Friday, March 16, 2012

3/16 - Stone Cold Steve Austin Day!

Since today is March 16th and March is the 3rd month, that would make today's date 3/16. So I would like to officially declare it "Stone Cold Steve Austin Day" and I think it should be an annual tradition! 

Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson, later Steven James Williams; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, 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). Described by WWE (formerly the WWF) chairman Vince McMahon as the most popular and profitable wrestler in the company's history, he 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. This defiance was often shown by Austin flipping off McMahon and incapacitating him with the Stone Cold Stunner, his finishing move. McMahon inducted Austin into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

Austin held nineteen championships throughout his professional wrestling career, and is a six-time WWF Champion as well as 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 occasional appearances. In 2011, Steve Austin returned to WWE to host the reality series Tough Enough. His nicknames include "The Texas Rattlesnake," and "The Toughest S.O.B. on the planet."

Austin's genuine rise to super-stardom began at the 1996 King of the Ring. Austin began using his trademark finishing maneuver, the Stone Cold Stunner (a move that was used previously by Jimmy Garvin, while the two were in WCW); with this new technique, he won the King of the Ring tournament. After defeating Marc Mero in the semi-finals, Austin defeated Jake "The Snake" Roberts in the finals. At the time, Roberts was portraying a born-again Christian, so after the match, Austin cut a now famous promo during his coronation, telling Roberts, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!". "Austin 3:16" ultimately became one of the most popular catch phrases in wrestling history, and subsequently the slogan became one of the best-selling t-shirts in WWE merchandise history. It is also credited as the iconic moment that began the WWF's "Attitude Era", along with the Montreal Screw-Job.

Steve Austin filmed guest roles on Celebrity Death-Match and Nash Bridges, where he played Detective Jake Cage.He appeared in The 1998 Billboard Music Awards. He has appeared on shows like V.I.P,Dilbert, The Teen Choice Awards, CMT Music Awards. His motion picture debut was in a supporting role as Guard Dunham in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard. Austin had his first starring film role, as Jack Conrad, a dangerous convict awaiting execution in a Salvadoran prison, who takes part in a illegal death-match game that is being broadcast to the public in the 2007 thriller The Condemned. In 2010, Austin appeared in the film The Expendables as Dan Paine, the bodyguard and right hand man for the primary antagonist of the film. This role featured Austin working alongside other action stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, and Randy Couture. He Appeared as Hugo Panzer on TV series Chuck. He has starred in Dtv Movies like Damage, Hunt to Kill, The Stranger, Tactical Force and Knockout. His upcoming movies include Recoil With Danny Trejo, The Package with Dolph Lundgren and Maximum Conviction with Steven Seagal.

Austin dated Kathryn Burrhus throughout high school and college, and the two married on November 24, 1990. Nonetheless, Austin pursued a relationship with Jeannie Clark ("Lady Blossom"), with whom he was working. His marriage to Burrhus was quickly annulled on August 7, 1992, and Austin and Clark married on December 18, 1992. Together, they have two daughters, Stephanie (born in 1992) and Cassidy (born in 1996). He also adopted Jade, Clark's daughter with former husband Chris Adams. Austin and Clark divorced on May 10, 1999 and their daughters live in Southend-on-Sea, England with Clark, while Jade lives in America with her husband and son.

On September 13, 2000, Austin married WWE Diva Debra Marshall. On June 15, 2002 police were called to their residence in San Antonio, Texas. They found a hysterical Marshall with bruises. Austin had left the house and was asked by police not to return. On August 14, 2002, Austin was arrested and charged with domestic abuse. He pled no contest on November 25, 2002 and was given a year's probation, a $1,000 fine, and ordered to carry out eighty hours of community service. Marshall would later claim that Austin was a steroid user and this incident was the result of roid rage. Austin filed for divorce from Marshall on July 22, 2002 and the divorce was finalized on February 5, 2003. On June 29, 2007, Marshall told Fox News that Austin beat her three times. She also stated that WWE put a gag order on her so she would not reveal that Stone Cold hit her, as it would cost the company millions of dollars. The WWE did not respond to her allegations.

In December 2007, the Wrestling Observer newsletter reported that "Stone Cold" Steve Austin legally changed his real name (Steven Williams) to his wrestling name Steve Austin. Austin currently resides in Los Angeles, California and in Tilden, Texas, where he owns the Broken Skull Ranch.



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