Thought of the Day – Steve Austin Was Good
A few months ago someone asked me to name something that I’m afraid people are going to forget as time passes. My answer was how good Steve Austin was in the ring.I’ve been flipping through some old stuff and thinking about some shows I’ll want to check out when the Network arrives and I got to thinking about this again. The more stuff I watch, the more I realize how amazing Steve Austin was as a performer. Everyone remembers him on the mic and his promos and going from hilarious about anything (side note: listen to his podcast called Austin vs. The Fly. It’s episode seven and when I first heard it I was literally laughing so hard that my headphones fell out) to dead serious about wanting the title or his war with Vince.
What people forget is how great he was with the in ring work. I’ve been doing the Wrestler of the Day series and obviously Austin will be picked when we get to his birthday. I try to keep those at about ten matches and I realized I’ve got probably 40-50 that I can pick from for Austin and it’ll take a veyr long time to get that list down to size. There are just so many matches that were either big or important for him but at the same time he had so many matches that blew anything else that night away that people never remember. I could rattle off about ten matches on TV that are a B+ or higher, which is getting up into Shawn Michaels territory.
Go watch some Steve Austin stuff when you get the chance. There are times when Austin gets that look in his eyes and you know you’re in for something special. Check it out, especially in 97/98.
A lot of people have soured on Austin since he really pioneered the brawling style which many fans associate with the Attitude era. Many of them don’t realise just how good he was before he was forced to be a brawler due to injuries.
His match with HBK at KOTR 1997 (the one with the special olympian) really stands out to me, as it’s hard to believe just how quickly those two are moving out there uninhibited by damaged backs and necks.
Austin was absolute class, and the fact he could put on matches as great as he did after breaking his neck is a testament to the man
He was amazing and I always wonder how different things would have been if his neck hadn’t gone. Obviously his knees were shot but you got to think he could have taken time off to get those fixed.
The industry would be very different.
I’m not sure it would’ve been all that different. Sure there would’ve been another guy at the top of the card, but Austin’s popularity in 2003 when he had his last match wasn’t like 1998.