Post by rapidfire187 on Jan 4, 2012 19:59:07 GMT -5
A tough, beer-drinkin', authority-defyin' redneck badass? Yeah, a lot of people could play that character successfully. A lot of them already have, both before and after Austin's heyday.
But there's only one Stone Cold.
The uniqueness of Austin's gimmick is not that he was a, "tough, beer-drinkin' authority-defyin' redneck badass," but rather that Austin was able to capture the imagination of people who, in many cases, were the exact polar opposite of every adjective used to describe him.
AJ Style looks and sounds like a redneck, but comes off more like the kind who hangs out on the hood of his rusty IROC at the softball field while listening to his 1988 Too Short cassette.
James Storm has hell of a lot of personality and charisma but also has the look of a real trailer-parker who might actually have a white sheet robe hanging in his closet. For the record, I don't actually think Storm is a Klansman, but I do think he could have a hard time garnering mainstream popularity or developing a large fanbase which consists of Blacks or Latinos.
Austin is a one-of-a-kind talent who applied his unique charisma to a less-than-mainstream gimmick and became arguably the biggest star in the history of his profession. It's hard to imagine that anyone else could have done the same with anywhere near the success.
Yea, but you're ignoring the fact that wrestling was a lot different then. When Austin came along, there had never been a foul mouthed, beer drinking redneck that kicked everybody's ass. He was a breath of fresh air. Yes, they picked the right guy for the role, but I find it hard to believe that the fans wouldn't have ate up that gimmick if somebody else was in it. Obviously it would have to be someone charismatic and talented enough to be convincing though.