FHM Hero: Live Your Life The Badass Wrestling Way With Stone Cold Steve Austin

In a world ruled by gargantuan men in multicoloured jockstraps paid to knock seven shades of crap out of each other with fists, steel chairs and tables, it can be tricky getting noticed. For a manual labourer from Victoria, Texas named Steven James Anderson trying to crack his way into the World Wrestling Federation, there were only two options to consider.

He could: a) try to fit in with the world’s best, find a nut-hugging sequinned suit, get a one-syllable name like “Rock” or “Hulk”, sit tight and wait for the big bucks to roll in. Or: b) drink a lot of beer, act so redneck that he’d get turned away from a Dukes of Hazzard convention and swear at everyone who could possibly give him a break in the industry.

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No prizes for guessing which route seemed more appealing. Blond locks would never work, so the 25-year-old Texan workhorse chose to soak himself with tinnies, swear like a rum-addled pirate, clad himself in leather and denim and put his faith in route B. By 1995, Stone Cold Steve Austin, who is now known and loved around the globe by generations of fans, a true WWE phenomenon, had arrived: a blue-collar antihero you’d expect to find throwing someone through a truck-stop window.

The $45 million redneck

“I helped a little old lady cross the street just yesterday,” Steve Austin tells us as he sits in his LA home, nursing a knee injury. “I don’t think I’ve done enough good deeds lately.”

The image of a 48-year-old 6ft 2in bald former WWE Champion, WCW Tag Team Champ, WWE Hall of Famer, sharer of the silver screen with Sly Stallone and Dolph Lundgren in The Expendables and the only man to walk away from middle-fingering Mike Tyson’s face, bent down and holding hands with someone’s grandma just doesn’t register.

“Sure, in wrestling I’m the baddest man on the planet. But Steve Austin away from WWE is a different animal. The elements are still there, but the volume’s turned down from 10 to one.”

But if ever you needed an excuse to turn your life dials all the way up, this is it. With his WWE retirement in 2003, his total career earnings were roughly $45m, an astronomical figure that undoubtedly crowned him as the richest redneck on Earth. In 1998 alone, Stone Cold shifted $18m worth of merchandise – T-shirts that he personally had a hand in designing. Not bad for a persona that was once regarded as “unmarketable” by former World Championship Wrestling vice president Eric Bischoff (a remark that apparently led to his sacking). So where does his multi-million-dollar appeal come from?

“Stone Cold was hell-bent on getting to the top,” Austin says. “He did exactly what he wanted to do, how he wanted to do it. That was a break from what everyone else was doing, and people appreciated that. People didn’t think that Stone Cold was a good role model, but they were entertained by his character.”

Marketing the middle finger

Every man needs a trademark. And Stone Cold Steve Austin’s middle finger has met the ends of noses belonging to opponents (including the aforementioned Mike Tyson), crowds and figures of authority over and over, not only as a threat, but as a statement of intent to reach the top of his game without anyone holding him back. But once you’re past the public image, perceptions change.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere near as ruthless as Stone Cold,” he says. “Nonetheless, if you’re going to flip burgers in McDonald’s, I think you should go out there and be the best burger-flipper you can be. My personal goal has always been to be the best I can be.”

Even with those intentions, flipping the bird around will eventually spark confrontation. He’s been at loggerheads with numerous people during his career, most recently reportedly calling wrestling veteran Hulk Hogan a chump and being accused of criticising younger wrestlers – both of which he says were taken out of context. “Half the stuff I say is tongue in cheek,” he assures FHM. “People take it word for word and that’s the thing that disturbs me about people reading into what I say. I mind my own business, try my best to live with the people I choose to surround myself with. No a**holes are ever allowed.”

The reality is this: here is a guy who once had very little to show for himself, bar a few rucks in the boozer, and has dragged himself up to be one of the world’s most recognisable faces, with a little help from a beer can here and there and a middle finger to the naysayers.

Smackdowns to spelling bees

For a man who has made his name by pummelling opponents in front of millions and has a flourishing acting career, another unexpected thing you’ll learn about Steve Austin is that he’s a “very private individual”. Even when he’s staying in LA, the big man tries to avoid contact with too many people.

“What annoys me is that everyone is on their damn phone these days. It’s all people seem to do. I’d rather be in wide-open spaces than crammed on top of those people in the city.”

And you don’t get much more different from the hubbub of LA than Broken Skull Ranch, Steve’s 2,000-acre home near Tilden, McMullen County, Texas. It was the place he’d always dreamed of, even when he was making a living on a forklift before wrestling skyrocketed him to superstardom. And the name? “Hey, I had to break my skull in the ring to buy the place,” he justifies.

The ranch is where Austin continues his passion for hunting. He’s been shooting and stalking since he was eight, and now has around 40 guns to his name. But shooting isn’t the only pastime he indulges in on his man ranch. Prepare for the final Stone Cold Steve Austin surprise…

“I relax by watching spelling bees,” he tells us, without even a hesitation to suggest the image of him kicking back in front of a televised children’s spelling competition is even a little peculiar. “I’m a good speller, but these kids, I couldn’t spell three-quarters of what they can. I can spell beer, though, that’s for damn sure.”

Steve Austin stars in The Package, out now on DVD and Blu-ray.

Makin’ an entrance

Prior to slapping someone’s face off, Austin has some of the most colourful entrances in the business. Here are some of our favourites:

• The Ice Breaker: The Texas Rattlesnake opted to drive a Zamboni – an ice resurfacer to the rest of us – into the ring in September 1998. He then dished out a clothesline and then got nicked by the cops.
• Concrete Evidence: It seems 1998 was a vintage year for freaking out in vehicles. Next up, he chose to drive a cement mixer up to WWE promoter Vince McMahon’s Corvette and fill it with the grey stuff.
• The Cold One: Perhaps one of Stone Cold’s most famous moments. In 1999, he drove a beer truck into the arena and hosed down rival The Rock.
• Dropping In: In 2000, Austin completely lost it. He acquired a crane, dropped a block through then-WWE Champion Triple H’s bus and then towed it into the arena with his pick-up.
• Easy as ATV: At WrestleMania XXVII Stone Cold used his trusty ATV – or quad bike – to chase his opponents in a kind of Mad Max version of Benny Hill.

From the April 2013 issue of FHM India.