Early career (1986–1991) Steve Austin began his wrestling training in 1986 under
Chris Adams at the Dallas Sportatorium, when Adams was affiliated with
World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA, formerly WCCW). Although the training emphasized technical skills, Austin later expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of instruction on the business side of wrestling. Austin made his in-ring debut later that year in a televised WCWA match using his real name at the time, Steve Williams. During the merger of WCWA and the
Memphis-based
Continental Wrestling Association into the
United States Wrestling Association (USWA), he began wrestling under the name "Steve Austin", a change made to avoid confusion with
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams. He competed primarily in Dallas and was managed by Percy Pringle (later known as
Paul Bearer in
WWF) during this period. One of his early storylines involved a feud with his trainer, Chris Adams. a name and gimmick he later said he could not commit to. Austin was originally paired with a
valet named Vivacious Veronica but was later joined by Jeannie Adams, known as "
Lady Blossom". Austin lost the WCW World Television Championship to
Barry Windham in a
two-out-of-three-falls match on April 27, but regained the championship from Windham the following month. He enjoyed a second lengthy reign as champion, before losing the championship to
Ricky Steamboat at
Clash of the Champions XX in September 1992, while the Dangerous Alliance disbanded shortly thereafter. In August and September 1992, as part of a working agreement between WCW and
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Austin wrestled four matches in Japan. He took part in the
1992 G1 Climax, defeating
Arn Anderson in the first round before losing to
Keiji Muto in the second round. He and Arn Anderson then defeated Raging Staff (
Super Strong Machine and
Tatsutoshi Goto) in a tag team bout held in the
Ryōgoku Kokugikan in
Tokyo. In his final bout, Austin challenged
Masahiro Chono for the
NWA World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of the "Battle Hold Arena" event at the
Yokohama Arena, losing by submission after Chono applied an
STF. During the match, Chono suffered a
legitimate broken neck from a
botched tombstone piledriver by Austin.
Hollywood Blonds; Stud Stable (1992–1993) In September 1992, Austin formed a
tag team known as the
Hollywood Blonds with
Brian Pillman, Austin would later say that he was not excited about being placed into a tag team, as he was earmarked for a run with the
WCW United States Heavyweight Championship with
Harley Race as his manager. Initially billed under their individual personas, Pillman decided the pair needed their own finishing move, ring gear and team name, At
Clash of the Champions XXIV In August 1993, Austin and Pillman were scheduled to defend their championship against Anderson and
Paul Roma but a
legitimately injured Pillman was replaced by
Steven Regal, with whom Austin lost to Anderson and Roma. With Pillman injured, Austin joined
Colonel Robert Parker's
Stud Stable.
United States Champion; departure (1993–1994) At
Starrcade in December 1993, Austin defeated Dustin Rhodes 2–0 in a two-out-of-three-falls match to win the
WCW United States Championship. His second reign with the championship ended just five minutes later when he lost to Steamboat's replacement,
Jim Duggan, in a match that lasted 35 seconds. Austin unsuccessful challenged Duggan for the championship at both
Halloween Havoc in October 1994 and
Clash of the Champions XXIX in November 1994. The influence of
Hulk Hogan and the
Hulkamania era was beginning to take hold in WCW, with vice president
Eric Bischoff saying this was likely the reason Austin lost to Duggan, who had been a popular figure during that period of time. Around this time, Austin pitched a storyline idea to Bischoff in which it would be revealed that Austin was a family member of Hogan. The proposal was quickly turned down on account of Bischoff's belief that Hogan would not work with somebody such as Austin, who was not a proven name. Following
Clash of the Champions XXIX, Austin was inactive while rehabilitating a knee injury, returning in February 1995. In April 1995, Austin took part in a tournament for the vacant United States Championship, defeating Jim Duggan via
countout in the first round but losing to
Randy Savage in the quarter-final. He wrestled what would be his final match with WCW on May 21, 1995, defeating Eddie Jackie in a bout that aired on
WCW Main Event. In late May and June 1995, Austin again appeared with New Japan Pro-Wrestling as part of its "Fighting Spirit Legend" series, primarily teaming with Arn Anderson and
Ron Simmons. At the "Super Power Group Declaration VI" event in the
Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Austin, Anderson, and
Mike Enos lost to
J-J-Jacks (
Akira Nogami and
Takayuki Iizuka) and
Junji Hirata in a
six-man tag team match. and additionally thought Austin was hard to work with.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1995) Austin was contacted by
Paul Heyman of
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), who had previously managed him in WCW. paying Austin $500 () a night. Austin debuted in ECW at
Gangstas Paradise on September 18, 1995. While in ECW, Austin used the platform to develop his future "Stone Cold" persona as well as a series of vignettes running down WCW in general and Bischoff in particular, most memorably in several promos that mocked his then-status as
Nitro host by introducing
Monday NyQuil, where he was joined by "Bongo" (a set of drums, meant to represent
Steve "Mongo" McMichael) in promoting the show "where the big boys play with each other." At
December to Dismember on December 9, Whipwreck defended the title against Austin and
The Sandman in a
three way dance. Austin eliminated Whipwreck from the match by pinning him following a
Stun Gun, but was pinned himself after The Sandman punched him using
brass knuckles.
World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE The Ringmaster and birth of "Stone Cold" (1996) Austin joined the WWE at the end of 1995 after
Diesel and
Jim Ross helped convince WWF's owner
Vince McMahon to hire him. by his manager,
Ted DiBiase. While making his first
pay-per-view (PPV) appearance at the
Royal Rumble, he was scripted to be among the final four wrestlers in the ring, which could have given him an early
push; however, The Ringmaster failed to hang onto the ropes after
Fatu clotheslined him over and slipped out of the ring early. Austin soon thought the Ringmaster gimmick was weak and asked for a change. He later said in a 2017 interview, "After watching the
Pulp Fiction movie with
Bruce Willis, that's the haircut that inspired me. I was traveling on the road to
Pittsburgh with
Dustin Rhodes and before I went to the show, I said fuck it. I went into the bathroom with a razor blade and shaved all my hair off. Then I grew the
goatee and everything came full circle." Austin wrestled Vega on
Raw to a double countout, before defeating him in his first
WrestleMania appearance at
WrestleMania XII. At
In Your House: Beware of Dog, Austin lost a Caribbean strap match to Vega, with the added stipulation that DiBiase was forced to leave the WWF as a result, leading Austin to quietly vacate the Million Dollar title.
Austin 3:16 and rise to superstardom (1996–1997) After several months of competing as a mid-card talent and doing little of note, Austin's rise in popularity began at the
1996 King of the Ring, where he won the tournament by defeating
Jake "The Snake" Roberts. At the time, Roberts was portraying a
born-again Christian, which inspired Austin to
ad-lib a famous promo during his post-win coronation,
kayfabe Years later, Austin would say of this moment, "It's like I got two at-bats and hit two grand slams.", on his right side
Dok Hendrix and pointing to
Jake "The Snake" RobertsHis raw speech, which included the word "ass" and the unintentional
sacrilegious reference, sparked the gradual cultivation of his persona as a foul-mouthed,
sadistic and
antihero character. After defeating
Yokozuna on the
SummerSlam Free For All pre-show, Austin would speak about
Bret Hart, challenging him constantly and taunting him relentlessly throughout August and September before Hart finally returned on
Raw after a six-month hiatus on October 21 to challenge Austin to a match at
Survivor Series, which he accepted. This would mark the start of the long Austin-Hart rivalry. It would lead to the infamous "
Pillman's got a gun" segment on
Raw wherein Austin broke into Pillman's home while he was nursing his injury. Pillman had been anticipating him and was armed with a pistol. Just as Austin broke in, Pillman aimed his gun at him before the episode cut to commercial break. The segment was highly controversial for its perceived violence and rare use of profanity in WWF programming, although Pillman and Vince McMahon both publicly apologised after. At Survivor Series, Austin met Hart as expected in a match to determine the number-one contender for the
WWF Championship, in what would be Austin's first major PPV match in his WWF career. Hart defeated Austin by using a turnbuckle to push himself backward while locked in the Million Dollar Dream, in a match that lasted almost half an hour. Despite the loss and his status as a heel character, Austin received significant cheers from the crowd. This led to the first-ever PPV main event of Austin's WWF career at
In Your House 13: Final Four, where he competed in a
four corners elimination match against Hart,
The Undertaker, and
Vader for the vacant
WWF Championship. Austin was eliminated early from the match after injuring his knee; Hart would win the match and the championship. Hart lost the championship the next night on
Raw to
Sycho Sid due to Austin's interference, continuing their feud. At
WrestleMania 13, Hart defeated Austin in a highly acclaimed
submission match with
Ken Shamrock as a special referee. During the match, Austin had been cut, and was bleeding profusely from his face, but he refused to tap out when Hart locked in his Sharpshooter, and finally passed out from excessive blood loss, losing the match. After the match, Hart continued to hold the Sharpshooter on Austin, who, despite his wounds, refused any assistance back to the locker room, thus turning Hart
heel and Austin
babyface in a rare
double-turn. Austin portrayed an anti-hero instead of a traditional babyface, and he didn't embrace the fans at first either. Austin's public popularity surged following the Wrestlemania clash, and Austin 3:16 merchandise t-shirts were reported in May 1997 to have become the best-selling WWF t-shirts since
Hulkamania. Austin eventually got his revenge on Hart in the main event of
In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, defeating him in a match to determine the next contender to The Undertaker's WWF Championship. Austin won when Hart was disqualified due to assistance from
The British Bulldog. At
In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell, Austin had The Undertaker down with the Stone Cold Stunner but was distracted by Pillman, allowing The Undertaker to recover and perform a
Tombstone Piledriver for the victory. On
Raw, Austin partnered with the returning Shawn Michaels, as they both had a mutual enemy in the Harts. They defeated
Owen Hart and The British Bulldog for the
WWF Tag Team Championship. Despite being champions, the two constantly argued and ultimately faced each other in a match at
King of the Ring, which ended in a double disqualification after both men attacked the referee. Michaels was later forced to vacate his championship due to an injury. Hart and Bulldog won a tournament to face Austin and a partner of his choice, but he refused to pick a partner and decided to face the duo by himself. Late in the match, a debuting
Dude Love came out to offer assistance. Austin accepted and the duo won the match and the titles, making Austin a two-time tag team champion. Austin continued his feud with the Hart family, becoming embroiled in a heated rivalry particularly with Owen, who pinned a distracted Austin and secured victory for
The Hart Foundation in the ten-man Tag Team match main event of
In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede, where Austin was partnered with Ken Shamrock,
Goldust, and
The Legion of Doom. At
SummerSlam 1997, Austin and Owen faced each other with the
Intercontinental Championship on the line, with Owen adding a stipulation that Austin would have to kiss his buttocks if he lost. Due to the severity of his neck injury, Austin was forced to relinquish both championships. On September 22, on the first-ever
Raw to be broadcast from
Madison Square Garden, McMahon told Austin he wasn't physically cleared to compete, and after several weeks of build-up, Austin delivered his Stone Cold Stunner to McMahon, causing the fans in attendance to go ballistic. Austin was then arrested as part of the storyline, and was sidelined until
Survivor Series. However, in the interim, he made several appearances, one being at
Badd Blood where he was involved in the finish of a match between Owen and
Faarooq for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. Austin hit Faarooq with the Intercontinental Championship belt while the referee's back was turned, causing Hart to win the match and the title. With Owen Hart out of the way, Austin set his sights on
The Rock, who stole Austin's championship belt after Austin suffered a beating by his
Nation of Domination stablemates.
Feud with Vince McMahon (1998–1999) After Bret Hart's
controversial departure for WCW, Austin and Michaels were the top stars in the company. Austin won the
1998 Royal Rumble, lastly eliminating The Rock. The next night on
Raw, Austin interrupted Vince McMahon in his presentation of
Mike Tyson, who was making a special appearance, over the objection of McMahon referring to Tyson as "the baddest man on the planet". Austin insulted Tyson by
flipping him off, which led to Tyson shoving Austin much to McMahon's embarrassment, who began publicly to disapprove of the prospect of Austin as his champion. Tyson was later announced as "the special enforcer" for the main event at
WrestleMania XIV, and aligned himself with Michaels's stable
D-Generation X (DX). This led to Austin's WWF Championship match against Michaels at WrestleMania XIV, which he won with help from Tyson, who turned on DX by making the deciding three-count against Michaels and later hit him with his knock-out punch. This was Michaels's last match until 2002 as he had suffered two legitimate herniated discs and another completely crushed at the hands of The Undertaker in a casket match at the
Royal Rumble. who had decided to vacate the WWF Championship With this victory, Austin qualified for the
1999 Royal Rumble. Austin's next appearance after this would be the January 4, 1999, edition of
Raw, where he would come out to help Mankind defeat The Rock to become the WWF Champion by striking The Rock in the face with a steel chair and draping Mankind's body over him. . Austin's next chance to exact revenge on McMahon came during the Royal Rumble match. On
Raw, McMahon drew Austin's entry number with the intention of screwing him over. Austin drew entry number one, while McMahon drew number two thanks to Commissioner Shawn Michaels. During the Royal Rumble match, Austin followed McMahon out of the ring and into the backstage area, only to be ambushed by members of
The Corporation, and an injured Austin was taken to the hospital. Austin, however, returned in an ambulance and re-entered the match, delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to
Big Boss Man and eliminating him. With the match down to Austin and McMahon, The Rock came down to the ring to distract Austin, who was eliminated by McMahon, thus McMahon winning the Royal Rumble. Austin defeated The Rock at WrestleMania XV to win his third WWF Championship.
Championship reigns and The Alliance (1999–2001) Austin held on to the WWF Championship until
SummerSlam on August 22 when he lost it to Mankind in a triple threat match also featuring
Triple H. and was advised to undergo surgery. Austin would later describe this as "the worst storyline I was ever involved in". Austin made a one-off appearance at
Backlash on April 30, 2000, attacking Triple H and Vince McMahon to help The Rock reclaim the WWF Championship. After Austin's official return at
Unforgiven on September 24, Commissioner Mick Foley led an investigation to find out who ran Austin over, with the culprit revealed to be
Rikishi. last eliminating Kane. His rivalry against Triple H ended at
No Way Out on February 25 in a Three Stages of Hell match, with Triple H defeating Austin two falls to one. With The Rock defeating Angle for the WWF Championship at No Way Out, Austin was again set to face him at
WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1. In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, animosity grew between Austin and The Rock, stemming from Austin's wife,
Debra, being assigned to be The Rock's manager by McMahon. The match at WrestleMania was made a no disqualification match. During the match, McMahon came to the ring, preventing The Rock from pinning Austin on two separate occasions and giving Austin a steel chair. Austin then hit The Rock several times with the chair before pinning him to win the WWF Championship for the fifth time. During a steel cage match with The Rock in a rematch for the WWF Championship the following night on
Raw is War, Triple H came down to the ring with a sledgehammer. After teasing siding with The Rock, Triple H instead aligned himself with Austin and McMahon, attacking The Rock and put him out of action. Austin further cemented his heel turn the following Thursday on
SmackDown!, when, during an interview with
Jim Ross about his actions at WrestleMania, he thought Ross was denouncing their friendship and then assaulted Ross. Austin and Triple H became a team known as
The Two-Man Power Trip. with Jim Ross saying the quartet created "magic", while wrestling journalist
Dave Meltzer awarded the match
four-and-a-three-quarter stars out of a possible five in his
Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Austin officially broke up The Power Trip on that week's
SmackDown!, criticizing Triple H for his injury and for hitting him with the sledgehammer. He continued to align himself with McMahon and began feuding with Jericho and Benoit by himself, leading to a triple-threat match at
King of the Ring on June 24; despite interference from the debuting
Booker T, Austin retained the championship. " the crowd pose Meanwhile,
the purchase of WCW by Vince McMahon began to bear fruit as
The Invasion began. Invading WCW wrestlers formed an
alliance with a group of ECW wrestlers, with the group led by Shane and Stephanie McMahon. Vince called Austin out and demanded that he bring "the old Stone Cold" back so he could effectively captain a team of WWF wrestlers in a ten-man tag team match at
Invasion on July 22. Austin initially refused, but on the following episode of
Raw is War, he returned to his old ways and hit Stunners on every member of the Alliance, turning face once again. At Invasion, Austin captained the WWF team consisting of himself, Angle, Jericho, and
The Undertaker and Kane against the team of WCW's Booker T and
Diamond Dallas Page and ECW's
Rhyno and
The Dudley Boyz. Austin turned heel once again by hitting a Stunner on Angle and helping Team WCW/ECW win the match. Austin subsequently joined the Alliance as their leader. The following night on
Raw, Vince McMahon decided he was going to strip Austin of the championship and award it to Angle, before
Ric Flair returned and announced he was now co-owner of the WWF. Austin returned moments after this announcement and attacked Angle and McMahon for their actions. He was then handed his championship belt by Flair and celebrated with him in the ring, turning him face once again. At
Vengeance on December 9, a tournament was held to unify the WWF Championship and the
WCW World Heavyweight Championship, held by The Rock; also involving Angle and Jericho. Austin would defeat Angle, before losing the
unification match to Jericho following interference by McMahon and Booker T.
Final feuds and retirement (2002–2003) At the
Royal Rumble on January 20, 2002, Austin entered at number nineteen and lasted until the final four, but was eliminated by Kurt Angle. On the January 28 episode of
Raw, he defeated Angle to earn a shot at Chris Jericho's Undisputed WWF Championship at
No Way Out on February 17. In the build-up to No Way Out, McMahon had signed the
New World Order (nWo), who immediately began a feud with Austin. The nWo would make their debut at No Way Out. At No Way Out, Austin refused a beer gift from the nWo, and they cost him his match against Jericho later that night. Problems were beginning to surface backstage, however, as Austin was unhappy regarding
Hulk Hogan's return to the WWF. He was reported as refusing to lose to Hogan in a proposed match between the two at
WrestleMania X8 on March 17, while Hogan reportedly told McMahon the same regarding losing to Austin. In recent years, Austin claimed he didn't want the match as he didn't want to wrestle at a slower pace, and that he "didn't think we could deliver". Consequently, Austin would face and defeat
Scott Hall at WrestleMania. Austin returned on the April 1 episode of
Raw, the first of the new "
brand extension" era. The show was centered around which show he would sign with, and he ultimately chose Raw. Austin entered a feud with The Undertaker that resulted in a number-one contender's match for the Undisputed WWF Championship at
Backlash on April 21, which Austin lost despite having his foot on the rope when he was pinned. He would later be betrayed by Big Show after being put in a tag team match with him by Ric Flair, and was subsequently betrayed by Flair himself in the following weeks. Austin then defeated Big Show and Flair in a handicap match at
Judgment Day on May 19. In a May interview on WWE's internet program,
Byte This!, Austin stunned the company and fans by launching a verbal attack on the direction the company was heading in and slated the creative team for not using him the way he felt they previously did. The WWE rehired
Eddie Guerrero for Austin to feud with, while also prepping Austin for a feud with
Brock Lesnar. However, Austin balked at the proposition that he lose a King of the Ring qualifying match on
Raw to Lesnar, and ultimately walked out of the company. Austin later explained that he thought hot-shotting a rookie made Austin look weak, and airing the match on free television with no build-up did not give Lesnar a proper stage for such a big win over a star of Austin's magnitude. Further fanning the flames among Austin's growing number of detractors was a well-publicized domestic dispute incident between Austin and his wife Debra (
see below). After Austin again
no-showed the June 10 episode of
Raw, his storylines were immediately dropped. Austin had walked out of the company again, publicly stating he felt underwhelming storylines were presented to him by the creative team. McMahon, along with longtime Austin supporter and real-life friend Jim Ross,
buried Austin on WWE programming, referring to him as "taking his ball and going home" because he was not getting his way, whilst also explaining to the fans that neither he nor Ross was able to persuade Austin to change his mind. McMahon insisted that Austin owed an apology to all the fans across the world, especially those who paid solely to see him that night. McMahon toasted to Austin's career with a beer thanking him for all his hard work nonetheless. The same night, Austin's entrance theme was played during an in-ring segment by Flair, but it transitioned to Guerrero's theme and he entered the arena. The Rock also made an appearance on
Raw that night, despite being drafted to
SmackDown!, and announced his frustrations towards Austin and threw a can of beer at McMahon. For the remainder of 2002, Austin kept a low profile and did not make any public appearances. It was reported, however, by the end of the year, that Austin and McMahon met and resolved their differences. He then agreed to return to the company in early 2003. In an interview with
WWE Raw Magazine, he announced deep regret over the situation that led to his departure and the manner in which he had left, and deeper regret over inaccurate speculation regarding his alleged grudges held against other WWE wrestlers, claiming he had no problem with Hall rejoining the company. However, he admitted he still held strong reservations about his singles match with Hall at WrestleMania only lasting seven minutes and felt the build-up to the match did not live up to the expectations of his fans or Hall's, and was angered by speculation suggesting he disagreed with
Kevin Nash re-joining the company, insisting he and Nash have always been good friends. He did, however, maintain his displeasure with the storylines and creative changes the WWE had imposed around the time of his departure. In an interview with Vince McMahon on his podcast in 2014, Austin publicly revealed for the first time that McMahon had fined him $650,000 upon his return, but he was able to lower the amount to $250,000. Austin confessed he had a major rift with Triple H's role in the company upon his return in 2002 but insisted as of 2003, they resolved their issues. Also, he claimed a brief dispute with The Rock was resolved quickly upon his return, and that none of his disputes with the talent roster continued or played the major part in his departure. In February, Austin returned at
No Way Out on February 23 by defeating
Eric Bischoff. Austin would wrestle only one match between then and WrestleMania, in another short match against Bischoff on
Raw. He entered a feud with The Rock, who returned around the same time as a smug, Hollywood sell-out heel. The Rock was offended that the WWE fans voted for Austin in a WWE Magazine poll to determine the 'Superstar of the Decade'. He expressed his frustration at having never defeated Austin at WrestleMania, and challenged Austin to a match at
WrestleMania XIX on March 30. Austin was then defeated by The Rock at WrestleMania XIX, in what would be Austin's final match for 19 years.
On-screen authority figure (2003–2004) The following month,
Linda McMahon brought Austin back to be the co-general manager of the Raw brand, a role he played for the remainder of the year, often getting into physical altercations with talent and personnel. Austin and Bischoff continued to feud over control of the brand. On the July 21 episode of
Raw, McMahon informed Austin he could not get physical with anyone unless provoked. At
Survivor Series on November 16, Austin's hand-picked team of Booker T,
Bubba Ray Dudley,
D-Von Dudley, Rob Van Dam and Shawn Michaels faced Bischoff's team of Chris Jericho,
Christian,
Mark Henry,
Randy Orton and
Scott Steiner in a
5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match. Austin's team lost after
Batista interfered on behalf of Bischoff. After the match
Jonathan Coachman came out to gloat and got beat up by Austin. As a result, Austin was "fired" from his position as co-general manager. Mick Foley took over Austin's former role and began petitioning to have Austin re-instated. Austin returned before the end of 2003, appearing at
Tribute to the Troops. He posed as
Santa Claus before delivering a
"Stone Cold Stunner" to both
Vince McMahon and
John Cena. Austin returned to
Raw on December 29 as its "Sheriff", giving a
Stone Cold Stunner to Bischoff and rehiring Michaels, who had just been "fired" by Bischoff. Austin appeared on-and-off as 2004 began, culminating in him being the special guest referee for the Brock Lesnar vs.
Goldberg match at
WrestleMania XX on March 14. Following the match, Austin attacked both Lesnar and Goldberg with
Stone Cold Stunners.
Part-time appearances (2005–2020) On April 3, 2005, Austin made his first appearance on WWE programming in a year at
WrestleMania 21 when he appeared with
Roddy Piper on ''
Piper's Pit. They were interrupted by Carlito, who received a Stone Cold Stunner
. The segment ended with Austin and Piper celebrating with beer until Austin gave Piper a Stone Cold Stunner
. Austin was involved in the concluding segment at ECW One Night Stand on June 12 in which he had a beer bash with the ECW locker room and brawled with the anti-ECW invaders, led by Bischoff. He returned at Raw Homecoming
on October 3, delivering Stone Cold Stunners
to Vince, Shane, Stephanie, and Linda McMahon. An angle including Jim Ross being fired led to a match in which Austin agreed to face Jonathan Coachman at Taboo Tuesday on November 1, with the stipulation of Ross regaining his announcing job had Austin won and Austin losing his job had he lost. Austin hurt his back before the match and could not wrestle unless he was heavily medicated, so the match was canceled. To explain away his failure to appear at Taboo Tuesday, Vince McMahon said on Raw'' that Austin had been involved in an accident, thus preventing him from competing. Batista substituted for Austin, defeating Coachman along with
Vader and
Goldust. He returned to WWE to face
John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) in a beer-drinking contest at March 18, 2006, episode of ''
Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII. Austin inducted Bret Hart into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 1, 2006. He then appeared in a video on the June 11 episode of Raw'' as part of "Mr. McMahon's Appreciation Night", where he shared his thoughts on his past feuds with McMahon. Austin appeared on the August 18 episode of ''Saturday Night's Main Event
, as a possible illegitimate child of McMahon. He hit McMahon and Coachman with Stone Cold Stunners
before leaving. He appeared at SummerSlam on August 26 to aid Matt Hardy in battling MVP in a beer-drinking contest. The match ended in a no-contest after Austin handed a beer to MVP and gave him the Stone Cold Stunner
. Austin made another appearance at Cyber Sunday on October 28, where he guest refereed a World Heavyweight Championship match between Batista and The Undertaker. On the November 5 episode of Raw
, Austin made an appearance to confront Santino Marella for criticizing The Condemned
. The argument ended as Marella received a Stone Cold Stunner
from Austin, who then walked backstage only to return with a Budweiser beer truck to hose down Marella and his valet Maria with beer. On January 12, 2009, on Raw
, Austin was announced to be the first member of the Hall of Fame class of 2009. He was inducted by his long-term on-screen rival Vince McMahon, who referred to Austin as "the greatest WWE Superstar of all time". During the induction, Austin said he was officially closing the door on his wrestling career and starting a new chapter in his life. He would appear at WrestleMania 25 the next night, driving an ATV to the ring. Austin appeared as the guest host of Raw'' on March 15, 2010, moderating a contract signing between McMahon and
Bret Hart for their match at
WrestleMania XXVI on March 28. In early 2011, Austin was announced as the head trainer and host for the revival of
Tough Enough. On the March 7 episode of
Raw, Austin interrupted the contract signing of the special guest referee for the
Michael Cole and
Jerry Lawler match at
WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, originally scheduled to be JBL; Austin attacked JBL with a
Stone Cold Stunner and signed the contract instead. Although Lawler won by submission, the
Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision and disqualified Lawler, claiming that Austin had "overstepped his authority". Austin appeared on
Raw the following night with the cast from
Tough Enough, while also getting into an altercation with
The Miz and
Alex Riley. On the June 6 episode of
Raw, Austin appeared to declare
Andy Leavine as the winner of
Tough Enough. He also served as the special guest referee in the evening's tag team main event of
John Cena and Alex Riley against The Miz and
R-Truth, hitting The Miz with a
Stone Cold Stunner and aiding Cena. However, the Anonymous Raw General Manager awarding the match to The Miz and R-Truth via disqualification. Austin did not take kindly to his decision being overturned and gave Cole a
Stone Cold Stunner, which was followed with an
Attitude Adjustment by Cena. Austin and Cena closed the show with a beer bash. Austin later appeared as the special guest General Manager on the "
WWE All-Stars" episode of
Raw, during which he destroyed the Anonymous Raw General Manager's laptop by running over it with his ATV. In July 2012, Austin was announced as the cover star of the special edition of the video game
WWE '13. He then began a brief, verbal feud on
Raw with fellow cover star
CM Punk in the months leading to release. (left) and
The Rock at
WrestleMania XXX Austin appeared at
WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014, with Hulk Hogan and The Rock in the opening segment. Austin made an appearance on the October 19, 2015, episode of
Raw, introducing The Undertaker and promoting the
WrestleMania 32 event. Austin again appeared on
Raw the following week, where he promoted the
WWE 2K16 video game in a backstage segment. At
WrestleMania 32 on April 3, 2016, Austin (alongside
Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels) confronted
The League of Nations, with Austin delivering
Stone Cold Stunners to
Rusev and
King Barrett. While Austin was celebrating with Michaels and Foley,
The New Day tried to convince Austin to dance with them in celebration. While Austin reluctantly danced along at first, he soon hit
Xavier Woods with a
Stone Cold Stunner. During
Raws 25th anniversary episode on January 22, 2018, Austin appeared and performed a
Stone Cold Stunner on Shane and Vince McMahon. On July 22, 2019, Austin appeared on the
Raw Reunion episode and raised a toast alongside
Triple H,
Hulk Hogan,
Ric Flair, and various other wrestlers from his era. On September 9, he made an appearance on
Raw at
Madison Square Garden for the contract signing between
Seth Rollins and
Braun Strowman. Having been interrupted by
AJ Styles, he hit Styles with a
Stone Cold Stunner. On the March 16, 2020, episode of
Raw, Austin made an appearance to promote "3:16 Day" as a holiday. He shared a beer with commentator
Byron Saxton before giving him a
Stone Cold Stunner. He then shared a beer with
Becky Lynch and
The Street Profits (
Angelo Dawkins, and
Montez Ford) before giving The Street Profits
Stone Cold Stunners.
One-off return to competition and sporadic appearances (2022–present) On March 7, 2022,
Kevin Owens invited Austin as a special guest on the KO Show at
WrestleMania 38 following several promos where Owens disrespected Austin's native Texas, where WrestleMania 38 was scheduled to take place. The next day, Austin accepted the invite. At the end of WrestleMania 38 - Night 1, Owens revealed that the invite to talk on the KO show was a ruse and that he actually wanted to fight Austin. He challenged Austin to a
No Holds Barred match, which Austin accepted, marking his first wrestling match in WWE in over 19 years. He would go on to win after hitting Owens with a
Stone Cold Stunner. After the match, Austin gave another
Stone Cold Stunner to Owens and one to Byron Saxton before celebrating with his brother, Kevin. The match received positive reviews from critics, with Kevin Pantoja of 411Mania and John Canton of TJR Wrestling giving the match a rating of 3.5/5 and 3/5 stars, respectively. Both noted the high entertainment value of Austin's return, aside from the rating of the match itself. On Night 2 of WrestleMania 38, after McMahon defeated
Pat McAfee in an impromptu match, Austin made another appearance, giving
Austin Theory a
Stone Cold Stunner. He then began drinking beer with McMahon before hitting him with one more iconic
Stone Cold Stunner, paying homage to how the majority of on-screen interactions between the two have ended for almost 25 years. On April 20, 2025, at Night 2 of
WrestleMania 41, Austin made his first appearance in three years, and crashed his ATV into the barricade. ==Legacy==