Posted by QuickReadAbout.com Staff in The world of professional wrestling is a high pressure one. Champions have to take the aches and pains along with fortune and fame. This blend of sport and show business has a huge following and one of the most successful exponents was Stone Cold Steve Austin. As his title suggests, he was not to be messed with and fans loved his anti-hero image.
He was actually born Steve Williams but another wrestler performed under that name, so Steve was later given the name Austin as he was born in the Texas state capital. Always athletic, he played football at University and his first professional wrestling bout was in 1989 and he competed around Texas in World Class Championship Wrestling. The World Championship Wrestling debut came in 1991. Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brian Pillman got together in a tag team, calling themselves The Hollywood Blondes, going on to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship in 1993.
The World Championship Wrestling organization decided that Stone Cold Steve Austin did not have the image they were looking to promote, so they fired him in 1995. Austin then got involved in Extreme Championship Wrestling for a while. The high profile career really kicked off a year later when he was invited to join the World Wrestling Federation. This is when he shaved his head, added the Stone Cold to his name and generally presented a tougher persona. He became a household name, winning the King of the Ring tournament when he beat Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts in the final. He also won the WWF Tag Team Championship and the WWF Championship at WrestleMania, beating Shawn Michaels.
Following his dominance of WWF and becoming a television celebrity, Austin’s star began to fade. Other wrestlers were becoming celebrities and his neck and knee injuries started to catch up with him. Stone Cold Steve Austin announced his retirement from the professional ring in 2003. He still had legions of fans however, and this enabled him to forge a TV and movie acting career.
Austin has been married and divorced on three occasions, his final wife being Debra Marshall, who had worked as a wrestling valet. Wrestling is still as popular as ever and everyone has his or her favorite competitors. Other celebrities, such as The Rock and Hulk Hogan have also gone on to Hollywood stardom but no one has yet to eclipse the following that Austin has enjoyed.