No he wasn't..By Summerslam 97 he was
It was something no one expected plus it helped start the whole Bret Hart whinging angle so he would eventually turn heel. Austin was never going to main event WrestleMania 13 but after his match with Bret at survivor series and the fans starting to cheer for him, him cheating to win may of been a way to get him some heat as he wasn't suppose to be a face. The Bret match at WrestleMania 13 wasnt planned till much later after the royal rumble.I don't really understand why Austin won the Royal Rumble that year if they didn't have any plans for him to go for the title at Wrestlemania 13. We know that it worked out amazingly since we got Austin vs Hart instead, but it's also common knowledge that match was not the original plan back at the Rumble since Shawn was supposed to face Bret at Wrestlemania again.
Austin wasn't the biggest star in 97.
Austin was not the biggest star in the WWF in 1997. He was becoming the biggest star, however Shawn, Bret & Undertaker were ahead of him. Austin didn't main event the WWF until the 1998 Royal Rumble, his first singles main event was Wrestlemania.
I think you could argue whilst not the biggest or the number one guy he was certainly the most popular in the company from mid 1997 onwards. Against The Undertaker at Cold Day in Hell he got a massive face reaction despite being the clear heel and going against The Undertaker who was the top face at that time, against Shawn Michaels at King of the Ring in Michaels first pay per view match since he "lost his smile" his entrance was the same level if not more cheered then Michaels. Every Raw more and more of the crowd were wearing Austin 3:16 shirts and it was pretty much the majority of the whole crowd just having a shirt or sign do to with Austin. After he broke his neck and was just coming out doing interviews and stunning people he got the louder reactions. I'm not saying he was the number one guy just yet but his popularity was seriously off the page!No he wasn't..
BY WM14 YES....all the hype with him and Mike Tyson.
1. As mentioned, it was an attempt to reverse the cheers that Austin was already starting to get. Having him be the first ever person to obtain a dirty win in a Royal Rumble match was a way to try and accomplish that but the fans were already deciding that they loved Stone Cold.I don't really understand why Austin won the Royal Rumble that year if they didn't have any plans for him to go for the title at Wrestlemania 13. We know that it worked out amazingly since we got Austin vs Hart instead, but it's also common knowledge that match was not the original plan back at the Rumble since Shawn was supposed to face Bret at Wrestlemania again.
Michaels got "hurt" the following day. Does anyone know what the plan was before everything turned into a mess?I don't really understand why Austin won the Royal Rumble that year if they didn't have any plans for him to go for the title at Wrestlemania 13. We know that it worked out amazingly since we got Austin vs Hart instead, but it's also common knowledge that match was not the original plan back at the Rumble since Shawn was supposed to face Bret at Wrestlemania again.
Michaels was gonna drop the title to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13 in a rematch from the previous year (but without the Iron Man stipulation, of course.) As for Austin, I read somewhere that there was talks of him and Rocky Maivia for the Intercontinental Title. The funny thing about the latter is that Austin as becoming so beloved and Rocky so hated that seeing Austin pummel Maivia and probably win the IC Championship would have still gotten a strong enough positive reaction from the fans that night to turn him face right then and there (although Austin's babyface reactions wouldn't really start picking up until around the summer.)Michaels got "hurt" the following day. Does anyone know what the plan was before everything turned into a mess?