- Awesome Ego
- Crazy Awesome
- Crowning Music of Awesome: His theme by Disturbed
- Magnificent Bastard: Even at his most popular, Austin was still a shady son of a bitch. It was on his vest, for crying out loud!
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Probably could call this subverted. He's good with fans and is a solid worker, but he also guilty of domestic abuse. More than once. And thats pretty bad.
- Memetic Mutation: Austin's "WHAT?" noted in various other places, has taken on a life of its own. Years after his retirement, long promos are still interrupted by "WHAT?" at breaks, much like Ric Flair's "WHOO" whenever someone does a knife-edge chop in the corner.
- Misaimed Fandom: "WHAT?" was originally created by Austin as a heel when he was acting strangely, saying "what?" during promos in order to repeat what he had just said. He created it in real life when leaving an answerphone message (see this video on its origins). Later he used it to intimidate opponents if they even looked like they were about to interrupt him. It got over with the fans so much, they also chanted "WHAT?" when any wrestler tried to cut a promo. It also basically ended Austin's chance to get over as a heel.
- Several wrestlers have actually caught on to the chant, and some have found ways of switching up their speech patterns and rhythms mid-promo to kill the momentum of the chant.
- Roddy Piper reacted like the crowd was asking him a personal question every time.
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Roddy Piper: "Keep up with me, people" |
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- Made a resurgence in 2010 with the anonymous GM. Practically every time Michael Cole reads an e-mail (especially one that favors a heel), expect "WHAT?" chants to break out.
- Extra fun when it's done while a wrestler is speaking a foreign language.
- The Miz has countered "What?" chants with "Really?"
- Miz is one who is probably legitimately annoyed when the crowd breaks it out and will often chastise them for it.
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Miz: They don't compare to my ability! |
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- Also R-Truth as well:
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Crowd: What?! |
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- Then the last two join forces against the What?! chants.
- R-Truth has since changed it up a bit, playing into it in his new 'tweener/face' phase and occasionally encouraging it to get the crowd more involved in his current 'crazy man' gimmick.
- Then the last two join forces against the What?! chants.
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Crowd: What?! |
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- Most Wonderful Sound: Any time you hear that glass shattering noise on a WWE show, expect the crowd to explode. Or, as it was once put: "When you hear the glass, it's your ass!"
- Older Than You Think: "The Extreme Superstar" Steve Austin had his first beer in ECW.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A hard-core, Badass, beer-drinking ass-kicker? Who came first: Stone Cold or Sandman?
- Neither. It was Dick The Bruiser and Crusher Lisowski who did it first.
- Chris Jericho mentions Does This Remind You of Anything? in his autobiography.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A hard-core, Badass, beer-drinking ass-kicker? Who came first: Stone Cold or Sandman?
- Shocking Swerve: Austin's Face Heel Turn, accomplished when he sided with Vince McMahon to win the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X-Seven.
- During the event, Vince McMahon foreshadowed Austin's heel turn:
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Vince McMahon: You want shocking? Tonight, you'll get... shocking. I guarantee it. |
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- So Bad It's Good: There was no reason in the world why "Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16 - Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!" should have become an iconic catchphrase (printed on offical T-shirts, no less!). But it did.
- So Cool Its Awesome
- Tear Jerker: For some, Austin's "beer bash" at WrestleMania 25 could be seen as one, since Austin and many others considered it his final farewell to the ring.
- The "Thank You Austin" Chant at the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame and during the mentioned "beer bash".
- The last scene of the "RAW is Owen" tribute episode of RAW; instead of giving a speech or a traditional tribute to Owen, Austin cracked open two beers in the middle of the ring, chugged one, and left the other behind in the ring.
- Too Good to Last: Unlike some main eventers, Austin busted his ass to give the fans a good time. His status as a workhorse even he could have easily coasted is the stuff of legend. Unfortunately, this also meant that his body burned out physically well before most main event stars. Nevertheless, this means even when guys like Hulk Hogan and John Cena wear out on the fans, any appearance by Stone Cold is guaranteed pops.
- Indeed, Austin's high-time basically lasted a full four years(late '96 to early '01), whereas big stars like Hogan and Cena have had many years of popularity and drawing power. At the height of his career, Steve Austin actually outdrew Hulk Hogan himself, but Hogan's had more high-drawing years than Austin.
- Villain Decay: Happened in record time during his stint as Vince McMahon's Dragon. Austin went from a vicious and sadistic man who was constantly Kicking The Dog and bordering on Complete Monster to constantly sucking up to Vince by giving him gifts and hugging him to the point where even Vince wanted Austin to go back to being his old self. During his heel run in the Alliance, Austin would be somewhere in between these personas.