. The six-time WWE Champion will be inducted into the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame on April 4 in his home state of Texas the night before WrestleMania XXV. Austin is the first superstar to be announced for this year's induction.



If anyone deserves it, it is Austin. After moderate success in WCW and other organizations as ?Stunning? Steve Austin, he broke into the WWE without much fanfare as ?The Ringmaster?, a prot'g? of the Million Dollar man. But, as time went on and as Austin's frustration with the character grew, he transformed into ?Stone Cold? Steve Austin, and with that, plus his 1996 King of the Ring speech where he first coined the phrase ?Austin 3:16?, he became one of, if not the most popular superstars in WWE history.

And he did it unconventionally, and you could say, it was the fans that helped turned him into what he became. Even when he was first ?Stone Cold?, his character wasn't supposed to be the ?good guy?, and for a while, he wasn't. He was just a tough, bitter, no-nonsense SOB, that did what he wanted, when he wanted, and didn't give a damn what you thought. He definitely didn't do anything to please the fans. And, for a while, fans didn't like him. But, as time went on, and because of his no-nonsense attitude, he started gaining fans. During his famous King of the Ring speech, where he went off on Jake ?The Snake? Roberts, who he had just beaten to become King of the Ring and who was billed as the babyface, Austin proclaimed ?Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!?. That got a reaction from the crowd, as if they said ?Whoa, bad guy or not, that was pretty cool!? ?Austin 3:16? became a huge trademark and marketing machine, and the WWE sold a lot of his wrestling merchandise because of it. His ?Austin 3:16? shirt out grossed any of the other wrestling shirts in WWE's history. Not only that, wrestlers never really swore before, they would always talk tough, but use really tame words like ?butt? or ?stinkin??. Austin always said ?ass?, and then, more wrestlers would say it. Nowadays, a lot of wrestlers not only use that word, but cuss words, too. After that speech, Austin's popularity started to grow. He was still supposed to be the ?bad guy?, but when he started feuding with Bret ?The Hitman? Hart, he started becoming more and more of a fan favorite. Partly because I think the crowd was getting a little tired of Hart's act. Austin turned into a full fan favorite during his ?submission match? with Hart during WrestleMania 13. Austin lost, but not because he gave up. He refused to give up. He lost because he lost consciousness from the intense pain he was in in Hart's sharpshooter, and the referee stopped the match. During that match, Hart was turned ?bad? and Austin was turned ?good?.

The fans really respected the fact that he never gave up. And then, during his famous feud with Vince McMahon, Austin's popularity not only grew at a record rate with wrestling fans, but people also knew about him who didn't even follow wrestling, and created more wrestling fans in the process. He acted out what many people always wanted to do, but of course never could. He stood up, toe-to-toe, against his boss, and continued to beat the snot in him. Just what many blue collared workers would love to do to their boss, so they lived vicariously through him. Practically every night, Austin would swig numerous beers in the ring after another successful ?ass-whipping?. That too, became a trademark. Stone Cold merchandise sold more than any other wrestler in WWE history, including Hulk Hogan.

Nobody could match the pop, or reaction, he would get from crowd. The instant the crowd heard the sound of the glass breaking, which was at the beginning of his entrance music, they would go absolutely bananas. The WWE knew this, so they would continue to use his music to signify a ?surprise? entrance by Austin, or any reason for that matter, whether to come to somebody's aid, or just to come out and clobber someone. The WWE from then on started playing entrance themes more often for wrestlers, regardless on why they were coming out, just to get that extra reaction from fans. Even when the WWE tried to turn Stone Cold heel, when he sided with McMahon during WrestleMania X-Seven, the crowd didn't really want to boo him. He was one of those rare wrestlers who will get cheered no matter what he does. He could give the ?Stone Cold Stunner?, his finishing move, to someone's grandmother, and the fans would cheer for him. He also started the trend of wrestlers, who were in that gray area of, are they a good guy, or bad guy?

Unfortunately, a serious neck condition and other injuries have shortened his career. But, he continues to make special appearances, and always create that huge pop when he does.

The WWE and Vince McMahon owe a lot to ?Stone Cold? Steve Austin. He not only kept the WWE from going belly-up, much of how their superstars act today and how they are promoted was started by Austin. I could go on all day writing about Stone Cold, as I just touched on a teeny tiny bit of his legacy. But, this is a blog, and not a book. There are many ?Stone Cold? Steve Austin DVDs and books and wrestling DVD's and books that chronicle his career. So let's raise a beer to ?Stone Cold? Steve Austin. 2009 WWE Hall of Famer!

Derek

The Wrestling Frenzy