to do is show up to the arena and give us a "Hell yeah" crack a few Steve-weisers open and we're back to the glory days.

 

[donfryeismyhero]

I rate it a 10. People need to remember that Austin wasn't meant to get over as far as the front office was concerned. WCW had done alot to make him look weak despite the efforts of Steamboat, Douglas, Pillman etc.. helping Steve to showcase his true abilitys. In ECW we got to see a glimps of the Stone Cold charactor but very few watched ECW back in those days so Vince was able to repackage him as a Mr. Perfect wannabe named The Ringmaster. Thank God Steve haed the grape fruits to confront creative, McMahon whoever to say "look this gimmick isnt working". HHH, who was supposed to win the KOTR in 96 got in trouble because of his friendship with Hall, Nash & HBK so he was replaced with Austin & the rest as they say is history. Fans who have WWE on Demand should watch the monday night wars they air every month. Listen to McMahon as he does commentary & you can tell that he sure as hell didn't get the appeal of Stone Cold but when in Rome, do as the Romans do so to speak. I can still relate to the Stone Cold charactor & to me, Steve was the real deal. He became succesful not because of the creative genious that is VKM but because he refused to fail & that warrents to me that his charactor & career overall deserves a 10/10 ranking.

 

[Kahuna Cowboy]

10

If "Stone Cold" never happened we would be watching WCW Monday Night Nitro and the 193rd incarnation of the NWO right now.

Pro wrestling was never more popular then Austin ushering in the attitude era. That's why it is a 10.

 

[Sicc Nick]

I'm going to give this a rating of 6.8/10, although Steve Austin is my favorite personality in all of wrestling and my favorite wrestler of all time.

The reason why though is that Stone Cold's gimmick is not really a gimmick because the character that he portrays on television is who he is in real life. The Bionic Redneck name though, wasn't used until he turned heel in 2001, and I liked that "gimmick" a lot more. The gimmick that you may be referring to is the "Texas Rattlesnake" gimmick, or the "Austin 3:16" gimmick, but not "Bionic Redneck."

This is all opinionated of course, but Austin shouldn't be ranked so highly of his character/gimmick because it's not really a character, or a gimmick. It's Austin, with the volume turned way up.

 

[XgringolocoX]

anything less than a 10 is bullshit. Austin was that ONLY guy that even came close to topping Hogan. He helped in creating that wrestling boom of the era. People from all walks of life knew who Austin was. No one made that much of an impact in the last 20 years.
It worked cause it was an organic extension of the man. WWE needs to revisit this method of creating gimmicks.

 

[Whatsinaname696]

I'll give it a 9 out of 10, he portrayed himself to the extreme... to the extreme. I'ma shy away from a 10 simply because I think that should be reserved for characters, gimmicks, where someone does as good as he did, but that ISN'T their real personality

 

[AFRIKA BLACK]

I give it a 10. I love Austin now and I loved him when i was a kid one of my favorite wrestlers of all time.

 

[Lancer]

The Bionic Redneck name though, wasn't used until he turned heel in 2001, and I liked that "gimmick" a lot more. The gimmick that you may be referring to is the "Texas Rattlesnake" gimmick, or the "Austin 3:16" gimmick, but not "Bionic Redneck."

If you're asking to grade the "Texas Rattlesnake / Austin 3:16" gimmick, then of course that gets a perfect 10 in my book. One of the most over-the-top, yet simple characters, in wrestling's history. He played it perfectly, and it wasn't just limited to his promos and antics out of the ring. His wrestling style, a brawler who didn't care for the rules, fit the gimmick perfectly.

Once he started becoming the "Bionic Redneck" sometime around the WCW / ECW invasion in 2001, he started to slip. He would just babble incoherently at times, and this is where the famous "What?" catchphrase was spawned. I think eventually the WWF took notice, and we saw him revert back to the "Texas Rattlesnake" we all know and love.

 

[SpoodBeest]

Good old "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, what a great character. This gimmick basically took off as an average redneck who always liked to spit in the face of authority. That was the main focal point of his very memorable feud with Mr. McMahon. Afterwards he would just seem to sky rocket into the top face of the WWE that he became back in the late 90s to early 00s. His character was so simple, yet so intriguing and fun for the audience to watch. His character was very much portrayed as the average joe beer drinker you would find in your neighbor's backyard and due to that reason the crowd was able to connect and relate themselves to him. Especially for just wanting to rebel against that annoying boss, that in real life I'm sure they wished they could punch right in the face.

His connection with the crowd was what really made his career and gimmick take off. He was just basically an average redneck, yet since the crowd related so much to him during his days of rebelling against the evil boss in McMahon they essentially pushed him to the top of the company. One of the most simplest of gimmicks, turned Austin into the most popular wrestler in the world. That should just explain how great this gimmick was for the time.

Again I can't really keep repeating myself and stating the same things about Steve Austin that just about everybody on these forums already know, so in closing the gimmick was great only because it was so simple that the crowd could relate and connect with it. Due to this Austin didn't only get over with the fans, but he became the WWE's top star in their company during the late 90s and early 00s. If you have a gimmick that works well enough that you gain a top spot in the company and it makes you famous world wide, well then in my mind that is a damn near perfect gimmick. Austin's Bionic Redneck gimmick will be receiving a perfect 10/10 from me.

 

[Stone_Cold_Stunner]

10 best gimmick ever Stone Cold from 1996-2001 was the best gimmick in Wrestling period they let Steve just be himself and he made a lot of publicity for the WWF and saved the company from going under when he got the ball.

 

[The Viper Orton]

How can it be different from a perfect 10???

This gimmick made Austin the most successful wrestling superstar of all time. So it isn't a 10? I think its ridiculous (no offense mate) to even ask people to rate this gimmick because if this wasn't the perfect score (or as hogan says, this gimmick raised the bar brother) to try and reach what would be??