FanPost

Appreciating Stunning Steve Austin

WWE Network

I'm hoping most folks here have purchased the WWE Network by now. If you have and you are under the age of 30, please check out the WCW pay-per-views starting at the end of 1991 through 1994 and check out Stone Cold Steve Austin's original run as Stunning Steve Austin.

There is the ahead-of-its-time Dangerous Alliance angle, his work with Brian Pillman as the Hollywood Blondes, his feud with Dustin Rhodes and then Ricky Steamboat. While Austin never got higher than the US Title level, you could see hints of what was to come.

There are differences, however.

In WCW, Austin was a consummate worker. As a wrestler, he was an incredible technician. Most current fans know Austin as a wild beer drinking brawler, but his Stunning Steve career was one of the true workhorses in WCW. I especially beg you to go watch his 1994 Bash at the Beach US Title match with Steamboat. The only match in WWF/E that I can think of where Austin the wrestler was showcased as well was his Survivor Series 1996 match with Bret Hart.

It makes you wonder how amazing Austin's run could have been had he not suffered that horrible neck injury as well as the various knee problems he had. The incredible thing about Austin's revolutionary run in WWF that kicked off the Attitude Era was that he was never operating at 100-percent. The neck injury from Owen Hart's botched piledriver was something he hasn't ever really recovered from. He had to adjust his style to that brawling kick-punch-finish we've come to know and love.

But watching Stunning Steve Austin work in 1992 is incredible. You see a guy who was bigger than you think and faster than he has any business being. He didn't just run the ropes, he attacked them, and he was far more athletic than perhaps we even realized at the time. He went hold for hold with the likes of Steamboat, Ric Flair, and Arn Anderson.

No WCW guy was hurt more by Hulk Hogan's arrival in 1994. Austin's rise with the promotion was rapid, almost as fast as it was in WWF. He would win the TV title from Bobby Eaton weeks into the start of his run in 1991 and immediately join Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance, which put him in the ring with guys like Steamboat, Sting, Nikita Koloff, and Barry Windham. He stood out.

His tag team with Pillman was revolutionary and could have been one of the all time best if they had been given a good 2-3 year run. But that got him the tag titles and he and Pillman shined in a star-making tag match in Norfolk against Flair and Anderson.

By the end of 1993, he was US Champion and perhaps the companies number two heel behind Vader. WCW in 1994 was fascinating because things were really coming together. Flair was back on top, Vader was a monster, Sting was the franchise, and with Ravishing Rick Rude gone due to his back injury there seemed to be an opening for Austin. But Hogan came in and brought all his friends with him. We know the rest of the story ... a 34 second loss to Hacksaw Jim Duggan and a plummet down the card in 1995 followed by a bicep injury and the pink slip from Eric Bischoff.

I always wondered what would have happened if Stunning Steve had been given a main event run in WCW. Between Sting, Flair, and Vader there was room for Austin with Rude gone. The best part of the WWE Network is I can relive this stuff and think about it some more. Hell, I remember watching Austin on USWA on ESPN back when he was wrestling Chris Adams. But do yourself a favor and go watch Stunning Steve Austin ... you will come away with an even greater appreciation for the totality of Austin's career.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.