Steve Austin is one of the most overrated wrestlers in history. All he did was cut the same promo every week and his wrestling skills was sub-par. Everybody says that he's great in the mic. But i dont think that's he's all that good. He would get time to think about what he was going to say when the crowd was chanting "What" That let him gain his composure and made him sound relaxed and natural on the mic. One could even make the argument that any wrestler could have pulled off his gimmick.
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Steve Austin is overrated.
- Thread starter CCS
- Start date
My$terio_Fan
I can do whatever I want
Has there been a wrestler who was as popular as Austin that wasn't called overated? The Rock, Hogan, Flair, HHH, Cena Sting, ect all all called overated because people love them, so if people love them and that's why they are rated so high, can you really say their "over" rated? Austin for whatever reason resinated with fans. He was one of the biggest draws(if not the biggest)of the attitude era(one of WWE's highest points) had one of the greastest feuds(Vince), and was loved by everyone. You can argue that anybody could have played the same character but you could almost say that about any wrestler. Austin was loved by the fans and this is why he is rated where he should be, imo.
I've always felt that Austin was just lucky in that he had the right gimmick at the right time. For me personally, he grew stale really quickly. There's only so many times him running around saying the exact same thing and giving the finger and stunning everyone remains amusing. Sure, he was brash and arrogant and some would argue he did the things that all of us dream of doing but never could get away with. Well, that's true for pretty much all of what wrestlers do in their behind the scenes stories anyway. And with austin, once doing the unexpected becomes the norm, how interesting can he be?
As far as in ring ability, he never stood out as anything special.
And for me personally, because of him now we're stuck with fans at wrestling events live and on television yelling "WHAT" every 2 seconds every time a heel character tries to talk.
As far as in ring ability, he never stood out as anything special.
And for me personally, because of him now we're stuck with fans at wrestling events live and on television yelling "WHAT" every 2 seconds every time a heel character tries to talk.
The What chant is great. Stop with the bashing of it. It's hilarious, just like You Suck. The What chant with Austin has always been great. He did it as a heel to get over as an annoying heel, and it worked, and it grew from there. To insinuate that Austin needed the term What to think of his next lines is a bit ridiculous, considering that Austin was cutting bad ass promos as a Hollywood Blond all the way up until 2001 when teh What chant started. the What chant simply added a new dimension to the character, a way for Austin to get the crowd involved, which is the point of the business, plain and simple.
Now as far as Austin being over rated, no. I'm nota big Austin fan myself, but he's not over rated. He delivered exactly what was expected of him when he was on the card as a main eventer. 1997 was probably Austins best year ever, and I challenge anyone to find a match of his that is over rated from that year. If anything, those matches are under rated.
Likewise with 1998. Try to find the bad Austin match, maybe vs. the Undertaker at Summerslam. The reason it was bad, Austin suffered a broken jaw early in the match, so taht's to be expected, other then that, his feud with Kane was solid, and this is Kane we're talking about. Plus, his feud with the 3 faces of Foley during 1998 falls more into the under rated category then anything else.
1999, he may have slowed down a bit, but I challenge anyone to fidn the over rated match. People throw the term over rated out, but never use any examples. Probably the only over rated matches are with the Rock, who in my opinion has always been the over rated wrestler of the duo.
People like to charge wrestlers with the over rated tag, but I daresay, use an example as to why a wrestler is over rated. Clearly find a terrible amtch that the common wrestling fan thinks is great, and call it over rated and tell me why, instead of just throwin the term out there. Steve Austin was over exposed, not over rated.
Now as far as Austin being over rated, no. I'm nota big Austin fan myself, but he's not over rated. He delivered exactly what was expected of him when he was on the card as a main eventer. 1997 was probably Austins best year ever, and I challenge anyone to find a match of his that is over rated from that year. If anything, those matches are under rated.
Likewise with 1998. Try to find the bad Austin match, maybe vs. the Undertaker at Summerslam. The reason it was bad, Austin suffered a broken jaw early in the match, so taht's to be expected, other then that, his feud with Kane was solid, and this is Kane we're talking about. Plus, his feud with the 3 faces of Foley during 1998 falls more into the under rated category then anything else.
1999, he may have slowed down a bit, but I challenge anyone to fidn the over rated match. People throw the term over rated out, but never use any examples. Probably the only over rated matches are with the Rock, who in my opinion has always been the over rated wrestler of the duo.
People like to charge wrestlers with the over rated tag, but I daresay, use an example as to why a wrestler is over rated. Clearly find a terrible amtch that the common wrestling fan thinks is great, and call it over rated and tell me why, instead of just throwin the term out there. Steve Austin was over exposed, not over rated.
The Roid Rage
Getting Noticed By Management
Was Stone Cold the most amazing technical wrestler and ring general ever? no. Was Stone Cold the best man anyone has ever seen on the mic before or since? no. Is Stone Cold the greatest champion of all time in every division of belts he's held? no.
There are a lot of things you can't say about Stone Cold Steve Austin, but there is one thing you can say about him. And that is, that without any doubt he made a huge impact on wrestling, and that without him WWE very well could have lost the Monday Night Wars. He was a huge success and one of the biggest stars of all time. whether you loved him or hated him you were still watching him, and he had that kind of drawing power. Stone Cold Steve Austin helped usher in a whole new era of wrestling that introduced us to some of our favorite stars now, and he did it with the biggest competition the WWE has ever known, WCW/NWO. He is without argument almost single handily responsible for the Attitude Era, and without him wrestling today might not be the same. Some would say that is good, others might say it is bad, but it most definitely would not be the same. He broke boundaries, set standards that are followed still today, and made people pay attention to the WWE when little else could. Ya know what's funny abut me saying all this. I never liked him. I hated him. There was nothing about him that made me want to like him or watch him. I thought he was the worst thing in wrestling, but I was wrong. He saved it in a lot of ways and for that we all have to pay homage and be grateful for that. You can give credit to Bret, Shawn, Triple H, The Rock, Undertaker, and Foley but it was Stone Cold that made those guys happen with the exception of Bret and Shawn as they put him over. In a way you can thank Shawn, Sean Waltman, Triple H, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall for the Madison Square Garden incident because as a result Triple H was pulled off the card for the KOTR and Stone Cold replaced him to win it which we all know was when Stone Cold Steve Austin was really born. So thanks guys, without your kayfabe incident we might not have got Stone Cold. See all things happen for a reason.
There are a lot of things you can't say about Stone Cold Steve Austin, but there is one thing you can say about him. And that is, that without any doubt he made a huge impact on wrestling, and that without him WWE very well could have lost the Monday Night Wars. He was a huge success and one of the biggest stars of all time. whether you loved him or hated him you were still watching him, and he had that kind of drawing power. Stone Cold Steve Austin helped usher in a whole new era of wrestling that introduced us to some of our favorite stars now, and he did it with the biggest competition the WWE has ever known, WCW/NWO. He is without argument almost single handily responsible for the Attitude Era, and without him wrestling today might not be the same. Some would say that is good, others might say it is bad, but it most definitely would not be the same. He broke boundaries, set standards that are followed still today, and made people pay attention to the WWE when little else could. Ya know what's funny abut me saying all this. I never liked him. I hated him. There was nothing about him that made me want to like him or watch him. I thought he was the worst thing in wrestling, but I was wrong. He saved it in a lot of ways and for that we all have to pay homage and be grateful for that. You can give credit to Bret, Shawn, Triple H, The Rock, Undertaker, and Foley but it was Stone Cold that made those guys happen with the exception of Bret and Shawn as they put him over. In a way you can thank Shawn, Sean Waltman, Triple H, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall for the Madison Square Garden incident because as a result Triple H was pulled off the card for the KOTR and Stone Cold replaced him to win it which we all know was when Stone Cold Steve Austin was really born. So thanks guys, without your kayfabe incident we might not have got Stone Cold. See all things happen for a reason.
people keep saying that Austin's ring skills were sub par, well all I can say is this
It was part of his gimmick to be a sloppy brawler, go back and watch any of his matches from 1989-1994 before he was Stone Cold and he was absolutely fantastic, he reminded me of a mix between Bret Hart and Ric Flair(weird combo I know), but even Flair said himself in his book that austin was a great wrestler because he took as much punishment as he gave just like Flair did and that made the match interesting and got fans to truly wonder who the hell would win, and the comparison to hart is this, he was just very good and solid, every move he made had a purpose, so ill just finish with saying Austin WAS a good wrestler it was just a part of the "Stone Cold" gimmick to fight more so than "wrestle", and how was "Stone Cold's" wrestling so bad anyway, look at the Wrestlemania classics with Rock and some of the matches he had with Hart are still some of the best i've seen
It was part of his gimmick to be a sloppy brawler, go back and watch any of his matches from 1989-1994 before he was Stone Cold and he was absolutely fantastic, he reminded me of a mix between Bret Hart and Ric Flair(weird combo I know), but even Flair said himself in his book that austin was a great wrestler because he took as much punishment as he gave just like Flair did and that made the match interesting and got fans to truly wonder who the hell would win, and the comparison to hart is this, he was just very good and solid, every move he made had a purpose, so ill just finish with saying Austin WAS a good wrestler it was just a part of the "Stone Cold" gimmick to fight more so than "wrestle", and how was "Stone Cold's" wrestling so bad anyway, look at the Wrestlemania classics with Rock and some of the matches he had with Hart are still some of the best i've seen
Righty ho then. Was Steve Austin overrated? In a nutshell, no. No he wasn't. Now I'm going to try very hard to not just steal the arguments of a certain fox, but I'm not making any promises.
Steve Austin was in fact quite an accomplished technical wrestler for a while. Was I there watching him in WCW as Stunning Steve Austin? No, I just watched his DVD. How'd you think I knew about that? Then he was in ECW, where he carried on as an accomplished technical wrestler. We're not talking ROH-style either, we're talking about someone that could put on an entertaining match. Granted, Stone Cold was primarily a brawler.
However, the only way he could be overrated for not actually being a great technical wrestler (which he was at one point) was if people generally claimed he was a great technical wrestler. No one did. No one does. Hence why that doesn't make him overrated.
Was Austin great on the mic? Well, his interview for ECW is the stuff of legend. Sure, he wasn't as creative as, say, The Rock was on the mic. But being good on the mic isn't all about creativity. The people didn't fall in love with Stone Cold because he was a master of wordplay, or because he could create poetry on the spot. No, they loved him because Austin would go out there and tell the people he was gonna kick some ass. Cliched and overused as that sentence may seem, it's true. There was a big part of Austin's career before "What?" came into effect.
Austin's one of the biggest stars wrestling has ever seen. I wish I could put that in some clever way that didn't make it seem like I was just regurgitating but it's simply beyond me. He lead a wrestling boom and was the most popular wrestler on the planet for a time. For that alone, he's not overrated.
Steve Austin was in fact quite an accomplished technical wrestler for a while. Was I there watching him in WCW as Stunning Steve Austin? No, I just watched his DVD. How'd you think I knew about that? Then he was in ECW, where he carried on as an accomplished technical wrestler. We're not talking ROH-style either, we're talking about someone that could put on an entertaining match. Granted, Stone Cold was primarily a brawler.
However, the only way he could be overrated for not actually being a great technical wrestler (which he was at one point) was if people generally claimed he was a great technical wrestler. No one did. No one does. Hence why that doesn't make him overrated.
Was Austin great on the mic? Well, his interview for ECW is the stuff of legend. Sure, he wasn't as creative as, say, The Rock was on the mic. But being good on the mic isn't all about creativity. The people didn't fall in love with Stone Cold because he was a master of wordplay, or because he could create poetry on the spot. No, they loved him because Austin would go out there and tell the people he was gonna kick some ass. Cliched and overused as that sentence may seem, it's true. There was a big part of Austin's career before "What?" came into effect.
Austin's one of the biggest stars wrestling has ever seen. I wish I could put that in some clever way that didn't make it seem like I was just regurgitating but it's simply beyond me. He lead a wrestling boom and was the most popular wrestler on the planet for a time. For that alone, he's not overrated.
ECW Dan Selby
Occasional Pre-Show
No sorry I strongly disagree. Austin created Austin and the popularity that went along with it. Yes - The timing was perfect. But I feel that without Austin playing Austin, the character wouldn't have quite worked. I mean you look at his work even before the Stone Cold character and there's that raw tenacity there, it just needed a decent spot on the card and some good things going on around him to bring it out. His timing is brilliant. His promos are great. Yes, the "What" thing got annoying, but he and Christian created it and it must be successful if it's still being used. Surely it's a genuis idea - It's the ultimate crowd participation to be a PART of the promo itself. As a brawler, Steve was one of the best. His pacing was good, he was clean, but with a rough-neck edge to him that helped bring out his ruthlessness.
To say Austin is overrated is strong imo.
Selby
To say Austin is overrated is strong imo.
Selby
I am going with the consensus here and say that Austin is not overrated, as said before he could actually wrestle a technical style but thats all it is, a style. It doesnt matter if you do 50 variations of the suplex or you just go out there and beat the shit out of people as long as you make it entertaining. Thats what makes Austin a good wrestler, he was entertaining.
His mic skills were extremely good, not in the same league as The Rock but The Rock was also a one of a kind phenominon, like Sam said he just went out there and said I am gonna kick your ass. Who didnt think the "Austin 3:16" speech was the stuff of legend?
The thing about Austin was you knew he was going to be great, even as the ringmaster you thought theirs something about this guy, the fact that he made that gimmick actually work shows how talented he actually is. So when the Stone Cold Steve Austin gimmick came along there was no stopping him. So no, I dont think Austin is overrated.
His mic skills were extremely good, not in the same league as The Rock but The Rock was also a one of a kind phenominon, like Sam said he just went out there and said I am gonna kick your ass. Who didnt think the "Austin 3:16" speech was the stuff of legend?
The thing about Austin was you knew he was going to be great, even as the ringmaster you thought theirs something about this guy, the fact that he made that gimmick actually work shows how talented he actually is. So when the Stone Cold Steve Austin gimmick came along there was no stopping him. So no, I dont think Austin is overrated.
agentmichaelscarn
Old School
I wouldnt say Austin is overrated but sometimes I feel that he gets too much credit for the attitude era. There is no doubt that he ushered it in and was the main draw but I think some people seem to forget or leave out other people's importance to it most notably Vinnie Mac. Without Vince playing the role of the evil boss the Stone Cold character wouldnt have worked so well. What made it work was that he was a rebel that had no respect for authority but if there was no Vince or the corporation there would be no authority to disrespect. People ate up the fact that he got away with kicking his boss' ass or fought his boss. I think him going around kicking nothing but regular wrestlers ass would have gotten old fast.
Also I think people tend to under rate the importance of The Rock, Foley, Undertaker and his ministry gimmick among other things. Austin was not alone he had a stacked roster and great storylines to go with him. I dont mind when people say Austin was the biggest reason why WWE beat WCW but I dont like it when people say that he was the only reason because he wasnt. I dont have the ratings but I would like to see what they were in 2000 when Austin was out with that injury. I wonder what the drop was if any, does anybody have that info or know where to find it?
Also I think people tend to under rate the importance of The Rock, Foley, Undertaker and his ministry gimmick among other things. Austin was not alone he had a stacked roster and great storylines to go with him. I dont mind when people say Austin was the biggest reason why WWE beat WCW but I dont like it when people say that he was the only reason because he wasnt. I dont have the ratings but I would like to see what they were in 2000 when Austin was out with that injury. I wonder what the drop was if any, does anybody have that info or know where to find it?
The Undercover Man
(:OD)
I don't think Austin was "overrated" but he did take way to much credit for the "Attitde Era". There were other guys that actually were better than him during that era like The Rock and stables like DX in my opinion.
Stone Cold didn't have a great wrestling technique but he managed to beat the **** out of most people on RAW is WAR. He had mic skills which were very important and he was a huge crowd favourite. So based on the things i just said he isn't overrated but he wasn't as influentual as people made him out to be.
Wrestling ability isn't everything you know, it's about how your work a crowd and get them tuned into what your doing, much like John Cena. He isn't a good wrestler but he is still very over and influentual, this is exactly what Stone Cold did, he knew how to work a crowd
Stone Cold didn't have a great wrestling technique but he managed to beat the **** out of most people on RAW is WAR. He had mic skills which were very important and he was a huge crowd favourite. So based on the things i just said he isn't overrated but he wasn't as influentual as people made him out to be.
Wrestling ability isn't everything you know, it's about how your work a crowd and get them tuned into what your doing, much like John Cena. He isn't a good wrestler but he is still very over and influentual, this is exactly what Stone Cold did, he knew how to work a crowd
So the main man who fronted the Attitude Era is overrated? Wow.
Some of your arguments are flawed.
The 'What' chant that you reffer to is just the same as the 'You Suck' chant that Angle has. Why was it so bad? It gets the crowd involved, and it's still said today by the fans so obviously they like it.
Also, he isn't overrated because you couldn't just stick anyone in there and they would have done the job AS WELL as Austin did. They might have been able to do it, but not as well. Austin enabled his character to be loved and adored by every single fan in every arena, which is a very hard feat to do. Sure, you could say that his gimmick allowed that to happen easier, but it still wasn't easy.
In the ring, he may not have been the best technically but nor is Cena? Yet, he's a huge star. You can't say he was overrated in that respect because that was never a major factor in his gimmick. His job was to pound the crap out of anyone who got in his way, not to have the most amazing technical matches with his opponents. Now I'm making it sound like he wasn't good at all, but no, he was good. He was more than solid in the ring, and could carry a match.
His promo's wern't bad either. They may not have been the best but they were better than most. Obviously at the time you had better people like The Rock on the mic, but Austin was still good enough. And you may not think he was good, but all of his promo's were to the point and the fans loved it. So in that respect, he did his job.
Some of your arguments are flawed.
The 'What' chant that you reffer to is just the same as the 'You Suck' chant that Angle has. Why was it so bad? It gets the crowd involved, and it's still said today by the fans so obviously they like it.
Also, he isn't overrated because you couldn't just stick anyone in there and they would have done the job AS WELL as Austin did. They might have been able to do it, but not as well. Austin enabled his character to be loved and adored by every single fan in every arena, which is a very hard feat to do. Sure, you could say that his gimmick allowed that to happen easier, but it still wasn't easy.
In the ring, he may not have been the best technically but nor is Cena? Yet, he's a huge star. You can't say he was overrated in that respect because that was never a major factor in his gimmick. His job was to pound the crap out of anyone who got in his way, not to have the most amazing technical matches with his opponents. Now I'm making it sound like he wasn't good at all, but no, he was good. He was more than solid in the ring, and could carry a match.
His promo's wern't bad either. They may not have been the best but they were better than most. Obviously at the time you had better people like The Rock on the mic, but Austin was still good enough. And you may not think he was good, but all of his promo's were to the point and the fans loved it. So in that respect, he did his job.
people keep saying that Austin's ring skills were sub par, well all I can say is this
It was part of his gimmick to be a sloppy brawler, go back and watch any of his matches from 1989-1994 before he was Stone Cold and he was absolutely fantastic, he reminded me of a mix between Bret Hart and Ric Flair(weird combo I know), but even Flair said himself in his book that austin was a great wrestler because he took as much punishment as he gave just like Flair did and that made the match interesting and got fans to truly wonder who the hell would win, and the comparison to hart is this, he was just very good and solid, every move he made had a purpose, so ill just finish with saying Austin WAS a good wrestler it was just a part of the "Stone Cold" gimmick to fight more so than "wrestle", and how was "Stone Cold's" wrestling so bad anyway, look at the Wrestlemania classics with Rock and some of the matches he had with Hart are still some of the best i've seen
I agree completely. How anyone can say that Austin is overrated is beyond my comprehension. I can't wrap my head around that. Proweeks hit the nail on the head in this post: Steve Austin was indeed one hell of a technical wrestler. Look at his WCW work, he was nearly flawless. It wasn't until his short stint in ECW that he began to develop his bad ass brawling style- And he was of the best at that, too.
Steve Austin could have wrestled a technical style and been dominant with that, but the Stone Cold character didn't call for that. He is considered one of the all time greats because he was, whether you are a fan or not. He worked his character to it's full potential and helped propel the WWE back into the limelight of the wrestling world.
This is completely stupid. Austin is one of the few men responsible for bringing us the attitude era, and he helped the business get where it is today. Now was he a technical wrestler? No, but he got the audience pumped and everyone loved him for it. There is just something about that never give a fuck I just want to kick ass that everyone loved and tuned in just to see what he would do next. Wrestling is a business that revolves around promo work, gimmicks, and ring work. Austin had all of them. His promo work was great, his gimmick made everyone love him, and he performed matches that were entertaining every Monday night. To say that Austin is overrated is plain stupid, because without him WWE would not be where it is right now
klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
Wow thought I posted here already. To say Austin is overrated is unfair. His problem is that what he did hasn't aged well at all. We had grown up on guys like Sting and Hogan: The all American good guys whose words were gospel to us. Praying, vitamins and train anyone? Sting never said a bad thing to anyone at all either. Steve Austin worked at the time because there was nothing like him in the mainstream. You can talk about the NWO all you want. Austin did what they did by himself, and took it a step farther. The NWO were the new kind of bad guys, but Austin went insane with it. The beer, the finger, the no respect at all, and it worked better than anything since Hulkamania. The people were so sick of hearing Hogan talk about being perfect that they were booing him. Yes, him turning heel was huge, but neither he nor anyone in WCW pushed the envelope like Austin. Austin made Raw must see tv again.
All i know is this: We watch Raw on Mondays, not Nitro. While books have literally been written as to why that's the case, there is no bigger single reason than Stone Cold Steve Austin. Anyone that says he didn't carry WWF on his back is flat out wrong. Now how in God's name is that overrated?
All i know is this: We watch Raw on Mondays, not Nitro. While books have literally been written as to why that's the case, there is no bigger single reason than Stone Cold Steve Austin. Anyone that says he didn't carry WWF on his back is flat out wrong. Now how in God's name is that overrated?
Father:_Polley
Fun's my Chinese neighbour's name
Honestly, I think it's impossible to discount and over-rate the impact Stone Cold had on wrestling. To do so would be similar to discounting Hulk Hogan and how he shaped the landscape of professional wrestling.
Hogan was the big name which brought wrestling to the main stage, it made it popular and gave the public a face to associate with. Personally, I feel that between the Rock and Austin, the Attitude Era had to faces which the public could relate to. Anyone with even a remote interest in wrestling could name them.
Was he an outstanding technical wrestler? No... but was the Rock, Hulk Hogan or John Cena a great technical wrestler? No. I don't see how that really matters, since the great names of wrestling weren't great in the ring.
Simply because they had the ability to carry themselves in other ways that weren't in any way related to their ability to wrestle.
Bottom line, Stone Cold was able to make a name for himself anywhere he went. Be it ECW, as a Hollywood Blond or as a brawling redneck with a rivalry against Vince. He drew... that's all that matters. Drawing during one of the biggest revival in wrestling is hardly over-rated
Hogan was the big name which brought wrestling to the main stage, it made it popular and gave the public a face to associate with. Personally, I feel that between the Rock and Austin, the Attitude Era had to faces which the public could relate to. Anyone with even a remote interest in wrestling could name them.
Was he an outstanding technical wrestler? No... but was the Rock, Hulk Hogan or John Cena a great technical wrestler? No. I don't see how that really matters, since the great names of wrestling weren't great in the ring.
Simply because they had the ability to carry themselves in other ways that weren't in any way related to their ability to wrestle.
Bottom line, Stone Cold was able to make a name for himself anywhere he went. Be it ECW, as a Hollywood Blond or as a brawling redneck with a rivalry against Vince. He drew... that's all that matters. Drawing during one of the biggest revival in wrestling is hardly over-rated
Yeah the man was so fucking overrated that he was at the head of the ginormous turnaround that the WWF headed to beat WCW and win the ratings war. Austin was soo fucking overrated that he helped WWF beat WCW and send them out of buisness. Inf act, he was so overrated that the ratings were at a measly 5-6 weekly rating when all he was doing was stunning Vince McMahon and throwing beer at people. He was so overrated that he was the leader of the Alliance in the WWFvs WCW/ECW storyline. So since you snese the sarcasm here, you know where I am going, Austin while not the greatest wrestler did carry WWF on his back and without him, I truly believe WWF would be dead right now.
grahambrown
Dark Match Jobber
Wrestling, in its most basic sense, is determined completely by the fans. Wrestling ability (while I value it very highly) holds no true value because the participants are actually "wrestling." Mic skills are great, but they also can't be the determinate of the value of a wrester.
Everything boils down to getting over. That's it. In a sport like football, even if you're playing in an empty stadium, where no one will ever see the game, you're athletic ability still carries weight because you're still playing a game. In traditional sports, the winner, even without an audience, is still a winner. Wrestling doesn't have that luxury. It exists only for the fans.
So to say that Austin is overrated just doesn't add up. He got over. He got really really over. Maybe there were other WWF members who educated fans like us feel deserved the notoriety he was afforded, but it simply wasn't that way. Austin hit the jackpot of pro wrestling: not unbelievable in ring ability, not Oscar-worthy mic skills, only the unparalleled attention of fans.
He was, simply, rated exactly as he should have been, because in wrestling, the fan's rating is all there is.
Everything boils down to getting over. That's it. In a sport like football, even if you're playing in an empty stadium, where no one will ever see the game, you're athletic ability still carries weight because you're still playing a game. In traditional sports, the winner, even without an audience, is still a winner. Wrestling doesn't have that luxury. It exists only for the fans.
So to say that Austin is overrated just doesn't add up. He got over. He got really really over. Maybe there were other WWF members who educated fans like us feel deserved the notoriety he was afforded, but it simply wasn't that way. Austin hit the jackpot of pro wrestling: not unbelievable in ring ability, not Oscar-worthy mic skills, only the unparalleled attention of fans.
He was, simply, rated exactly as he should have been, because in wrestling, the fan's rating is all there is.
Austin was one of the last old school guys left in the business. He paid his dues and just like Flair, Hogan, Rhodes, Micheals and the other old guys he earned his spot. Like everyone said, he was the right person at the right time. Who else was going to pull off Stone Cold? HHH sure as hell wasn't. God forbid could you imagine if it had been Austin to marry Stephanie instead of HHH? Every one of the old school guys will tell you it doesn't matter how you feel, it's what the fans want. ECW had blood and guts because the Philly fans were crazy. WCW had the NWO because the anarchy thing was working. And WWF had Stone Cold because everyone felt like only a few people were getting rich off of the backs of millions and wanted to do something about, but couldn't. Stone Cold did, and they loved him for it.
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