Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
Surviving
Posts: 28,939
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Post by Sephiroth on Dec 18, 2015 12:00:59 GMT -5
This is a subject I think time has obscured-and not without good reason. Its really a testament to just how huge Austin became in the WWF that his time in WCW looks so insignificant. In point of fact, he did a very great deal in WCW and by every means should have been a main eventer himself; he held practically every belt they had at the time, short of the WHC itself. He was part of their most popular heel tag team as tag champion, he was part of their top heel stable as TV champion. He held the US title and feuded with some of the most prominent names of the promotion at the time, like Sting, Flair, and Steamboat. Some claim that he was a midcarder and that was why Bischoff considered him expendable-but I have to disagree. Even the man was an absolute machine in the ring, the charisma and energy were all there. He was every bit ready to be in the main event. I will grant that his "Stunning Steve Austin" gimmick definitely wasn't the best fit for him, and when he became Stone Cold he truly found his groove. But this idea that he was a total nobody in WCW really seems utterly false to me.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,755 
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Post by chrom on Dec 18, 2015 12:31:55 GMT -5
His accomplishments in WCW have been white washed and glossed over by them and Jim Ross, they make it sound like he was a Jobber who didn't even get entrance music, which couldn't be further from the truth his time there.
His time there the commentators would put him over and say he was a future champion time and again. If Hogan hadn't went to WCW, no doubt Austin would've won the Big Gold Belt as it would've been a matter of time. He likely would've beaten Flair for it.
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Post by Saul Goodman on Dec 18, 2015 13:43:04 GMT -5
He was definitely not misused in WCW. He won his first championship within one week in the company, he held that title for a year. He was able to feud with the biggest stars in WCW such as Sting, Flair and Steamboat. He main evented PPV's and was looked upon as a future world champion. The only thing that was holding him down was his gimmick. His gimmick wasn't bad and he may have been able to win the world title with the gimmick, his WWF gimmick was a lot better and it made him the biggest star in the 90's. Stunning Steve was limited, Stone Cold was endless.
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Post by abjordans on Dec 18, 2015 15:14:16 GMT -5
If Austin hadn't gotten hurt, the wrestling world might be a lot different... Hell, I don't even know if the wrestling business as we know it would even exist. Basically, Bischoff would have always kept Austin around if he was healthy. He just thought he was injury prone, which his worth, and the good he saw in him just didn't outweigh that.
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Post by cabbageboy on Dec 18, 2015 15:23:02 GMT -5
Austin also basically admitted on his own show that he said some things that forced Bischoff into firing him. Here's a piece of cold hard truth about Austin in WCW however: The dude was basically a bust as US champion. We really hadn't seen Austin as a true solo act before then, since he was in the Dangerous Alliance prior to that and then the Hollywood Blondes. He had other guys to mask his than lack of charisma or interesting persona. When he went solo and won the US title from Dustin Rhodes....he just didn't get over. I can't think of hardly any good Austin US title matches not involving Steamboat, and while people crap on the Duggan 27 second squash match the whole point was to transition the belt to Vader.
Austin would have never been a legit main event guy in WCW. Not with his act there. He needed to radically change his gimmick to get to the next level, which wasn't happening in WCW.
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Post by paperbackhero on Dec 18, 2015 15:49:39 GMT -5
Austin also basically admitted on his own show that he said some things that forced Bischoff into firing him. Here's a piece of cold hard truth about Austin in WCW however: The dude was basically a bust as US champion. We really hadn't seen Austin as a true solo act before then, since he was in the Dangerous Alliance prior to that and then the Hollywood Blondes. He had other guys to mask his than lack of charisma or interesting persona. When he went solo and won the US title from Dustin Rhodes....he just didn't get over. I can't think of hardly any good Austin US title matches not involving Steamboat, and while people crap on the Duggan 27 second squash match the whole point was to transition the belt to Vader. Austin would have never been a legit main event guy in WCW. Not with his act there. He needed to radically change his gimmick to get to the next level, which wasn't happening in WCW. His first defenses against Pillman were good....3 from Saturday Night....not many poor matches...Pillman, Sting, Steamboat, Dustin, Badd...all of which were good...imo. Listen to the crowd when he loses to Duggan...I think that's got a lot to do with Austin...at least as much as it did with Duggan...who's star was clearly fading. |
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Dec 18, 2015 16:09:22 GMT -5
There's no way that you could say Austin didn't have a good run in WCW. He won a title after not even being in the company a month which was almost unheard of back then and also held every title except World. He was also always pushed and was always in the mix almost his entire time there from his TV title run to the Dangerous Alliance to the Hollywood Blondes to his second singles push as US Champion. The only period in his run where he struggled was his last six months so as he lost the US title to Duggan in a squash, got injured and was out for a few months, got squashed in two minutes by Savage in the US title tournament, and was apparently even supposed to do a job for the Renegade on TV but balked at it although I can't say I blame him. It's just WWE revisionist history where they make WCW look bad while creating a more interesting story when they documentaries and things like that.
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Post by RowdyRobbyPiper on Dec 19, 2015 0:13:32 GMT -5
This is a subject I think time has obscured-and not without good reason. Its really a testament to just how huge Austin became in the WWF that his time in WCW looks so insignificant. In point of fact, he did a very great deal in WCW and by every means should have been a main eventer himself; he held practically every belt they had at the time, short of the WHC itself. He was part of their most popular heel tag team as tag champion, he was part of their top heel stable as TV champion. He held the US title and feuded with some of the most prominent names of the promotion at the time, like Sting, Flair, and Steamboat. Some claim that he was a midcarder and that was why Bischoff considered him expendable-but I have to disagree. Even the man was an absolute machine in the ring, the charisma and energy were all there. He was every bit ready to be in the main event. I will grant that his "Stunning Steve Austin" gimmick definitely wasn't the best fit for him, and when he became Stone Cold he truly found his groove. But this idea that he was a total nobody in WCW really seems utterly false to me. I agree. I always preferred Stunning Steve over Stone Cold. |
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Capt Lunatic
Unicron
Buttah in mah ass, lollipops in mah mouth
Posts: 3,241
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Post by Capt Lunatic on Dec 19, 2015 1:29:19 GMT -5
What it boils down to is...one company made him an upper card act, one company made him the biggest star in the business.
Anything before Stone Cold can be viewed as small potatoes.
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Post by MC Blowfish on Dec 19, 2015 9:17:35 GMT -5
I don't think anyone ever said Austin was a jobber in WCW. It was that Austin wasn't going to go any further than where he was at on the card. I know Austin was very upset on the way he was fired from WCW which caused a good deal of his ill feelings. That and he wasn't going to get to the top as long as Hogan was there.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2015 9:24:45 GMT -5
He was never going to be WCW Champion.
I know its hard to imagine, but he wasn't a great promo in WCW. He was good in the ring, but so was almost the whole roster.
He was very forgettable to be honest.
In WWF he was just as forgettable as the Ringmaster.
Its only his feud with Bret where he can finally shine as Stone Cold. A persona he developed in ECW because he was angry at being fired by WCW.
Steve has even admitted that on his podcast.
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Post by horsemen4ever on Dec 19, 2015 10:46:24 GMT -5
I always thought if he was still in WCW when Pillman joined the Horseman, he should have been the 4th Horsemen. How cool would that be, look back at the Blonds / Horsemen 2 years earlier, and now they are all together on the same side.
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Post by eDemento2099 on Dec 19, 2015 10:54:46 GMT -5
I totally concur with the OP. I was a huge 'Stunning' Steve fan in the early and mid-1990s.
When he cut his hair shorter after his time in the Hollywood Blondes stable, Austin looked pretty damn good. The fact that he had such rockin' theme music didn't hurt.
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Magnus the Magnificent
King Koopa
didn't want one.
I could write a book about what you don't know!
Posts: 12,473
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Post by Magnus the Magnificent on Dec 19, 2015 13:05:14 GMT -5
Austin also needed the evil Vince McMahon character to work off/with to really explode into mega-stardom.
I can't see that happening in WCW at that point in time.
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Post by evilone on Dec 19, 2015 13:25:36 GMT -5
I said it before but first ever wrestler to get x-pac heat from me was Stunning SA, way before x-pac heat was a thing  I just couldn't stand the guy, there was something so boring about him. Pillman was the so much more of an attraction and he was the one who pulled the Hollwood Blondes. |
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Post by Saul Goodman on Dec 20, 2015 19:38:33 GMT -5
Vince had no idea who Steve he was and did not want to push him. The only reason why he was signed was because Hall and Nash were both leaving and the WWF needed more people to fill in the slots. The roster at the time was thin. He was given a crappy gimmick and a manager. He was able to change his name and also Ted DiBiase left the WWF. He was lost in the WWF for awhile with no real feuds. Sure, he won the King of The Ring, but it met nothing. Vince saw nothing in him and tried to get other wrestlers such as Marc Mero to be the big star. Bret Hart did see something in Austin and requested a feud with him. The Bret feud made him a star. If it wasn't for Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin may never had the chance to become the biggest star in the 90's.
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Post by JTG Fan on Dec 20, 2015 19:43:39 GMT -5
I think Austin is too hard on his time as Stunning Steve, with the right storyline he could easily have been a top guy. He could talk, he could wrestle, and he had the look. He just needed that little something extra that WCW wasn't trying to pull out of him.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2015 15:58:55 GMT -5
I used to love Austin's TV title regin, mainly because Lady Blossom had some massive knockers.
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