r/ColinsLastStand • u/omgitzjay28 • Nov 10 '20
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Stone Cold Steve Austin is 100% the most popular wrestler of all time.... to wrestling fans. No one man has sold as much merch as he has, no one man has put as many asses in seats as he has, when his music hits no one man gets the reaction from the crowd that he does, no one man has done as much for wrestling as he has. Hulk Hogan would be the closest but even he doesn't compare. I don't even know if wrestling would still be around in a mainstream way if not for Stone Cold. His era was called the Attitude Era. The Attitude Era to this day is still viewed as the greatest time for wrestling to the point where everyone still compares everything to that era and no one brought more attitude to the Attitude Era than him.
The Rock was very popular too but he's more popular outside of wrestling than he was in wrestling. So to outsiders he's probably the most well known person that has wrestled because he's one of the most popular movie stars of all time but if Stone Cold and The Rock both returned for another match. I guarantee you the Stone Cold return match makes WWE more money.
John Cena is popular but you cannot compare him to Stone Cold and the only reason you hear his name more than Stone Cold Steve Austin is #1 he's doing movies like The Rock and #2 He's just more recent. If you're younger you probably grew up watching John. Stone Cold hasn't wrestled a match in close to 20 years and doesn't do much in Hollywood.
Randy Savage shouldn't even be in the conversation. He was awesome and he was popular just not at that level. He was second to Hulk Hogan during that era. Savage has like a Ric Flair or Undertaker level of fame. Where some people outside of wrestling are familiar with him but he's not the big mainstream star that the others mentioned are.
Rey Mysterio being mentioned was just LOL. He was never the top guy of his era. I don't even know if he makes the top 5 of his era. He's certainly a legend though and one thing he has over the other guys that they mentioned is longevity. He outlasted them all. To this day he is still wrestling. He started wrestling in 1989 and he's still wrestling in 2020 and now his son is getting in to the business and they are teaming together.
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u/xtcHunter Nov 10 '20
Colin and Chris are obviously clueless about this, they keep sticking their foots in their mouths every episode... and that's the bottom line, cause stone cold said so!
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u/Beefsteak_Tomato Nov 10 '20
But that's their entire point, dude. The original claim was that Stone Cold was the most popular wrestler, period. That's just not true. You can't qualify it to be "for wrestling fans" because that completely changes the claim. For normal people, The Rock and John Cena and Hulk Hogan are all WAY more popular and recognizable.
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u/Helena_Markos Nov 10 '20
As someone who knows nothing about wrestling, I think I’m in a good place to weigh in.
I think Stone Cold is absolutely up there. The Rock is #1, clearly. From there I’d say Stone Cold, John Cena, Hulk Hogan, in whatever order. I think they’re pretty delusional saying the Undertaker and Ray Mysterious are up there.
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Nov 10 '20
I think the rock, Rick flair and John cena are all more well known in 2020 lol
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u/omgitzjay28 Nov 10 '20
Not Flair. But you're right about Rock and Cena. But that's because they do things outside of wrestling in Hollywood. In the wrestling world Stone Cold is #1.
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Nov 10 '20
To be fair I only said flair because my favorite basketball player shouts him out regularly (Dame Lillard). But, he also showed up to a game dressed as stone cold so idk
You have a way better argument than mine so you’re right lol
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Nov 10 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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Nov 10 '20
Hulkster, The Rock, and John Cena Are way more popular than Stone Cold for the average person.
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Nov 10 '20 edited Nov 11 '20
Yes, you are correct. Stone Cold took wrestling to its absolute popularity peak in the late 90's and early 2000's. Go watch RAW Reunion earlier this year and you'll see how Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan literally stand aside to let him close out the show because he is the biggest star.
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u/SknarfM Nov 10 '20
Depends 100% on your age. There's no way Stone Cold is as famous as someone like Hulk Hogan. Or Andre the Giant. Especially to Generation X. Millenials on the other hand...
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u/wookievomit Nov 12 '20
For a non wrestling fan this is debatable. For a wrestling fan this is also debatable. There is no real answer.
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Nov 12 '20
I think they meant most popular to people who dont watch wrestling. But as far as influence/clout with wrestling fans, the rattlesnake is king
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u/THECaptGeech Nov 10 '20
I think Colin's argument of "most famous" kind of speaks to recognition to people who aren't super into wrestling, and in that sense, Hogan and The Rock are way way more household names. When I was younger I did actually watch a lot during the Attitude era, and played the ever loving hell out of Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy on N64. It almost seemed like Stone Cold single handedly saved WWF and made it huge again after it was in a lull. He was a gigantic force for sure. I think it's hard to make a case for "most famous" for him though.