Steven James Williams

Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson on December 18, 1964, later Steven James Williams), better known by the ring name Stone Cold Steve Austin, is an American retired professional wrestler, actor, and show host. He is considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and argued to be the greatest wrestling act ever.Austin began his professional wrestling career in 1989, performing for a host of independent promotions before signing with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1991. He subsequently enjoyed a successful mid-card career as Stunning Steve Austin, and won several titles, being crowned the United States Heavyweight champion and the World Television champion. He left in 1995 to complete a brief stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and would later sign with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE).In WWF, he was rebranded as Stone Cold Steve Austin, and gained significant mainstream popularity as an outspoken, brazen, vulgar, beer-drinking antihero who routinely defied the establishment and his boss, company chairman Vince McMahon. This persona of Austins became the poster boy of the Attitude Era, a boom period in WWF business in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Austin was forced into retirement in 2003, due to a series of persistent injuries. He maintained a position in WWE as a non-wrestling authority figure until 2005, and has since made sporadic appearances. Austin was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.He headlined several major WWE pay-per-view events, closing the companys flagship annual event, WrestleMania, three times. Overall, he is a six-time world champion, a two-time Intercontinental champion, a two-time U.S. champion, a seven-time tag-team champion, and a two-time Television champion. Austins championship victories made him a Triple Crown Champion. Additionally, he has won the Royal Rumble match three times, a WWE record, and was victorious in the 1996 King of the Ring tournament. Austin is also infamous for introducing the long-standing What? chant into professional wrestling.Outside of wrestling, Austin has attained success as an actor and show host. He has had leading film roles in The Longest Yard (2005), The Expendables (2010), and Grown Ups 2 (2013). He has also hosted several reality television shows, namely Redneck Island and Steve Austins Broken Skull Challenge, and The Steve Austin Show wrestling podcast.

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