Would Steve Austin have been as successful without the Austin/McMahon story?

ShawnRaven

Well folks?
After the recent polls, it gave me an idea to start this one up.

As it says on the tin, Would Austin have been as popular had he not have Vince McMahon to play off for two years?

ShawnRaven

My personal opinion:
I would have to say yes, he would. As he was insanely popular as an anti-hero who became the hero during the Bret Hart anti Canada story one year ahead of Austin/McMahon.

Not to mention 3 show stealing performances against Rock at Wrestlemania XV, X7 and XIX. If McMahon wasn't there, they'd have found someone else for him to work with.

rovert

Jaysus this place has Cyber Sunday fever this week.

rovert

ShawnRaven wrote: »

My personal opinion:
I would have to say yes, he would. As he was insanely popular as an anti-hero who became the hero during the Bret Hart anti Canada story one year ahead of Austin/McMahon.

Not to mention 3 show stealing performances against Rock at Wrestlemania XV, X7 and XIX. If McMahon wasn't there, they'd have found someone else for him to work with.

I agree

McMahon gave the Austin character an outlet when Austin's chracter was near fully/fully formed.

HorseRadish

I have to agree as well,you just knew that Austin had something about him that even without a McMahon feud,he wouldnt get lost in the shuffle.

Fozzy

I'd say so. He was still a big star when McMahon was out of the picture so I'm sure they'd have found someone or other to be the big heel in Vince's place. I don't think Austin's popularity was all down to his hatred of Vince

CMpunked

Interesting one here Shawn

On one hand you have the mark inside me saying no.

Then you have the Smark inside me saying that "Of course not, no one in WWE would be without McMahon"

But all joking aside:

Austin was always a great talker, there was no denying this.
Look at the rise and fall of ECW, they capture only a smidgen of this.

Austin fueded with McMahon.

The fueds which he had that were not mcmahon-related arent as memorable.
The only ones i can bring to mind are; Undertaker, Jake the snake(austin 3.16) and the Rock.. which formed itself into having a direct involvement with Vince.

See the Austin, Blue collared, working class, son of a bitch gimmick was always destined to have that struggle with McMahon.

If he didn't have that feud i dont think he would have been so successful. Chances are that he would've had a different gimmick.

Wonder how far the "Ringmaster" would have gotten.

ShawnRaven

Comic-Book-Guy wrote: »

Interesting one here Shawn

The fueds which he had that were not mcmahon-related arent as memorable.
The only ones i can bring to mind are; Undertaker, Jake the snake(austin 3.16) and the Rock.. which formed itself into having a direct involvement with Vince.

And you missed the awesome HHH feud ending at No Way Out 01?
Also the feud with Angle in midst 2001 which stumped up two beauts at Summerslam and Unforgiven 01?

Want me to keep going?

Bubs101

I don't think he would have been but having said that, I'm not sure of the timeline so if somebody could post when the Austin McMahon thing started then I could spout my reasoning behind my answer. I'm presuming it was pre-Mania 15 based on the referee debacle?

CMpunked

ShawnRaven wrote: »

And you missed the awesome HHH feud ending at No Way Out 01?
Also the feud with Angle in midst 2001 which stumped up two beauts at Summerslam and Unforgiven 01?

Want me to keep going?

Your original question was would steve had been as successful without the macmahon story.

I was making reference to the times which were before and after the story.

Sorry if you got me mixed up
Who could forget them, the HHH pre-mania x7 was my favorite austin feud.

ShawnRaven

Comic-Book-Guy wrote: »

Your original question was would steve had been as successful without the macmahon story.

I was making reference to the times which were before and after the story.

Sorry if you got me mixed up
Who could forget them, the HHH pre-mania x7 was my favorite austin feud.

It doesn't matter about when the feuds were. My point was that had McMahon not gotten involved, the chances are you would have seen feuds that i had mentioned a lot sooner. Vince knew however that having a storyline where an employee goes insane at his boss would be an attention grabber.

After all, who else wouldn't want to punch out their boss?

CMpunked

ShawnRaven wrote: »

After all, who else wouldn't want to punch out their boss?

Shane O'Mac?

ShawnRaven

Comic-Book-Guy wrote: »

Shane O'Mac?

Do not get me started on that guy. Horribly overrated part time stunt-munky. ;/

Handsome Bob

For me personally, SCSA would still be my favourite all time Superstar regardless of McMahon. But so much is made of, by what I would guess rovert would refer to as "revisionist history", how the feud between Austin and McMahon compelled new viewers in with the story of the "working class man sticking it to his boss every week". Then again I'm sure we would of gotten the same results had one thrown anyone into that authoritarian position, the commissioner for instance.

But there is no doubt that McMahon's role made TV very, very enjoyable back then. He was the perfect nemesis for Stone Cold.

rovert

LZ5by5 wrote: »

by what I would guess rovert would refer to as "revisionist history"

What are you trying to start here actually?

Putting words into people's mouths reveals more about you than the other person.

Handsome Bob

rovert wrote: »

What are you trying to start here actually?

Putting words into people's mouths reveals more about you than the other person.

Woah! I'm not trying to start anything chief! The only paltry insight I have into this era are WWE dvds, which you have basically told me before mean nothing.

Don't get your knickers in a twist man, provoking you with the wording of that sentence was the furthest thing from from mind. I apologise if I caused any offence.

oneofakind32

pure and simple no. That story made him and his character. Without the freedom to express himself that vince gave him he would have amounted to nothing. He'd still be Stunning Steve Austin

jaycen

I do think SCSA would have been successful on the charachter alone, the crowd loved him even as a heel, he didn't really do a face turn as such, but he did need someone to play off and McMahon fitted the heel perfectly as Austin's nemesis.


PS think the bedpan incident was some of the best US TV ever shown

gimmick

LZ5by5 wrote: »

For me personally, SCSA would still be my favourite all time Superstar regardless of McMahon.

Get with the lingo dude, they are to be called "Entertainers" from now on

On topic, the McMahon feud certainly helped, but he was still insanely over reagrdless. The Rock feud is the one whcih stands out for me when they were feuding over the intercontinental.

rovert

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Woah! I'm not trying to start anything chief! The only paltry insight I have into this era are WWE dvds, which you have basically told me before mean nothing.

Again you are putting words into my mouth. Quote me saying this here or take back what you said in this and the prior post.

Handsome Bob

rovert wrote: »

Again you are putting words into my mouth. Quote me saying this here or take back what you said in this and the prior post.

I'm not going to sift through everyone of your posts in PW so fine for the sake of avoiding an argument with you I take everything I said back.

rovert

LZ5by5 wrote: »

I'm not going to sift through everyone of your posts in PW so fine for the sake of avoiding an argument with you I take everything I said back.

I know what thread you are referring to and we had the exact same problem of you being unable to summarise someone's viewpoint. Much I asked you to do in that thread please quote people directly or actually read people's points. I never said that WWE DVDs were basically :rolleyes: or otherwise nothing but rather they are slanted. A world of difference there mate.

rossie1977

this is an excellent question and i have been running it through my mind for a few hours now and my answer is yes, yes he would

i was at mayhem in manchester in april 1998 a few days (6 i think) after austin won his first title at WM14. this was before the austin/mcmahon feud started and the pop austin got that night will live long in the memory. it was insane, the 20,000 people stood as one that night when the glass shattered and just went nuts, i never heard a pop like it before or will ever likely hear one like it again in a wrestling arena. lots of top names were there that night, taker, rock, owen, foley, lod, HHH and the well over NAO and their pops were not even in the same league, i remember feeling bad for taker and kane who came after and received one tenth (at best) the reaction austin had gotten

i think the austin/mcmahon feud elevated the company and vince more than it really elevated austin

callaway92

Yes he wouldve been succesful without McMahon story...It doesnt realy need explanation tbh..If you had any clue about the business youd know this