I have a guilty pleasure that I’m not really guilty about having. I can stand up and say with pride:
I love professional wrestling.
I grew up watching guys like Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, the Four Horsemen, and Rowdy Roddy Piper on TBS. Who can forget Andre the Giant, Ultimate Warrior, the Fabulous Freebirds, and the Road Warriors? They were the superheroes I followed and idolized.
But they were not my favorite, not by a long shot. That place was – and still is – occupied by a man who wasn’t a great technical wrestler, but one who saved the then World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) from ruin in the 1990s by doing three things: kicking people’s asses, drinking beer, and swearing up a storm.
I’m talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin.
No other pro wrestler could enthrall an audience like Stone Cold. He admittedly was a redneck from Texas who didn’t give a damn about authority or how others viewed him. He lived by a couple of simple rules: DTA (don’t trust anybody) and the iconic Austin 3:16, which says “I just whipped your ass!”
He drove trucks into arenas and doused WWE owner Vince McMahon and cronies with beer baths. He piloted a Zamboni into one venue, slammed into the ring, jumped from the machine, and clotheslined McMahon to the mat. In one of the funniest segments, Stone Cold ambushed Booker T in a grocery store and proceeded to whoop him with frozen pizzas, flour, milk, and even Grey Poupon.
Since retiring in 2003 after a final match with The Rock at Wrestlemania XIX, there’s been no other wrestler like Stone Cold. Not The Rock. Not Triple H. Not Randy Orton. Not John Cena. Not CM Punk. There will never be another Stone Cold Steve Austin. Thank goodness.
And that’s why I still watch his matches and laugh at his mic skills. I still feel a pulse of adrenaline when he hits the Stone Cold Stunner. Steve Austin embodies what I believe most of us wish we could be: a free spirit who makes their own rules and flips the bird at authority. He is the blue-collar worker and middle-class homemaker who is tired of getting screwed by the 1%.
Yes, Stone Cold was a persona created to sell tickets and merchandise. But take a look at any out-of-the-ring interview with Steve Williams (his real name). He’s a redneck Texas boy who owns the huge Broken Skull Ranch, wears sleeveless shirts, and STILL impacts the wrestling world more than a decade after last lacing on his trademark black boots and knee braces.
I know pro wrestling is scripted. And there is no way that any human being could take the punishment World Wrestling Entertainment wrestlers “inflict” on each other every week. I mean, who can be hit in the face 43 times and still be standing? The superstars may be lousy actors, but they can pull a punch. And I challenge anyone to debate that the men and women of the WWE aren’t athletes. Can you lift a 250-pound person over your head and drop them to a slightly padded mat without breaking their back? Thought so…
But Stone Cold was never about perfecting intricate moves or being the beefiest stud in the ring. He stayed true to what made him probably the greatest professional wrestler ever: He stayed Stone Cold Steve Austin through it all and beyond.
It’s a lesson we can all absorb as we climb corporate ladders, buy more and more stuff we don’t need, and kill ourselves by working in jobs we hate. I watched an interview Stone Cold did in 2014 and realized that there was a man who truly loved what he did. No pretension or phoniness. He embraced a career that allowed him to be himself.
Most of us only wish for that, but wishes won’t make dreams come true. I’ve learned the hard way that work and dedication do – all while being true to yourself. It’s a journey I’m on and one worth taking. Just ask Stone Cold and he’ll tell you the same thing in no uncertain terms:
“That’s the bottom line, cause Stone Cold said so!”
Dave in the Life 