Let the record show that thus far everyone seriously endorsing Stone Cold has been a fucking idiot, both in the context of their post and in general. When Rattlesnake is the most vocal defender of your cause you know you're not on to a winner. Make of that what you will.
A few particular gems that I would like to fish out:
Here is my take on the fact that this is an Iron Man Match.
This is not a 60 minute match that goes 60 minutes then goes to the judges score card for who was the most technically dominant like an MMA decision, it is who gets the most pin falls, submissions, count outs or least dq's.
Austin was known as stated to Arrive, Raise Hell Leave. Resulting in quick pin falls and could be done quickly every time Thesz gets up. In one of Austins most famous matches he was going against another great technical wrestler in Bret Hart, and yes Bret won, but Austin never submitted preferring to pass out from the pain meaning he can not be counted on to tap out. And an Austin in his prime was more agile and quicker then Thesz
So yes Thesz has the better conditioning to go the 60 minutes but Austin's Style, Skill, Tenacity, and Toughness more then make up for in a match where it is the number of times you can win in 60 minutes not being able to just prove you can go for 60 minutes.
In Conclusion: Vote Austin
You are a buffoon; stop trying to join in when you know nothing about Lou Thesz. Tell me which of Lou Thesz's high profile matches were decided by a judges decision. Answer: none of them, they were determined by pinfall or submission just like Stone Cold's.
And the fact that you're bringing up a match that Stone Cold not only lost, but was stupid enough to get himself totally incapacitated in, as evidence for him
winning this match shows you to be a total idiot. Stone Cold got destroyed by a technical wrestler, therefore he's going to go over a superior technical wrestler. Tool.
As for your claim that Austin was more agile and quicker than Lou Thesz; do you even know who Lou Thesz was? No you don't, because you are a fucking moron. Lou Thesz moved around the ring like a damn snake and was considerably faster than Austin with his two functionless knees. You'd know this if you'd ever watched Lou Thesz compete, but you haven't.
See, we all know Austin had a neck injury in real life. However, that neck injury did not exist in kayfabe, at least not for a long while. Austin was injured at SummerSlam 1997 but when he returned to the ring at Survivor Series, he was supposed to have fully healed from that injury. Thereafter, he took a break in late 1999 for surgery due to that injury but in the world of kayfabe he was recovering from being run down by a car.
And yet the neck injury was brought up numerous times in future matches. As such it existed in kayfabe as well as real life.
What you are obviously forgetting is that Austin was never defeated by Chris Benoit in a singles match( he had both leg and neck submissions) and has a winning record against Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle. He was only defeated by Hart before he hit his prime.
Seriously? Stone Cold defeated Chris Benoit therefore he goes over Lou Thesz? Where do we find these people?
The longest he has lasted in a match has been just over 45 minutes in the 1997 Royal Rumble which he won. He also went 40 minutes with HHH at No Way Out 2001. I think he had a few long ones in WCW too. I think he can go long and I cannot see how the fact that he got quick wins can be a point against him especially when Thesz often ended up with zero falls at the end of 60 minutes.
Really? Perhaps you could name some of those matches where Thesz went sixty minutes without winning a fall. You claim it happened often, so you must be able to bring up a few examples. Otherwise you'd be "gasp" taking about something you don't have a fucking clue about.
In fact, this has been a feature of most of Austin's matches with any good mat wrestler like Benoit and Angle or even Ric Flair later on. He often surprised these men with his mat wrestling prowess.
So let me get this straight... you are legitimately arguing that Stone Cold could go hold for hold with Lou Thesz, the greatest mat wrestler of all time.
Anyone think I even need to address that?
Anyone?
Yeah, I would like some examples from you. Austin was the guy who outsmarted his evil, powerful and scheming boss day in and day out. I'd say just based on that that he had the brain cells in the right place.
Austin was stupid enough to pass out in a submission hold that he couldn't break.
Austin was stupid enough to lose a fucking Royal Rumble to
Vince McMahon. To expand on this; throughout his entire career Stone Cold suffered from possibly the worst focus of any performer in wrestling history. He was constantly falling for distractions and victim to interference. He couldn't keep his mind on the job at the best of times, let alone for 60 minutes.
Austin was dumb enough to lose a ladder match against a pair of none wrestlers; once again because of his inability to focus.
Do I really need to keep sifting through his career? We haven't even gotten to the Alliance yet.