One of Memphis’s bookers at the time was grizzled veteran Dutch Mantel. When Austin showed up to work, Mantel told him he could not continue to wrestle under his real name of Steve Williams because there was already a wrestler by that name. Of course Mantel was referring to “Dr. Death” Steve Williams of Mid-South wrestling and Japan fame. He christened him Steve Austin, which actually wasn’t a play on the “Six Million Dollar Man” character, but came about because his name was Steve and he was billed as being from Austin.
Later on a long car ride, Dr. Tom Pritchard added “Stunning” to the Steve Austin name. The name had a ring to it and it was not long before Steve got a call from Magnum TA asking him to come down to the WCW offices in Atlanta. From there he signed his first contract for $75,000 a year. The following year that contract would be doubled.
Steve began working with his real life wife, Jeannie, as his manager. She was known to fans as Lady Blossom. Within his first month of competing in WCW he had won the Television title from Bobby Eaton. On working with Eaton, Austin said “I had a ton of respect for Bobby. He had always been a super-nice guy to me; one of the nicest guys in the business. And here I was taking the damn belt off of him the first time we met. He could have treated me like garbage, but he didn’t. I’ve always respected him for that.” Austin soon left Jeannie at home and joined Paul E. Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance. He would feud with Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, and a host of others over the Television title. He held the title for ten months before finally dropping it to Steamboat.
Steve had been promised Harley Race as a manager following Dangerously’s departure. This was a good sign as the last two men Race had managed, Lex Luger and Vader, had both gone on to win the World championship. So Steve was shocked when upon arrival at an arena one day, he was approached by Brian Pillman who wanted to know if he had any ideas for their tag team together. WCW was known for switching gears without rhyme or reason and this was another prime example. However, they were not counting on just how big this team would become. They had simply thrown two guys together because they had nothing else for them. The name of the team, the Hollywood Blondes, was thought up by Raven, who was wrestling in WCW as Scotty Flamingo. The team had matching outfits and worked very cohesively. They engaged in memorable feuds with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, as well as the team of Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas. They also had a short run as Tag Team champions. The problem was they started to get over with the fans. Attitudes were already changing and fans found these cocky, cool bad guys to be entertaining and cheered for them. So, WCW broke the team up and gave Steve Colonel Robert Parker as a manager. He had two runs with the United States title that were largely unmemorable. He never recaptured the magic that he had with Pillman.
During his time in WCW Steve made many close friends. Some he has tragically lost and others that he has kept to this day. Brian Pillman was chief among them. Austin has said of Pillman and the gold chain that was given to him as a gift: “That’s why it is so important to me to wear the gold chain that Brian gave me. If I’m wearing it, then Brian is right there with me. I sure miss that raspy-voiced hell-raiser. He was a great friend.” Austin was also close to Rick Rude. “Ravishing Rick Rude was a guy that- well, we just hit it off. I don’t know why we did, but it was after we got put together in the Dangerous Alliance. He was into fishing, being he was from Minnesota, but Paul Orndorff and I got him into shooting and hunting. I liked being with him because he always told you straight up what he was thinking, 24/7.” Austin was also close with Mick Foley and Kevin Nash, who would later help open the door to WWE. Austin also enjoyed the company of Raven, who he felt WWE “missed the boat on”.
Austin suffered a knee injury in late 1994 and was sidelined for a few months. After he got back he was sent on a tour of Japan. On the third night of the three week tour, he tore his right triceps. He worked through the injury and saw a doctor when he returned to the states. While convalescing from the injury, he was fired over the phone by WCW executive president Eric Bischoff.
Steve went on to cut scathing promos on WCW, Bischoff, and Hulk Hogan while in ECW. These promos, and good words from Nash and Jim Ross, helped open the door to WWE. Austin was signed in late 1995 and debuted as the Ringmaster. Of course, we all know Austin eventually took his black boots and black tights and made a name for himself as Stone Cold Steve Austin. But, if it were not for the up and down times in WCW and the humiliation given from Eric Bischoff, the Austin attitude era may never have happened. “Stunning” Steve Austin was a good worker who had great matches with a lot of solid stars, but more than anything else, the “Stunning One” served as a catalyst for wrestling’s third great boom period.
(Quotes courtesy of “The Stone Cold Truth” By Steve Austin and Jim Ross as told to Dennis Brent, available from Pocket Books)
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