Stone Cold Steve Austin is perhaps the most organic babyface superstar to come out of the WWE brand. It was during his heyday when WWE reached the top of the mountain in terms of story-telling. The Attitude Era served this superstar hailing from Texas as the franchise figure of the brand. This gave birth to the infamous Attitude Era in the company.
WWE fans do believe that it was the best time that the company had ever produced in their entire history. Stone Cold– Mr McMahon feud is the best one delivered on WWE programming over the years. This was the most significant part of the Attitude Era. It not only created a smooth rise to fame but also established Stone Cold Steve Austin as the carrier of the show for years to come.
Monday Night Raw became synonymous with the Texas Rattlesnake from then onwards. Mr McMahon might have acted as the biggest opponent that he ever had. But he relied a lot on Austin 316 while executing successful programming. So The Boss used to pay him with the biggest paychecks that increased Stone Cold net worth to a big extent.
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Popularity among the mass made Stone Cold Steve Austin as one of the cornerstones of the entire pro-wrestling industry. Being the biggest draw, he used to produce a lot of money as the face of the company. His name on any of the event match card could pull up the ratings and add a huge amount of money to WWE’s account. This increased not only Stone Cold net worth but also the overall net worth of the company, itself.
He was the highest-paid wrestlers around the roster from 1997 to 2003. WWE paid him way more than the contemporaries like Triple H, Bret Hart, The Rock and more. Main event spotlight used to be always on him throughout his career. Even after his career came to a quick end, WWE brought him onboard as an authority figure for a long time. This came as a meteoric rise in Stone Cold net worth and salary. This also proved how much they needed him in the programming.
Stone Cold Net Worth
No wonder why Stone Cold net worth reaches up to $45 million combining all his properties. He belongs to the elite list of superstars who is not only highest paid wrestlers but also money barons in the entire United States of America. Following his retirement, Stone Cold net worth is continuing courtesy of the movie stint and the extremely popular podcast host. We want to take you through the initial stage of his career before getting into the break-down of Stone Cold net worth.
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Steven James Anderson born on December 18 in 1964. He went on to pursue wrestling from an early stage of his career. World Championship Wrestling (WCW) signed him under their banner. He continued to stay under the banner for the four years (1991-1995) before jumping ship to the Extreme Championship Wrestling. Back then he used to portray the character of Stunning Steve Austin.
World Wrestling Federation soon recognized his talents and took him under the wings. He started to play a badass character that became hugely popular among the audience. This was the beginning phase of getting popular in the mainstream course and Stone Cold net worth started taking a toll in the wrestling world. Playing a character of a brazen, vulgar, beer-drinking antihero was never an easy task. But the audacity to defy his boss, WWE Chairman became so much interesting to see.
So this continued for months after months turning him into the natural babyface character. Mr McMahon, on the other hand, started to portray the character of the most obnoxious villainous character of all-time. These two brought out the absolute best from each other on a weekly basis which made the Attitude Era the most-watched timespan of WWE programming.
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Simultaneously, Stone Cold continued feuding with the names like The Undertaker, Triple H, The Rock, Big Show and more. Going against these huge names handed him the main event matches on a regular basis. Plus, more championships started to get in into his accolades. Austin 316 captured 19 championships during his entire wrestling career. This includes all the titles in WCW, ECW, and WWF/WWE.
He is a six-time WWF Champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion, and a four-time WWF Tag Team Champion. These three separate title wins made him the fifth Triple Crown Champion in the history of the company. His WCW achievements are no less in comparison to the big league. He became a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, a two-time WCW World Television Champion, a one-time WCW World Tag Team Champion.
Additionally, he also captured the NWA World Heavyweight Champion during WCW stint. Apart from the championship wins, he went to win the King of the Ring tournament back in 1996. It was on this occasion when delivered the infamous Austin 316 speech that was a true reflection of his on-screen character. Later, Stone Cold made a record by winning three Royal Rumble matches. All these proved as a major cornerstone in increasing Stone Cold net worth.
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No other WWE superstar has done this after him in the WWE history. No need to say explicitly that multiple Wrestlemania main events belonged to him after this. The show’s 14, 15 and 17th edition witnessed him closing the show with marquee matches. The fun fact is that Ted Dibiase crowned him with the unsanctioned Million Dollar Championship, too.
These much accolades in the 90s were unthinkable for a single superstar. But the prime babyface of the WWE has done this effectively. No wonder why he surpassed the fame possessed by Hulk Hogan, quite effectively. He over-delivered to the expectations from the officials after Hulk Hogan departed the brand at one point. Being the new franchise player of the business boosted his earnings and affected Stone Cold net worth.
Stone Cold Steve Austin Has Achieved A Plethora Of Recognition For His Performance
Veteran professional wrestling journalist Wade Keller remarked that Stone Cold is “in every conversation for the greatest wrestling act of all time”. He also mentioned him as “the most profitable and the most influential” figures in sports entertainment. Well, we could not agree more with him. He is not only an influential figure to the wrestlers but also in acting, hosting shows and podcasts.
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We mentioned previously how Austin used to be the highest-paid wrestlers of his generation which gave him way more than $1 million, per year. But his merchandise selling was doing too much well. In fact, he was the one to establish the fact that franchise players should sell out the most merchandises throughout the year in comparison to the other names. Austin’s t-shirts’ selling made half of the WWE’s 500 Million US Dollars of total merchandise sales for the year, in 1999. Each of those shirts priced 20 dollars even two decades ago.
It’s worth to note that the character appeal of Stone Cold Steve Austin is still very much relevant to the young guys. Stone Cold net worth has not stopped rising even after his retirement from professional wrestling. His t-shirts are still on the top listings on WWE Shop beating the current top superstars when it comes to merch sales. So it’s evident that royalty paychecks still adds a huge amount to Stone Cold net worth even at this time.
Unfortunately, a neck injury pulled a sudden end to the legendary career of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Or else he could still force the youngsters a run for their money. Nevertheless, the abrupt halt of wrestling stint dragged him into the Hollywood industry. He was able to leave a good mark of acting in the projects he worked in. The Longest Yard, Expendables, Grown Ups 2 and The Condemned are amongst those names.
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Stone Cold is no stranger to TV shows, as well. WWE used him as the WWE’s Tough Enough season five host in 2010 on the USA Network. This became the most popular of the reality series that brought out several wrestling talents. He played the role of himself on shows like Dilbert and the Bernie Mac Show. Austin and Country Music Television started the ‘Broken Skull Challenge’ show. The contestants of this show had to go through several challenges to earn money. His famous face in the broadcasting industry has helped in the rise of Stone Cold net worth.
All of these stints in the silver screen added huge amounts to Stone Cold net worth. It’s also worth to note that he has some of his own business brands. He possesses his own brand of knives named ‘Cold Steel Knife’ and a line of beer namely ‘Broken Skull IPA’. A lot of merchandise representing himself and the Broken Skull Ranch also falls under this business category.
Steve Austin Is Still Close To The Wrestling Industry
Lastly, Stone cold manages to keep himself up-to-date with the pro-wrestling industry with a podcast. Known as the Steve Austin Show, it forces to go the WWE or indie scene stars through some hard-hitting questions. The show is quite popular which is why WWE Network hosted this on TV format on multiple occasions in the past. This has also helped in raising Stone Cold net worth.
With that being said, we can say that there’re plenty of options available for the WWE Hall of Famer to keep the money flowing towards him. So Stone Cold net worth will continue to grow without a doubt. It can witness a significant rise if someday WWE calls him on TV for one more stint as an authority figure.
