Looking back on it I liked it. When he aligned himself with McMahon at Mania 17, it caught me off guard. But there was something about it that caught my eye and kept me entertained. I also liked the Two-Man Power Trip team. Austin's moment of singing terribly still makes me laugh. There were quite a few entertaining moments. Prior to him joining The Alliance and being apart of The Alliance as well. His match with Undertaker at Judgment Day still ranks as one of my favorites of 2001. Plus, I love the promo building up to the match.
I know I am in the minority here but I hated it,and thought it was bad timing. It basically deflated alot of the steam. The comedy stuff may have been brilliant but in wrestling the fans dictate who they chose to cheer for, and the fans were not ready to boo Austin. The brilliance of the attitude era was the "grey" area they created between faces and heels. This felt like Vince trying to tell the fans what to do.
It reminded me alot of the Goldberg heel turn, same thing, it really hurt the character. However this is just my opinion, I think it was a mistake.
Hogan's heel turn was a breath of fresh air, because the fans were ready to boo him, Vince tried to re-create that magic and it was hollow at best.
In retrospect, it was the right decision. Looking back the "Austin 3:16" character didn't fit well with the product by 2001 and he was the only one that had yet to have a character change. Nearly everyone else had a different character in 2001 compared to 1998-99, so it made sense for Austin to have one too. Sure business dropped but I felt it was gonna drop anyways, the WWF had already peaked at that point and there was nowhere else to go but down. The fact they turned Austin back face later in the year and business continued to drop showed that.
Also the whole "hugging and whining" stuff was probably Austin's idea. Obviously if he didn't like it he wouldn't have done it, the fact that he did it constantly showed that he clearly enjoyed it.
I thought it was refreshening. Did people really want a Cena? Whole main event run as the same person, pro wrestling is about character development, it was a success and it kept people guessing about Austin every week.
It was a refreshing change of character for him, as many people would have grown tired of his schtick after a while, (*cough* Cena *cough*). Too bad it didn't pan out to well as he would've initially liked for it to go by getting cheered a majority of the time.
It was a refreshing change of character for him, as many people would have grown tired of his schtick after a while, (*cough* Cena *cough*). Too bad it didn't pan out to well as he would've initially liked for it to go by getting cheered a majority of the time.
Word.
The only reason Austin's heel run initially got off to a slow start was because he was put in a feud with the Undertaker, which was played out by 2001. When he was put in fresh feuds with guys like Jericho and Angle, it got better.
I know I am in the minority here but I hated it,and thought it was bad timing. It basically deflated alot of the steam. The comedy stuff may have been brilliant but in wrestling the fans dictate who they chose to cheer for, and the fans were not ready to boo Austin. The brilliance of the attitude era was the "grey" area they created between faces and heels. This felt like Vince trying to tell the fans what to do.
It reminded me alot of the Goldberg heel turn, same thing, it really hurt the character. However this is just my opinion, I think it was a mistake.
Hogan's heel turn was a breath of fresh air, because the fans were ready to boo him, Vince tried to re-create that magic and it was hollow at best.
Actually, I always thought it was more of a 50-50 split for liking the heel run or hating it.
And for the people saying it was bad timing, when would it be good timing then iyo?
Actually, I always thought it was more of a 50-50 split for liking the heel run or hating it.
And for the people saying it was bad timing, when would it be good timing then iyo?
It wasn't "bad timing" at all, like I said his character needed to be rejuvenated by 2001 and him joining up with Vince was the best way to do it. Did anyone really want to see Vince McMahon vs. Stone Cold again in '01? They tried to do it again later in the year after Austin turned face and, it sucked.
If they would've kept it as the Austin that beat the shit out of Lita it would've worked. But they made him a bitch for no reason other than the fact that he's a heel. And don't get more started on the Alliance
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What if WWE didn't drop the ball with the Summer of Punk?
If they would've kept it as the Austin that beat the shit out of Lita it would've worked. But they made him a bitch for no reason other than the fact that he's a heel. And don't get more started on the Alliance
Again all of that was Austin's idea, obviously if he hated doing those things he wouldn't have done them in the first place. I think he wanted to have humor in his character along with his paranoid/dangerous side, I guess to make him Two-Face.
Stone Cold's 2001 heel run
Re: Stone Cold's 2001 heel run
