STEVE AUSTIN

STeve Austin (born Steven James Anderson; December 18, 1964, later and formerly Steven Williams),^[1]ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin,^[2] is an American film and television actor and retired professional wrestler. Austin wrestled for several well-known wrestling promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and most famously, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which later became World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. Cited by WWE.com and owner Vince McMahon as the most popular wrestler in the company's history,^[3][4] Austin gained significant mainstream popularity in the WWF during the mid-to-late 1990s as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a disrespectful, beer-drinking antihero who routinely defied McMahon, his boss.^[5] This defiance was often shown by Austin flipping McMahon off and incapacitating him with the Stone Cold Stunner, his finishing move.^[6]WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. better known by his McMahon inducted Austin into the
Austin held nineteen championships throughout his professional wrestling career, and is recognized by WWE as a six-time world champion, having held the WWF Championship on six occasions, and the fifth Triple Crown Champion. He was also the winner of the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, as well as the 1997, 1998 and 2001 Royal Rumbles. He was forced to retire from in ring competition in early 2003 due to a series of knee and neck injuries sustained throughout his career. Throughout the rest of 2003 and 2004, he was featured as the Co-General Manager and "Sheriff" of Raw. Since 2005, he has continued to make part-time appearances, but was removed from the Raw roster in 2009 following his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. In his most recent appearance, he served as guest host of the March 15, 2010 edition of Raw.