When/Why did Austin's popularity start decreasing?
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I dont think I remember him ever being cold to be honest, the guys always been pretty hot since 1998. He even left at the peak of his career in my opinion and still had so much more to give which is a shame he didnt stay around longer, and of course ther eis his injury that stopped him but thats wrestling i guess, you'd be amazed how much you can sacrifice 
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i say 2001 when he turn heel, alot of people hated it and people start to turn off when Austin turn heel again join Shane/Step/Heyman on Invasion angle...
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Heel turn in 2001. Also marked the decline of wrestling in general.
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The heel turn hurt him and 2002 was a very forgettable year even before the walk out.
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What?!
You call the return of nWo, Scott Steiner, Shawn Michaels, the debut of Eric Bischoff, Rey Mysterio, return of Triple H from the injury, frst title win of Brock Lesnar, brand extension, Hogan vs. Rock, Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels, epic matches for the new WWE tag team championship, the first ever elimination chamber and countless other moments a forgettable year?
If 2002 is for you forgettable then you probably don´t remember the last 5 years in WWE
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i think he means forgettable in comparison to the amazing years beforehand (1997-2001)
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174 Posts
he ment a forgettable year for Austin
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2001. The popularity difference between Austin and Rock was huge that year.
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Since mid-2000 I think. His return match on survivor series 2000 was actually the lowest bought PPV of the year 2000.
By 2001 following his heel turn, his character's drawing ability was going down consistently every month. Come 2002, he was behind lot of others in terms of being a draw.
He was still getting big pops just like punk right now, but didnt move business like Rock or HHH or Hogan did in that year.
By 2001 following his heel turn, his character's drawing ability was going down consistently every month. Come 2002, he was behind lot of others in terms of being a draw.
He was still getting big pops just like punk right now, but didnt move business like Rock or HHH or Hogan did in that year.
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when austin came back in 2001 i think he was more over than rock but what major superstar wouldnt be after a yearlong absence
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It was the constant strange screwing with his character in 2001 that did it. He didn't really need to turn heel at all because he was just as popular as ever but even when they did it, the whole character made no sense at all. I found Austin as entertaining as ever but by the end of 2001 it just felt like he'd been back and forth so many times that people just kind of stopped caring.
Having said that, by the time he came back in 2003 he was huge again. You only have to watch NWO 2003 to see that.
Having said that, by the time he came back in 2003 he was huge again. You only have to watch NWO 2003 to see that.
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Rock was gone for a chunk of 01 and Angle was becoming the top guy, when Rock came back he returned to top spot he was in before leaving. The heel turn while funny really fucked up his character and made him jump the shark.
This is a topic about Austin so everything in here is about Austin, so don't question my knowledge because you didn't get what i was saying.
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its a combination of two things:
1) The Rocks popularity
2) Austin whether u admit it or not was a one dimensional character
the stone cold character wasnt even the most popular guy in 1999 let alone 2001, The Rock showed versatility and re-invented himself and austin didnt, theres only so much u can do with a character like stone cold his Alliance stuff was HORRIBLE CRINGEWORTHY material sadly, the audience had enough, and so the Austin character simply fizzled out,
i think the neck surgery excuses is ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT
when Rock was making movies lets be honest, Stone cold didnt have nothing to do, its how own fault he didnt wanna put guys over, The Rock didnt have a problem with this as we all know, stone cold however did.. his own ego kept him from helping the younger Generation out, and the product suffered..
The Austin character at the end of the day is a one trick pony,
take away the trucks, the high jinks and Macmahon?
and u have a stale fat belly ******* who over exaggerated his outcome from his surgeries cause of the simple fact that hes just too damn embarrased to admit that he doesnt have the ability to carry the company without a full roster bailing him out like in 1998/99..
1) The Rocks popularity
2) Austin whether u admit it or not was a one dimensional character
the stone cold character wasnt even the most popular guy in 1999 let alone 2001, The Rock showed versatility and re-invented himself and austin didnt, theres only so much u can do with a character like stone cold his Alliance stuff was HORRIBLE CRINGEWORTHY material sadly, the audience had enough, and so the Austin character simply fizzled out,
i think the neck surgery excuses is ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT
when Rock was making movies lets be honest, Stone cold didnt have nothing to do, its how own fault he didnt wanna put guys over, The Rock didnt have a problem with this as we all know, stone cold however did.. his own ego kept him from helping the younger Generation out, and the product suffered..
The Austin character at the end of the day is a one trick pony,
take away the trucks, the high jinks and Macmahon?
and u have a stale fat belly ******* who over exaggerated his outcome from his surgeries cause of the simple fact that hes just too damn embarrased to admit that he doesnt have the ability to carry the company without a full roster bailing him out like in 1998/99..
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2002 sucked for Austin obviously. His heel turn in 2001 naturally would put people (who buy into the characters) off him. But other than that, I don't see how he hasn't been consistently white hot since he blew up in like 1997.
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I would say his booking from the minute he turned heel at WrestleMania 17 weakened his character a hell of a lot but i wouldn't say he became any less of a draw because he was still voted Wrestler Of The Year by some magazines like Wrestling Observer and sold more merchandise than anyone else whilst a heel. He wasn't as hot as he was in 1998 or 1999 but he had found his groove again by the start of 2001 after a hard few months upon his return in 2000 but he has even said himself that the heel turn in hindsight was a horrible idea.
What happened was he became frustrated with the creative direction of the company once WWE had beat WCW and ECW in the ratings battle and felt they had become very complacent which then transcended over on to on screen. WWE shifted their main focus on Triple H and Hulk Hogan in early 2002 which then saw Rock/Hogan rightfully become the very main focus and then Triple H/Jericho whilst Stone Cold Steve Austin had become a side show act to an extent and then a couple of months after WrestleMania 18 he walked out.
In some peoples eyes the walkout wasn't really anything serious in regards to his character but it really was as WWE as always simply moved on and then they had Shawn Michaels return and Brock Lesnar emerging on top of an already stacked roster with The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Triple H, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Kane and all the ex WCW and ECW wrestlers. Once he returned just like in 2000 it was always going to take a couple of months to get back into the groove but he was only around for a couple of months so he didn't get a chance to do so.
I wouldn't say Stone Cold Steve Austin became any less of a draw and it being much more a case of the main event pool being much bigger than when it was basically just him, The Rock, Triple H, The Undertaker, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle and Kane as it had been from mid 1998 all the way through to mid 2001 and other people had emerged. By mid 2001 wrestling as whole had become less popular due to the end of The Monday Night Wars and if you look on Gerweck.net you can see that ratings and buyrates have gone down every year since then outside of WrestleMania which is when WWE go all out to do well.
What happened was he became frustrated with the creative direction of the company once WWE had beat WCW and ECW in the ratings battle and felt they had become very complacent which then transcended over on to on screen. WWE shifted their main focus on Triple H and Hulk Hogan in early 2002 which then saw Rock/Hogan rightfully become the very main focus and then Triple H/Jericho whilst Stone Cold Steve Austin had become a side show act to an extent and then a couple of months after WrestleMania 18 he walked out.
In some peoples eyes the walkout wasn't really anything serious in regards to his character but it really was as WWE as always simply moved on and then they had Shawn Michaels return and Brock Lesnar emerging on top of an already stacked roster with The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Triple H, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Kane and all the ex WCW and ECW wrestlers. Once he returned just like in 2000 it was always going to take a couple of months to get back into the groove but he was only around for a couple of months so he didn't get a chance to do so.
I wouldn't say Stone Cold Steve Austin became any less of a draw and it being much more a case of the main event pool being much bigger than when it was basically just him, The Rock, Triple H, The Undertaker, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle and Kane as it had been from mid 1998 all the way through to mid 2001 and other people had emerged. By mid 2001 wrestling as whole had become less popular due to the end of The Monday Night Wars and if you look on Gerweck.net you can see that ratings and buyrates have gone down every year since then outside of WrestleMania which is when WWE go all out to do well.
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Okay you started off well but completely tailed off at the end, Austin was a bit overrated but to be fair every wrestler ever has been overrated. Stone Cold was the man in 98 in 99 he and Rock were tied and by 2000 Rock was the man. The neck surgery is not bullshit as it was a potential career ender for him, what did him in wrestling wise was his knee injury that he never recovered from. Austin being heel wasn't the problem it was the kind of heel he portrayed which was a chicken shit heel, how did the toughest sob in the wwf become a pussy all of a sudden? If he never joined the alliance and was just a paranoid psycho then he would've been fine, but teaming him with Mcmahon and then joining the rag tag bunch just made him look weak.
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I hated most of 2002. nWo was a complete mess, Eric Bischoff's first Raw season was awful (Rosie and Jamal, HLA), brand extension was un-balanced, Scott Steiner returns, Stone Cold walked out, WWF became WWE and worst of all: Katie Vick.dualshock said:
The only thing I liked in 2002 was Brock Lesnar, the HHH/HBK storyline and Smackdown in general (late 2002).
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Smackdown in 2002-2004 was some great television and they were actually better than Raw at that point, Raw was only good for Rock & Evolution but Smackdown was enjoyable from beginning to end.
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Yes. Smackdown was perfect, thanks to Heyman.
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