50 Fun Facts About Stone Cold Steve Austin

Steve Austin's 'Stone Cold' name came from his then-wife warning him that which drink was going cold?

Tea was the unlikely source of the name. His then-wife Jeanie told him to drink a cup before it went stone cold, just as he was looking to replace a gimmick he thought was weak.

Steve Austin's 'Austin 3:16' catchphrase from the 1996 King of the Ring mocks a verse in which Bible book?

Gospel of John 3:16 was the target because the man he had just beaten was playing a born-again Christian. Austin ad-libbed the parody during his coronation speech.

Which boxer was the special enforcer when Steve Austin won the WWF title at WrestleMania XIV?

Mike Tyson had sided with the champion's group, D-Generation X, then turned on them. He made the deciding three-count for Austin and knocked the beaten champion out with a punch.

Composer Jim Johnston built Steve Austin's entrance theme around a car crash and which other sound effect?

Smashing glass suited a character who, Johnston said, did not enter a room with subtlety. He felt at once that it sounded as if it had been Austin's theme for years.

Steve Austin won which annual WWF match a record three times, in 1997, 1998 and 2001?

Royal Rumble wins put him in Guinness World Records. In 1997 Bret Hart actually threw him out first, but the officials missed it, so Austin slipped back in and won.

Which wrestler did Steve Austin beat at WrestleMania 38 in 2022, his first match in 19 years?

Kevin Owens already used Austin's finishing move as his own, with Austin's permission. Their No Holds Barred match was Austin's first feud since he retired in 2003.

Which nickname did commentator Jim Ross give Steve Austin for a character nobody could trust?

The Texas Rattlesnake fit, Ross said, because of the character's mannerisms, motivation and mindset. Austin has called himself eternally indebted to Ross for helping the character catch on.

At Survivor Series 2000, Steve Austin got revenge on Triple H by dropping his car from which machine?

A forklift let Austin lift Triple H's car and drop it 20 feet. It was payback: Triple H had been unmasked as the plotter behind the hit-and-run that sidelined Austin a year earlier.

Steve Austin passed out from pain and blood loss rather than submit to which Bret Hart hold at WrestleMania 13?

Sharpshooter or not, Austin never gave up, so the referee stopped the match. The crowd turned on Hart and cheered Austin, a double turn that made the villain the hero.

Steve Austin gave the Austin 3:16 promo right after beating whom in the 1996 King of the Ring final?

Jake Roberts wrestled the final with injured ribs and refused an offer to stop the match. Austin went after the ribs, won, and then mocked his opponent's preacher persona at the coronation.

After refereeing the 'Battle of the Billionaires' at WrestleMania 23, Steve Austin hit which tycoon with a Stunner?

Donald Trump had just helped shave Vince McMahon's head bald, the forfeit their wrestlers had fought over. Austin, the guest referee, then dropped Trump with a Stunner anyway.

Steve Austin was the most popular wrestler of which WWF boom period of the late 1990s and early 2000s?

Attitude Era wrestling reached its mainstream peak with Austin as its foul-mouthed antihero. In 2001 he headlined the first WrestleMania to top a million pay-per-view buys.

Which D-Generation X leader did Steve Austin pin at WrestleMania XIV to win his first WWF Championship?

Shawn Michaels wrestled despite a severe back injury and did not compete again until 2002. His absence left Austin as the company's top star, ushering in what was called the Austin Era.

Under which short-lived name did Steve Austin debut in the WWF in 1996, managed by Ted DiBiase?

The Ringmaster was a technician character, and Austin soon thought the gimmick weak. Within months he had shaved his head, grown a goatee and asked for a change.

Whose botched piledriver at SummerSlam in 1997 left Steve Austin temporarily paralysed?

Owen Hart dropped Austin on his head, bruising his spinal cord. Austin still won the match, but the neck damage turned him from a technical wrestler into a brawler.

What name links Steve Austin's Texas ranch, his IPA and his interview series on the WWE Network?

Broken Skull was first the name of his ranch near Tilden, Texas. It went on to brand an IPA, a lager, a CMT reality contest and his interview show, whose first guest was The Undertaker.

On Raw in January 1999, Steve Austin's steel chair shot on The Rock helped which wrestler win the WWF title?

Mankind took the title after Austin struck The Rock in the face with the chair and then draped the challenger's body over him for the pin.

Steve Austin walked out of WWE in 2002 rather than lose a Raw match with no build-up to which rookie?

Brock Lesnar deserved a proper stage for so big a win, Austin argued, and losing on free television made Austin look weak. Vince McMahon fined him $650,000 on his return, later cut to $250,000.

Steve Austin lost the WWF title in a 1998 First Blood match to which rival, then regained it the next night?

Kane was champion for a single day before Austin took the title back on Raw. Months later the same rival helped Austin win a Buried Alive match by dropping The Undertaker into the grave.

Steve Austin played Dan Paine, right-hand man to the main villain, in which 2010 action film?

The Expendables cast Austin as the muscle for the film's primary antagonist. He soon re-teamed with two of its actors for the film Hunt to Kill.

Steve Austin dropped Vince McMahon with his finishing move in 1997 on the first Raw broadcast from which arena?

Madison Square Garden went wild when Austin floored the boss, who had just told him he was not physically cleared to compete. Austin was then led away under arrest as part of the storyline.

Steve Austin disguised himself as which figure before attacking Vince McMahon at Tribute to the Troops in 2003?

Santa Claus turned out to be Austin, back only weeks after being written out as Raw's co-general manager. Days later he returned to Raw as its self-styled Sheriff.

Steve Austin made his film debut as a prison guard in the 2005 remake of which football comedy?

The Longest Yard gave Austin a supporting part as Guard Dunham. It even earned him a Teen Choice Award nomination for his on-screen fight with Bob Sapp.

Which UFC fighter refereed the submission match between Steve Austin and Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13?

Ken Shamrock ended the match when Austin blacked out, then had to pull Hart off him. He took Hart down and challenged him to a fight, which Hart declined to a chorus of boos.

Which Quentin Tarantino film inspired Steve Austin to shave his head with a razor before a show in Pittsburgh?

Pulp Fiction did it: Austin, who had battled thinning hair for years, copied Bruce Willis's haircut in a bathroom on the road. He then grew the goatee, and the look was complete.

Steve Austin held the WCW and NWA tag team titles for five months in 1993 as half of which team?

The Hollywood Blonds were a team Austin did not want at first, since he had been earmarked for a singles title run. His partner pushed for the shared name, ring gear and finishing move.

The 1996 King of the Ring, where Steve Austin delivered the Austin 3:16 promo, was held in which Midwestern city?

Milwaukee witnessed a win that was never the plan. Hunter Hearst Helmsley had been due to take the tournament, but was punished for breaking character at a show a month earlier.

Earlier on the night of the Austin 3:16 promo, Steve Austin badly injured which part of his body against Marc Mero?

Mouth bleeding from the semi-final with Mero, Austin still won it. He then took the final and gave his famous coronation speech the same night.

Austin 3:16 T-shirts were reported in 1997 to be the WWF's best-selling shirts since which 1980s craze?

Hulkamania was the benchmark, reported less than a year after the promo. Austin's popularity had surged after his WrestleMania 13 loss to Bret Hart, which turned the crowd firmly in his favour.

Steve Austin sided with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania X-Seven, the first WrestleMania held in Texas, in which city?

Houston packed a record 67,925 fans into the Astrodome that night. Austin won the title with McMahon's help and shook his old enemy's hand, turning villain for the first time since 1997.

Steve Austin and Triple H held the WWF, Intercontinental and tag team titles at once in 2001 under which team name?

The Two-Man Power Trip ended abruptly when Triple H tore his quadriceps mid-match and the pair lost the tag titles. Austin blamed his partner for getting hurt and broke up the team that week.

Which rock band recorded the revamped version of Steve Austin's entrance theme that debuted at Unforgiven in 2000?

Disturbed recorded the remake for his return to the ring, but it did not last. In December 2001 Austin went back to the earlier version of the theme and kept it from then on.

Steve Austin took his first starring film role, as Jack Conrad, in which 2007 WWE Films release?

The Condemned casts him as a prisoner forced into an illegal fight to the death that is broadcast to the public. Austin came back to WWE television to promote it.

Steve Austin guest-starred as San Francisco police inspector Cage in two seasons of which CBS crime drama?

Nash Bridges brought Austin back across its fourth and fifth seasons. His other television credits include V.I.P., Dilbert and Celebrity Deathmatch.

Steve Austin hosted which CMT reality show, where stranded contestants competed for food and immunity?

Redneck Island ran from 2012 to 2016. CMT also gave Austin a second contest, filmed not at his real ranch but at a lookalike site just outside Los Angeles.

Before wrestling, Steve Austin played college football as a linebacker and defensive end at which university?

North Texas offered him a full scholarship after one junior college season. He dropped out a few credits short of graduating, admitting he could not make the grade as a professional player.

Steve Austin's early manager in Dallas, Percy Pringle, later became famous in the WWF under which name?

Paul Bearer managed Austin years before either man reached the WWF, when Austin wrestled mainly in Dallas. One early storyline there pitted Austin against his own trainer, Chris Adams.

Manager Ted DiBiase awarded Steve Austin which title belt when Austin first appeared in the WWF?

Million Dollar Championship gold came with DiBiase's finishing hold, which Austin borrowed too. He quietly gave the belt up after losing a strap match that forced DiBiase out of the WWF.

Which ECW boss hired an injured Steve Austin in 1995 and, Austin says, taught him how to cut a promo?

Paul Heyman paid Austin $500 a night for promos and interviews, since he was not yet fit to wrestle. Austin used the microphone time to run down his old employer and shape his Stone Cold persona.

WCW president Eric Bischoff fired Steve Austin in 1995 while Austin was recovering from which injury?

Torn triceps kept him out after a tour of Japan, and Bischoff, who did not see him as marketable, let him go. Austin took the grudge to ECW and mocked Bischoff in a string of promos.

Which wrestler was revealed in 2000 as the driver who ran Steve Austin down at Survivor Series?

Rikishi was named as the culprit after an on-screen investigation that followed Austin's return. The hit-and-run had been staged to write Austin off television while he dealt with his neck injury.

Which wrestler made Steve Austin submit to an ankle lock in 2001, ending a 175-day WWF Championship reign?

Kurt Angle ended the longest WWF title reign since 1996, but kept the belt for only about two weeks. Austin won it back on Raw when the WWF's own commissioner turned on the new champion.

In 2025 the WWE Hall of Fame honoured Steve Austin's WrestleMania 13 match with Bret Hart in which new category?

Immortal Moment was awarded for the first time that year, to this match. It made Austin a two-time Hall of Famer, sixteen years after he was inducted on his own.

Which former tag team partner's home did Steve Austin break into during an infamous 1996 Raw segment involving a gun?

Brian Pillman was at home nursing an ankle that Austin had stomped inside a steel chair, in storyline, after his old friend let slip a compliment about Bret Hart.

During the 2001 Invasion storyline, Steve Austin betrayed the WWF to lead which group of WCW and ECW wrestlers?

The Alliance gained its leader when Austin, captaining the WWF's own team, turned on a teammate mid-match and handed the invaders the win. The storyline ended with the group's defeat that November.

Steve Austin's 'Stone Cold' persona was partly inspired by which serial killer, nicknamed 'the Iceman'?

Richard Kuklinski supplied the coldness for the character Austin built after asking to drop his first WWF gimmick. Along the way he escaped being renamed Fang McFrost.

Steve Austin credits which wrestler, who called his own version the 9-1-1, with showing him the Stone Cold Stunner?

Michael Hayes suggested the finisher, though ECW's Mikey Whipwreck also claims to have originated the move. Austin's version always begins with a boot to the gut.

After forfeiting the Intercontinental title to The Rock, what did Steve Austin do with the belt?

Threw it into a river, the Piscataqua, in an act of defiance. Vince McMahon had ordered an immediate rematch because Austin had used his pickup truck to win the night before.

Steve Austin says his entrance theme, written by Jim Johnston, was inspired by which Rage Against the Machine song?

Bulls on Parade was Austin's reference point for the tune. A re-recorded version arrived in 2000, but he went back to the earlier one at the end of 2001.

Steve Austin's botched tombstone piledriver broke the neck of which Japanese star during a 1992 NWA title match?

Masahiro Chono still won by submission and kept the NWA World Heavyweight title. Five years later Austin suffered his own serious neck injury from another botched piledriver.