Austin playing politics in 1999 why no fan heat ?

[darkjourney]

The 2nd biggest superstar in WWE History Austin can do what he wants. He made the WWE a BUTTLOAD of cash and along with Rock was probably the ONLY reason WWE run the Monday Night War truth be told. (If Austin, Rock weren't there we would be watching Nitro right now) . A lousy drawing, overrated, over pushed, overhyped upper midcard DUD like Triple H who took eyes off the WWE product due to his boring reign of terror and ruining other guys' opportunities in their primes who were more over than him, shouldn't have that same luxury.

[Hawk Hart]

The irony of Austin being accused of politics when actual, real life politics were the reason is hilarious.

[Urethra Franklin]

Jun 5, 2016 11:17:52 GMT -5 benstudd said:

Cause that's literally the first time I've heard about this.

First time I've heard Austin not willing to job was when he faced Scott Hall and the nWo. But he was literally on his last legs in the WWE at the time. He had his match, went home and was never seen as a regular wrestler ever again. I supposed I could blame him for this but the angle was pretty crap.

Steve is more grumpy than political. 

Was he asked to job to Hall?

I remember at the time he really had no interest in working with him, but I think that was largely in part to how far down the card he was (HHH/Jericho, Rock/Hogan and Flair/Undertaker were all ahead of him).

[wingedeagle]

Austin saved the WWF from going out of business so he gets a free pass. Helmsley not getting put over by Austin would explain why he didn't put talent over afterwards. Politics in professional wrestling is a vicious cycle.

On Helmsley's documentary, you could tell Austin not wanting to do the honors still bothers him.

Except that's not what happened? Austin was going to drop the belt to HHH but the match was in Minnesota with Jesse Ventura as guest referee. Since Ventura was the Governor of Minnesota at the time,he didn't want to be seen raising the hand of a heel. So Foley won it only to drop it to HHH the next night. It was Ventura's demand , not Austin's.

Gov. Ventura debunked that in his shoot interview.



P.S. Austin should've worked a program with Jarrett to give him credibility, end of story.

[celtics543]

The free pass is because he was super over. HHH was burying people and the fans were begging the WWE to take the title off of him, not because he was some evil heel but because they were just sick of him having the title. Austin was gangbusters from mid 1997 until the end of 1999, he shouldn't have put a lot of people over. He was the man that the hot heel got to work with and make a lot of money with, if they put guys over him then he wouldn't have been as hot and the business wouldn't have been as strong.

Completely different than today, because Reigns and Cena are only over with half the crowd. Really what it's like is Daniel Bryan, who put tons of people over when he was the biggest star in the company and everyone here complained about it. You can't have it both ways, the over guys have to win to stay over, if they don't then you just have a bunch of middle of the road, lukewarm superstars.

[Amazing Kitsune]

I figure almost anybody who makes it to the top in the WWE has to be political on some level. I generally have no problem with it unless it becomes overly troublesome.

[mauled]

Jun 9, 2016 0:31:47 GMT -5 Urethra Franklin said:

Jun 5, 2016 11:17:52 GMT -5 benstudd said:

Cause that's literally the first time I've heard about this.

First time I've heard Austin not willing to job was when he faced Scott Hall and the nWo. But he was literally on his last legs in the WWE at the time. He had his match, went home and was never seen as a regular wrestler ever again. I supposed I could blame him for this but the angle was pretty crap.

Steve is more grumpy than political. 

Was he asked to job to Hall?

I remember at the time he really had no interest in working with him, but I think that was largely in part to how far down the card he was (HHH/Jericho, Rock/Hogan and Flair/Undertaker were all ahead of him).

I think it was more to do with working with a guy with serious drug and alcohol issues and making sure his bad neck was protected.

The original plan was him and Hogan but he nixed it as he was worried about Hogan playing his political games

[benstudd]

Jun 9, 2016 8:18:16 GMT -5 mauled said:

Jun 9, 2016 0:31:47 GMT -5 Urethra Franklin said:

Was he asked to job to Hall?

I remember at the time he really had no interest in working with him, but I think that was largely in part to how far down the card he was (HHH/Jericho, Rock/Hogan and Flair/Undertaker were all ahead of him).

I think it was more to do with working with a guy with serious drug and alcohol issues and making sure his bad neck was protected.

The original plan was him and Hogan but he nixed it as he was worried about Hogan playing his political games

From the interview Hall gave to Austin on his show, it didn't seem to me like it was cause Hall was on drugs/drinking. Austin said to him that he(Austin) had a lot of personal issues back then, his head was not in it and it was going into his work. 

But the match should have been Austin-Hogan for sure. Or you could have had the Outsiders vs Austin and a partner of his chosing. That guy could have taken the pin.

[mauled]

Jun 9, 2016 14:31:23 GMT -5 benstudd said:

Jun 9, 2016 8:18:16 GMT -5 mauled said:

I think it was more to do with working with a guy with serious drug and alcohol issues and making sure his bad neck was protected.

The original plan was him and Hogan but he nixed it as he was worried about Hogan playing his political games

From the interview Hall gave to Austin on his show, it didn't seem to me like it was cause Hall was on drugs/drinking. Austin said to him that he(Austin) had a lot of personal issues back then, his head was not in it and it was going into his work. 

But the match should have been Austin-Hogan for sure. Or you could have had the Outsiders vs Austin and a partner of his chosing. That guy could have taken the pin.

Things are different now and I doubt Austin would say to Hall "yeah it's cause you were a druggie and I didn't trust you" but his neck was always a worry in his matches.

Your right it should have been Austin/Hogan but the Rock was just as big as Austin (and as Hogan was in the 80's) back then and possibly bigger at that specific point in time, so it's not like they threw in some mid-carder as a replacement.

[brody]

If guys draw money (Hogan, Austin, Rock) I'm okay with backstage politics. The HHH and Nash's of the world meanwhile got themselves over as the audience dissipated.

[kingoftheindies]

Jun 9, 2016 0:31:47 GMT -5 Urethra Franklin said:

Jun 5, 2016 11:17:52 GMT -5 benstudd said:

Cause that's literally the first time I've heard about this.

First time I've heard Austin not willing to job was when he faced Scott Hall and the nWo. But he was literally on his last legs in the WWE at the time. He had his match, went home and was never seen as a regular wrestler ever again. I supposed I could blame him for this but the angle was pretty crap.

Steve is more grumpy than political. 

Was he asked to job to Hall?

I remember at the time he really had no interest in working with him, but I think that was largely in part to how far down the card he was (HHH/Jericho, Rock/Hogan and Flair/Undertaker were all ahead of him).

The original plan was to have Hall win to keep the nWo going, but things got changed. But because of Hall's demons Austin did not want to work with him. He actually has said he wouldn't have minded working with Nash since they are still very very good friends but he didn't trust Hall.

[SAJ Forth]

Jun 5, 2016 7:14:02 GMT -5 kendrickisking said:

Except that's not what happened? Austin was going to drop the belt to HHH but the match was in Minnesota with Jesse Ventura as guest referee. Since Ventura was the Governor of Minnesota at the time,he didn't want to be seen raising the hand of a heel. So Foley won it only to drop it to HHH the next night. It was Ventura's demand , not Austin's.

That's what I heard.

[Renslayer]

Don't even understand why H/anybody else would be mad when Hunter (kayfabe) put Austin out of action for two months & never lost to him once he officially hit the Main Event in Summer 1999. Who cares about the pinfall when you stand tall to end the PPV & you win the title the very next night?

[Deleted]

Jun 8, 2016 20:12:25 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

Because the fanbase was mostly casuals who really didn't care about terms like going over and workrate.

This is a big part of it. The majority of Austin fans from 1999 are no longer wrestling fans; or at the very least, don't watch "that fake shit" (WWE).
I know/knew a lot of fans who were WCW loyalists that would watch Steve because he was somebody they could relate to.

Now? They don't relate with anybody.

[Mid-Carder]

Everything Austin has done has benefitted wrestling. He's the second-biggest star of all time and pulled WWE out of its worst era financially and creatively. He's a household name, instantly recognisable and brought wrestling into the mainstream and made them a billion-dollar company. If he wants to protect his career by not working with certain people, I have no problem with that. For the benefit of wrestling and everybody in it, Austin had to be protected.

You can't compare this to HHH's politics. He's a 6/10 star at best who belittled and defeated people because of nepotism and his insecurity about his status in wrestling. People say Austin gets a free pass but for what he's done for WWE, he should. Arguably none of us would still be here talking about it on a forum without him.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Jun 9, 2016 0:31:47 GMT -5 Urethra Franklin said:

Jun 5, 2016 11:17:52 GMT -5 benstudd said:

Cause that's literally the first time I've heard about this.

First time I've heard Austin not willing to job was when he faced Scott Hall and the nWo. But he was literally on his last legs in the WWE at the time. He had his match, went home and was never seen as a regular wrestler ever again. I supposed I could blame him for this but the angle was pretty crap.

Steve is more grumpy than political. 

Was he asked to job to Hall?

I remember at the time he really had no interest in working with him, but I think that was largely in part to how far down the card he was (HHH/Jericho, Rock/Hogan and Flair/Undertaker were all ahead of him).

he probably also had reservations about working with Hall because the guy looked like he was a foot in the grave at the time and was pretty unreliable.

[111111]

Jun 12, 2016 8:56:19 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

People say Austin gets a free pass but for what he's done for WWE, he should. Arguably none of us would still be here talking about it on a forum without him.

I think the idea that someone should get a free pass for beating up their wife because they "did a lot" for a television show is laughable. If the Johnny Depp allegations are true then should he be forgiven based on all he's done for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise?

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Jun 9, 2016 5:43:37 GMT -5 wingedeagle said:

Austin saved the WWF from going out of business so he gets a free pass. Helmsley not getting put over by Austin would explain why he didn't put talent over afterwards. Politics in professional wrestling is a vicious cycle.

On Helmsley's documentary, you could tell Austin not wanting to do the honors still bothers him.

Did Tri get a win when he beat Austin at No Way Out?

[corndog]

Jun 5, 2016 11:08:15 GMT -5 Bob Schlapowitz said:

Jun 5, 2016 9:05:08 GMT -5 spagett said:

I say this as a big fan of Austin anyway but he definitely gets away with a lot of stuff from wrestling fans that other guys get criticised for.

Austin and HBK both get way, way, way, WAY too many free passes on their bullshit.

I have been on IWC boards since '97. Trust me HBK didn't get any free passes back then. I would say the most hated wrestlers were Hogan, Nash and HBK in that order, possibly HBK more than Nash especially after the '97 Survivor Series.

As far as the information out there goes, the only real difference is people are better at recognizing NEWZ now. As the internet and smark sites were both very new, people hadn't realized how much garbage was out there. But I think the amount of information was about the same, just less sites.

Back to the topic, Austin did get a lot of slack for some reason. The Ventura reason was why many believed HHH didn't win that night, so he got a bye there. Also, while it was reported, no gave a crap about Jarrett. An interesting thing I remember, one of the more reliable sites, possibly Meltzer was reporting that HHH/Austin were supposed to be the first feud for Austin as champion after WM14. While they did the match in "Mayhem in Manchester", that was pretty much it. Not sure if that was due to Austin not wanting to work with HHH, or the fact that DX was starting to get over as faces. But obviously after HBK left, and the whole HHH promo after WM, it made sense in that context.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Jun 13, 2016 2:34:30 GMT -5 111111 said:

Jun 12, 2016 8:56:19 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

People say Austin gets a free pass but for what he's done for WWE, he should. Arguably none of us would still be here talking about it on a forum without him.

I think the idea that someone should get a free pass for beating up their wife because they "did a lot" for a television show is laughable. If the Johnny Depp allegations are true then should he be forgiven based on all he's done for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise?

I think Midcarder was referring to Austin playing politics, not his real life issues.