''Stone Cold'' Steve Austin (1998-2003)

For me, I despised the Steve Austin of 98-99, and that was through no fault of his own. it was the side show of the WWE created by Vince Russo and the more sizzle then substance approach to wrestling he implied. His matches during that era were an afterthought to all of the loud noise going on around him during that era. When you come down to it, break it down and strip the Attitude Era of all of it's sizzle, you find a really, really dull core. I tend to agree with Jake, outside of the match with Dude Love at Over the Edge 1998, Austin's 98-99 run was rather blah. The focus was always on McMahon vs. Austin and no true feuds developed from that, maybe Rock vs. Austin, but the seeds for that were planted in 97.

For me, Austin was at his best in the WWF from late 96-to Summerslam 97, and when he came back as the willing to destroy anyone Bionic Redneck in late 2000-WM 17. The Austin Era, 98-99, and the Heel Turn (Worst Heel turn ever) were dull moments for me.

I can probably name a half dozen matches off the top of my head in 97 that I love.

Royal Rumble 1997: Austin comes in and destroys everyone in the Rumble. Nothing beats Stone Cold doing pushups in the middle of the ring after he eliminates people. This was the dawning of something special. The guy gets eliminated by Hart, yet the refs don't see it, and in ultra heel style, runs back into the ring and eliminates everyone left, that was genius.
Fatal Four Way: Austin vs. Vader vs. Undertaker vs. Bret Hart
Which of these is not like the other, Austin at the time. The other three were solid main event players, and Austin was the young up and comer mid carder. Austin had been getting some major heat, but this was his first real main event shot. He does well in this match, but is the first eliminated. However, he hangs around and ultimately cost the Undertaker the WWF title in this matchup. Eliminated first, but yet remained the focal point of the match.

Actually, I'm going to stop right now, because I could probably go on about every Austin pay per view match from 1997. In my personal opinion, 1997 was the best year the WWE ever had, maybe 2000 and 2002 come close, but 1997 stands atop of that mountain. You had Taker and Hart solidly in the main event scene, HBK was gone because of his "smile" (had nothing to do with not wanting to drop the title to Hart, I swear). Foley, Vader, Owen, Bulldog, all of these guys were solid upper mid carders. The Rock, Shamrock, Austin all rolled through the mid cards and got their footing started this year, and can't forget Triple H, even he was watchable at this point in his career.

I honestly don't think Austin had a bad matchup on pay per view the entire year. Austin vs. Bret at WM13 is probably the greatest match at Mania in it's history. The next month was a solid rematch with both firmly in their new roles as face and heel. Cold Day In Hell 1997 vs. the Undertaker in his first title match on pay per view was solid, and in my opinion, their best match on pay per view. King of the Ring 1997, again, a solid fucking match with Shawn Michaels (it is a miracle that those career ending knee injuries heal up in 3 month now isn't it?). Personally I felt this match was the better of the two pay per view matches and was much better then the WM 14 matchup.

July at the Canadian Stampede was great too. Austin was probably the hottest thing going, and he's the one to end up getting pinned, by Owen Hart. The aftermath of this was great with a handcuffed Austin flipping the bird to everyone in the crowd which led to a great match the next month at Summerslam where everything changed for him. We all know what happened there.

So anyways, to the point of this thread.

Best match, Bret vs. Austin, WM 13. Truly a classic and the way the match saw both switch heel and face was amazing. Bret is so much better then what the IWC gives him credit for. Austin came through as an ultra tough guy chosing to pass out instead of tap out to the Sharpshooter, (although I wouldn't put it passed Vince to have Austin tap to the WTFU at this point).

A close second would go to 3 Stages of Hell. I thought this was a very solid matchup as well. I could go on and on about Austin and some of his matches, but I'lls top for now and see what the next topic is, but let's not forget about Benoit vs. Austin either in Edmonton, what a solid matchup.