Ask 411 Wrestling: Why Has the Rock Surpassed Steve Austin?

Welcome guys, gals, and gender non-binary pals, to Ask 411 Wrestling. I am your party host, Ryan Byers, and I am here to answer some of your burning inquiries about professional wrestling.

If you have one of those queries searing a whole in your brain, feel free to send it along to me at [email protected]. Don’t be shy about shooting those over – the more, the merrier.

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Bryan J is going Hollywood:

How come Steve Austin, despite being a bigger star than the Rock, never made the connection to movie audiences the way the Rock did? What did he lack? And if wrestling is a performance art, why do more wrestlers fail at acting in film than succeed?

When it comes to the difference between the Rock and Steve Austin’s film careers, I think that the answer can be summed up in one word:

Range.

Steve Austin is excellent at being Steve Austin, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him do well in a role where he wasn’t playing exactly the same character. On the other hand, even though the Rock isn’t exactly Lawrence Olivier, he’s managed to work in a variety of genres with some characters that are not all necessarily small variation son the same theme.

As far as wrestlers as a whole succeeding in Hollywood is concerned . . . have you ever watched professional wrestling? Though there are occasionally grapplers who have surprisingly high levels of charisma and presence, most of the acting on your typical pro wrestling show is not that great. I mean, we are talking about the form of entertainment that gave us this:

Even though some wrestlers have attempted to break through to the silver screen, most of them are not trained actors, and even the great wrestlers only learn the performance skills necessary to succeed in their own genre. Only those who are willing to pick up a whole new profession from scratch are capable of making it in movies.

Indy T is so fine. He’s so fine he blows my mind. Hey, Indy. Hey, Indy.

I’ve followed the Women’s Evolution a lot in the past couple of years and while many good things have happened, can’t help but notice how overlooked Mickie James is. I know she had been away from WWE for a number of years, in TNA and the indies, but it feels like the company downplays her importance now that she’s back. Meanwhile Natalya is presented as the respected veteran of the division despite Mickie objectively achieving more in her first stint.

Why does it seem like her contributions been overlooked?

Here’s the thing about Mickie James, Trish Stratus, Lita, Victoria, and the rest of the crew from the circa 2002-2004 WWF women’s division that nobody wants to admit:

They weren’t that great.

Don’t get me wrong, they were significantly better than the generation of WWF women who came before them. They were a great upgrade from the Sables and the Missy Kitties of the world, but they still were not particularly good professional wrestlers if you compare them to the whole of the industry.

Yes, they did manage to put together television matches that ran five or six minutes every week and were entertaining enough for what they were, and, yes, occasionally when there was a particularly hot feud (e.g. Trish vs. Mickie), they would get twelve minutes in the ring and not totally embarrass themselves, but that only occurred once or perhaps twice a year.

These were NOT women who were going out there on a regular basis and having matches just as good as if not better than the men on the roster, which is what we’ve got now when it comes to the full-time members of the WWE women’s division.

I think it’s great that Mickie James is currently employed by WWE because she brings something different to the table that none of their other female wrestlers do. However, she’s not necessarily treated like a respected ring general because, even though she’s far from the worst female wrestler currently on the roster, she’s also a few steps behind the current crop of top tier women.

And, since you mention Natalya, let me just say one thing about her that I’m pretty sure I’ve said before, but it bears repeating:

She is, at least in my opinion, the single most talented in-ring performer in WWE’s women’s division right now. Bar none. She’s not pushed as heavily as Charlotte and she’s not as charismatic as Becky Lynch, but if you look at who has most consistently had the best matches in the division over the years and who has the best pure fundamentals, it’s Nattie. Plus, she’s been wrestling since 2000 (which is only a year less than Mickie) AND she’s been on WWE’s payroll consistently for over a decade. When you consider how long the average member of the WWE women’s division lasts, that practically makes her the Undertaker.

In short: I have nothing against Mickie James at all, but I think the question being asked overrates her and underrates Nattie.

Ignacio is known by many names:

Sometimes, we can see in TV series and movies how an actor / actress is replaced for another, but the character doesn’t change. For example, Dumbledore (Richard Harris and Michael Gambon) or Marvel’s War Machine (Terrence Howard and Don Cheadle). Is there a similar case in pro wrestling, where two wrestlers portrayed the same character? I mean, besides masked gimmicks like El Conquistador, Doink the Clown, NWO Sting or Suicide and the infamous Fake Diesel and Fake Razor Ramon. Thanks

Probably the closest thing that I can think of (putting aside the masked wrestlers mentioned in the question) would be the Earl and Dave Hebner situation from 1988. As most reading this probably know, Dave Hebner had been a referee in the WWF for many years, while his twin brother Earl Hebner refed shows in NWA territories. Eventually, the WWF hired Earl as well, and, in the February 5, 1988 WWF Title match between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant on NBC’s The Main Event, Earl played the role of an evil imposter of Dave who, as part of a plot by the Million Dollar Man, screwed Hogan out of the championship.

After the match, Earl Hebner continued to referee matches on WWF television, but, because in kayfabe terms Earl was supposed to be the “evil” referee, they referred to Earl as “Dave” and pretended that he was the same good, law-abiding Hebner that had always been a referee for the World Wrestling Federation.

Connor has the cure for boring questions:

I’ve always wondered why The Undertaker didn’t have the urn when he first appeared at Survivor Series 1990?

They hadn’t come up with that part of the gimmick yet. The Undertaker’s urn didn’t make an appearance until Paul Bearer was his manager. Bearer (sans urn) showed up in February 1991, with Undertaker’s debut having been the preceding November. Of course, Brother Love was Taker’s manager at the time of his debut through the first appearance of Uncle Paul.

Shaun wants to put a new spin on an old question:

Love the linear championship questions you’ve been answering!

So in the same vein, who’s the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be?

For those of you who have missed it, this all started back in May, when somebody asked me who “The Man” would be if it became a championship at the time of Ric Flair’s first NWA Title reign and only changed hands by pinfall or submission in one-on-one matches (or via stipulation in stipulation matches).

Since then, we’ve also taken a look at the linear Million Dollar Champion and the linear FTW Champion. Interestingly, all of the titles have wound up in the same place, eventually unifying with the WWE Universal Title but then going on the shelf with Roman Reigns following his leukemia announcement in October.

So, will this one be any different?

Only time (and text) will tell.

Shaun didn’t state exactly when he wanted us to start this exercise, but, since we started “The Man” with Ric Flair’s first NWA Title win, it only makes sense that we would start “The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and The Best There Ever Will Be” with Bret Hart’s first WWF Title reign. Let’s go!

Bret Hart defeated the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair for the WWF Championship at a live event in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on October 12, 1992, which will serve as our starting point for this exercise.

Bret actually managed to remain unpinned during the entirety of his first WWF Title reign, meaning that he does not lose the title of “The Best” until he also loses his real-world championship, which occurs at Wrestlemania IX in Las Vegas, Nevada. The man who takes the title is, of course, Yokozuna.

As almost everybody knows, Yokozuna lost a second match on the same show just minutes later to Hulk Hogan, which makes him “The Best” coming out of Wrestlemania IX.

Hogan remained undefeated until King of the Ring 1993 in Dayton, Ohio, where he dropped the WWF Championship and our title of “The Best” right back to Yokozuna.

And this is where “The Best” splits off from the WWF Championship history. While Yokozuna is still WWF Champion, he loses a non-title singles match to Lex Luger on August 23, 1993. Perhaps the most interesting part of this story is where the match took place, as it was actually on a USWA card called “A Matter of Pride,” which came about as a result of the working relationship between the WWF and USWA that was in effect at the time.

Despite the fact that Luger failed in his quest to win the WWF Title, he did remain unbeaten by pinfall or submission for almost a full year after that match, when he was defeated by Yokozuna on a WWF house show in the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on August 21, 1994.

Yoko’s third reign as “The Best” is short-lived, however, as he loses to The Undertaker at another house show held on August 25, 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska. This was actually a casket match, but it still counts for our purposes because our rule for linear title changes has always been that losing via the stipulation in a stipulation match qualifies for a title change.

On June 25, 1995, the Undertaker suffers a rare pinfall loss when he goes down at the hands of Mabel in the first round of that year’s King of the Ring tournament in in Philadelphia.

Despite getting a monster push throughout the summer of ’95, Mabel does lose one match prior to Diesel stopping his momentum cold at Summerslam. That loss is dealt to him by one Razor Ramon, who becomes “The Best” at a July 30 house show in, of all places, Hyannis, Massachusetts.

Speaking of Summerlam, on the 1995 of edition of that show, Razor Ramon lost his second ladder match to Shawn Michaels, which puts Bret Hart’s title of “The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and The Best There Ever Will Be” around the waist of the man who was, for a time, his most hated professional rival. It’s worth noting that, in that match, HBK also successfully defends his Intercontinental Championship against Razor.

Speaking of Bret Hart he once again becomes “The Best” when he defeats Michaels on a March 3, 1996 house show in Springfield, Massachusetts. This is a lumberjack match in which Hart’s WWF Title is also on the line, so the WWF Title lineage and “The Best” lineage are once again reunited.

With the title lineage being followed Shawn Michaels becomes “The Best” again when he overcomes Bret Hart at their Iron Man Match at Wrestlemania XII, also becoming the WWF Champion.

Sid Vicious defeats Michaels at the 1996 Survivor Series in Madison Square Garden, simultaneously becoming the WWF Champion and “The Best,” which may be the first time that anybody in wrestling has called Sid the best at anything.

We continue to just follow WWF’s title history for another couple of months, as “The Best” changes hands again when Shawn Michaels defeats Sid in the main event of the 1997 Royal Rumble pay per view in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas.

“The Best” splits away from the WWF Title on the December 11, 1997 episode of Monday Night Raw, when Triple H pins Shawn Michaels in a match that also had Michaels’ WWF European Title on the line. This is the somewhat infamous match in which Michaels lays down for HHH after the two D-Generation X members were booked against each other by then-commissioner Sergeant Slaughter.

Interestingly, later the same night, The Undertaker defeats Triple H in a casket match, which was a dark match that is held after that evening’s Raw tapings.

When “The Best” changes hands again, it is also in a casket match, and it also reunifies our fake championship with the WWF Championship, as Shawn Michaels beats the Undertaker at the 1998 Royal Rumbel in Anaheim.

Due to injuries suffered at the Royal Rumble, Michaels actually does not wrestle again until Wrestlemania XIV, where he of course loses the WWF Title and the title of “The Best” to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Many people forget that Kane is the one who gets to claim the honor of ending Steve Austin’s first WWF Title reign, as he defeats the Rattlesnake at the 1998 King of the Ring pay per view in a first blood match. Of course, that victory also makes Kane “The Best.”

Those who know your WWF Title history know that this championship reign for Kane is short-lived, as Steve Austin beats him to win the title back the very next night (June 29, 1998) in the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Heading into the 1998 Survivor Series, the WWF Championship is vacated, and the “Deadly Game” tournament is created to fill the title at the pay per view. In that tournament, Mankind defeats Steve Austin in the semi-finals to become “The Best.”

Of course, Mankind does not walk out of the Survivor Series as WWF Champion, as The Rock beats him in the tourney finals after a double-cross by Vince McMahon, which also makes the Rock “The Best.”

On December 13, 1998 at the In Your House: Rock Bottom pay per view, Mankind defeats the Rock with the Socko Claw, though, in an odd bit of Attitude Era booking, Vince McMahon declares that Mankind cannot become the WWF Champion because the Rock never submitted to the hold and instead passed out. However, this still makes Mankind “The Best” in our linear history.

The championship starts to head in a bit of a different direction now, as the next person to cleanly defeat Mankind is actually The Road Dogg, who upends Foley on the December 28, 1998 episode of Monday Night Raw, which also saw the D-O-Double G defending his WWF Hardcore Title against the hardcore legend.

In a non-title singles match, The Big Bossman beats the Road Dogg at the 1999 Royal Rumble pay per view in order to become “The Best.”

Now The Undertaker becomes “The Best” again, as he plows through the Big Bossman in a house show singles match on February 5, 1999 at the Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Notably, during the middle of this reign as “The Best,” the ‘Taker defeats Steve Austin for the WWF Title at Over the Edge 1999 (yes, that show), unifying the two titles once more.

Steve Austin becomes “The Best” again and simultaneously regains his WWF Title on the June 28, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw in Charlotte, North Carolina. Austin goes on to lose the WWF Title at Summerslam 1999, but the loss comes in a triple threat match, so it does not count for our linear championship history, which requires a one-on-one loss for a title change.

Triple H, who had become WWF Champion the night after Summerslam, successfully defends his title against Austin at the 1999 No Mercy pay per view, which once again links up the WWF Title and the title of “The Best.” Triple H also loses the WWF Title in a triple threat match (this one being at the 1999 Survivor Series), but he continues to be “The Best” just as Austin did before him.

However, The Big Show, the guy who won the WWF Title in that triple threat match, does defeat HHH in a singles encounter on November 20, 1999 in Toronto, so he does become “The Best” during his WWF Title run, just not at the same time that he won the real championship in the first instance.

Triple H regains both the fake and real titles when he beats the Big Show on the January 3, 2000 episode of Monday Night Raw.

In a completely out of left field upset, The Godfather defeats Triple H in a match in which HHH’s WWF Title was not on the line on the March 14, 2000 episode of WWF Smackdown (aired on March 16). This is due to a run in by the Big Show, who is still feuding with Triple H at the time.

Just a few weeks later, The Big Show becomes “The Best” yet again, as he defeats the Godfather in a straight-up singles match on the April 4, 2000 Smackdown show. Darn it, something interesting almost happened in this lineage.

Triple H, the reigning WWF Champion, successfully defends his title against the Big Show at a house show in Columbia, South Carolina on April 22, 2000. This again fuses the WWF Title and “The Best” and again reminds us that the early 2000s WWF is just Triple H’s world, and we are all allowed to live in it.

Just eight days later, The Rock becomes “The Best” by defeating Triple H in Washington, D.C. at the 2000 edition of the Backlash pay per view. This match is also for the WWF Championship, and it sees Shane McMahon serve as the special guest referee.

Chris Benoit upsets the Rock on the May 15, 2000 episode of Monday Night Raw in a submission match, though the WWF Title is not on the line.

During this period, Benoit also becomes the Intercontinental Champion, though he loses that title as well as the distinction of being “The Best” to Rikishi at the Smackdown tapings held on June 20, 2000.

Intercontinental Champion Rikishi falls to Kurt Angle in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament, held in Boston on June 25, 2000. The IC strap is not on the line in that match.

Kane pops up in our linear title lineage again, pinning angle at the Smackdown tapings held on July 11, 2000, with the match seemingly being apropos of nothing.

Kane receives a WWF Championship match against titleholder The Rock on the August 28, 2000 episode of Monday Night Raw from Greensboro, North Carolina. (What is it with the Carolinas constantly popping up on this list?) Kane loses both his championship opportunity and the right to call himself “The Best.”

Several weeks later, The Undertaker defeats The Rock on the September 18, 2008 episode of Monday night Raw in Chicago, Illinois to become “The Best.”

Kurt Angle is the next man to defeat the Undertaker, pinning him at the 2000 edition of the Survivor Series at the Ice Palace in Tampa, Florida. Angle’s WWF Title was also on the line, and this was the infamous match in which Kurt won by using his brother Eric as a surprise body double.

Angle holds on to both the real and fake championships for a couple more months, but he drops it once more to The Rock on February 25, 2001 at No Way Out from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

As most wrestling historians will be able to tell you, Steve Austin defeats the Rock and turns heel in the main event of Wrestlemania XVII in Houston, Texas in order to become both the WWF Champion and “The Best.”

A new name appears on our list of “The Best,” as Rob Van Dam upsets Steve Austin on the September 4, 2001 episode of Smackdown from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Austin is still the WWF Champion at the time of this match, but his WWF Title is not on the line.

Van Dam only manages to hold on to things for less than a week, though, as Kurt Angle pins him on the September 10, 2001 episode of Monday Night Raw. RVD’s WWF Hardcore Championship is also on the line in this match.

Taking things right back, Rob Van Dam pins Angle on the October 2, 2001 Smackdown in Mobile, Alabama. At this time, Angle is also the WWF Champion, defeating Steve Austin on the Unforgiven pay per view the prior month. However, RVD/Angle is a non-title match.

Seven days later, Chris Jericho goes over Van Dam on the October 9, 2001 Smackdown from the Mark of the Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois. Jericho also becomes the number one contender to the still-existent WCW World Heavyweight Title in winning this match.

As part of his excellent feud with Jericho, The Rock beats out Y2J on the November 5, 2001 episode of Raw on Long Island, New York. Jericho is also the WCW Champion heading into this match, and he loses that to Rocky here in addition to our fake title of being “The Best.”

Chris Jericho will be the first person to tell you that he unified the WWF and WCW Titles by defeating the Rock and Steve Austin in the same night at Vengeance on December 9, 2001. In his match against the Rock that evening, he also becomes “The Best.”

Jericho goes undefeated as “The Best” until Wrestlemania XVIII, when Triple H pins him in order win the WWF Undisputed Championship.

The man who ends HHH’s championship run is fairly unexpected (or at least it was at the time), as Hulk Hogan gets in his big nostalgia run by pinning Trips at the Kemper Arena at the 2002 Backlash show. He is also “The Best.”

The Undertaker puts Hulkamania to rest and wins both the Undisputed Title and “The Best” on May 19, 2002. (Yes, that May 19.)

Kurt Angle picks up a curious victory over the Undertaker on June 18, 2002 at a Smackdown taping in California. Taker is still the Undisputed Champion at this time, but that title is not on the line.

In another surprising victory given everything else that is going on in the promotion at the time, Rikishi defeats Angle at a Smackdown-branded house show in Huntington, West Virginia on June 22, 2002.

Here’s a name that I didn’t expect to see on this list: Lance Storm. Storm gets a victory over Rikishi on the July 2, 2002 Smackdown at the Fleet Center in Boston. In some ways, it seems appropriate that Storm, Bret Hart’s fellow Calgarian, gets an opportunity to become “The Best.”

That opportunity comes to an end on August 12, 2002 in Seattle, Washington, as Booker T. defeats Lance Storm. Booker and Storm were in the middle of a feud over the World Tag Team Titles at the time, with their partners Goldust and Christian.

In a match that veers away from Booker’s standard feuds and regular opponents of the era, he loses an Intercontinental Title match to Chris Jericho at a September 29, 2002 Raw-brand house show in Beaumont, Texas.

The very next evening on Monday Night Raw, Kane defeats Jericho to simultaneously become “The Best,” the Intercontinental Champion, and the number one contender to Triple H’s World Heavyweight Championship.

Spoilers: Triple H wins. He defeats Kane to (briefly) unify the Intercontinental and World Heavyweight Titles at No Mercy 2002, which took place on October 20 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Gee, go figure, the necrophilia angle didn’t manage to get Kane over as a babyface.

Kane gets his win back eight days later on Monday Night Raw, defeating HHH in a non-title casket match in Detroit, Michigan.

The up-and-comer Batista is our first new “Best” since Lance Storm, as he scores a career-boosting victory over Kane on the November 25, 2002 episode of Raw from the confusingly-named North Charleston, South Carolina.

On the house show circuit, Rob Van Dam pins Batista on January 12, 2003, which is unusual given Batista’s push at the time, though it may have something to do with the fact that the show was being held in former ECW territory, specifically Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In a rare international title change of “The Best,” Chris Jericho beats out RVD at a Raw-brand house show held in Tokyo, Japan on January 25.

Here’s a name that you might have forgotten was a WWE main eventer at this point in history: Scott Steiner. Oh yes. Babyface Scotty Steiner defeats Chris Jericho in a match to become number one contender to the World Heavyweight Title on the February 3, 2003 episode of Monday Night Raw.

However, Steiner fails as a number one contender, with Triple H successfully defending the World Heavyweight Title over him at No Way Out 2003 in Montreal, best remembered as the show where Sylvan Grenier debuted by screwing over Hulk Hogan as an evil French Canadian referee.

Speaking of muscled-up former WCW stars wrestling Triple H, Bill Goldberg is the next man to defeat him to become “The Best” and the World Champion. This occurs at the Unforgiven 2003 pay per view in Pennsylvania.

Believe it or not, Goldberg doesn’t lose a one-on-one match for the remainder of his 2002-2004 WWE run. He does drop the World Heavyweight Title, but it is in a triple threat match, so it does not count for this exercise.

Goldberg returns to WWE in 2016, and he doesn’t lose a match until April 2, 2017 at Wrestlemania XXXIII, when he falls to Brock Lesnar in a WWE Universal Title match.

Lesnar also goes on a long undefeated streak, as he doesn’t drop a fall in one-on-one competition until Summerslam 2018, when Roman Reigns pins him to become both the Universal Champion and “The Best.”

Reigns suffered no singles losses between his championship victory and his relinquishment of the championship just a few short weeks ago. So, currently, Roman Reigns is The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and the Best There Ever Will Be. He’s also The Man. He’s also the linear Million Dollar Champion. He’s also the linear FTW Champion.

I’m sure that there are a few of you who are getting tired of these linear championship questions (though I know others love them), but, dammit, now I’m getting obsessed with finding one that DOESN’T link up to Roman Reigns in the end.

I guess I could cheat by doing the linear IWGP Title or something. Surely that one stays in Japan.

Surely.

Right?

If you’d like to suggest a question, linear championship or otherwise, shoot an email over to [email protected], and we’ll see if we can get you taken care of.