Stone Cold Steve Austin, American wrestler and producer
Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson, December 18, 1964; later Steven James Williams) is an American television host, actor, and retired professional wrestler who is better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential professional wrestlers of all time, Austin was integral to the development and success of the Attitude Era in the WWF, an industry boom period in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Austin started his professional wrestling career after playing college football at the University of North Texas. He became "Stunning" Steve Austin in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1991 to 1995, using the character of a handsome man who relied on his good looks and flowing blond hair, and during 1993 he made up one half of the tag team The Hollywood Blonds alongside Brian Pillman. After a brief stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in late 1995, he signed with the WWF as The Ringmaster. The following year, having grown a goatee and shaved his head, he was repackaged as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a trigger-happy "Texas rattlesnake". Under this gimmick, Austin gained prominent status and significant mainstream popularity as a brash, brazen, blindsiding, beer-drinking antihero, given to disparagingly foul language, mannerisms and shamelessly vulgar acts. Central to this gimmick, Austin routinely defied the establishment and showed the utmost in disdain for his boss, company chairman Mr. McMahon. Austin thus became the "poster boy" of the Attitude Era. He was forced to retire from in-ring competition in 2003 due to multiple knee injuries and also a serious neck injury. Throughout the rest of 2003 and 2004, he was featured as an on-screen authority figure of Raw.
Austin held 19 championships throughout his wrestling career. In WWF/E, he is a six-time WWF Champion, a two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, a four-time WWF Tag Team Champion, and a one-time Million Dollar Champion. In WCW, he was a two-time WCW World Television Champion, a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WCW World Tag Team Champion, and a one-time NWA World Tag Team Champion. In addition, he was the fifth WWF Triple Crown Champion, the winner of the 1996 WWF King of the Ring tournament, and a record three-time Royal Rumble winner. Austin headlined multiple WWF pay-per-view events, including three WrestleManias (XIV, XV, and X-Seven), and he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. Austin has confirmed himself that he will return to the WWE one more time at Wrestlemania 38 to take on Kevin Owens.
Following his wrestling career, Austin started a podcast named The Steve Austin Show and released an IPA beer called the "Broken Skull IPA". Austin hosted a reality competition series, Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge, from 2014 to 2017 and has been the star of Straight Up Steve Austin since 2019. He also has video interviews with other wrestlers called the Broken Skull Sessions that are available through WWE on the streaming services Peacock and the WWE Network.