Stone Cold Steve Austin

Lore & Background

Austin began his professional wrestling career in 1989, after playing college football at the University of North Texas. He signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1991 and adopted the persona of 'Stunning' Steve Austin. He won the WCW World Television Championship and the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship twice each, and held the WCW World Tag Team Championship and NWA World Tag Team Championship with Brian Pillman as the Hollywood Blondes. After a brief stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Austin signed with the WWF in 1995. In the WWF, he debuted as The Ringmaster before being repackaged as 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin. He won the 1996 King of the Ring and delivered the Austin 3:16 promo. He won the WWF Championship six times and the Royal Rumble three times (1997, 1998, 2001), and became the fifth WWF Triple Crown Champion. He retired from full-time in-ring competition in 2003 after multiple knee injuries and a serious neck injury at the 1997 SummerSlam event, but returned for a match at WrestleMania 38 in 2022. He has been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame individually in 2009.

Reader's Guide

Austin hosts the podcast The Steve Austin Show (2013–present) and the video podcast Broken Skull Sessions (2019–2022). He collaborates with El Segundo Brewing on Broken Skull IPA and Broken Skull American Lager. He hosted the reality competition series Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge (2014–2017) and Straight Up Steve Austin (2019–2021). Since 2023, he has competed in desert racing with a UTV.

Did You Know?

• Austin legally changed his name to Steve Austin in December 2007.
• He was born Steven James Anderson and later took the surname Williams from his stepfather.
• He began wrestling training in 1986 under Chris Adams.
• His final match was against Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38.