Crazy how brief Stone Colds run was

[mcstoklasa]

Stone Cold-

96- Early in the year he ditches the ringmaster gimmick and becomes his most famous monicker. Starts building some momentum, but nothing huge. Wins KOTR because Hunter messed up. Makes that huge promo but he didn't become a star overnight. End of the year he gets into the excellent program with Bret which would send him over the top.

97- Feuds with Bret to start the year. Cheats to win the Rumble. Epic Mania match with Bret. Face turn. Begins to catch fire with the fans. Neck injury details him, but he still appears on TV and raises hell. Stuns Vince and thus begins the feud which would define the era. He becomes pretty much the most over guy in the company even without the belt.

98- Officially the guy. For wrestling his feud with McMahon is (imo) remarkably well written, as it just seems to get bigger and better every week. Feuds with various top names. Incredibly popular.

99- More of the same. This year gets criticism, but I really enjoyed it. Top guy but Rock starts breathing down his neck. Around November he's gone to have neck surgery.

00- Apart from a Backlash appearance, Austin is gone till about October. He comes back and is still the most over guy along with Rock. Slots back in and apart from the lame Rikishi feud, he is definitely back. 6 man Hell in a Cell is a big favourite of mine.

01- Still the top guy (along with Rock). I feel like Austin was becoming the number one again. Great start to the year with the rumble win, no way out match with HHH and the awesome Mania match with Rock. Turns heel. Fans don't like it. Entertaining heel work though, and 01 has many of the best matches of his entire run. Random face turn at end of the year.

02- Falls off a cliff physically. Creatively done. Walks out in June. Domestic issues. etc

03- Comes back for one last great match and feud with Rock.



So he was becoming a big star in 97. He was on top in 98 and 99. Gone for most of 2000. Comes back late 2000 and is a joint top guy with Rock again. Carries on into 2001. Heel turn which was probably a bad move. 2002 was a washout and he was gone for most of it. 2003 one more match.

It's just remarkable how brief it was when you look that we've had Randy Orton for what, seventeen straight years? Sheamus has been there eleven years or so. Reigns failed baby-face push seemed to go on for years, and nearly lasted longer than Austin's run. Cena was on top for a decade. Brocks run was 2012 to 2020 which is also longer.

He burnt very bright and then burnt out very quickly.

[jason1980s]

If the guys you've mentioned have been able to go for so long he may have been able to go into say 2010 or even longer, though maybe with a shortened schedule. The Owen Hart piledriver destroyed him physically I do believe. I know his knees were shot but that doesn't have the affect of a neck or spinal injury. It's lucky he wasn't paralyzed.

Some of Austin's lack of longevity could be attributed to a new era that required less profanity and running through everyone like his character but he's such an amazing talent that he could have found something to do for many years. I do think he is the type of guy that would rather be retired, enjoying life on the ranch and doing the occasional reunion. But again, the piledriver really hurt him. Austin had no business doing it to Chono in 1992 and Owen had no business doing it to Austin in 1997. I love Owen but I hate that he did the move. It just wasn't something in his move set. I guess he wanted to do a devastating looking move so when Austin bounced back it would make him look like superman.

[celtics543]

I think part of the reason he's remembered so fondly is because of the brevity of his run. Wrestling wasn't really made for guys to be on top for so long. Territory guys moved around every once in a while to stay fresh. If you cut off Cena's career after 5 years, where he missed one of those years to injury he'd be remembered the same way as Austin. It was also the Rock's secret. He had a relatively short run on top and then he was gone before people got sick of him.

On a more morbid level it's the same with Kurt Cobain or Jimi Hendrix.

[jason1980s]

Dec 1, 2020 10:23:40 GMT -5 celtics543 said:

I think part of the reason he's remembered so fondly is because of the brevity of his run. Wrestling wasn't really made for guys to be on top for so long. Territory guys moved around every once in a while to stay fresh. If you cut off Cena's career after 5 years, where he missed one of those years to injury he'd be remembered the same way as Austin. It was also the Rock's secret. He had a relatively short run on top and then he was gone before people got sick of him.

On a more morbid level it's the same with Kurt Cobain or Jimi Hendrix.

Good point. His run was short but what he did in the run was so memorable. On the other hand, Hogan had a long run but after a certain period of time it was not as enjoyable, both in WWF and WCW. He last about a year and a half too long on top in WWF and about a year or two too long in WCW (I only remember bits and pieces after 1998). Post title loss to Goldberg, Hogan should have taken a mentor role to the n w o guys. He can still be over doing mic work but keep him out of the ring and out of the main event scene in terms of wrestling.

As for Austin, he's a pretty good actor too. There's one movie, "Hunt To Kill" that I watch about once a year or once every two years. It's on a 4 pack DVD with other Austin movies that are good. But that particular movie is pretty great. I'd chose him as an actor to watch over guys like Arnold or Stallone.

[Hypnosis]

Dec 1, 2020 10:23:40 GMT -5 celtics543 said:

It was also the Rock's secret. He had a relatively short run on top and then he was gone before people got sick of him.

I did see people online back in 2000 saying his face promos were redundant and had too much low-brow humor, had a limited moveset, and his Sharpshooter sucked (some of this I agreed with, except for the small moveset being a problem), but Rock did get into Hollywood at a good time before being worn down by the tough wrestling schedule.

[fw91]

I just can’t believe how he fell off a cliff in 2002. He seemed so out of place in his own place. He didn’t need to be in the title hunt, but he’s Stone Cold they could have done more with him. HBK and Taker weren’t always in the title hunt in their later years, but were always relevant.

[msc]

He went from five star matches to awful overnight at start of 2002 but listening since its clear a lot of Austins performance was mental, so if his head was gone...

Shame as him v Eddie (the PPV match he walked away from) in the right frame of mind would have been a barnstormer.